saracen

'scuse the ignorance but what are eyelids?

The gearchange on my IS200 Sport is fine but like you say there have been comments about the smoothness of the change. As for reverse, when I first got the car I did struggle to get it into reverse but now it slips in really easily In fact I'm glad that it has the beeping noise now as once or twice I have put it into reverse by mistake.

depends which model, either 2 or 3 hours. For just music they quote 14 or 20 hours so I would expect 10 to 16 hours in real life. ← My 60gb quoted battery time is 20 hours. Actual battery time, playing music non-stop - 19.5 hours.

Seems a few people have mentioned rattle on the New IS dash with Multimedia. I have driven over 15 different New IS models and none of them rattled. The only minor problem is the surround where your left knee rests. This clicks on some of the very first models (November cars) but seems to have been put right on the ones coming through in December. On mine I have just had a small piece of foam insrted into the dash and it cured it straight away. As said before, its all covered under warranty, so worry not my friends. :D ← I'm not that worried as mentioned before it will be covered under warranty. I heard that it might be better to wait for at least a year before ordering a new model of car to give them time to iron our any niggles and with the comments about the rattle I was starting to think I had done the wrong thing ordering one of the first ones, but I'm sure it will be fine. I have driven two SE-Ls with MM and must admit neither of them had a rattle.

What does that mean? ← I think it means that the diesel is an IS220d not IS250...

I've heard that the new version of the Lexus Sat Nav in the SC430 allows postcode entry. Is this true of the Sat Nav in the IS250? Can anyone confirm this?

I agree about the rattles, even more so because I have an SE-L with Multimedia on order! The only good thing about it is the Lexus warranty and the Lexus Customer Care, hopefully either or both will sort out any problems.

I have tried the cooled seats in the GS and have been told that the system uses fans to keep you cool and in the GS they really do work. The £3K difference is not just for leather and alloys but leather, bigger alloys, heated and ventilated seats plus electric adjustment. I've done some reckoning and the Lexus charge is on par with other manufacturers. Of course with Lexus it is all or nothing as with BMW et al, you could choose to have the leather but not the alloys. I agree with the comment about the memory seats, they should have them on the SE. I don't want to start a massive argument about vegetarianism etc but cattle are bred for their meat, the leather is just a by product. I live on a beef farm and my partner is a beef farmer so I know this for a fact.

Don't like leather in the Winter - too cold the seats are heated Don't like leather in the Summer - too hot The seats are cooled Don't like leather on tight corners - slippy slidy Err - velcro

I too have an SE-L on order, it lands here on the 16th December. Hopefully I will have it before Christmas but time is getting on so I won't hold my breath. I definitely recommend joining Gold as you can get savings on servicing etc.

I also wonder what happens in stop-start traffic when you have ACC switched on. Will the car come to a complete stop and start in line with the traffic. I too have ordered the SE-L but opted not to have the ACC as I thought it would be expensive and would hardly get used but by the sounds of it the system sounds very good. If my budget was a little higher I would have ordered it without much hesitation.

Very interesting post, most of it does look like a clear indication of where Lexus is going over the next few years. Personally I am waiting for the new IS coupe/convertible

What kind of problems have you heard about in relation to the DVD player. I'm just asking as I have an IS250 on order and have specified the MultiMedia option.

try a florist!!!!!! oh here is an idea try a lexus dealer ← Ouch! Harsh! Gramps, try the Lexus website, there are plenty of approved used cars in the spec you require. Just do a search and then narrow it down to include sat nav.

That really is a shame if it doesn't play MP3s off DVD, the comand systems on mercs do, and despite that being only one disc, its still more music storage (4.7gb to 4.2gb in the lex, and haven't tried yet to see if it supports dual layer) I was hoping it was 6 DVDs full of mp3s, meaning 28 gigs of storage :( ← I will be slightly annoyed if the car doesn't play MP3s off a DVD as I have been told that it would by at least two different dealers. I was under the impression that the car wouldn't play RWs but would definitely play Rs. However the more important thing for me is the Aux connection as I have just bought a 60Gb video iPod. Happy Days! ← On the US site someone has added .pdfs of the IS250 manuals and it says regarding MP3 and WMA files "The MP3/WMA player can play MP3 and WMA files on CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW discs." :tsktsk:

That really is a shame if it doesn't play MP3s off DVD, the comand systems on mercs do, and despite that being only one disc, its still more music storage (4.7gb to 4.2gb in the lex, and haven't tried yet to see if it supports dual layer) I was hoping it was 6 DVDs full of mp3s, meaning 28 gigs of storage :( ← I will be slightly annoyed if the car doesn't play MP3s off a DVD as I have been told that it would by at least two different dealers. I was under the impression that the car wouldn't play RWs but would definitely play Rs. However the more important thing for me is the Aux connection as I have just bought a 60Gb video iPod. Happy Days!

Hi there and welcome to the club. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the IS250 Sport will not have an automation option. I believe it will be available in Jan, at the same time as the diesel. The IS220d Sport will be out in April next year. Does anyone know otherwise?

There is no need to ask a garage, the prices are there on their website in a .pdf and the BMW site has a car configurator. I used both to compare costs with the new IS BMW was £38K and Merc was £37K.

Firstly welcome to the club. I too have an SE-L on order which should arrive in about two weeks. I've been told that my car is on a ship and is destined to arrive on the 16th December. I think that the only way to connect the iPod is via a 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack as you describe. I don't think that there is anyway to control the iPod via the steering wheel or any other means. Shame really but I'm sure someone will devise one soon enough. Once again welcome to the club and enjoy the car when it arrives. I know I will. :P

Mr Mole I wholeheatedly agree, it is more than how fast your car gets to 62mph or how it handles on a track, (my current car has never been on a track and I don't intend it to) or how well it does doughnuts. Ultimately it is about how the car makes you feel, it's what I refer to as the grin factor. How big your grin is every time you see the car. I also wish reviewers would tell you about how it handles in heavy traffic on a trip from Birmingham to Manchester or whether it will fit well in the average NCP car park bay, or whether you can fit a Mothercare double buggy in there. These are the things that matter in the real world because lets face it none of us care whether it has better door handle seals than a BMW or maybe I am wrong and you do. Anyway I am putting my money where my mouth is and have bought my IS order forward, should have a car before the end of the year! Nice one.

You can play DVD while driving, but as soon as you take the parking brake off the picture switches off and you can only hear the audio. Great for listenening to live concert DVD's. Don't know what would happen if you loaded a DVD full of MP3's. I assume it will still play them. Will need to give it a go. While on the subject of the DVD system, does anyone know how to overide parking brake safety cut out on the DVD system, as it would be nice for passengers to be able to watch DVD's when driving. ← I've been led to believe you can load MP3s to onto a DVD and play them on the Mark Levinson. I also think you can play DVD-Audio discs. Need to wait till I get mine to try it out.

There is a group test between Lexus IS250 SE, BMW 325i, Mercedes C230 and Volvo 2.5T in the January edition of Test Drive Magazine. Makes for good reading. BMW came first with Lexus second, Mercedes third and Volvo last. The BMW was described as having the better drive but the Lexus was a better all round car, which for me personally makes it the better car. The Lexus was let down by poor rear leg room and poor boot size. A comment that has been made by a number of reviewers. There was also a reader review where four readers took it for a test drive. Out of the four drivers three of them said they really like the Lexus, the one that didn't wasn't happy that he couldn't disable the anti-skid control, although he admitted that in everyday driving you probably wouldn't want to! Interestingly two readers were BMW drivers and on the basis of the test drive they would switch to Lexus.

Oh dear three owners with squeeks, hope this is not a major problem. I notice you all have SE's and wonder if this is connected?

A quick check of the Mercedes (£3130) and BMW (£3000) websites show they would charge similar prices for: Electrically adjustable seats (both do memory seats and Mercedes would charge you £380 for the privilege of having electric adjustment on the passenger seat, which I have not included), Heated (but not ventilated), lumbar suport and Alloy wheel upgrade for the above prices. The thing to remember is that the Lexus is still a lot cheaper pound for pound. I think £3k is good value for what you get and is comparable to other brands in the market.