stewiegriffin

I got the nasty crack noise from the dash, and a funny vibration/nose at 1500 rpm. I'll take it back to the Toyota Dealer I bought it from as Lexus Aberdeen are closing down (worse luck). Other than that I'm now a happy bunny. Col... :winky: Is the funny vibration maybe the engine labouring? I think it's off boost below 1500 rpm.

What's your replacement car? another 220? No, I've found I need a bit more space & flexibility so I'm going for a Volvo XC90. It was also a cracking deal. What was it I said about poor mpg!?!

I've now done 85k miles on a 56 plate, which is about to go in a few weeks at the end of the contract hire period. My only real gripe is the poor mpg. Alloys are prone to pitting but I think the IS200 was the same. Apart from a one off problem with the smart entry system I've had no breakdowns or issues. Enjoy your car! :)

It happened to me once and it took me a minute of two get work out how to open the door manually! I rang the number on the Lexus/RAC card and was put through to a helpful chap who told me to put my foot on the break and hold the back of the smart key up against the start/stop button. This was recoginsed by the car and it started. I parked in the same place the other day and couldn't lock the car with the remote, so definately a radio signal of some sort. I think I have described the process correctly, but it was a little while ago, so maybe worth digging out the manual in case a missed a step.. Hope this helps. That is pretty much what the guy did & it worked eventually. Just had the dealer on the phone & it seems that there is an intermittent fault with the receiver so it'll be replaced along with the transmitters (the key fobs I assume).

Anyone had any problems with the smart entry system failing? Mine failed last night, the car battery was fine which I proved when I used the real key to open the car, alarm, horn, lights etc all work very well too although at 11.30pm on a Sunday night I'm not sure anyone living in the street where I'd left my car would have appreciated that. The key fob seemed to be OK as the red light flashes as you approach the car, the car just didn't seem to recognise it. The RAC arrived about 2 hours later & managed to get the car to start although even when the car was running it was still telling me it couldn't detect the key. I've left it with the dealer today to be checked over. Anyone experienced this before? :(

I got a marketing thing yesterday "Dialogue" which didn't have a pull out thing so might be different from the one you got. It does seem bizarre in the current economic climate to be pricing cars at that level. The RX450h was on the same leaflet & the figures do look impressive although the £56k OTR price doesn't.

I'd have a wee look to see if you can find a 250 auto - it's really good.

Yeah, welcome to the LOC! Sadly you're not alone. I'm a bit better & get 35/36 as a combined figure. I've had the car for 2.5 years, was generally getting 42 & then it dropped to the current level about 9 months ago. I've given the dealer a couple of chances to do something about it but they insist that everything's OK. They cleaned the EGR valve yesterday when it was in for a 70k service & I must admit the car seems to be a wee bit livelier but I'll wait & see how it effects the consumption over the next week or so. Mine ticks over at about 1200 sometimes too but this is I think because the EMS increases the revs at idle when the engine is under load from the a/c etc. You should find that this doesn't happen all the time & that "normal" idle will be below 1000rpm - someone on here who knows more than me about these things could probably explain it better. I've got to say that I do moan about the fuel consumption but other than that I've had no real issues with the car. I agree with kam05 I had an IS250 auto as a loan car a couple of services ago & returned the same mpg as my diesel! I guess this doesn't help you though. My contract hire is up in just under 6 months & I don't know that I'll go for another IS diesel purely on this fuel consumption issue.

Mine is Argento Ice & when it's clean it really looks good. I went for that because it was the colour of the car on the advert at that time & I thought it looked great. I had a loan IS250 in black which I've got to say looked the business. It's all down to personal taste though.

I'm sure what Parthiban says is right about the standard speaker set up. I've got the standard system in my diesel SE & it is superb. This might be asking a daft question but have you checked the audio set up? Check that the audio is set to "pos - all" & that your balance & fader are centred. Check the bass, mid & treble settings too. This isn't meant to sound patronising btw! If there are no simple set up issues then I'd go back to the dealer (assuming you just bought the car)

Gunther - your right it is a fixed interval service as far as I'm aware - certainly on UK spec cars.

Sadly mine went about 2 weeks after I got the car - outside our house. I really liked them too! :tsktsk: 'fraid it's black plastic ones now.

Sorry if this has been asked before on another thread. Does anyone know if the gear ratios have been changed on the facelifted 220d?

Make sure they are done before the warranty expires though..... "I'm sorry sir, your car has done 60,300 miles and is outwith warranty"... :tsktsk:

Hi Philbert. I've gone to Lexus Glasgow since I got my IS in late 2006, they've been pretty good in my experience. Although on a couple of occasions their service booking system has let them down, both times they have sorted out the problem without inconveniencing me - so can't really complain. I previously drove a VW & the Glasgow dealer I used was completely woeful, so maybe I'm starting with fairly low expectations! Hopefully you'll not have any repeats of your initial experiences.

My experience is that I used to get about 42 mpg both indicated & calculated - computer readout seems to be fairly accurate on mine. This is now sitting at about 36 mpg - again indicated & calculated. Don't know what the problem is, Lexus dealer has not identified a problem but I'll be bringing it back to their attention at the next service in a couple of weeks. I've got to say I hoped that the new model would have gone some way to improving mpg. Forgot to mention - mine is a late '06 model btw

Nidgemo The poster above who reckons you've bought a lemon is best ignored. My only gripe is the increase in fuel consumption. That apart I've had no problems with the car, had it for 2.5 years, done almost 70k miles & had no hassles. Dealer I go to for servicing is good, again no hassle with them. You will see elsewhere on this forum that some folk are getting perfectly good mpg, have had all the recalls done & continue to get good mpg. I don't think the recalls relate to the warranty, a pal has a GS & he had a recall when it was a good couple of years out of warranty. The dealer picked up his car, dropped off a courtesy car & then returned the car once the work was done. Enjoy your car.

I looked at the 159 before going for the IS. Who knows maybe I should've had the Alfa too! My car is due for replacement in 6 months & really don't think it'll be another IS diesel - too early to give it any serious thought but don't really have a clue as to what I'll go for.

I've driven SE versions of both as loan cars at services. I'd be happy with either although I think the GS edges it for me as it's bigger & a few minor details seem to make it feel classier.

Question answered - booked in for a service today and asked question myself and no, my car not part of recall as 'it must have the modified parts already' That figures. I imagine that late built cars will have been fitted during manufacture with the modified parts once the fault was discovered. Mine is an '06 so it could be that pre '07 or maybe even (early?) '08 or so vehicles will be subject to the recall. The last time I had my car in for a service (end of January) there seemed to be 2 recalls pending (steering & brakes) but parts were unavailable at that time. They seemed to apply to my car which is a late 2006 model. I haven't received the recall letter yet, maybe the parts are only now becoming available.

I agree, this is a saga & seems to be stirring up a bit of ill feeling between the "I get crap mpg" camp & the "we don't - so it must be the way you drive" camp. I think you sum it up well & I have had exactly the same experience as you, my mpg is 35ish now but dropped from the same 42 mpg which I was happy to accept given the general good points of the car. It is clear that there is an issue with a lot of IS diesels which, judging by the response I got from the service consultant at the last service & which seemed well used, Lexus are aware of it. They do not seem either able or willing to seriously tackle it. That is my gripe. I don't need a lecture on driving. I don't want to be a hypermiler. I just want to drive "normally" & get reasonable fuel consumption. Then I will be :)

Point taken & driving keeping the revs down will increase the mpg on any car but I think many people's gripe (well mine anyway!) is that they have seen a big drop in mpg which we perceive is due to some of the work done under recall either the replacement 5th injector or the software updates. I had been getting an indicated 42mpg constantly under my "normal" driving, this dropped to 35mpg at best. I tried keeping the revs to around 1800-2000 since earlier this week. On my run home I reset the computer once I was out of town & on the motorway, kept to speed limits & the rev range & got just over 39mpg, tbh driving that way & having bypassed the stop/start town stuff I would have expected mid 40's at least. Continued this style of driving & now getting just over 38, which is an improvement but not back to 42 yet. Are forums not for bitching anyway?? :winky:

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. I would tend to go along with this. I generally like my 220d SE but it is let down terribly by fuel consumption, turbo lag & the gear ratios. & I've got to agree with HAF, your seat does get wet if you open the door when it's been raining The car has also locked me out once when I put my jacket with the key in the pocket onto the backseat then shut the door & it locked. In most driving conditions the car drives very well & is a pleasure to be in but sometimes the gear ratios & turbo lag can catch you out. In my experience the dealer has been fairly faultless too - except over fuel consumption. If I were to get another lexus it'd probably be the IS250SE auto with multimedia. I had one for a day when mine was being serviced, I loved the auto box & got the same mpg as my diesel. I'll be replacing mine in a few months (contract hire) & would like another IS but unless the new diesel version is considerably better I will be looking elsewhere - or going for the petrol version. Test drive both versions & make up your own mind

I don't know if the ecu software was upgraded, although usually the service consultants are keen to tell you what's been done. To be fair, the car was serviced on Monday & I was fairly dismissive at first, although since I filled up a couple of days ago my tank average is 37, only a slight improvement but really too early to tell. I'll keep an eye on it over the next couple of weeks. 42 is fairly respectable though (for the Lexus), hopefully it'll stay at that level for you.

An update on my mpg... Generally been getting about 35mpg lately on a mix of driving after having about 42 mpg for the best part of 2 years since I got the car. This is the figure given on the computer & it ties up fairly well with my own calcs. I tried resetting the computer on a straight motorway run about 30 miles at about 70 mph gave me just below 39 mpg. The dealer has said there is nothing they can adjust, that winter conditions reduce mpg but given that this is my 3rd winter with the car I've never had such a pronounced dip. They basically did the old unplug the battery & let the system reset trick which unsurprisingly seems to have had no effect. So really nothing new to report & more importantly no improvement. I pointed out that I got the same mpg with the IS250 auto courtesy car & that there seemed no benefit in the diesel - apparently a lot of customers say that. I think possibly in a few months it might be more a case that that's what a lot of ex-customers used to say...