romaro

Ah, wondered where it was hiding! Thanks very much. I'm just about to get the windscreen replaced and my local dealer had a bit of trouble working out the exact part - aparently there are various options - some with sensors but no heating element, some with no sensors but a heating element. Just wanted to make sure the 'sensors' referred to were the rain sensors and not the light sensor!

Just a quickie :P Anyone know where the light sensor is on the new IS (the one that controls the automatic headlights/night mode switching)? Ta very much!

Well Jamboo was pretty much agreeing with those figures - he said IS250 possibly quicker to 60 but once on the move the prodigious torque of a diesel engine will be an advantage.

Going serious for a moment, the lower leg results are dissapointing. Although NCAP refer to the knee airbags and the Lexus claim of less damage to the legs, the brake pedal moving into the cabin by 100mm is surpising. I thought the old Audi safety system (from the 95 A4 onwards!) pulled the pedal box away from the driver in an impact I'm sure that could have been rectified in the new IS though. The rest is good news though, apart from flying, spinning pensioners of course.. I made a comment about this in a previous post (the results have been out for a while). Earlier post The IS lost a point on frontal impact because the brake pedal moved back by more than 100mm. According the result, it actually moved 101mm! I'm not going to worry about that extra mm!

I don't think you're giving your lovely Lexus enough credit :P I've just been outside to have a look (yes, I do have a very exciting life, spending Friday evening sat in my car (my girlfriend is watching Gardener's World!)). Anyhow, the sat nav set-up menu has an option for time zone. Here you can enter Greenwich (i.e. the UK), Central European or Eastern European as your time zone. There's also an option for daylight saving. Mine has automatically changed to 'No' as of 29th October.

Nope - and no it isnt there from what i can see. the arrival time stated does say "GMT" but surely a car and mm system this clever, could work out that we are on GMT -1 at present. Even my 8 yr old VCR can do that ! Not sure if I'm being helpful or pedantic here - but we're on GMT at the moment. During the summer we're on BST (GMT + 1). Did you remember to change the clock in your car?? :D

you have the right to have it repaired, but the insurance company have the right to say where unless you can prove that it would invalidate your warranty, although most warrantys only insist work is done to the manufacturers specified standard, hence why most dealers can sub the work to local bodyshops Actually, most insurers will allow you to use the bodyshop of your choice. For example, this is Direct Line's policy: "If our approved repairers carry out the repairs, you do not need an estimate and work can start immediately. Or, you can arrange for reasonable and necessary repairs to be carried out at a repairer of your choice, as long as you give us a detailed repair estimate and full details of the incident before the work begins."

Sorry if this is a silly question, but wouldn't it have been easier to unlock the car manually using the key - rather than calling the RAC?

I have the Brechin slate with the beige interior on my 220D. I'd been planning on the black interior but it was a long waiting list. The dealer just happened to have a Brechin slate with the beige interior that had just arrived and was due to be a showroom car...so I waited a grand total of about 6 days to get my new car! I was a little unsure about the beige when I first saw it, but it quickly grew on me. It makes the interior seem quite light and airy and I've had a few comments about the "posh" interior! Also thought it would pick up marks quickly, but so far no problems at all and it's wearing very well. The one change I made almost immediately was to replace the beige mats with black ones!

The NHTSA (US equivalent of NCAP) haven't tested the new IS yet.... Even if they had, I can't imagine the driver would hit the bonnet! Not meaning to disagree with you here, but safety was high on the list when I bought the car, and I'm confident it is a very safe car.

The only problem they note with the front impact is that the brake pedal travelled rearwards by more than a 100mm - precisely 1mm further rearwards than that! Slightly surprised that one of the other latest test results - the new Honda Civic - only managed 4 stars.

Results are out - 5 stars!! (naturally)

Well, had a rough quote from Lexus this morning - £1200 :o This is for respraying the three panels affected and replacing the windscreen. The windscreen itself would need to be removed in order to do some of the respraying (chips to the paint right at the top of the windscreen), so might as well put a new one in! The chap estimating the work was a bit dubious of the Chipsaway option. He thought it was okay for older cars and as long as it was fairly low down and out of the way on the bodywork. In more obvious places he suggested the colour difference would show and that the finish would deteriorate over time. Fair comments? Anyone have any experience of these sort of repairs and going through insurance? Can I insist that I want Lexus to carry out the work? I'm concerned they'll want it done by Dave's Dogdy Dent Shop! (apologies if there is Dave out there who runs a dodgy dent shop - I'm sure you do sterling work...)

Thanks for all the replies so far guys. I agree with you Jamboo - I'd definitely want to go down the repair route on the windscreen if at all possible. I'm probably being paranoid, but I would have my doubts about someone like Autoglass replacing the windscreen and doing an as-good-as-new job. Does anyone have any idea of windscreen replacement cost if going through Lexus? My insurers will still cough up some money (not as much though) if I don't go with their preferred windscreen fitters.

Last night a group of inebriated teenagers decided it would be great fun to take bits of wood out of a nearby skip and mindlessly throw them at cars. Unfortunately my 220D was one of the casualties - scratches to the bodywork, a few chunks out of the plastic windscreen surround and lots of scratches on the windscreen. Now I'm a peaceful sort of fellow most of the time, but if I were to find those same kids again and happen to have a big stick in my hand... Anyway, the real purpose of this thread is ask for some help and advice from you knowledgeable people. I naturally want to get everything repaired, and to the best standard possible. What's the best option for removing scratches on the glass? They're mainly relatively light scratches, but you can I feel the scratches with my fingernail. Not too keen on the DIY kit option, which seems to involve drills and spinning discs! I've found these guys, who seem pretty decent: Glass Doctors Anyone have any experience of them? The link above about a scratch on an X5 being repaired suggests that I might be able to claim it on my insurance. Would I need to report the vandalism to the police in order to claim on my insurance? If the windscreen has to be replaced, I'd definitely want an original Lexus one. Any ideas on cost? The scratches to the bodywork aren't too bad. I've polished out some of them already, but some are a bit more stubborn - still light scratches, but I can feel these scratches with my fingernail. Would these eventually polish out (have just tried AutoGlym polish so far)? If so, any hints/tips on how to do it and what to use? Failing that, I guess I'll need the services of something like Chipsaway. I've had some experience of them before, and they did a pretty reasonable job. Would it be better to go to Lexus themselves for the highest quality repair job though? Sorry for all the questions - my heads in a bit of a whirl and I'm somewhat devastated! :( Any advice would be really appreciated!

I find the cloth seats in mine very comfortable. I've only tried the leather briefly on a test drive, but in comparison the cloth is just as comfortable, if not more so (slightly softer I'd say). Both the driver and passenger seat have identical adjustments - including height and angle of the front of the seat. I think the SE and above have lumbar adjustment, which the base model doesn't have (but are otherwise identical). I agree the 16 inch wheels don't really fill the arches, though lighter colours do help. Mine's a Brechin Slate and they don't look out of place. In compensation, the smaller wheels do give you a better ride, and slightly reduced tyre noise. As for a parking sensor, if you can stretch to the MM pack with the rear view camera, you won't need one!

It does sound like your car is behaving differently to mine. Mine was delivered at the end of May and with just over 2,750 miles on the clock, I can use 6th from just under 50mph (equating to about 1,000 rpm). The acceleration at that speed is fairly glacial, but it's happy enough with no thrum or vibration - even on quite an incline. Yes, I did check - it's not a Sport (if it is, I'm missing some bigger wheels and a few toys!). Economy hasn't improved dramatically from new, but I'm still pleased with it. In urban stop-start driving it won't go below 30 (about 32 as a minimum with enthusiastic driving, 35+ otherwise - based on a short trip from a cold start). Motorways and longer trips are comfortably into the high 40s/low 50s without needing to try. To me, it seems there's either some dramatic variablility between cars, or there is a genuine problem with cars of an earlier build.

That's all I wanted to hear - no-one's allowed to dis the Levinson! Especially after I paid all that extra money for it... :P Agree with you on the space/positioning issues of speakers within a car environment. I suppose even in that confined space there is good and bad positioning and design of audio components. I think the ML system does quite well given the limitations of space.

I agree with much of what you say, but I personally wouldn't put the Mark Levinson system in the category of "inferior OEM amplifier and speakers"! Yes, a decent home set-up is going to outperform it, but it's the best I've ever heard in a car.

The Mazda RX-8 I traded in for the IS250 had electric steering, so not quite unique :) The steering was better on that, but the MPG was pants :( Barry I never knew that.... :) The mini and BMW Z4 also have electric power steering :) And my old Toyota Corolla did too. Most modern cars have electric power steering - it gives an economy improvement of up to 2mpg compared to a hydraulic system. Incidentally, I think they went back to hydraulic power steering with the Z4M. It's still the best in terms of feel!

"but I am currently using the microfibre and the Lex spray that came with the car..." Hmmm, lucky you. I got diddly squat with my collection The Expansys protector mentioned during your original thread seems to have gone, so I will try the other suggestions above - thanks guys. J - if you are still thinking of getting one, perhaps we could share the order or whatever ?? T Expansys have got this one still available: Expansys Screen Protector I'm using the original one I mentioned in the earlier thread (cut down to size with a photographic guillotine for a neat edge) and it's doing a fantastic job. No glare, no bubbles and pretty resistant to finger prints.

Don't forget BMW face lift every 6 months! :winky: Yeah, that's because they're still desperately trying to find a design that doesn't make people physically sick... :P

cost cutting - I bet it's only missing software!! I bet all of the wiring is already there or provided for in the main looms and ECU. If I remember rightly, neither the base or SE have memory for the seats and mirrors. So that could be why those models lack the mirror tilting - the car wouldn't be aware which position to return the mirrors too. Or it could just be cost-cutting like you say!

I've absolutely no idea if they're any good but I did find this a while back: Diesel Tuning

Well I think I've solved it! There was a very small stone caught in the lip of the heat-shield. Small stone = big rattle! :P