audi al

I guess your 10th VIN number is a 6 then? The next number in sequence should be a 5 (Tahara assembly plant) or a 2 (TMK assembly plant). The last six digits will determine whether yours had the production line rattle fix if they are later in the sequence for that plant as compared to the relevant Technical Service Bulletin I posted earlier. Would imagine yours was built late 2006. Not having a rattle isn't indicative...mine's a 2005 and hasn't suffered from rattles, squeaks, wobbling rear view mirrors, glove box rattles or petrol flaps opening when you close the boot (so far). Hi Tango The tenth VIN is in fact a 0, the 11th is a 5. If I dont count the J at the front the 10th becomes a 5 and the 11th becomes a 0. Any ideas? it looks more and more likely it was built in 05. Al

No reason why it shouldn't be, although you'll know if it was built in 2005 if your boot and fuel flap switches are one above the other instead of side by side...they're not illuminated either. Hi Tango, the boot and fuel flap switches are side by side, I also dont so far seem to have the common rattles apart from the glove box lid on rough roads. I really would be unhappy to find the car was already up to 2 years old when it was sold to me as a 3 month old ex demo.I do realise it had to be shipped over etc. but would have thought it was 3-4 months old at the most when it was registered.

Does anyone know if you can tell when your car was actually built from the vin number? My question is prompted by the service bulletins on another post, I cant seem to match my number anywhere near the vin numbers shown. My car was registered end of May 07 but there is no 7 in the vin number at all, it has a couple of 5 in it does this mean it was actually built in 05 sometime? Perhaps I am being a bit paranoid but I would not like to think my car is really 2 years old. Al

Hi Debbi I am another new IS owner and I have also noticed the indicator fails to cancel sometimes, I dont find it a problem as I tend to have a habit of manually cancelling them anyway. I seem to have the standard built in glove box lid rattle as well. Al

I have noticed there seems to be a fair variety of makes of tyres fitted on new IS's. Just looked at mine and they are Dunlop SP Sport Max. They seem to be quite noisy especially when braking when they seem to almost "rumble", strange description I know. Does anyone else notice tyre noise increase when braking? On a different theme I have found some nice person has put a crescent shaped scratchabout 6" long right in the middle of the boot lid, definately wont polish out as its too deep. I have only had the car 1 week and think maybe it was done out of malicious spite as it was looking immaculate after its first wash on Saturday.

Thought I would post an update. Picked the car up on Saturday as planned and am so far very hapy with my choice.The MM is never ending in what it can do, my phone connects as soon as i start up and everything is smooth and nearly silent except for road noise, very impressive and so far averaging 33mpg just urban running. The only negative observation i have is suprising how flimsy the steering coluum cowling is.(minor point) Al.

Thanks SiWhite, I amsure I will be happy with it as long as the dreaded rattles dont crop up. Yes it has got MM and is Windsor blue with beige leather. Looking forward to playing with it, I understand you cant play mp3's on a DVD is this right? Interestingly all the IS's in the dealers had MM.

Hi everyone, finally after much dithering taken the plunge and px'd my trusty A4 for an IS. Picking it up saturday and starting to look forward to it.The dealer gave me a good deal (I think) and threw in supaguard and a set of rubber mats as well as the remaining tax. As much as i wanted another diesel I have got an 07( end of May) 250se auto ex demo with 3k on the clock for £26k and a better px than I expected. I just hope it proves to be as good as my past cars have been, this is only my second Japonese car and the first was in 1988 and was a very reliable Mitsubishi otherwise they have all been German. Al.

Thanks Jamboo I think if there was an auto diesel option that would be worth considering definately, outright speed and acceleration is not so important but economy and responsiveness is. I have no doubt the 220d is responsive if you are happy to keep gearchanging, but most people like diesel for the opposite reason that is that you can plod along happily in a high gear and still get that steady pull when you accelerate without changing down. Al

Thanks for the feedback to my original post. I dont think a 220d would suit me, I am not the sort of person who wants to be constantly stirring the gearbox especially on motorways. My current car is an Audi A4 130 sport with multitronic gearbox and although slightly slower than the manual it is still very responsive in any situation.The mpg average I get is 40 mixed driving and the best I get on long motorway runs is 42, nowhere near the makers claims of 50plus but still pretty acceptable. It seems to me there are a number of 220d owners who wish they had gone for 250's and my first impressions concerning economy and performance seems to be about right. I have researched on this site and there seems to be plenty of owners not happy with the economy. As I stated before I am not knocking Lexus, and am now seriously thinking of a 250 auto. Al

It seems my test car was not the exception then, why bother with the diesel if there is no financial gains to be made over petrol.I can see why there is no auto option,it would probably not get to the higher gears at all. By the way I meant in my post diesel in France is about £1 a gallon cheaper than petrol not £1 a gallon(I wish) Some people may say if you are prepared to spend £27K on a car why worry about the running cost, but to me they are important, the less Gordon Brown takes off me the better. Al

Hi everyone. I am a newby here and a non Lexus owner and looking to change my car. I very much like the fresh look of the new IS and decided to put it on the list of possibles.To that end I test drove an 07 IS220d SE yesterday and what a dissapointment.I understand it has 170bhp but it was so sluggish, ( have you tried the A4 with 170bhp, they really fly).For a Lexus it just did not match up to expectations from a modern diesel. I much prefer diesels but decided to try the 250SE L auto back to back with the diesel.I must say I was totally sold on it but my problem is mpg.I travel several thousand miles in France each year and with diesel about £1 a gallon there the different mpg can hit the pocket quite badly. This post is not knocking Lexus but a request for advice. From you diesel owners out there please tell me is the sport any more responsive and how economical? my test car was showing 34mpg from the last fillup and the salesman said that was pretty much what to expect even though the car had just returned from Gloucester which must be 200 miles from here and included motorway driving. From you 250 auto drivers can you tell me what real life mpg I can expect, I am trying to convince myself it wont be much more expensive than the diesel.The test car was 07 reg with 2500miles and was showing 34 mpg as well. Any friendly advice very welcome, thanks in advance. Al.