Mincey

To think I've owned two of them and never realised they had 5 doors, let alone "a 2.0 16V engine but you could compare it to a 1.6, when it comes to fuel comsumption and to a 4.0, when it comes to speed and power".... Oh dear.

Ahmed, Just been upside down under my pedals. A picture says 1000 words, so in my IS250, the only wobbly bit near the pedals is in the first photo. It's the thing which looks like a double ended 90 degree vent between what I'm assuming is the footbrake cable and what I think is the steering column. Everything else feels tight. Hope this helps. It was blooming cold out there otherwise I'd have taken more pics. If you need any more help let me know.

I love mine. I've owned IS200 Sports since 1999 so this is a bit of a change. Today I took her round my usual stamping ground with gusto for the first time and I have to say I was impressed. She felt far more stable, and that's "far" with a capital "F". It's a completely different car. Much more solid on the road. She holds the road like a limpet - my old '200 Sport was scary by comparison. As for pulling out from side roads - I beat myself up about having an auto, but I am so glad I did. 0-40 on a busy dual carriageway in no time at all and no worries about stalling/mis-shifting. All in all I feel the IS250 is a better car than the IS200. That's not surprising because the IS200 is an "old" car - I had my first one nearly ten years ago, and when I dropped my last one off at the dealer a couple of weeks ago, she was still as good as the day I picked her up. The IS250 is a different beast. You sit in it and it wraps you up - you don't sit on it. Sad to say, the IS250 is the BMW 3 Series the IS200 should have been from Day One. I love it. In fact, I love it a lot. I don't miss having to change gear. I love having rain sensing wipers, auto dimming rear view mirrors, parking camera and parking sensors. It's the dog's bits. The Multimedia option is awesome. My friends/colleagues have noticed that the lights go up and down when I start it up at night and they wish their cars had lights under their door mirrors. I'm 40 years old though. I had my first IS when I was 31. A six speed box and sat nav was the be all and end all. Nine years on and I'm loving my auto box and flappy paddles when I need them (which ain't often!). Would I have bought anything else? It's a simple answer. No.

I'm an IT consultant. I hope this fact won't devalue the Lexus brand.....

A Barried Lexus. Sheesh!

Many thanks for your advice. I'll ask a few questions next week before committing (or not!).

Hi Singhy, I did exactly the same as you last Tuesday, but mine's velvet black. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow where he's going to try to get the big grin off my face. Mine's the one in my avatar but I'm still going through the palaver of getting the plate transferred.

Thanks for that - I thought that's the region the costs would be in. So, that's a premium of £55 for subscribing to the plan and being able to pay monthly. The only reason I'll take it out is if I can just drop the car off in the morning and then pick it up later without having to go anywhere remotely near my wallet. However, my last two IS's were very well behaved while under warranty, so I might be worrying unduly. Putting the £44 or whatever per month into a high interest account sounds a better idea. I might try and haggle the price down to £900 though - what do you think?

Turned 40 last week and have been a Lexus owner since September 1999.

Thanks everyone for your comments and explanations. I'd love to know how much smoother a 430 is than an 360. Clarkson liked the 430 and he hates flappy paddles. On the same day as I drove the 360, I drove a Maserati Grand Turismo (with just 400 miles on the clock). That was as smooth as silk, but as Einstein has pointed out, that's an autobox with manual shift. For day to day driving, give me the Lexus/Maserati approach. For putting a smile on my face, give me something from Maranello and to hell with the jerking!

I've been quoted around £950 for a three service package (major, minor, major) on the Lexus Service Plan. While I appreciate that this won't cover tyres, brakes etc, does this sound like a good deal? I'll be paying in monthly installments and will just want to drop the car off for the service, then pick it up again without having to hand over any extra cash. I'm sure Lexus will be making some extra money out of me through the plan, but does this seem reasonable? I'm not sure how much major and minor services for an IS250 are to be honest.

Thanks for the explanation John - it all makes sense now. Does that mean that the shift's that fierce in an F1 car too?

I was lucky enough to have a razz around in a Ferrari 360 F1 yesterday. I was appalled by the severity of the flappy paddle gear change compared with my IS250's. Ok, it's an older car, but I'd never be able to put up with the jerkiness of the 360's change if I was fortunate to be able to afford one. Has anyone else driven one and found the same thing? I was wondering whether it was in "Sport" mode or something which "sharpened" things up a bit.

I've nearly had my IS250 for a week now and I'm still in love with it. It's my third IS (I previously had a '99 Sport then an '02 Sport) and it's in a completely different league. Economy-wise and performance-wise it's amazing. It's so much quieter and refined. Despite initially worrying that going for an auto would turn me into an old fart*, I'm glad I did. I get out of the car feeling so much more relaxed and my driving style has changed dramatically. There's less urgency now - no more hareing around. I'm seeing a surgeon next week who is going to try to remove the smile from my face. (* that was probably inevitable anyway!)

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