Cooper S

I just thought I would say good bye to you all. I have not been active on the site for sometime, having sold my 220D some months ago. I could never get used to the gearing and in my opinion it spoilt a good car. I enjoyed reading the various post and taking part from time to time. Watch out on ebay for a genuine Lexus boot liner. Cheers and good luck

I did not drill, but put rear flap in place and then used a sharp point to mark position of self tapping screw. Then opened out a small hole in the plastic trim and used this. I should have pointed this out to others, Im sorry for any confusion. You can drill if you want to, into plastic lip, just take it easy if you do this, only a few turns on the drill will be needed due to thickness of the plastic. The fronts dont require any drilling, fitting is as instructions. Agree with what BTB says over plastic post, just needs trimming off.

None available at the moment, but I can take a few tonight, weather permitting and post tomorrow. (Hopefully!!)

Hi Andrew I bought a set of colour coded flap from the same supplier. No problems with fitting, no drilling etc, instructions were ok. The quality and colour match are good as well. Delivered with no problems. I hope this helps, if you need any further info pm me.

I have experienced the same problem over the weekend, driving along motorway 70 ish and there was a hell of a noise, which gave me a shock as I did not see anything coming towards me i.e stone etc. No obvious damage to windscreen. I looked when I got home and found a dented and chipped area at the front of the roof, roughly above the interior lights. I have touched up temporarily, but Im wondering if I will get away with a smart repair, by removing light fixtures to get access. I dont want a respray of the roof. It is not immediatetly noticeable, you have to deliberately look on the roof, so hopefully when I come to trade in time no one will notice!!

I agree that my reply was off topic, but so where the others!! :) To answer correctly - No :D

I use Turtle Wax brake dust barrier, works in the same way as the other products mentioned.

Austin P I dont know if you are aware but a facelifted 9-3 will be available this year. This will affect residuals but you should also make sure you get a good deal on the run out models.

Very nice, the profile looks so much better with the lowered suspension allowing the wheels to fill the arches.

The Mole Thanks for the information, it makes very interesting reading. At least the ecu mod should help with low down torque. Harrydavy Although you said fuel consumption had not improved, what about improved low rev performance? Thanks

Jamboo You missed the step ladder in the last photo!!

Jamboo Im sure that the person at Newcastle said "re-programme" and that a Lexus Regional Manager had been briefing them the day before. But who knows? Unless someone knows a friendly Lexus Technician in order to clarify what is really being done? Perhaps the others who have posted and had the work done can confirm or not? I think this may lead to another call to Newcastle or Bradford!!

Im not aware of anything to quote. However when I spoke to Newcastle they knew all about the re-programme, but unfortunately I had to cancel. I spoke to Bradford the following week in order to arrange something closer to home, they didnt know anything about it. "Leave it with us Sir and we will enquire and get back to you"..... Im still waiting over two weeks later!! Maybe you could speak to Newcastle? Some of the subsequent posts have said that the work has had no affect.

Just a suggestion but look on Lexus web site for used IS 250 in the model you want, they show a registration number, you could use this. The insurers don't know that you don't own the vehicle.

Thanks for all the helpful tips, I dont know anyone who has a Costco card, so I think Autopia will be getting an order!!

The Ed Thank you for the link. Fatpieman69 thanks. LOC comes up trumps again!!

I have tried a search for previous posts on this subject but nothing really has the information Im looking for. Im about to by some of these cloths, I've not used them before. Im aware that a mix with cotton is best, anyone have any suggestions please.

Vrmm Vrmm I agree with the majority of what you say, but were I do disagree is in regard to the gearing, I too live in an area which requires a lot gear changing, undulating and steep gradients. In previous diesels I was using 4th and 5 th to go up a steep road on the approach to my home. My Xtrail used to romp up in 5th! In this car I cannot even use 4th on the same stretch of road. Most of the time it is 3rd. Ok the car is not fully run in and will loosen. But Im comparing to others at the same mileage. Having said that Im not having the problems that other people have had and mine appears to be a 2007 model. I love the car and I have changed my style of driving, however at times you forget (an age thing according to my wife) and the car bogs down. I too read the comments on these forums and still went ahead with my purchase and Im glad I did. I have sympathy for Jamboo and others who have had a number of problems, believe me I have been there having succesfully rejected two BMW's within the space of 4 months, a VW and ssshhh a .....Ford.

The guy I spoke to has a good reputation from dealing with Vauxhalls and VW's, people who have dealt with him having nothing but praise, he appears to be very honest. In view of his comments I did not pursue it further.

In view of the performance problems with the 220d, I have considered either chipping or an external box. I spoke to one of the companies that offer this service who I had dealt with before and he told me not to bother. He had tried for a client in Ireland and had failed. His advice was to try before you buy.

Its the gearing thats at fault but they are not going to fix that under warranty!!

Autoexpress within the last couple of weeks ran an article which suggested that you get the likes of RAC to carryout a full inspection prior to warranty expiring. I know it would cost for the inspection, however they did turn up items that needed repairing on a number of cars they inspected. If nothing is found at least you would have peace of mind that the car was ok. Depends on how long you intend to keep your car.

I have driven a lot of diesels myself and agree that the characteristics of this car are not what I would have expected. My last car was a DCi X Trail 6 speed and it would pull very well in 5th and 6th. However economy was rubbish at 32mpg in 2 wheel drive mode. It also used to rattle like hell!! Previously I had VW and BMW they also pulled well with better economy around 50mpg. However I do think that you need to adjust your driving style, but that should not really be the case. It would be interesting to drive a sport and see what the difference was. I would say that Im more than happy with the car, I would not go back to BMW or VW simply for rattles etc and in the case of the 3 series very poor build quality. I can live with the occasional cracking noise from the centre consol, slightly vibrating mirror.

This weekend I have done the same as others and really taken interest in the mpg. Did a round trip to Lincoln cost on Saturday (244 miles) Lots of motorway and A and B roads and a crawl through Bradford. Reset the computer etc and at the end of the journey my average was 44mpg!!!! However it did get up to 48 at one stage. I have to agree with SiWhite that when using 4th rather than 5th gear on A and B roads the economy was far better. I can now use 6th at just over 70mph. This morning travelling into work I did the same checks, 8 miles of country and town roads highest speed 50mph only used 5th gear occasionally and got 51.3mpg!! The car never gets fully warm and was still on 1200rpm idle. The car has covered just under 2000 miles. I used to get that sort of figure on the same trip with my BMW and VW diesels. I was going to get the ecu reprogrammed but I dont know if I will now.

The switches will be illuminated, same position as mine. My car is on a 56 plate registered end of Nov 06. Was built sometime in September. It was already registered and I was concerned that it was an early build, but thankfully not the case.