Exiled

That's a bummer, elation turning to dispair in 24 hours. Hope your worst fears are unfounded and everything turns out ok.

Wholeheartedly agree. You definitely should not be paying the same road tax, you should be paying a hell of a lot more. Your roads lead to some of the most beautiful places on the planet with stunning views along the way. You should be eternally grateful that you pay so litttle.

The following is one of the exercises my trainer started me on, it makes my back feel more supple and I do it before I go out cycling, I think he calls them "back crunches". Lay on your stomach with your arms outstretched like wings ( at right angles to your body), now lift your chest off the ground, at the same time lift your feet off the ground. Hold that position for 20 secs. or do say 20 repetitions. Please be carefull, all I can say is that it helps me. If you have got a weakness somewhere in your back a visit to a good therapist recommended by your doctor could be of benefit.

What I am saying, albeit confusingly, is that when I cut down the amount of walking I did the sciatic pain stopped. Yes, I am aware that impact exercises hurt your back but I never thought of walking as an impact exercise, however, I am still painfree and very pleased about it. i apologise with how my post came over.. have you thought of an MRI scan. There is a bit of a wait on the NHS but sciatic pain when walking points towards a disc problem. Apologise not necessary. I've no pain at all, I still go walking but not every day maybe twice or three times a fortnight. I'm sure I was doing too much. Like I said I get lots of exercise and now I am varying it I feel fine. At some time of your life you pay for your excesses be it drinking too much, eating too much, smoking too much or just pounding the roads as a young man, getting that buzz that you as a runner will know all about. I found it the perfect exercise for me then, you can go out anytime of the day or night and with the correct gear on , any weather. It fitted in well at the time with my hectic working life.

What I am saying, albeit confusingly, is that when I cut down the amount of walking I did the sciatic pain stopped. Yes, I am aware that impact exercises hurt your back but I never thought of walking as an impact exercise, however, I am still painfree and very pleased about it.

Apparently millions of people suffer from backache, I did but don't anymore. In my twenties and thirties I used to run half marathons, 10 milers. 6k's and one marathon. I stopped running when I started a business as I didn't have the time. When I sold up 12 years ago I took up cycling and started to do a lot of walking, 3 or 4 times a week. I developed what I thought was sciatica, pains shooting down the outside of my leg, and would take pain killers. A year ago I started going to a personal trainer for an hour a week and joined a gym. Six months ago I started running again on a treadmill and over a period of about a month my back got worse so I gave it up. At the gym I joined the spinning (cycling) classes which are a none impact exercise and as the weather improved went out cycling on the roads. Because I was going to the gym I was doing less and less walking and the back pain stopped. At the gym the only walking I do is once a week on the treadmill for 10 mins up to a speed of 6.5 k/hour at a gradient of 12.5%. I used to get back ache when doing things like spending half a day power-washing my patio, driving long journeys, lounging infront of the TV. I went to see the doctor once when my back locked washing the car, he told me I should "warm up" first. One tends to think of walking as a reasonably gentle exercise, after many years of participating in sport my conclusion is that I was doing too much. Neither my doctor, personal trainer or physio suggested that walking too much was the problem. I have now been pain free for almost 3 months. Hope my experiences help someone.

Anybody out there?

Sympathise with your predicament Big Russ. I don't have enough knowledge on the subject to advise you but I think there will be some on the forum who can. I know it's too late now but if you had joined the forum before you bought you may have had second thoughts. This is the place to be if you are considering buying a Lexus, there is loads of information regarding the 220d on here, some positive and some negative, more than enough for you to make an informed choice. Hope you can get it sorted out.

Slightly off topic. I see you come from North Wales. How highly do you rate Lexus Chester?

What a great idea!

Well done, thanks for taking the time. Comes across as honest and informative and just what prospective owners need to see. For us in the UK it's approx 54000 miles and not exactly trouble free. Be good if other owners do the same. Glad you like the car.

Cheerio Jamboo. Don't blame you, when it starts getting personel it's time to call it a day and let's face it you were only being honest. I see the offending post has been edited, pity it was allowed in the first place. I think most members found your trials and tribulations very interesting and your contribution will be missed, needless to say some will be glad to see the back of you. All the best.

Has any other car ever engendered such diametrically opposed opinions?

Wise decision, don't look back. Imagine the hassle when you came to parting with it. There's a straight one out there somewhere waiting for you.

The above is really good advice especially the bit about reputation and customer satisfaction surveys. If you are prepared to wade through all the threads on this forum you will come out at the other end knowing the answers to 99% of your questions, I have and I did. The only other thing is to have a test drive in both the diesel and the petrol models, at least a full day in each. If you are going into this with the idea you don't want an auto then put your prejudice on hold, try one, it's a different animal.

Been a good thread Robert. I'm sure your mind's made up by now but for what it's worth:- You've spent a lot of money buying a luxury car, you've spent thousands running it. You've probably been very well looked after by your local Lexus Centre and know each other well by now. You've had peace of mind. By going with Tesco you may save a couple of hundred quid, what's that in the big scheme of things. Final thought, how will they treat you? Look how they treat their chickens!

so the logical conclusion is for haf too buy the skoda instead of the audi as it is essentially the same vehicle ,i can't see him going for that idea. That's a good one dgman, you and logical conclusions. No wonder you're laughing.

my car was with the dealer having it's service wnen the dealer told me of the recall,i then passed on the information to fellow posters on the forum.i am not aware of any members of the loc that have reported structural cracks in alloys.it is strange that you would take a stance in favour of corporate bmw instead of beleiving your fellow bmw posters when some have had their wheels tested by mira.perhaps you have also missed the recent post's that i have quoted from bmw forums ,where members have expressed their disappointment with the fuel economy of the 320d although i doubt that.for sometime now you have taken every opportunity too discredit the 220d particularly in respect of economy yet the threads that i quote show that there are plenty of bmw owners that have poor fuel economy experiences.where as you would have us beleive that all bmw cars are the holy grail economy and judging by your piers they are NOT. Calm down dgman, it's only a forum. You are having a fantastic, almost orgasmic experience with your 220D and like passing details of your owning experiences on to members of the forum. Jamboo on the other hand was not as fortunate and bearing in mind the agonies he went through (speaking as a neutral) I think has been quite subjective.

Like to bet?

Demo I had for 24 hrs had it on, frightened the life out of me. Felt like I didn't have control of the car. Suppose you could get used to it given time but based on my brief experience much prefer basic cruise.

I tend to agree with you but what concerns me is the increase in fuel consumption which on reflection seems to have happened after my last service. It's gone from about 42mpg to 35mpg. It's due a 60k service in the next couple of weeks so I'll see what the dealer has to say about it. That's the suggestion I'm making. It was doing fine until the dealership got their hands on it.

This must be the most talked about subject on the forum. There have been numerous posts with some people getting very upset and doubting other posters honesty. Some owners get very good consumption and others very poor. Discussions on the subject have been going on for so long that is the only conclusion the following, a car set up correctly gives good consumption and the failing is not the cars but the innability of dealers/Lexus to tune the thing.

This is a difficult one chandru as it's all down to personal taste. You want some feedback so here goes, out of all the colours availlable the last I would choose would be gold, so on that basis I would say 1.Brechinn Slate, 2.White, 3.Gold (with a whacking great discount). Best of luck.

New Years Resolution philthy.... Get over it! You, like many, are unhappy with their 220d's. Just accept the fact that you bought a pup, dgman on the other hand owns one in a million, it's 100% reliable, never uses a drop of oil and is more economical than any other ever manufactured. I know it must be gauling for you but at least be pleased for him.

Do you have a specific problem with Lexus Stockport? I was thinking of using them for my next service and to fix any problems with my car, I'd be interested to read any comments you have about them. As you are probably aware Stockport along with Lexus Manchester and Lexus Bolton are owned by RRG, a large motor group selling other brands as well. Could you make it to Lexus Chester? A pal of mine like GaryC hasn't much confidence either, travels to Chester from Yorkshire, says they are the best!