RedDom

Now why did you tell me this? I have the amber and the red - now I'm going to want to get the blue for the full set. I'll have to plan a trip to the Autobahns of Germany. I don't think it works on the autobahn. try it on the M4 you should see the blue flashing lights then. RD

Well My shiny new IS 220d in Black with black interior arrived yesterday. Looks fantastic, only driven a a few miles mostly in traffic but so far so good. Much quieter, more comfortable and quicker than the outgoing Saab. Other things Things i like so far: Its got a Longwave radio so i can listen to the ashes on the way to work! 6 CD's worth of MP3's minor things I'm not so keen on: Need to learn how to park again as i've given up the park assist. Can't reach out the side window to swipe into the carpark as its so high. Going to loose my license unless i get used to how quiet it is at 90+ mph. RD

The interior colours are still the same, as you say beige,black or grey. I ordered my 220d SE a month ago, and wanted black with grey interior, however they seem to have run out of grey as there was a 5 month wait, beige was a 1 month wait and black which i went for was 2 months. so that may make a difference. If i was going for a light colour paint I'd choose the black interior. The beige seats were OK but the carpets were a bit unpleasant. The best bet is to have a look under the pre-owned section of lexus.co.uk and check out the photos of the different interiors of those cars. RD

you can get an online quote here. http://www.firstvehicleleasing.co.uk/ comes out at 580 pmonth with maintenance. not sure how competitive they are as there are very few who do online quotes, you can also look at http://www.lexfreechoice.co.uk/ as they do an online quote as well. RD

Thats interesting. In the past the denison ones always came up with an FM transmitter for lexus. However i cant see a uk supplier who will do the lexus version. I can find the toyota version at for example. http://www.ipodcarkitdirect.co.uk/iPod_Car...r/Compatibility for £149, it lists two types of toyota radio , but no idea if either one are compatible with lexus. It would be an expensive guess, i think from looking on us sites that it is the same kit for both models, but not sure. RD

Is the new unit that you mention the video unit? which i guess is only of use to those lucky MM owners. the mp3yourcar one looks to me to be the same unit, its got the same photos and installation picture and is the same price. could be coincidence though. Vaistech have said they will ship to the UK for $65 (via UPS). RD

I've been looking into this a bit, though not exhaustivly. As far as i can see the Vaistech unit is the only integrated solution for the 250/220 i.e. it allows you to use the controls of the headunit on the steering wheel or nav unit to control the ipod and will display track info on the nav or radio display. Obviously the simple solution is to just use the aux-in port on the lexus to plug in any mp3 player. however you will need to use the mp3 players controls to control it (apart from the volume i think) and will not see any info displayed on the nav/radio. For those of you with the MM it may be possible to play music via bluetooth from your phone. I have no evidence for this what so ever, although the blue&me system in the alfa romeo and fiats can do this. Also i guess lexus may bring out their own ipod connector one day, but i can't see them doing anything other than ipod only. the vaistech unit seems perfect but is looking a little pricy when factoring in shipping costs and import duty. I'm guessing $420 then it needs fitting too, oh and i have to by an ipod as well, as i currently have an iriver that's not compatible. RD

Does anyone know if you can get the Vaistech ipod adapter ordered in the UK anywhere, or whether vaistech will ship to the UK? How easy is it to get the headunit out (is 220 without MM) to fit this. Only reports i can find seem to be people who have ordered this in states then shipped it themselves. ta RD

Well decision made, order in. 220d SE Black with black interior. wanted grey interior but a 5-6month wait! I think the black interior is much nicer than the beige one, although it makes the car seem a bit smaller inside, but 99% of the time its only me, and i really didn't like the colour of the beige carpets! now all i have to do is wait impatiently for 8 weeks. RD

Its a company car from the lease company we use and it seems Options are priced differently than "models", they assume 100% depreciation, which means over 3 years MM adds about 2700/36 a month wheras an SE although costing 3K more now, will be worth say 1.2K more in 3 years so the lease cost only has to pay for the difference e.g. 1800/36. illogical i know but i guess for most cars there are so many options they can't be bothered to work out seperately what they mean for depreciation. It even applies to metallic paint, where as some other companies the lease goes down if you ge metallic because it helps residuals. Had a test drive. Dealers are very nice, much better than the alfa ones, although all that sitting around drinking coffee means your eye wanders to some of the more luxurious cars! there was an 05 GS300SE with 3K miles going for 27K! Drove a black SE, done about 8K miles registered 11/05. Its definately a pretty special place to sit when driving. It seemed very quiet, maybe a little tyre noise. It certainly seems to go pretty well in 3rd and 4th between 2&3K revs. It seemed that there is a bit of a gap between 2nd & 3rd, especially when changing down in slowing traffic. Test was at 4pm in town so a lot of traffic & speed cams and not much chance to stretch its legs, kept finding i was going a lot faster than i thought, i guess the quietness was respnsible for that. Managed a quick go at 60-65 in 6th it was slow, but not much vibration in the mirror. I know everyone says go for the MM not the SE, but i did like the seats, (its one of the things i like about my current car too) and it definately looks better with 17's on. I mostly listen to the radio or my mp3 player, and have a portable sat nav for the times I'm going somewhere different, (it does traffic warnings as well). Work will pay for an aftermarket bluetooth connection. So other than the DVD functionality and parking camera I'm not sure I will be missing much and the DVD function I can't see me using. (In my saab I built an in car pc, with sat nav, dvd, mp3, TV etc, but only ever used mp3's and sat nav) I'm coming down in favour of the is220 over the 159. both seemed pretty good to drive but the lex in se trim seemed a better quality of place to be. RD

Which alfa did you test? I tested a 1.9 JTDM tuismo yesterday, I was expecting to be wowed by it but i wasn't, I'd probably go with the Lusso spec, which gets you a lot of toys as the turismo looked cheap inside. I can't stretch to the base + MM but could to a black SE. I'm going to test drive one later today. the thing I'm worried about is this 6th gear running and the vibrating mirror, hows the best way to test that? Is it obvious or just something that grows on you after time? Those people who have seen an improvement with different fuel etc does it help with the vibrating mirror? Are there any issues with high speed motorway driving in 5th instead of 6th? thx RD

Well i found out today that a 220d falls into my company car allowance, I'm torn between a 220d and an alfa 159 lusso diesel, I can only stretch to the basic 220d so i have a couple of questions about that. how comfortable are the cloth seats compared to the leather ones? are the drivers and passengers as adjustable e.g. passenger height? I think the 16 inch wheels look a little small on the basic model, but i've only seen it in black, do they look any better in any of the lighter colours? i may be able to stretch to a 220dSE in black if I'm lucky is the only difference the seats and the wheels? anyone know how much it costs to fit a rear parking sensor? also this vibrating mirror thing? is it still a problem on new 220d's I think it would really annoy me, as i seem to spend a lot of time looking behind making sure i can keep going at current speeds :) I had that problem on my current saab when it was new, and had to reduce tyre pressure a bit to make it go away decisions, decisions.......