Hello Gents,
This is my first post here, I hope that you dont mind me putting my introduction here before I add to this topic. We bougt one of the last IS200s about six months ago from Lexus Stoke as an ex demo, in SE trim, she had around 5000 miles on her, six speed manual, satnav, colour black. It is predominantly the wifes car, she fell inlove with it as soon as she saw it and hasn't stopped smiling since, it was two weeks before I was allowed to drive it. Whilst looking for a replacement for our 3 year old RAV4, we did go to look at a new 3 series, but she flatly refused to get in to the 3 stating that it was an airheads car, I wasn't too sure if the budget would stretch to a Lexus, but was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the toys that we wanted were standard, and the sat nav which I then regarded as an expensive toy was invaluable on the Easter bank holiday when an uncle who lives in Bavaria died unexpectedly and I found myself driving my elderly mother, aunt and sister on a 2000mile round trip to the village of Gankofen, deep in the heart of BMW country ( many of the people who live there work for BMW) The journey was totally uneventfull, speeds topped an indicated 130mph on the unrestricted sections of the autobahns, the car ran faultlessly and the satnav, which, remember, I regarded as an expensive toy was fantastic, she even told me which lane to be in.
I did note that on all of the run down, I didn't see a single other Lexus, let alone an IS, and it did recieve more than one or two double takes when parked up.
So Mr Clarkson, ladies dont like Lexus, I'm glad that I don't live in Chipping Norton, the ladies must be quite insufferable. And peole dont care about reliable? I also own A VW 174bhp T5 Van and it goes like a train, unfortunately it is about as reliable, I can empty a VW showroom now just by pulling up on the front.
The Lex is due in for its first service shortly and Lexus Stoke have offered us a IS250 as a runabout, my wife had booked the day off so she can play with it, this could get expensive for me