Northern Boys Luv Gravy

Better than that - park the mother-in-law inside.

£370 was what I paid for a standard 20K service at a Lexus dealer. :(

My neighbour has the new C220D Sport and to be honest it's a curious mix of styling - I prefer the one I've got right now.

Funnily enough, for the last 2 weeks I have been driving round in - a Mercedes C-class 220D Auto Elegance! My 07 plate, 700 mile IS250 SE Auto is the bodyshop having its back end pulled out after a coming together with a Transit on the outside lane of the motorway (*sob*). OK the Mercedes is a an old model 56 Reg and a very nice car but it doesn't appeal to me the same way as the Lexus. First impressions are it's well put together, although the cloth seats feel a bit cheap - deffo needs leather - and the engine growls a bit round town making it seem like a taxi, but I haven't got any real complaints. A couple of minor ones - the fuel consumption isn't great - I can't get over 38mpg no matter how I drive it and most of my run to work is on dual carriageway. The stereo is only ok and the steering is a bit heavy. Other than that a nice motor - even if you do feel a bit of an old man driving it. If Lexus did an auto diesel IS I would take it over the Merc anytime though.

Any dealer can match Drive the Deal but see what they offer you for your trade in. It's not the headline price that's important but the cost to change. A dealer selling at the Drive the Deal price will give you bottom dollar for your trade in.

LOL - I swapped my Dunlop Sport Max for Bridgestone Potenzas and was convinced the Bridgestone's were quieter!

The US cars notify you of when a service is due. I have no idea why ours don't.

Pretty good - I was offered £20,500 for my Dec 55 IS250SE Auto with 33k miles on it against a new 07 of the same model. Unfortunately, thanks to a transit van running into the back of me on the A19 tonight, my 3 week old car is a bit shorter than the one it replaced. On the other hand it seemed to stand up well in the collision. :(

I's always because of the Euro. Can't we stick with the £?

As it says in the article, they have sold out their year's allocation.

Yes it's a 130TDi 5 speed - and it really does need a 6th gear, without that I can't see it getting much more than 50mpg. Then again it's only done 2k miles.

I drove an Audi A4 diesel multitronic once and found it positively dangerous. Trying to nip out at junctions and roundabouts means pressing the accelerator to the floor and waiting...and waiting...and then panicking when the car pauses while the gap you were trying to get into gets smaller and smaller. Eventually it goes but at the cost of a few more grey hairs. I experienced the same with an A6 2.7TDI multitronic too. I came back from London in our A4 130bhpTDi yesterday and I managed to get an average of 50mpg with the cruise set at 80mph - but that's the best I've got - normally it sticks around 43mpg. And it still sounds like a tractor. Give me an IS250 auto anyday.

With the music up high it isn't the mirror vibrating but the rear window - caused by the sub in the rear parcelshelf.

glug...glug....bubble....help....glug.....mine! Only joking....hope they get full value from the insurance.

You can't blame Audi because of a spelling mistake on a map supplied by a third party. All maps have errors on them and they are corrected and updated in future editions, but they won't just knock out a new one for you personally or even bring revision date forward (unless of course it was something serious like directing people the wrong way up a motorway etc.). My first IS developed the noise when the dials spin round on start up. I took it to the dealer and they said it was normal and "they all do that", leaving my doubting myself as to never having heard it before. Needless to say my new IS doesn't make the noise and is silent on start up. Incidentally, when my first IS went back it had done 33k miles and still felt tight and new, the odd rattle (apart from start up) having been successfully sorted by the dealer. I pass it on the forecourt now, up for sale, with tinges of regret.

I hope everyone realised that was a typo - I'm a happily married man. :)

There was a time when Mercedes didn't have to advertise the C-class..

A positive thing to a certain extent. I looked at the D3 now and I was really tempted, but I'm a die hard Lexus auto fan now - the smooothness (thought it deserved the extra "o") and driveability of the 250 Auto is just so addictive. Why is it that the best diesels don't come in an auto...? I think that If there was D3 switchtronic I would have PEx'd in March... and if there was a IS220d Auto I wouldn't be looking at the D3 Auto.... The IS220d is better overall in manual form than a manual D3. One thing is for sure, there were no rattles, creaks, from the D3, and no vibrating mirrors...but no kit either. It all looked good and drove well, but it was tarted up 320d Si underneath... I never got as far as driving the D3 - if Lexus did a 220D auto I would be very tempted but from what I understand Lexus really never wanted to do a diesel and are pinning their hopes on hybrid technology making it redundant. Anyway - 2 hors to go and I pick up my new one - can't wait.

A positive thing to a certain extent. I looked at the D3 now and I was really tempted, but I'm a die hard Lexus auto fan now - the smooothness (thought it deserved the extra "o") and driveability of the 250 Auto is just so addictive.

http://www.fuelsaver.co.uk/howitworks.html Basically the idea is that by passing fuel through a magnetic field it combusts better. Unfortunately once it leaves the fuel saver it loses any magnetic field its picked up. Like I said, why would companies like Toyota spend tens of millions of R&D budget developing things like direct injection for engines which give about a 10% fuel economy improvement if all they had to do was incorporate magnets in the fuel lines. I think there is a degree of placebo effect with these things (which have been around since the fuel crisis of the early 70s) since blind testing suggests no difference in mpg whatsoever.

I wouldn't bother - if those things worked every car produced would have them installed as standard.

4 months? I feel for you. I placed my order for a Cadaxton Slate with silver leather (no MM) last Thursday, it came into Portbury Docks (your neck of the woods I believe) yesterday and I'm getting it Thursday - 7 days from order to delivery. I find it hard to believe they don't have a red 220d knocking about.

From the moment I tried the 250 Auto I was hooked - I really don't think there is a petrol auto in this price bracket to touch it. I got the Argento Ice with black leather interior and it always looks clean with only the wheels showing up the brake dust to let it down. I've enjoyed the lat 33k miles so much I've ordered another - identical but with the Cadaxton slate and silver leather. I still think the silver looks the best but I couldn't order the same colour twice. Lexus are doing a push on petrol IS at the moment so you should get a good deal.

I'm not sure 10k is laughable (intervals are every 5k in the US). Even Audi are looking to return to 10k intervals as the Longlife service plans are giving them and customers so much grief. I think one of the reasons Lexus can go to high mileages trouble free is because they have usually had unstressed I/V6 or V8 (diesels excepted) engines serviced every 10k miles.

My 10k service was £230, including wipers, engine flush and 5 mins of flirtation from the girl on the service desk. Now just passed the 30k mark and they've offered me a good trade in so I think I'll have another 250 Auto. Dunno what colour though - edging towards Cadaxton Slate with the grey leather interior.