Dayglows

Maybe the robots were on the blink that Friday afternoon or the quality inspectors were a bit sloshed on Saki whilst they were celebrating the few few cars off the production line. Wife already dragged me off to the Mercedes garage but I was surprised at how small the boot was on the new C Class and CLS. No benefit in changing really. But to be honest, I have really enjoyed my Lex over the last few months. Over Christmas I managed to squeeze an awful lot of stuff into the boot which really surprised me. Like you Jam, if I changed for another Lex with would have to be a Hybrid but looking at the boot on the GS that wont be an option but I must admit, I do like the 400h. :)

Well my Lex has gone back into Lexus to have the issues I posted above investigated. Another issues that cropped up last weekend was that I noticed a crease in the fabric of the drivers side windscreen pillar. Upon further investigation I noticed that the dashboard had come loose AGAIN....... It rocked up and down when I pushed it. This is the same issue that I had a year ago when Lexus GB took the car away for 3 months to fix it. So every time I went over a bump the dashboard would bounce, but I didn't hear any noise because Lexus GB presumably put lots of padding in the dash when they fixed it to stop the noise. But you can see where it has been bouncing up and down as it is rubbing on the pillar fabric. The car went to Lex on Wednesday and they said that it would be back on Saturday. After previous experience I jokingly said that I bet it isn't. Funnily enough, I get the call to say that Lex will need it for 5 days to investigate why the dash has come loose again. Weird...... Friday afternon car or what?

Just had my 20,000 service today and had Lex have a look at the issues. The car has to go back for 2 days to investigate the gearbox issue properly and unfortunately the dash has to come out again... Eeeeekkkkk..... to get the fix implemented for the drivers side air vent vibration which aparently Lexus now have a fix for. The vibrating seat belt adjuster by the drivers ear is also being replaced as this vibration drives me nuts too. The mechanic is not sure what the needle rattles are but is still looking at it. I too thought is was because I kept my finger on the button for too ong but the noise has got worse. The foot rest next to the cluth had also broken and this needs to be reorderd. I have to say having the dash out again makes me really nervous. I hope more rattles aren't introduced when it comes back. Please no........

From what I remember the variable servicing on the BMW's were taken from the amount of fuel being passed into the engine. Therefore you could go above the 15k average if you are never stationary but if a lot of your driving is in town then the service indicator will come on a lot sooner. I had a 3 series and a Z4 and I drove the 3 series very carefully and caned the Z4. The 3 series was a 2.5 and the z4 a 3.0. The 'mileage until service' indicator came around at about the same times on both cars at about 13,200. I have noticed on the Lex that you can set the 'next service due' date in the settings on the Sat Nav screen. This must be the 'reminder' screen. However mine is now due it's second service but the date is set at October so hopefully Lex will reset it when it goes in for the service. On another note, are replacement tyres worth getting fitted by Lexus? I know with the BM's that BMW were very competitive when replacing tyres.

Thanks for the reply Northern Boys. It wasn't that the map was incorrect as I know that not everything can be perfect all of the time but it was Audi's ignorance or willingness to even feedback to the suppliers that it needed correcting. It was a case of, we have your money now, thank you and goodbye. It was that attituite that really got my back up. Thanks for the info on the dial rattle too. I have seen other posts from people who have had their dash replaced under warranty for the same thing so I will have Lex look at it next time it is in. Also thanks to Bevrock for the gearbox info. Hopefully this can be sorted too. Not that it is a major thing but it is annoying and makes my spine tingle every time the gears crunch. Awesome find Jamboo. Thank you. I have filled out the update on there now. Good luck with your pursuit of the RS4. What a motor..... Pity it's supplied by Audi. :( I'm really looking forward to the ISF. It looks on paper to be awesome. I wonder how it will drive. Has anybody got any idea of the fuel consumption of it as it looks as though any one buyting it will need to have access to an oil well? Audi is haunting me again as ISF is FSI backwards. :(

That is attrocious. I feel for you too Eunos. When my local Lexus dealer was trying to fix the rattles the first time around they damaged the screen. They then changed it for the screen out of another car which then made the SatNav go haywire. It was driving accross fields and in totally different directions to where I was going. Luckily Lexus GB did send out their area after sales manager to come and look at my car. He was awesome, he listened to every speak and rattle and saw immediately that the screen they replaced was actually incompatible with the system in my car. Lexus GB changed it when they had the car and it was working fine when I got it back but I went through a nightmare month or so until Lex GB finally took it away. But it was nothing like your experience so I am gutted for you mate. I hope you get it sorted soon. Surely Lex GB should be involved in this. I can't believe that they have not contacted you back.

I know what you meant Jam. ;) It was more the way that they treated me as a customer after taking 27k for the car. They just didn't seem interested in imporving their cars. I tried to help them help themselves but they had no process for feeding back problems with the car except through dealer reports that are sent to the factory for investigation, which the dealer incidentloy refused to do. They said it was just one of those things and I was just unlucky that it was the road that I lived on that was spelt incorrectly. Surely as a company that must have a massive contract with the map supplier for their discs they should at least have some concern for the quality of the maps being provided. The SatNav also did not have TMC working either which was advertised in the brochure. Audi said that thye 2006 discs did not have TMC enabled although it was clearly advertised in the brochure. They also did not want to fix the TMC until I pointed out that they had advertised it in the brochure as having TMC. So averall my experience with Audi has not been the best. So I will not get an RS4 that I had on my shortlist. Looks like the ISF is getting lonely on my ever decreasing shortlist. ;)

Jamboo: I have exactly the same noise and reported this to Lexus when they originally took my car away about a year ago. The report I got back from Lexus GB was that they had tested many cars and all of the new IS's made the same vibration noise and it was a 'characteristic' of the new IS. However, they had taken video evidence of the vibration noise and sent it off to the factory. I have heard nothing since or whether there is a fix for it or not.

Hi all, I have now had my IS250 SE with MM for over a year and a half now and after the initial issues with the shakes, rattles and squeaks I have had a few other anomolies pop up and I wondered if anyone else has the same. I have now done 19k in the car and it's coming up for it's second service but I want to check whether any one else was experiencing the same behaviors. 1. When I accelerate hard in 1st then 2nd then 3rd and then try to drop it into 6th the gears crunch. The same happens in 4th too. However, if I try to put in into 4th or 5th from 3rd the gearbox wont let me until the revs have dropped. It's only 6th that lets me 'try' to drop it stright in. Is this normal? 2. When I press start and the speedo and rev dials whizz around I now get a rattling sound from the dash like they are loose, although I doubt it's the needles themselves. I'm not sure even if that noise has been there all along and I have just never noticed it. 3. The last thing is something that I told Lex about when I had my first bout of issues. The seatbelt height adjustment in the drivers side pillar vibrates going over rough serfaces. Its so annoying. I originally thought it was the seatbelt itself or the door but when I hold the adjuster the vibration stops. So I'll certainly be asking for thise to be changed. 4. When it is sunny and I drop the drivers side sun visor it makes the most horrific squeak like an old rusty door. I'm sure this should be quite easy to fix. I still get the odd intermittent rattle, crack and squeak but overall the cars held together quite well since Lex took it to their HQ to fix it. Apart from the issues above, I still love getting into my Lex every day and having the silent drive to work. I have toyed with getting other cars but after getting into other cars it just makes me appreciate my Lex even more. On another note, I bought my wife a Brand New A3 sportback with the DVD based Sat Nav. When we drove the car home we realised that our roadname was spelt incorrectly on the SatNav system. So every time we get in the car we can see our roadname displayed incorrectly which is slightly embarassing when we have passengers. Instead of Drive it displays Dirieve so it's not even close. When I raised it with the dealer they basically said unlucky. So I phoned Audi UK who said that I would have to phone the people who supply the maps to Audi and tell them. I was horrified. Basically Audi wanted to wash their hands of it. I am so grateful of the service I get from Lex when I have experiences like that. Any chance of me ever buying another Audi flew out of the window with that experience. Thank goodness for the customer service I get from Lex. :)

Hmmmm. I had an IS200SE and had exactly the same thing happen. The brakes didn't fail totally but I had to force them down with some kind of force to get them to engage. I was pushing my back through the chair. I was doing 60 at the time on a dual carriageway and noticed by accident so had plenty of time to slow down. It was scarey though. Then I took the car to the dealers they said that the master cylinder had failed. The car was out of warranty even though it was just over 2 years old as I had done 61,000 miles. The dealer said it was the first time they had heard of one going on a Lexus and replaced it free of charge. I thought it was just one of those things. I wonder how many of these actually do fail??? I hope my IS250 doesn't have the same weakness as I now have a 7 month old baby travelling in the back!!!

I am lucky enough to have a pre 23rd March 2006 registered IS250 which doesn't drop into Band G. Pre 23rd March 2006 cars drop into band F. Unfortunately Band F went up in the Budget from £190 to £205 but not as bad as band G. So if you are going to buy a second hand IS250, buy one that is registered before 23rd March 2006. :D

One thing I would say about the rubber matts is that you need to be careful with them as they do not have the fixing lugs. I was driving into town with my little boy in the back and the wife and the accelorator got stuck under the matt and stayed down. The car lurched forward and nearly went into the car in front. Obviously I pushed the clutch in and stopped but I immediately took them out and only use the normal carpeted ones now. I saw them as too dangerous. They did keep the car clean though and are a high quality matt.

Like Jamboo I have had my faor share of issues with my IS250. From the windscreen intermittently making a cracking noise over bumps to the air vent on drivers side rattling (and also a vibrating air vent which aparently is an IS characteristic), 3 new drivers seats, the speaker vent noise etc etc etc.... The list goes on. I bought the car originally from Lexus Poole even though I live in Swindon as they had the right colour and spec I was after. Without even viewing the car I bought it over the phone as I already knew what they were like. already. Went to pick the car up I have to say that Lexus Poole were excellent. Taking the car back to Swindon I then has the warranty work undertakien by Lexus Swindon which after numerous attempts at failing to fix the problems I got LGB involved. They took the car away for nearly 2 months!!! When I got it back (by this time Lexus had the car more time that I had) it was almost fixed. The biggest difference was it was a LOT quieter. There was still the air vent vibration which the Lexus technical centre said was aparent on ALL IS250's and a recording was taken and sent to the factory. Another issue that I have with the car is that when the rev's go over 5,000RPM i get a loud hissing from the drivers footwell and what soounds like a light metallic rattle. I was told that this was due to the location of the 'brake' pipes around the footwell and again a recording was taken and sent to the factory. Has anyone else had this issue? I haven't heard anything since on whether there is now a fix for these issues? I suppose Lexus never contact you again to tell you that a fix is now available. All that said, when I tried to reject the car I was told that I had to deal with the garage I bought it from and they would have to have a fair crack at fixing the issues. Therefore i would have to start again from scratch. The car now is now quiet unless I go over a pothole or something and then the car does creak. However, the noises are no where near as intrusive as they used to be and this is still better than what it was like before so I am grateful that I don't have all of the creaks and bangs that it used to have so i'm of the view that it's better the devil you know etc. So as long as I don't go over any bumps I can have a nice relaxing drive. I also bought my wife a new Audi A3 2.0T and I have to say that I so much prefer the Lexus. The Audi is intrusively noisy from the engine and wind noise which is also intrusive made me realise just how special the Lexus was. Even with it's faults, it is still a much more relaxing and nicer car to drive. I was considering changing it soon but what do I go for? I want a quiet car, but I also do not want one that I have to take back to the garage all the time because it breaks down. Mercedes are quiet cars but they tend to visit the garage quite frequetly with problems. I bought myself and my wife a BMW convertible, (3 series and Z4) and both were back within a month of getting them for things going wrong with them. The only car I have ever owned that was 100% reliable and a fantastic car overall was the IS200 which never, ever went wrong. My ideal car would be a quiet IS250 that didn't creak, with SatNav that I could program on the move, with heated seats that actually get hot instead of warm (as I have a bad back and heated seats are always first on the options list), with a slightly bigger boot, oh, and a new digital clock in the centre console as it looks so outdated. The car would have been so much better if the clock would have matched the drivers display. Oh and I nearly forgot, all of the freebees the US models get..... Sunglasses holder......Auto door locking when driving.....etc. etc. So in summary, I am happy with the IS knowing that I would get problems with any new car. It is a pleasant relaxing, reliable and comfortable drive. So I am relatively happy with it ATM. So if I did change, what do I get? Stay with Lexus, nice quiet car but riddled with rattling probelms (good service from Lexus GB and is 'the devil I know') or try a Mercedes as I quite like the CLS and it seems a quiet car?

News and pic of the IS500 coupe. http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/in...hp/t440549.html

I feel for you Jamboo. I had the intermittent noises from the air vent too as well as the door card and centre speaker and drivers and passengers seat and.....and....and...... anyway, my car went in to the local Lexus dealer 3 times and they couldn't fix it. Eventually Lexus GB took it away to their technical centre and fixed the lot. I ended up having a second new drivers seat and more insulation in the passenger seat as the back squeaked on it. I must say that the car came back after 2 months quiet as a mouse apart from a virbrating airvent (probably the dead mouse you were talking about) but they seem to have fixed the rest. The only noise I have now (that started yesterday) is coming from the passenger headrest which seems to rattle over rough surfaces. At the technical centre they test the car over lots of different surfaces and have the ability to heat the car and cool it to test it at different temperatures as some of the noises were temperature sensitive. I got a report back with the car of what work had been done by the technical centre, and for the airvent (where I had a tapping noise and a vibrating noise) the fix came back that more insulation was added for the wiring to stop the tapping noise but the vibration noise wasn't fixed. The report said that other test cars (presumably the press cars that they have there) were also tested and the vibration coming from the air vent was aparent on all the IS250's they tested and was not only on my car. The report said that video evidence and recordings were taken and sent off to the factory in Japan. So I still have a vibrating air vent which isn't so noticeable now all the other noises have gone. Good Luck with getting it sorted!!!!! P.S. I have ordered the Carlack 68 and P21s. I'm going to give the car the treatment this weekend after seeing how nice yours looked. :D

I use Privilege who guranatee to beat your renewal quote if you have 4+ years NCD. I found them considerably cheaper then anyone else and I tired about 10 companies. Fill in the online quote at www.privilege.co.uk and see how much. There is an online discount too. :D

The SatNav screen does not automatically dim when the lights come on. At dusk the lights will come on but the SatNav screen stays bright. The screen will only dim when it is quite dark.

When my 250 SE went in for some work to be done I was given 250 SE-L as a loan car. I was surprised by how quiet the car was over my SE model on all surfaces. When I checked the tyres it was running on Dunlops and my car is running on Bridgestones. I am thinking of changing the tyres to the Dunlops as they seem a lot quieter. Has anybody else found this?

I have the Cosifix Cabriofix on the Isofox base and it fits fine. You also get plastic protectors to slide into the spaces that the ISOfix goes into so you don't damage the leather when sliding the base in and out. The base itself has red and green clip displays to show whether the seat is fitted correctly. I spoke to Cosifix and they said that as long as the displays are green, the base is fixed in position as it only shows green wen the clips are locked. They also said that they will be testing the fitments of the cosifix on the IS250 soon which basically just checks to see if it fits. When the cosifix is in the base itself the front seat has to be moved forwards to get the seat in so there is not the usual legroom. Is anyone finding that with the Brittax?

After my previous posts about the problems with my IS250 I wrote to Steve Settle and Gill Want at Lexus GB. They replied to me and sent an area manager out to inspect my car. I must admit I was really impressed with the Area Manager. He was dedicated to listen to every noise the car was making over a number of different surfaces and speeds. He noted them all down no matter how minor and said that he would like to take the car away to their technical centre by Gatwick Airport. They took my car on that day and provided me with a loan car. Anyway to cut a long story short and swapping cars 4 times, I ended up with a 400h with the DVD screens in the headrests etc. I must admit it was a really nice motor but was in Gold, sorry Champagne.... Anyway, Lexus had my car for 7 1/2 weeks. Yes seven and a half weeks. I got the car back last Friday with a full report of what Lexus had done to it and after driving it for a few days I can confirm that I now have a QUIET IS250. I didn't think I would see the day but my car is now quiet when it is being driven. This is now the car that I expected when I first bought it from Lexus and I can now enjoy it. It seems like a totally different car when you don't have the annoying rattles in your ears. The car is truely awesome. The list of changes made included: - Insulation in the back of the front passenger seat as it squeaked where the passenger has their back, another new drivers seat (which is my second brand new new seat), a new Sat Nav antenna and system. new interior front door panels, new driver door window surround, new driver knee air bag cover, insulation around door speakers, more insulation in dash and around wiring looms and they also changed the centre console next to the cup holders where there was a chip taken out of it (which wasn't their fault). So Lexus DID listen to me and fix the car to how it should have left the factory. I have been impressed with their commitment to get the car right although it did seem excessively long (this was due to the lack of available parts that were needed and had to be ordered in from Japan). Anyone else who is having problems I would say that it is worth pursuing to get Lexus to put the car right. I did and now I have the car back and it is a dream to be in and drive as I hoped it would be when I originally bought it. To top it off I got the call to say my car had arrived back at the dealers on Friday when I was at the hospital as my wife had just given birth to our first child. When i went to collect the car Lexus had a Lexus Teddy Bear and a bottle of champagne in the car as a present for my wife and the new baby. It made collecting my car that little bit better. :D

I have the Cosifix Isofix system and the base which is seperate from the chair itself never moves. It clicks in to the Isofix clips in the back of the seat and the base holds itself up with the arm that is put into the footwell. When you put the chair in and take it out it clips into the base and therefore keeps the leather on the seats untouched. I'm not sure about the seats that do not have the base. I opted for the base as I was concerned like you that the child seat going directly onto the leather could damage it over time.

I would recommend the Maxi-cosi Priory Fix. Maxi-Cosi regularly come top of the safety charts. This seat also comes with the isofix fittings so doesn't not need to be attached to the seat belts in the IS250. The chair is from 9kg-18kg = 9 month to 4 years. It costs £199 and is expensive for a car seat but it's a small price to pay for the safety of your child. (and it looks awesome too). :D http://www.twoleftfeet.co.uk/Maxi-Cosi_Pri...eflection2.html Lexus also have car seats available. It may be worth popping into the dealership and having a chat with them. http://www.lexus.co.uk/lexus_cars/is_new/i...s_interior1.asp

I thought that the snow button was a great idea on my old IS200 until I came to use it. I pressed the snow button as it was snowing and when I went up a steep hill the IS got stuck. There were Vectra's, polo's etc driving passed me as the back wheels would spin and then stop and then spin again and stop on the spot. I was going nowhere, so I turned it off and wheel span up the hill. It was the only way I could go up. On the way home that evening coming down the hill the traffic was going very slow as it was like sheet ice. The car in front of me was a new plate 5 series BMW and so i was being careful not to slide into the back of it. However, the IS's anti lock brakes stopped working when the car was nearly at a standstill and the car was sliding towards the 5 series. I had to let the brakes off and swerve out of the way to miss it. I decided it was best to leave the car on the hill by the side of the road due to me not having confidence to stop. I phoned Lexus about this and they told me that the ABS only works above 2mph. So under this speed the car will slide. Albeit very slowly, it would still have damaged the 5 series.

I have an IS250SE with MM and I usually hit 32-33mpg. My record is 43 on a long motorway run with the cruise set at 80 all the way. Around town it does dip a bit but as always it depends on the way you drive it.

36. This is my second Lex. Had an IS200 SE at 30 and had for 3 years. Had a BMW convertible for 2 1/2 years in between but really missed my Lex so got another.