MeOfLeeds

That's what he said and I have no reason to disbelieve him... it was a pre-registered 09-reg one with zero miles on it.

Aston Martin are only down by 28% Was talking to someone last week who was phoned by the local Aston dealer as he had previously shown an interest in buying one. He was offered £35k off list price on a Vantage bringing it down to just below £50k. That's only a fraction more than my colleague paid for his A6.

My car, and I suspect most peoples 220d just wouldn't tolerate 65-70mph in 6th. Surely it must judder like buggery at that speed. I never select 6th until I'm around the 75-80 mark minimum.

I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere... I did a 350 mile run yesterday, mostly on motorways and I don't hang around, pushing 90 mph most of the way apart from 50 through the roadworks on the M1 and my IS220d returned 42 mpg according to the on-board computer. I'm more than happy with that.

just need to find a bumpy road near me to check for rattles... That shouldn't be hard in this country...

What a strange question to ask - I suppose that you've posted the same query on all your alternative car options forums? If everyone based their purchases on what was written on (supposedly) informed forums, you'd never go on holiday, own a LCD TV, buy a particular brand of biscuit/dog food/soap (insert your own option) let alone a car.

Agree with the others. I had a IS250 auto as a loaner whilst mine was in for a service last week and it is the dogs whatsit's...

but am a bit concerned after reading all the faults on this thread In a statistical "normal distribution" of Lexus IS220d owners, there will be thousands who happily sit in the middle of the bell curve and there are those on the fringes who will be either complainers or praisers of their vehicle and it is generally those who lurk in forums such as this. Me, I'm one of the thousands who sit on the "satisfied" bench - centre right if you like. To base the purchase of a car purely by reading what is put on this forum is frankly ridiculous. You will find equally happy/disgruntled people on the Audi, Merc, BMW, Saab et al forums.

But will there be an auto option???

YAWN

QUOTE (AntiStasiCrusader @ Nov 21 2008, 03:09 PM) Beware. Topics like this have a habit of degenerating into a moderator infested/pulled thread. QED

Have you noticed that the boring whingers on here, now that they've gone to one of the other side now post more often than they used to when they were Lexus owners? It's actually getting quite tedious and, even if their new bits of metal were a complete pile of :tsktsk: they wouldn't tell us - but I bet they'll claim they would. Plus, it now appears that the moderators have taken over where the Stasi left off - but at least the Stasi could spell!

Edited

Edit

It sounds as if a few nails are being hit on the head here. The bar is continually being raised, hence my post about the A4 and Lexus will need to do some serious catching up with the next model. Yes the boot space is not very good - took my mum and aunt to the airport the other day and they both had those old hard shell suitcases and it was a bit of a struggle to fit them in - split/fold would have been good. However, you can count the number of times I've had 4 up in the car on the fingers of one hand, but I appreciate those with kids who seem to want to take everything including the kitchen sink with them every time they get in the car would struggle. But for just me and the missus, it suits our lifestyle just fine.

I'm not a die-hard Lexus fan, but I'm still very pleased with my car. But compared to some of the newer models out there, the competition for new sales etc., there is a lot of good stuff that it going to give the people at Lexus something to think about. For example, on a recent business trip to Germany, I was driven around in a new Audi A4 Avant (3 litre TDi Quattro) and wow, it was very nice indeed and definitely worth considering when my time is up with the IS. It came well spec'd and my colleague was delighted with it. (Don't know what difference is between a German and a UK spec'd car). Mind you, unlike our nanny state here in the UK, the Germans are quite happy to let you do 250km/h on an unrestricted autobahn.

I've had my 220d SE MM for 18mths and am still very please with it. Yes, there are a couple of gripes - the non-folding rear seat being the main one, but the wife has a Focus hatchback which we use for load carrying. There are only the 2 of us so the rear seats remain practically unused, but yes, it can be a bit cramped in the back. But these are relatively minor issues and whichever car you go for, there will be compromises to be made. I definitely don't drive like Miss Daisy and have a very heavy right foot but still get around 40mpg which I think is okay. As others have said, go for the SE + MM option if you can, the "poverty" base model is not that nice inside.

That's a bit rich coming from a midlander!

My car is currently in for its 5th injector recall being fixed so I've got a courtesy car. Now I thought they'd lend me something to "aspire" to, but no, it's a base 220d and it is truly awful. If I'd driven this spec on my test drive I would most certainly have gone elsewhere. It might be that I've been spoilt by having the SE and MM but inside this thing is not a nice place to be IMO. The car is dark blue with the black cloth interior - it's like sitting inside the black hole of Calcutta, very drab. The standard stereo is not even as good as that in my wife's Focus. Just waiting for them to phone me to let me know it's ready for collection - soon I hope...

The Seppo's have a better system - Lemon Laws. Bring back Esther Rantzen...

He'll be along in a minute...

Forget the drive, get that bl**dy hedge cut...

Jeremy Clarkson reviews GT-R£52,900 - I think I'd personally have a GT-R over and IS-F...

It's horses for courses really. If you're buying a car purely on fuel economy, go elsewhere. I really don't understand the beef about the 6th gear - do you think they're going to fit a different set of ratio's for a car supplied in say, Germany to one for the UK?? As an all round performer, I'm more than satisfied with my 220d. I've driven shed loads of cars and for comfort this one takes some beating, especially if you do long journeys.

Am I the only one that actually likes this function? Last week when we had our summer for the year, I had to pop to the bank just after lunchtime, dropped the windows from my office window and by the time I'd run down the stairs, the car was nice and cool. Mind you, if we worked in a dodgy area with lots of scrotes around, I wouldn't do it...