Barry Lavin

Im waiting on a 220d and am also getting concerned at what I am reading. On the test drive I found the car noisy and the gearbox poor, but put it down to the fact that I was driving a petrol auto and thought it sounded like what it was, a diesel. However I wonder if there is anyone from Lexus reading these comments who could advise us on why there is no power under 1500 revs and why the gearbox is so notchy and why you need a sixth gear that does not work under the speed limit and maybe reasure us a little bit. I mean there must be good reasons, right.

It is a separate brochure, that quite honestly, I found by accident on one of my scouting trips to another Lexus dealer. When I was trying to get a good price for my Merc. It has things in it like alloys, bicycle holders, floor mats and the entertainments packace. You would think that they would be leaving them around the showrooms willy nilly to whet our appetites for more goodies. Especially as there is not too much extra you can put in the IS ( unlike the Merc-- *** I hate that car)

I know this is not the MM package I am talking about but the entertainment package in the Assesories Brochure.

4000 euro for a dvd and playstation with screens in headrests??? Got to me more to it than that for that kind of money surely??? I am surprised myself. When I first saw the brochure and saw the entertainment package I queried the price with Lexus Ireland who could not give me a price for it , so I rang the dealer and was given a price over the phone of €1500/2000. which seemed ok. When I was ordering the car I asked what the actual price was and the sales guy said €4000 .I told him that I had been quoted the other price and he said that this was a Lexus system (Ohhh!) not one put in by a local auto electrician and because it came with the car it carried the same 3 year warranty as the car .Take from that what you like. Anyway it seems that any extra over here is way dearer than in the UK. I asked them to put a mat in the boot to hopefully level it out a bit and that is costing €150 (must be self cleaning)

I can understand where you are coming from as I am just terminating a short relationship with a Merc c180 with A/T Avantgarde/Sports Package /Sat nav/Metallic Black etc.The extras cost about €15000. Only thing is, no-one told me that I might as well have taken my 15000 and burned it,as I will not get anything for the extras on the trade in. The Merc was my dream car and I am completely dissapointed with it. So this time I went the other way I bought the base model plus the MM package to shut the kids up ( they wanted the dvd/playstation in the back of the head rests (€4,000). So even if I dont like the car I hopefully will not lose too much. Then if I trade in on another IS in two/three years I can go for something with a better spec.

Meanwhile here in Ireland the IS220d should account for the major part of IS sales. We have a different car taxing system here which is based on engine size. For instance the 2004 upgrade C 180 I currently drive and dislike intensly for a number of reasons, costs me €484 per year to tax because of the 1796 cc engine whereas the 2.2l diesel engine in the IS will cost about €750 p/a and the 2.5l petrol will cost about €950 per annum. Plus the fact that I can claim back the VAT on the diesel but not on petrol makes the diesel a more attractive proposition. I have in fact ordered the 220d with MM (silver) for delivery in March/April I would have preferred the petrol but it does not make economic sense. Also I am hoping that the diesel will hold its value better than the petrol and as I only do about 10,000 miles per year I hope not to get shafted as I am on the Merc. For your info the base 220d here with no extras is €44,690, the 250 is €45,860 ( euro=68p) Metalic paint is €1050 and the MM package is a whopping €5435. So think of us when you are complaining about car prices.