romaro

Easy all, this is still a friendly forum, right? :winky:

I think everyone has a point here. Northern Boys Luv Gravy looks to have found the original meaning of it - "International Sedan". Tango - you're right, there's an element of picking whatever you fancy as it's clearly an ambiguous designation. Lexus seem to be doing just that - at least for marketing in the US, where they're using "Intelligent Sport".

It'd like to go for the option of "Incredibly Sozzled" but it's a little early in the day for that :P

Can anyone tell me what the "IS" stands for in the 220/250 model name. - Merv :

Same as it does for the IS200 and 300 ..It is 'Intermediate Sedan', as the GS is 'Grand Sedan' and the LS is 'Luxury Sedan'.

"According to Lexus, the IS designation stands for Intelligent Sport"

At least that's what the Wikipedia article reckons:

Wikipedia IS

Don't know who posted it in Wikpedia, but they got it wrong. Check with Lexus :winky:

Make your own up if you like ....

Video on the lexus.com website seems to think it's "Intelligent Sport". See screenshot here:

Screenshot

Can anyone tell me what the "IS" stands for in the 220/250 model name. - Merv :

Same as it does for the IS200 and 300 ..It is 'Intermediate Sedan', as the GS is 'Grand Sedan' and the LS is 'Luxury Sedan'.

"According to Lexus, the IS designation stands for Intelligent Sport"

At least that's what the Wikipedia article reckons:

Wikipedia IS

Can I suggest a slight change to your wording? Some of the earlier models have something that is not quite right. Mine's a May 06 and comfortably achieves the sort of figures you're getting. I've seen over 60 on a drive in the country.

60?!

How on earth have you managed to achieve that sort of figure?

Funny, I can smell it to!

Smell what? You wouldn't be impugning my good name would you?

Don't get me wrong - I don't drive around getting 60 all the time, I've only managed it a couple of times and it was in a very specific set of circumstances (which I can describe if you're that interested!).

Normally I get mid to high forties, fifty plus on a long motorway run (if I'm sticking to the speed limit). Mid-thirties if I'm being enthusiastic...

That's the strange thing. In mine, to get 45+mpg, I have to try very very hard, and I am not heavy footed. Even when I'm in a rush I stick to the speed limits!!

I've only ever seen 50+ twice, for short periods of time on long 50mph "speed camera'd" straight roads, so I am truly amazed at what you guys achieve.

Romaro/VrrmVrrm - what fuel do you use - which brand I mean?

Hi Jamboo

The fuel I've always used whether I had petrol or diesel cars is always ESSO...like I said recently the current tank has done average 51.4 mpg for the last 250 miles

I'm not too fussy about fuel - normally Shell, although the stuff from the Sainsburys near me seems okay. I did notice a small but noticeable drop in fuel economy with Tesco diesel.

I've just done a trip to the Alps - one of the places I filled up with just off the autoroute really hit fuel economy seriously - it dropped by nearly 10mpg! So I think the quality of the fuel can make a big difference to the car - which makes sense given what must being going on to make it one of the cleanest and least polluting diesel engines around.

Can I suggest a slight change to your wording? Some of the earlier models have something that is not quite right. Mine's a May 06 and comfortably achieves the sort of figures you're getting. I've seen over 60 on a drive in the country.

60?!

How on earth have you managed to achieve that sort of figure?

With relatively gentle driving and staying off boost. I wasn't trying that hard though!

Just to prove I'm not telling porkies:

60+

It was actually at 65 until I headed back into town and hit the traffic lights.

yesterday I drove 140kms in Austria - 20kms in Vienna, 10kms on higway (140kph, only place where I used 6th) and the rest on country roads and villages (country road 100kph, village 50kph)

consumption 5,4 equals to 52,3 mpg

The worst part was Vienna, on arrival I had 5,3 (53,3mpg) and when leaving 5,8 (48,7mpg)

I bet if I was doing only country roads, I would be on 5,0 (56,5mpg)

PS: I realized, that when driving in mixed occasions (city, highway, country roads) the board computers shows the consumption pretty accurate, while when driving most on highway at 140-150kph (88-94mph) the BC shows 1,4mpg _less_ than reality. DO you have the same experience?

HI Matus

Like you...I do a fair amount of mixed driving as in Town & Country (No Motorway) I've currently got 6700klms on the clock and overall since the beginning I have now 6.4 litres per 100klm performance or 44.1 mpg for the last 4000+ miles. My current tank was filled to the top and at halfway usage I'm on 5.5 litres per 100 klm or 51.4 mpg... This is beyond the expectation of many but clearly achievable in the 2007 model...NEW 27th Jan 2007.

On the downside it clearly shows that the earlier models have something that is not quite right whether it's Hardware or Software is yet to be found out. Injectors or ECU remapping appear to be making a difference to some owners but when mine goes in for service I'll be saying loud and clear don't try to fix anything that is clearly not broken.

Can I suggest a slight change to your wording? Some of the earlier models have something that is not quite right. Mine's a May 06 and comfortably achieves the sort of figures you're getting. I've seen over 60 on a drive in the country.

Drove a sport the other day - almost under geared, but what a difference to motorway driving. 6th in the sport is almost the same as 5th in the SE. Boost comes in at 60mph in top making motorwaydriving fantastic!

Which equally means that 5th on the standard model is great for motorway driving. I've just done a 1500 mile round trip through France, almost exclusively on the autoroutes, and was in fifth just about the whole time (I normally use 6th where possible, but the car was quite heavily loaded and grumbled a bit about top gear).

Fifth was great for anything from 50mph to 80+mph with serious overtaking ability on tap the whole time - and still pretty decent for fuel economy (ranging from just over 50 to 45 mpg - depending how big the 'plus' was on 80+ :D).

So for those that have had the mod, is the acceleration now smoother?

I quite like the kick in the back at about 2,000rpm that I currently get. :D I'm also concerned that depending on driving style and typical journeys, having the turbo kick in earlier could potentially mean worse fuel economy.

Well my IS250SE got it's first thorough clean inside and out at the weekend and I can't stop swooning at it ever since

Anyway, I have a couple of things I can't figure out with the Satnav, so I'm hoping some of you experts can help.........

1. When I picked up the car at Lexus Leicester the voice activation for "I'm hungry", "Chinese restaurants" etc. worked fine. (I know this cos the dealer wasn't aware of the "I'm hungry" one and was most impressed when I showed him it - I'm sure he'll be using that one in his future demos to customers!). However, whenever I've tried it since I got back to Aberdeen it never works. Now I know it has understood the command as the map displays "Restaurants" in the grey box at top, but it also responds "Unable to display. Please delete a selected POI". And before you say maybe there's no nearby restaurants in the wilds of Aberdeen (!!!) there are, and if I just go through the POI options in the Destination menu it lists plenty nearby. Same problem if I say "Hotels". I added quite a few memory points on the way back from Leicester (see Q2) but it shows I've got lots of spare memory points left, and anyway I don't think the "memory points" have anything to do with the POIs. Only other thing I've done, which might be significant, is selecting various categories of POIs to be displayed on the map. I selected: All restaurants; Hotels, Petrol stations, Lexus; and I think that's about it.
   Has anyone got any ideas why the voice activation feature for POIs is no longer working for me
   I can help with the first one, as I experienced similar after gleefully shouting various things at the sat nav when I first got mine! Basically you can only select to show a few different categories of POI to show on screen at any one time, and you've selected too many. You'll need use the "old-fashioned" touchscreen method to remove a few.

I've driven the car once and already it had a lot of finger prints and the glare showed these up badly enough to make it difficult to see the picture.

Is it worth going for the quite expensive AG?

How will that cope with fingerprints?

Thanks

Well I've still got my AG one, still the same one I first put on last May, and it's still in perfect condition!

Hides the fingerprints very well - I've probably only given it a quick wipe with a microfibre cloth a handful of times.

If you wouldn't mind, please post:

- Yearly insurance premium

- Excess

- Insurer

I'm looking for people with an IS250 SE and at least 10 years full license, no convictions/points, fully comp, zero no claims (no accidents, just had company cars previously) not living in an inner city.

Just trying to find out what the premium is likely to be - I've done a couple of quotes with Admiral etc (coming out around the £700 mark) but the supposed cheap ones like A-Plan all require registration and people calling you back etc. Hell of a hassle just to get a rough idea.

A rough guide would be great. Thanks!

Just a thought, but is it possible to get your company to confirm that you haven't had any claims? My place will provide a reference letter detailing claim free period - don't know if or which insurers would accept this, but it might be worth a shot!

That surprises me. I would have assumed that a letter like that was automatic every year.

Over here in Ireland a minimum of 20 days before your renewal date you must receive a "No Claims Certificate" stating how many years you are claims free. Including years with prior companies. This gives you the power to shop around using the right information. This letter is very important because even if you decide to renew you must return it to the insurance company.

Oh yes, you'll normally get a letter from the insurance company - I was referring to the company/place of work that supplied the company cars (and presumably arranged the insurance cover too).

If you wouldn't mind, please post:

- Yearly insurance premium

- Excess

- Insurer

I'm looking for people with an IS250 SE and at least 10 years full license, no convictions/points, fully comp, zero no claims (no accidents, just had company cars previously) not living in an inner city.

Just trying to find out what the premium is likely to be - I've done a couple of quotes with Admiral etc (coming out around the £700 mark) but the supposed cheap ones like A-Plan all require registration and people calling you back etc. Hell of a hassle just to get a rough idea.

A rough guide would be great. Thanks!

Just a thought, but is it possible to get your company to confirm that you haven't had any claims? My place will provide a reference letter detailing claim free period - don't know if or which insurers would accept this, but it might be worth a shot!

PS HAS ANYONE with a 220D HIT the official figures yet consistently? Does anyone see over 50 mpg on a total motorway only run within legal speed limits? At any speed?

It is due a service in March, but it's only the 10k one, so an oil change for £185!

Yes, just about! No car I've ever had has consistently matched the official figures, but the Lexus gets the nearest most often.

My journey into work is the one I do most regularly. It's a fairly short, urban trip with more than a few traffic lights. The engine hasn't really warmed up by the time I get to work, but without fail I get 34-36mpg regardless of fuel brand. That figure will be at the lower end with enthusiastic use of the throttle, but even then it's impossible to get it any lower. I can even hit 40+ with extremely careful driving (but still at the speed limit, rather than dawdling at 20mph).

It does seem harder to achieve the figures at the other end of the spectrum on the extra-urban. If I do stick religiously to the speed limit, I'll get high 40s, low 50s depending on traffic (that's with a fairly heavily laden car too). The high 40s is easily achievable, the low 50s involves paying more attention to how I'm driving!

I am so puzzled. Do you use 6th at 70mph, 'cos I cannot get over 42mpg if I do?...if I use 5th at 70 I find 43-44mpg easier. I always managed to better stated Gov't figures with every car I have owned when used for business - my business mileage is Dual Carriageway and motorway almost from leaving my front door so the efficiancy whould always be there.

My regular jaunt to work is over 230 miles return - and that's 80% m/way and 20% fast A roads...yet even driving with a gentle foot I can manage 42-3mpg best!

I don't always use 6th at 70mph - it's happy at that speed, but for ease of overtaking, staying in 5th is sometimes better.

I've haven't tested it scientifically, but like you I do get the feeling that 6th is a bit weird with the economy! I reckon it's better than 5th for 75+ and on the flat. Any inclines and the engine labours and the economy plummets.

For comparison, the sort of journey where'd I'd comfortably get high 40s, low 50s would be a journey of 160 or so miles, would be 70% motorway, 20% dual carriageway, 5% urban, 5% country lanes. The motorway does include the M25, so there's often a stationary/crawling along phase! Maybe that's the key, make sure you spend at least an hour or two in a traffic jam, and your economy will go through the roof :P

I think my car is slightly later than yours (mine was May 2006) and all the tales of poor economy I read here just don't seem to fit with my experience (and believe me I've tried to make them fit, as it's the sort of thing I'd worry about!).

PS HAS ANYONE with a 220D HIT the official figures yet consistently? Does anyone see over 50 mpg on a total motorway only run within legal speed limits? At any speed?

It is due a service in March, but it's only the 10k one, so an oil change for £185!

Yes, just about! No car I've ever had has consistently matched the official figures, but the Lexus gets the nearest most often.

My journey into work is the one I do most regularly. It's a fairly short, urban trip with more than a few traffic lights. The engine hasn't really warmed up by the time I get to work, but without fail I get 34-36mpg regardless of fuel brand. That figure will be at the lower end with enthusiastic use of the throttle, but even then it's impossible to get it any lower. I can even hit 40+ with extremely careful driving (but still at the speed limit, rather than dawdling at 20mph).

It does seem harder to achieve the figures at the other end of the spectrum on the extra-urban. If I do stick religiously to the speed limit, I'll get high 40s, low 50s depending on traffic (that's with a fairly heavily laden car too). The high 40s is easily achievable, the low 50s involves paying more attention to how I'm driving!

Extract taken from faq section -

Q5 Is there anything else I should know about?

A5 Nothing to be concerned about, although certain users may wish to note that

you can use them with your vehicle's electronic aids left on, unlike snow chains which should NOT be used with traction control and anti skid devices (e.g. ESP / ASC+T / ASR / ABS).

they are breathable so there's no adverse effect on brake cooling.

it's recommended that users of rear wheel drive cars should also fit a set to the front wheels to provide better directional stability, especially under braking.

My understanding was that if you fit a traction device (be that snow chains or the delightful SnowPants) to just the rear wheels of RWD car then you'll probably get a fair amount of understeer but at least you'll avoid the 180 spins!

This might be a decent alternative to snowchains for the UK:

AutoSock

I've never tried them myself, but I think I'll get a pair as back to the snowchains for my upcoming trip to the Alps!

Posted in wrong thread....

I for one selectively park like you wouldn't believe - I'm not proud of occasionally parking in the kiddie bit at the local supermarket (though I wouldn't abuse the Disabled spaces).

So I started doing a search on the net to see if there was a cost effective solution:

Some are crazy (but probably totally functional):

http://www.topoftheline.com/garage-auto-door-protector.html

http://www.doordefender.com/howtoo.html

http://www.eurobumperguard.com/product_door_protection.html

Can you imagine how a Lexus would look with these things on 'em?

I think I'm at least as paranoid as you...and I confess to having already bought something like the topoftheline product listed above.

I haven't actually used it, but it is in the boot should I feel the need! I'm driving down to the French alps for a week's skiing soon, so I'm thinking it might have to come out for the pack-em-in-like-sardines car ferry trip.

Ok guys before I ring Lexus and have the shock of my life :o does anyone out there in Lexus Land know what I'm going to have to pay for a set of black Lexus car mats for my new Lexus or any good alternatives anywhere

Cheers all have a good evening

Leddy :)

It's reasonably shocking - but worth the money I think (I'm in the same boat as you - beige interior, and the black mats really set it off nicely as well as avoiding the grubby look).

It'll be around £80.

2)The Nannying MULTI MEDIA is very frustrating it stops me when moving advancing my MP3 Playlist to choose what song I want on next if i do not want the songs that are on next to each other. (Does anyone know how to bypass this or have I just not got up to that bit in the manual??) The DVD loses it's positon when not being used and goes back to the beginning of the film menu when you return ( I understand it's proberbly because i change disc's when on the move to listen to music as the films not much good to me on the move)Just a pain getting back the part of the movie you were watching.

Congratulations on the new car!

There's no easy way to bypass the menu lockout nanny (at least not without removing the centre console and snipping and joining wires).

When moving, I find it's fairly easy to navigate through my MP3s using the File/Tune dial on the left hand side. You can move through songs very quickly that way.

I'm afraid things will not improve, 1000 Miles is enough to run these cars in. :winky:

that's not true

No!!, In actual fact what you get at the outset is usually what you end up with. ;)

Well mine is definitely improving with miles - both in performance and economy (and I'm sure I'm not the only one). The engine felt very tight to begin with, but is loosening up nicely now. It makes sense that if there is physically more mechanical resistance to start with that economy will be worse.

I agree entirely with Buzzz. The satnav falls short of others I have used in some respects, but it is adequate if used carefully, the display quality is excellent and having it permanently installed is worth a lot.

I'm curious about your "adequate if used carefully" comment - personally I find it great and don't give a second thought about using it. Should I be more careful??

I'm probably being a bit of a Lexus zealot here too, but I also struggle to see where it falls short.

Hi Guys can anyone give me advice on whether or not to pay the extra and go for the MM option on my pending purchase of the 220D SE-L

Reading comment's in here the sat nav is completely NAFF but the ML sound is excellent. Does anyone know if Lexus will be updating the sat nav or what? It’s seems like a lot of money to pay for something that’s not up to the job. Sounds like my £160 Garmin Sat nav will do a better job

Cheers

Leddy

I went for it, and was very glad I did.

The ML sound is superb, you certainly won't have any complaints with that.

I personally have no problems with the sat nav. I use it all the time and find it to be accurate, and very quick to recalculate routes if you change your mind. I've yet to see any inaccuracies or missing data - though I don't doubt they're there. The software behind it is the best I've seen, and I'm sure there will be updates to the map data in the future (if there aren't already).

The quality of the screen is also extremely good (and of course allows you to watch DVDs with surround sound courtesy of Mr Levinson!) - a nice touch is that it switches to night-mode once it's dark enough outside. The touch-screen is also where you'll control a lot of the stereo and climate control options - it works well for this, although I suspect good old fashion buttons would be slightly quicker and more intuitive to use.

The reversing camera definitely makes life easier and seems to be the gadget that gets the most "oohs" and "aahs" when showing off your new motor!! :D

The Bluetooth phone connection is also part of the MM package and that works very well (though it can be a bit fiddly to set-up and transfer contacts to the car).

The voice-control is a bit of a gimmick. If nothing else, it is fun to guess at commands and see what "she" makes of them ("she" being the satnav voice, that also responds to the voice commands - sounds like a sensible middle-aged lady...probably called Maude).

It’s not a particularly exciting dilemma but I’m at work in a state of almost comatose boredom, and I haven’t got any else worthwhile to think about!

We’re letting the IS stretch its legs a bit with a trip down through France to the Alps in a few weeks time and I’m trying to work out the best option with spare tyres.

I was considering getting a full-size spare for extra peace of mind. We’ve got the base model with 16” wheels – so at least it’ll fit in the boot – but I assume I’ll have to ditch the plastic tray, lose a bit of boot space, and devise a temporary floor to go over the top of the wheel??

I imagine that’s not a particularly cheap option – does anyone have any ideas of cost of an extra alloy and tyre from Lexus? Or could I just buy a.n.other alloy at the cheapest price, as long as it has the same dimensions and tyre fitted?

Of course the other option is rely on the space-saver, the RAC cover and perhaps throw in a can of tyre weld for luck. Anyone have any experience of the cover in France?

Thanks for putting up with my ramblings - I'll go back to sleep now -_-