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Cheers for the info. I have been looking at the IS250 for a while now, sold my car last weekend so finally in a position to buy. Just want to make sure I am going to buy a car that is going to be reliable.

Which dealship did you take your car to?.

Hi, i am new here and found the site searching for recall info, i have a 55 plate is250se, which i love, however the car has just been into the dealers for a service and recalls, which i knew nothing about previously, one of the recalls it turns out, is a replacement of the steering rack, which my car has had, i was not told what work had been done, i collected it Friday afternoon and drove home, the car felt 'different' to drive, not so presice on the road, i drove it again today & decided to look into things, when i jacked up one side at the front, i found that the wheel will rock about 1cm from side to side, further checks showed that the whole rack is moving on its mountings when the steering is moved, it appears that the workshop have not tightened the mountings up after fitting the new rack. you can imagine how angry i am at the moment, i have sent an e-mail to the dealer principal & await tomorrow.

Hi,

I think I have found a suitable car at Stoke Lexus, the car has done 20k miles, however reading the reviews on here has left me wondering how reliable the IS250 is. I have already driven a couple of IS250's and like the car, just concerned about the comments on this site.

Any thoughs appreciated.

Chris

I have now sold my other car and I am looking to buy a Lexus IS

IS250SE or IS250 SE-L

Auto

Silver, Grey, Black

Any interiour colour

upto 30k miles

drop me an email cjl@ti.com or give me a call on my mobile 07748146743

Went to Lexus MK on Saturday and drove thier Demo 250 SE-L Manual

I like the car alot but... the manual gear box lets the car down in my opinion.

I am now looking for an IS250 SE / SEL Auto in Silver or Grey with any leather colour combination, my limit is £14,000. If you spot somethnig let me know.

Chris

I think you'll be able to get a car from a Lexus dealer with that budget, and they come with a 12 month warranty. When I was at the dealers recently they had an IS250 SE-L auto for £12.5k on a '55' plate.........

Thanks for the feedback, been looking on the Lexus site and Autotrader, seems there are a few cars out there. Will let you know how I get on.

Chris

Hi,

I am looking to buy a manual or auto IS250 SE, my budget will strecth to around £13,000 this should get me a 55/06 plate car. I have a couple of questions:

- What issues should I look out for on the early cars

- Do any of you have experience of extended warrenties?, do Lexus GB offer these?

If anyone has or knows of a decent IS250 SE that is for sale around the £13,000 mark drop me a PM

Chris

Thanks for the very detailed thoughts, our other car is a 57 plate Golf TDI GT Sport and that too suffers from intermittant rattles (waiting for its 2nd trip to the dealer). I do not think this problem is a Lexus only problem.

Mine is an early model, it still rattles and squeaks intermittently and the dealer has been unable to fix it totally, though in the last year it hasn't been in (I don't want them to take anything else apart).

I seriously have been bitten by this badly, right from ordering the car and asking for production line verifiction that rattles would be fixed, to now - 2 years down the road. And it still rattles now and then...sometimes quite badly!

Having test driven several Courtesy's, including 250's, only one was rattle free. That is honest! Maybe I was unlucky, but I would recommend that you buy the newest you can afford - plain and simple and test drive it very thoroughly - any sounds of a "sugar cube in an empty Coffee takeaway cup" sounds are dangerous sounds, possibly even meaning that the dash may have to come out for more padding, or it could be the top speaker of the dash, which is a simple fix (though it can recur). The newer you buy the better - that way you have more original warranty left to help if it's bad! I'm dreading mine after the warranty is gone. I'd go for the post '56 platrs, with the boot/fuel release switches side by side (by the right knee).

Turn the stereo off for the first few miles of the drive. Pay particular attention to the centre console (gear stick area, handbrake area etc) by pushing against it and seeing what you hear and how much it flexes.

And finally, don't listen to salesman when he or she stats, "Naah - never heard of the rattling"...or "the LOC is full of whingers"...they are there to fleece you!

Also, don't forget - you do get 30 day no quibble exchnge for a used approved one and don't be scared to use it!

PS - SE-L's make fantastic value sense 2nd hand

Hi,

Now that I have sold my Honda S2000 I need to find something suitable to repalce it with, I have another car that I am using so I am not in any rush. I have already test driven an IS250SE Auto and have decided this is the car for me. I have a couple of questions:

- How reliable is the IS250SE Auto?

- I like the options on the SEL but am not keen on the wood trim, is this standard on all the SEL's?

- I will not be buying new, are early model best avoided?.

Thanks Chris

I had a test drive in an IS250 SE Auto at the Lexus dealer in MK today, and I am very impressed. I have always had manual cars and have never really understood the appeal of Auto boxes. Todays test drive has totally changed my opinion. I can now see why several people on this forum like the Auto.

Oh btw from your question I assume you're aware that unlike the petrol version the diesel does have a different gear ration for the sport. It improves performance but degrades fuel economy. I tried both sport and non-sport and found the sport much better to drive.

I've only had mine for 2 months so I can't say much about reliability. When I got it I had the handbrake tightened under warranty - a common fault and the clip holding the drivers carpet was missing. Oh and the wheel alignment was a little out - I bought mine after one of lexus guildfords staff had used it for 3 months - so I had that corrected too. One weekend I couldn't lock/unlock the car near my house because of interference but you can get that with any car. I've got a slight creak in the dashboard even though its a late production car but its not too bad and is mainly when cold. I'm going to wait and get that sorted when it's serviced. Apart from those minor niggles the car is utterly awesome and I love it.

I have already driven the IS220d SE and was not that impressed with the performance, I am glad that the 220d Sport is better, I must say I was very impressed with the 250 sport. The fuel economy will be better than my S2000 even if I go for the petrol version.

Oh btw from your question I assume you're aware that unlike the petrol version the diesel does have a different gear ration for the sport. It improves performance but degrades fuel economy. I tried both sport and non-sport and found the sport much better to drive.

I've only had mine for 2 months so I can't say much about reliability. When I got it I had the handbrake tightened under warranty - a common fault and the clip holding the drivers carpet was missing. Oh and the wheel alignment was a little out - I bought mine after one of lexus guildfords staff had used it for 3 months - so I had that corrected too. One weekend I couldn't lock/unlock the car near my house because of interference but you can get that with any car. I've got a slight creak in the dashboard even though its a late production car but its not too bad and is mainly when cold. I'm going to wait and get that sorted when it's serviced. Apart from those minor niggles the car is utterly awesome and I love it.

I have already driven the IS220d SE and was not that impressed with the performance, I am glad that the 220d Sport is better, I must say I was very impressed with the 250 sport. The fuel economy will be better than my S2000 even if I go for the petrol version.

Does the IS250 run on 95 unleaded petrol?.

Chris,

Welcome to LOC. I'm presuming you're opting for the manual gearbox by not considering the SE or SE-L, (although I believe the 259 Sport may be available as an auto).

There's no difference in the gearing ratio, or the engines between the various IS250 models but in published performance figures the auto is more economical than the manual.

My own IS250 SE-L Auto returns an average 28 mpg, and this figure comes from my overall total of 6,500 miles (mixed urban and motorway).

The IS220D boys will be along soon, no doubt, claiming 40-50 mpg :D

Thanks for the quick responses

Yes I am after a manual IS, i am not really a fan of Auto cars although I have heard that the Lexus Auto box is very good.

Have your cars been reliable?, i have seen mixed comments on this forum

I currently have a Honda S2000 but feel I need something a little more practical. I have the option of taking a company car or sticking with a private buy so bot the IS250 Sport and IS220d are an option.

- For those with the IS250 Sport what MPG are you getting?.

- For those with the IS220d Sport what MGP are you getting?, I have seen the threads on fuel consumption but most seem to relate to the SE model which is supposed to be better than the Sport.

- How reliable is the IS250 Sport / IS220d Sport?, my S2000 has been faultless, I have covered 37,000 miles in 3 1/2 years and use the car every day.

Many thanks for your help.

Chris

Thanks for the comments.

I am considering a change to an IS 250 or 220 Sport. I have a Honda S2000 right now which I have been very happy with for the past 3 years but feel like its time for a change to something more practical.

I have a couple of questions:

- I would really like leather but this is not an option on the sport, how easy are the seat to keep clean?.

- What's the reliability of the new IS like?. I will not be going for a new model so I would appreciate any comments about the early models.

Thanks Chris