philj69

with the exception of the poor fuel economy and softish paint, the car has been faultless and never once let me down...

i have to agree with gordi on this, the 250 is the car i should have rather than the 220d. according to lexus there is very little difference in economy between the two models

The 220D was Lexus' first venture into the salesman's car market & I think it is telling that it has not been followed by any other diesels and it doesn't look like there are any in the pipeline. Whilst it is my view that the 220D is the only nasty Lexus with an engine whose characteristics do not match the gearbox etc. very well; this is from the viewpoint of their superb petrol cars - and particular their automatic transmissions. The downside of the reputation of the 220D is much because its users spend huge amounts of time driving them, and thus notice every fault & foible - many of which are generic to diesels. What I think is clear though is that the 250 auto MM is the Lexus 2 series car of choice unless you really need the extra economy of the diesel and are prepared to sacrifice everything else in its favour. Other manufacturers have concentrated much more on diesels and unsuprisingly have produced better ones - but I would caution that this only means that they are slightly less unpleasant to drive. I believe the diesel is an evolutionary dead end in cars, and a good idea is to stick to petrol until newer emerging technologies mature. i love mine but my only gripe is with the poor economy for a diesel, and the usual 1 to 2nd gear change. however the first time i am in a position to change it, it will be bye bye 220d and maybe hello to the 250.

i love this colour i think it has to be one of the best on the 220

sorry to hear about your bad luck steve, i hope things pick up very soon for you and your family... i'll keep my fingers crossed for you

i own a 220d on a 56 and i have to say most definitely not. but i would however buy the 250 model, ok so it gets slightly less mpg but it doesnt suffer from anywhere near the same problems as the 220d

nice job on the bumper and everything else. looks the biz

hi jerome my car has these scratches also. i am sure there is somewhere that polishes these out, so it may be worth doing a little bit of digging on the net.

hello, mine is smoke free and has 89k on a 56 plate, and i still love my lexus 220d

hi there. my drivers side front and rear door was done a little while ago. if you google sprayless scratch repair that will give you some local people who do this, they did my 2 doors and only charged me £30. what a bargain. well worth trying first before you shell out the bug bucks.

i have no experience of any dealings with arnold clark, but it always makes sense to deal with lexus, as i have experience the service you receive is far superior to any of the big companies who seem only interested in telling you there;s something else needed which isn't. hope you get sorted mate

saw my first one of these this morning, i called into lexus teeside just to have a look and said that to the salesman just incase he thought he had a sale. he stood there for a little while and we talked about it and motorbikes as well. well limpressed with the banter/crack. what a car!!!!! now to start saving up.... mmm

omg i cannot believe how beautiful that car is.... your father in law has a good right to have a smile on his face.... congrats bud

she most definitely is a beauty mate... very nice motor, i love these but the mpg fairly shocking, its the only thing that puts me off getting one congrats bud

nice one mate... i hope you are going to up some photo's? pretty please

yeah i use them when i remember, which is normally just after i have grabbed the diesel pump and i am already covered doh

i have used the waterless car wash on the vw bora i owned and it seemed ok, but nothing fantastic, i would not even think about doing my lexus as i find the paint far too soft on it.

hello again.... After taking the car to a car valeter to have it all polished up he noticed several other points which if possible i would like to know what options are available to me.. i purchase the car on 23rd december from a main dealer, albeit not a lexus one. the points the valeter and his friend (who has his own car spraying business raised are... 1. the drivers side headlight does not sit flush with the wing. 2. the drivers side wing is also not of the same shade of silver... could this be down to just weathering??? the drivers side wing, the gaps are not the same as the passenger side where the wing meets the A post. the rubber strip which runs down the windscreen does not sit right on the from where it marries up to the wing.. 3. The Bonnet has an orange peel effect on it, as if it has been freshly painted. 4. The Chrome trim around the drivers door has several indentations/crease marks.. i have had the car both hpi'd and autocheck, both come back with no records of any write off incidents. if anyone could help me out with any suggestions of what course of action to take. i paid for this car with my savings and has left me skint. Needless to say the polisher and his mate recommended that i take the car back to the dealer where i bought it from and take it up with them.. it goes tommorow.

some kind person has caught the top lip on my drivers door and scratched it, i have tried using t-cut and a mild cutting compound but this has done nothing to remove the marks. does anyone know of any paint shops in the north east that can get a good colour match on my car and not have it show that its been painted?? any help would be appreciated as i hav eonly had it 4-5 weeks.....

I went and picked mine up from Lexus today after they'd had it for two days to sort the wheels out. They have refurb'd all four to what appears to be a very high standard. I was hoping they'd replace with new, but having seen the standard of the refurb, I'm not unhappy. I will ensure they are now kept clean. This isn't too difficult for me as I don't go far anyway and as I don't work, I have plenty of time to do these things. I'll keep my eye out for paintwork damage on the door seals. I don't have any as yet. wow mate that car is stunning, and the quality of the work that has gone into the detailing is fantastic...

I agree with Gunther. I like the gearboxes in the IS200 sport and the 220D. There are a lot more cr&ppy gearboxes around I can tell you. This forum made me feel (stupidly) that I'd bought a bummer in the 220D. Especially after I had paid for it with my own hard earned cash and not had it thrust upon me as a company/fleet car. Anyway, I'm over that now, and I love my 220D. For those who love knocking the 220D, that's fine.. go and buy a Merc, Beamer, Skoda or whatever, but just stop the negativity. We can all rip anything to bits if it doesn't suit our personal ideas of perfection, but, I prefer the positive approach. Problem + solution = Positive outcome. My old Granny used to say "if you can't say anything good, then don't say anything at all!". Well i suppose I've had my three pence worth now lol.... :winky: :winky: :D :P nice post colbeoz. i love my lexus, and much the same as you i paid for mine outright with the little bit of savings i had. i did have to think twice after reading all the griping about the 220d....

fantastic find mate, nice one....

they're a really nice looking car aren't they.... welcome to the club. i only recently joined as well. just a thought but its well worth subscribing to become a gold member.

Hi, I am due to pick up an is220d next week some time and was looking forward to it, until I joined this forum. There appears to be a lot of bad press and I am sure maybe for good reason. I am trading in a X-Type 2.0 V6 which I enjoyed very much, but a change was due. I was also a member of the Jaguar forum and the constant that I have found is that there is always someone to grumble and there are always common faults no matter what make and model. I know that it should not be that way as we are spending alot of money on something that is only depreciating, but one car is no different from another in reliability really. There may be fewer issues with BMW and Audi, and perhaps they should be the bench mark, but, technology aside have they changed their basic design that much? They should be near perfect. Ultimately your choice of transport it is down to a few key items, price, looks, personal preference and practicality. Don't knock it. The real horror stories aside, which apply to any marque, I am sure that cars are generally fine, we are all different and have differing experience and experiences, just as well I say. I am looking forward to owning my car and discussing other topics on the forum. The lexus really is not a bad car, its just the old addage of do something for someone and they will tell there friend however do something wrong and they will tell ten of their friends. i have not owned mine that long but i love it. Its comfortable, not too expensive to run and yeah the mpg's not mint and its not exactly quick but if i plod along i get just under 40 to the gallon on my way to work and back. Its a pleasure to live with. just relax and enjoy the fact that you are not following the herd so to speak. And the dealer i bought mine from inc the warranty, has been so helpful its been an experience which has only added to pleasure of owning this luxury brand.... and no car brand is without their faults or quirks lol.

Yes, that sounds like it. But how do you mean "tyre stepping out"? If you get someone to watch the front wheel as you reverse in full lock with cold tyres you will see that the wheel/tyre 'skids' about 1/2" at a certain point and this is the bang and judder - mine was more often on the front left tyre. hello, i seem unsure as to what is being said, is this an actual fault or simply nothing to worry about, will changing the tyre's sort this out? just curious incase this happens to my car not to worry,there is no fault only the tyres stepping out,if you have had front wd vehicles prior to your lex they do not have such a tight turning circle and step out is less noticeable. thanks dgman, its probably me just worrying about nothing cos this is my first car i have bought outright. however i absolutely loves my lexus, everytime i sit in it, i just smile like some sort of nutter