Northern Boys Luv Gravy

The IS250 manual emits more CO2 than the automatic version, pushing it into Band G (the highest). This means that a manual IS250 owner will pay £300 in RFL this year if the car was registered after 23/3/06 and that is going up to £400 next year I believe. So an auto driver will save about £200 a year in RFL and a bit in fuel costs as well. It's a no brainer for me - auto every time. With regard to the no-quibble guarantee - I think you can just swop it if you are not happy - that's what "no quibble" means.

I had a rattle that seemed to come from the driver's door and it turned out to be the seat rattle that there is an easy dealer fix for. Took about 45mins.

Thanks for that - I thought that's the region the costs would be in. So, that's a premium of £55 for subscribing to the plan and being able to pay monthly. The only reason I'll take it out is if I can just drop the car off in the morning and then pick it up later without having to go anywhere remotely near my wallet. However, my last two IS's were very well behaved while under warranty, so I might be worrying unduly. Putting the £44 or whatever per month into a high interest account sounds a better idea. I might try and haggle the price down to £900 though - what do you think? I think if you can be disciplined and put away that £44 or so a month then that's the way to go. I was offered the service plan but it seemed to work out the same as paying for them seperately. The other thing is, if you decide to sell the car what happens to the service plan? Do they give some money back? I can't see them taking it much into account on any trade in value.

At about £350 x 2 for the major services + £200 for the minor, I can't see where the saving is?

It's just an oil change and a quick once over - takes 60 - 90 mins tops. The painful part is bending over and assuming the position when they hit you with the bill.

I absolutely love my 250SE Auto and can't think of any similar car I'd want in its place. Our Audi A4 diesel doesn't get a look in when the choice of which car to take comes up. We are due a new A4 diesel soon so it will be interesting if that is a major improvement over the old one. Every day I get in the Lex and relax in the comfortable seats, put a bit of heat on, turn on the stereo and enjoy the smooth engine and gear changes as it wafts me to work. Best car I've had by a country mile.

These cars aren't calibrated for synthetic oil - I don't know where you got that from. Official Lexus literature says they are designed to use mineral oil - anyway, synthetic or mineral, it's the viscosity that is important, not anything else. This was taken from a Lexus press release when the new IS came out: http://www.testdriven.co.uk/news.cfm/new-l...st-of-ownership

I hear what your saying, especially about the discs and pads. Time was when the discs were a little worn the garage just skimmed them and they were good for another 30k - now they just want to open a box and bolt new ones on. I would never worry about my aircon for the first few years, as long as it is used regularly and blows cold I don't think you have a problem. Brake fluid though should be changed every couple of years because it absorbs moisture and becomes more compressible and therefore less effective. I wouldn't take chances on safety.

The Lexus engine is designed to run on mineral oil - due to the short service intervals fully synthetic is not required. However, you can put fully synthetic in with no adverse effects.

My 2005 IS had the buttons above each other and not illuminated - major pain - I was always pressing the wrong one in the dark. My 2007 IS has them side by side and illuminated - a much better set up.

I've had the Dunlops and the Bridgestones on mine and am pretty sure the Bridgestones are quieter. There's tyre roar with all cars - it's just the Lexus is so quiet in most other respects it's more noticable. The wind and engine noise on our A4 drowns out the tyre roar.

That's completely outrageous - I can't believe a friend would do that to your car! There are companies that repair cigarette burns but I don't know how effective they are on a one that size and that obvious. I think that you would always find your eye drawn to it, no matter how good the repair. For me the only option is a new bottom cushion and seat cover from Lexus. And get your mate to pay.

The reason it's started again is because the squeek is not in the seat. There are a couple of locating pins used during fitting the seat at the time of manufacture and these cause all manner of strange squeeks from the seat. They are not needed and there is a service bulletin to cover the removal of them by the dealerships. It takes about 45 mins and completely cures the problem - I've had 2 squeeking and rattling driver's seats fixed in this manner. Your dealership need to check their factory bulletins more often.

Don't take that £11.50 insurance malarky lying down - as soon as I pointed out that as an Audi customer I had never had to pay anything for a courtesy car - plus why should I when it was warranty work anyway, my dealership backed right down and agreed I would never have to pay for a courtesy car again, whatever the circumstances.

That's weird it was there yesterday...

My bonnet catches have always been well greased which probably helps to limit corrosion. Perhaps you should apply some. Word of warning on this. I had two bonnets ( not Lexus!) fly up at speed on me - smashing the windscreen and roof. On both occasions the problem was a well greased bonnet catch - the grease took up road dirt and salt, forming a sticky paste which prevented the latch securing properly. A small smear is all you need.

I love Lexus recalls. When my Dec 05 IS was recalled for the seatbelt fix it was washed and vaccuumed with a nice bottle of champagne left on the seat and £20 worth of fuel added. I wish they would recall mine every week -say about Saturday so me and the missus can enjoy the champagne while watching a DVD later.

They don't use the old heavy rubberised underseal anymore because: 1. It was heavy. 2. When it cracked it allowed water to get under it and hasten corrosion. They use a waxy, self-healing type of sealant now - as shown in your picture.

If you spend time in traffic jams then the IS250 Auto is definitely the one to go for - you are so comfortable and relaxed that the hold ups don't bother you half so much. As people have said earlier if you have to sacrifice the (IMO vastly overpriced) MM to get a an auto then go for it - you won't regret it.

I've never had a problem with mine. I set it at 22 deg, on AUTO, when I got it and it has stayed that way ever since - I never touch it.

I'm with you all the way on this JFB2. Does the car come with a warning, " New driving style must be adopted to obtain claimed consumption figures". Somebody mentioned folding in the mirrors and freewheeling downhill, surely that's not part of the new driving style. On the last two Audi diesels I've had they never seemed to do less than 45mpg knocking about, usually a bit more, and on my annual pilgrimage to the Cote D'Azur which I religiously checked every year (home to home) they returned 51- 53 mpg year after year. One benefit I enjoyed funnily enough over the years was hardly ever having to queue up for fuel, a tankfull seemed to last forever. Every diesel I've owned has got somewhere near claimed figures. I sympathise with you 220d owners on this and it's not surprising feelings are running high if I were in your position I'd feel just the same. It's bordering on a fraudulent. I'd agree up to a point. I had 2 A4 diesels and they would average 47 mpg all day long - however, they were 115bhp and 130bhp respectively. I wouldn't expect to get the same mpg out of a 170bhp car - I can't even get those mpg figures out of our 140bhp 2.0Tdi A4.

This happened to me once - I parked in a side street and went off to get a sandwich round the corner. I came back 10 mins later to find the car quietly running. It had been raining so I'd dashed off and not heard the beeps.

I'm onto my second IS250 Auto and both of them averaged 29.6 mpg for most of the time (aircon on all the time and frequent use of the loud pedal). On longer runs on the motorway I've seen it as high as 37mpg.

This is the first spec change - and it's 2.5 years since the IS launch... Blimey - you're right !! It's over 2 years since official launch in the f/east... What about Velvet Black, the renaiming of the white, the moving of fuel filler/boot switches, umpteen software mods for the 220d ECU (tho's I suppose they were fixes to problems)?? I still count these minor items as a mid term tweak or 2...not something a pretsige marque does. Normally it's marketed as a new Model Year and effectively relaunched with not just visual, but engine changes too. But yes NBLG, this is the biggest visible change to date...I wonder if the Shark Fin will arrive too?? PS - when I looked at the BMW, they could tell me exactly where the prospective car was and at what stage of production in the factory, together with a date for delivery - at the point of order. That is what you should expect - it is an expensive item and if you were gonna buy a Rolex and they couldn't tell you, you'd be off!! Lexus will not do that...I had to escalate like mad to get my date - I was car-less as they'd taken my PEX early... I don't think the odd colour change or ECU mod count as a model year change - all companies do these, my missus gets a constant flow of Audi Technical Bulletins detailing these sort of mods. The boot and fuel filler change was an obvious one because it was just so bloody stupid the way it was - I was constantly opening the fuel flap when trying to open the boot. Apparently, we are getting a coin holder too - but don't hold your breath because I've seen it and it look crap. When you order a car from Audi or BMW you are given a slot in production a number of weeks/months in advance but you don't have to confirm spec until much nearer the actual date - something like 48 hours before actual build date. Other, unfilled slots are taken up by dealer orders for stock and general inventory filling. As far as I'm aware Lexus don't allocate production slots to individuals. BTW - what is the shark fin for? A BMW 5 series pulled up next to me and it had this triangular piece of plastic stuck on the back of the roof - is that it? My radio gets perfect reception without an external antenna so why would we go backwards on this issue?

Well, my first IS250 took 4 weeks and my second, 9 days. Because Lexus don't usually build to order for the UK, they generally build batches of particular models and colours, based on what's selling in our market. Hence if the most popular IS is a 220D SE in silver without MM, they will build more of them, against, say a base model petrol manual in gold, which may be far less popular. They then continually adjust production to match demand and inventory. When you order a car the salesman checks dealers' inventories, stocks at the docks in Portberry, what's coming over on the ships, and what's in production. Only if the car you want isn't at any of these does he then order it specially. I would say if you ordered an IS250 SE-L with MM and pre-collision etc, then it would be a long wait for it to be made.