The_Stig

Well as an update it did exactly the same thing this morning , though thankfully I did manage to get in the door this time using the key!. I've reversed onto the drive rather than parking it forwards tonight. Dont know if that will make any difference. I suspect as it works later in the day it could be something that's reacting badly to it being either cold or damp. I'll keep you all posted. Atleast I didnt have to suffer the Volvo today!

Personally I use them to deter tail-gaters...as my washer jets and head-lamp spray goes all over the vehicle behind!

Very bizzare incident this morning. Went to unlock my car as usual, and it wouldnt respond to the keyfob . Naturally I assumed the battery was flat in the key, so I grabbed my spare which my dad keeps. No joy there either . When I went to open the door the Alarm just went off the instant I turned the key in the door. No matter which way I turned the key the only action was to set the alarm off (I couldnt get the door open at all) . Anyway after setting off the alarm three times (all this at 6:15 in the morning and fearing locals brandishing flaming torches should I set my alarm off again), I gave up and drove to work in my Dad's P-reg Volvo V40 (yuk! ). Came home early from work (with visions of having to have the car trailered off the drive), try the remotes and they now both work fine. Very odd . Has this happened to anyone else recently? I've got my car booked into Lexus Derby (thanks Faye! :D ), to get it looked at next week. Stiggy

Hi Matt, Nice IS matey! , welcome to the LOC :D Stiggy

I usually get some surprised looks in with mine, as I've got short hair usually wear a bike jacket of some sort (especially at this time of year!), I'm sure allot of people assume it's my dad's! When I do wear a suit for work I dont seem to get the same reactions Personally though the car itself suits me, my style of driving perfectly. Having one has really taken the stress out of driving for me. Stiggy

For me I actually first looked at one just before I bought my fiestaST in 2006, but it was rear-wheel drive which made me look at it for a few seconds and I then decided that the IS wasnt for me. A year on (and pulling my hair out with the fiesta), I went to lexus Derby and saw an IS200 Limited Edition there. They say that a person makes up their mind about a property in the first 11 seconds of viewing and I think this applies to me with cars too. When I saw that car, walked round it, and heard it start...I knew I had to have one (if only I'd had the first one I looked at Lexus...instead of holding myself back another month or so!) Stiggy

Hiya everyone, I was curious to know what other people drove before they got their lexus. I've had a wide-assortment of mostly rubbish cars as below! 1) G-reg 1990 Peugeout 205 1.1 Style - It was blue, with yellow stripes on the seats...my first car (and still very cool ) 2) K-reg 1994 Citroen 1.9TD Aura ZX Diesel - My student long-distance commuter. Comfy, but very rattly! Blew the head-gasket/cracked cyclinder head 3) L-reg 1994 Citroen 2.0i ZX Volance - Got to see my university house-mates head-slap in unison (oh no...not another Citroen... ) 4) 55plate 2006 Ford Fiesta ST 2.0 - Performance blue - nippy, fun, but horrible on the motorway, twitchy and difficult to drive long-distance 5) 04plate 2004 Lexus IS 2.0 Limited Edition - Bought from Lexus Derby, love it to bits! :winky: What else has everyone else driven before they got behind the wheel of a lexus? :D Stig

Hi there B7TRO, I can say from experience that this is almost definately going to be a complete dashboard out job to achieve. Not done one on my IS, but had the pleasure (or not), of doing one on a Citroen ZX diesel I had when I was at University. The heater-matrix is one of the first things that they bolt into the interior of the car when they start putting it together. To give you some idea what was involved in that job...see the link below: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.carroll2/MatrixGallery.htm But basically you get from this.... stripped down to this... As I took everything to bits I labelled it stage by stage and took photos of each component and how it went together. I also had the HBOL (Haynes Book of Lies) handy to work-through as well. The IS has allot my electronics than my ZX did, and you will need to use caution when removing the steering wheel/airbag to get the dash out. Good Luck! Stig

For me probably an audi A4 avant, 2.0T Quattro S-line (looking at them as we speak ) The trouble is very few come with half the toys my IS200 LE did

Yup, that's what I was told the final cost of the warranty repair was for both front seats (bases and backs) to be replaced. (as the heating elements had gone) When they told me I nearly fainted! Still brand new seats in a 4 year old car...I'm not complaining! :)

In terms of IS's...check the following: 1) If fitted...make sure your heated seats work! I just had to have mine replaced on my LE IS200...(luckily under warranty). To fix they have to replace the entire seat back and base. It cost an eye-watering £6300 to do the job on mine (dealer/warranty company took the hit thankfully!). 2) Check the alloys for corrosion (common). Not a major issue and cheap enough to get refurbed. 3) The nose is quite vulnerable to stone-chipping. Have a good look at the front of the car to ensure there arnt any nasty suprises. 4) Air-con - check it works...(applies to any car really)...if not used regularly it could be expensive to bring the system back upto speed 5) Tyres/geometry. Have a look how the tyres are wearing. If they look heavy on the inside take a look on the posts on this forum about visiting Wheels in Motion to have your geometry done (I'm planning a visit soon!) :) 6) Insist on a full service history. The rest are just obvious things really. It's always a good idea to try every button, every window...etc etc before you buy...especially if you are buying private. But to be honest (despite all the issues I've had with mine)...the IS 200 as a car has always been highly rated. For a 4 year old car mine is pretty much squeak and rattle free and although I've had a fair few problems they have been dealt with very well at the Lexus Dealership I bought it from. Get a good one...and I promise you won't regret it! :D

Like any other car, adjust your driving style to suit your conditions. Slippery in ice unfortunately is a characteristic of rear-wheel drive. Personally if it snows...I leave the lexus at home! I had a fiesta ST before before my lexus...and while ice wasnt so much of a problem with that, it did aqua-plane on it's tyres very badly...net result...wet weather driving style suitably altered so that I didnt put it in a hedge backwards (I dont miss that car!).

Spooky topic...I've been looking at a V50 for similar reasons. I'm a bit torn right now. My IS hasnt been reliable and I do more and more miles every year. I borrowed an IS250 auto and it was just sublime (cant say the same for the 220d which I borrowed which had an awful gearbox and a mirror that vibrated constantly...not what you'd expect from a lexus)...but if it's as thirsty as my current IS it will be a no-go

If I keep it, A Sport Grill Sprayed Kodiak Sky - Get the front bumper resprayed as well after the poor effort done when I first collected the car - aged very badly in the first 7 months of ownership. New head-unit to talk to my growing collection of ipods (these things seem to be breeding! ) Maybe a set of IS250 alloys on there

Hi Scott, I put some Goodyear Eagle F1's on the back of my IS200, and I've been very pleased with then. Make sure you shop around for a good price however as I paid way too much for mine!

If memory servs me correctly I paid £27 for mine from Lexus Derby. Stiggy

The only thing mine seems to measure is pressure on the throttle!

Seems overall I've been faily unlucky then so far I've had: 1) The car had to go back straight from delivery with mis-aligned steering and unbalanced wheels (mentioned this before the pickup but was not sorted) 2) Replacement (swap out) gearbox due to drumming noise in 6th Gear - Neither the warrany company nor Lexus UK would pay for this so in the end the dealer had to source me a second-hand gearbox at their expense from a similar mileage IS. 3) Driver and passanger heated seats failed - Took 4 weeks to get the warranty company to pay for the repair...and then further issues while the correct seats were finally delivered - nice result now though having brand-new seats in a a 4 year old car :D 4) Head-light level sensors (failed over new-year's drive to london). Headlights went bezurk, and were constantly changing their angle causing other road user's to flash me - currently awaiting a date to take the vehicle in for repair for that. I sat down and worked it out that since I've bought it with the time waiting for each of the repairs (particularly the seats which took a long time to sort out), my car has been with the dealers 6 weeks in total since I bought it...particularly with the time taken to sort the gearbox and seats :(

Sorry Hando, well spotted...just updated :)

Hi folks, I've had my IS200LE for just over 6 months now and I love it to bits :D . Unfortunately, it's probably been the least reliable car I've ever owned , with numerous visits back to the dealer since I first bought it. I'm curious to know what everyone else's experiences have been like. Has your IS been pefect, Niggly or had allot of problems? I've added a poll above. Comments welcome. Thanks Stiggy

Having had a couple of auto loan cars while my is200 has been in having a few jobs done at Lexus Derby...I've really been thinking about the is300. The model I have at the moment is the IS200 LE, so I got the HID's and the full leather luckily already...but fancy a bit more poke and a nice smooth autobox (if not the additional fuel bills! )

Hi Folks, As I posted on here before I had some trouble with a gearbox not that long ago and the nice folks at Lexus Derby kindly swapped it out with another to get rid of the noise and vibration in 6th which I'm very pleased to say has gone. What has surprised me however is that regularly using 6th on the motorway doesnt appear to have improved my fuel enconomy...in fact...it seems to have made it worse I've found that below 75...6th is pretty useless and seems to labour up any sections of motorway. I've also noticed at 70mph if I have the car in 5th the mpg needle fluctuates between 25 and 40mpg...where as if I put it in 6th at the same speed it seems to stay consistently on 25mpg. What's more it seems worse on fuel this way too...I can usually do 210 miles on half a tank of fuel on a motorway run, but using 6th at the moment I'll be 30 miles short of that before I hit the halfway mark (from the run I did tonight). Doing 70 the engine is doing about 3600rpm. Am I likely to do it any harm sticking to 5th...or is this excessive over-revving? Has anyone else experienced higher fuel consumption using 6th on the motorway or is there something wrong with my driving style? I'd be curious to know what everyone else's experiences are :) Thanks Stiggy :)

Sorry to bring back an old-ish thread but finally have an update regarding my gearbox woes. I accepted the solution of a second-hand gearbox (at the end of the day I bought a car with a 36k on the box...and had it swapped out for one with 30k). The vehicle that my old box was put into was then auctioned with a known manufacturing defect according to the dealer. I've now done nearly 800 odd miles on the new box and it seems to have improved significantly. There definately remains a low-pitch hum when using 6th but nothing like the horrid drumming that I had before. I have to say that the 'service' at Lexus Derby has been superb. They gave me a loan car for 2-weeks, and made sure my car was immaculately cleaned before dropping it off to me :). Bi thnks to Faye in the service team for getting it all sorted out...I work in IT and I know what it's like to do a thankless job, and know it was a bit of a nightmare to get everything sorted. Will I buy another car from them? On the basis of the service yes...however next time I will extensively test the car before buying...(a lesson learned for myself I guess). One thing about my ownership experience thus far is that the vehicle pre-testing & preparation was not done to an acceptable standard. A number of things (such as the completely mis-aligned steering...which I noticed and asked to be corrected..., the loose driver's seat & noisey gear), should all of shown up at any good pre-inspection. Anyway all in all it's been a good result...and hopefully I wont need to take it in again for a while. Back to enjoying driving it now! :D

Right then, As a quick update, they are getting me an 'alternative' gearbox from a similar mileage car (doing a swap this way). They've been testing the box in the other car throughly before moving it over. I've got to say they really do seem interested and care. Hopefully they'll fit it next week :). I'll keep everyone updated as to what happens. I've got to say in General the service has been pretty outstanding. I'll deliver my final verdict next week when I get my car back. Cheers TheStig_Dave

Well, I've been back into the dealership and they've had another look at my car. I put two eagle F1's on the back to be sure...and the noise/rumble/vibration remained. Apparantly there is a technical bulleton for this issue where gear's were wrongly pressed to the shafts during manufacture. From here however things seem to get complicated. First off...I have to say they are being absolutely stellar with trying to sort this out, and I cant praise Faye at Lexus Derby enough . However I'm now stuck because it appears that while the car is indeed defective, neither the company that provides the warranty nor Lexus UK seem to want to coff-up and replace the gearbox (I've been told a new one is in the region of £4000) The warranty company that does it for lexus wont replace the box as it's a 'manufacturing fault' and therefore should be covered by Lexus UK. Lexus UK wont replace the box because it's out of manufacturer's warranty :( This leaves me as stiggy in the middle. I'm understandbly miffed because I bought on the used approved scheme under the premise I had the equivilent of a year's manufacturer's warranty (this is how it is sold on the lexus uk website). If this investigation had been conducted fully in the first place (it was in for this twice within 30 days)...and this situation revealed I would have probably asked to exchange the car (that was about 8 weeks ago). Not sure what's gonna happen now...but I do know that they are putting in allot of effort to sort it out for me. In the mean time I've been running around in an IS220d...(lots of curtain twiching from the neighbours!)...but I do miss my smooth little petrol engine. I'll keep you all updated. The_Stig (Dave)