LexiMarc

Is this purely because of the different wheel sizes?

Hi In a word, no.. When we were in F1 (oh those glorious heady days...) we used ultra dry air. The only benefits of nitrogen are that pure nitrogen tends to be dry (so you remove any small amount of water vapour from the gas used), however if the garage has a decent drier on their compressor it will be fairly dry. And that the molecules themselves are larger, hence diffuse slower through the polymer of the rubber. So you will maintain pressure slightly better. All modern tyres have a butyl liner anyway, so this tends to be the difference between slow and very slow.. Plus the air we breathe is ~80% nitrogen anyway. If it's free then maybe there is a small benefit.. but I always use air.. If it's good enough for Fernando Alonso, it's good enough for me! Thanks for that I had a feeling it was a bit of a sales gimmick at some tyre places!

Jamie, Is it really worth getting tyres filled with Nitrogen? Are the minor benefits worth the inconvenience of not being able to use normal air?

Agree with most of the posts in the this thread - had my 220d from new for just over 7 months now and, so far, no complaints. Even with only around 3800 miles on the clock, it's still managing 41mpg average between fillups unless I decide to go heavy on the right foot ;-) (I still don't quiet get the retro 80s clock on the centre console though - seems so out of place IMO).

Interesting comparison, how did the two feel in terms of performance? Also, how many miles does your 220D compared to the 200D? I guess there are many variables that could affect such a test including how well run in the engine is, fuel quality, wear and stuff like EGR Valve deposits. Regardless, thanks for the information :)

I've paired my IP4 up with my 2010 220d and it's fine but what others have said about importing contacts is correct. One thing I've struggled with is manually creating contacts - I can add a number, add a voice tag to it but there doesn;t appear to be anywhere to add a text name so whenever i go to dial a number using voice control, it just says 'no name' on the display. Other slight niggle is that if bluetooth audio is enabled (which it has to be when using it for calls), if the iPhone is connected to the USB socket under the armrest and playing audio before the bluetooth connects, when it does connect, the audio cuts out (although it still shows as playing) and I have to unplug and then plug in the usb cable.

Can't think of any reason other than how hot the black leather gets in direct sunlight.

Quite interested in where you got the winter tyres from - was it from Lexus itself or another location in Glasgow? I phoned around (Helensburgh/Dumbarton area) and nobody had any 225/40/18 or 255/40/18s in stock.

While I can;t answer your quesry directly - I had a similar issue in September when handing back my lease hired Nissan X-Trail. I took it out in 2007 at new cost of nearly £27k and played it safe at 15k miles/yr for 3 years. By the end of the 3 years, the car had only done 27k miles but had a few supermarket dings, light scratches, interior scuffs and slightly curbed front alloys. Concerned that the finance company would sting me on collection for the scrapes, scratches, dings and scuffs, I got a local Chips Away guy to take the car away and sort all the above which he did admirably. When the collection agency came and did their 30-minute inspection, I got a clean report - not a single mark against it and once it was taken away, never heard anything further - i like to think the £125 Chips Away work potentially saved me a few hundred more but I guess I'll never know.

Just thought I'd write a wee report on my IS220d F-Sport now it's a few months old with 1500 miles on the clock. With me being away for work a lot and December's mostly poor weather, the car spent toe majority of it's first few months in an airport car park or my drive while I got a cab. Having owned several 3 and 5-series BMWs (albeit about 8 years ago), I was expecting it to be pretty bad in the snow, but with us living in a side road that never gets gritted by the local council, it was hopeless trying to get out of the drive during the snowy days, although when it started calming down a bit, I stuck some carpet offcuts in the boot and that got me out of several situations where I'd otherwise have simply been stuck. The heated washer nozzles are handly but it's a shame the wipers themselves keep dreezing into position - likewise with the folding mirrors a few times. Anyway, with the last few weeks of reasonable weather, I've been able to start enjoying the car a bit more - I have noticed some of the foibles mentioned elsewhere in the forum - the crack from the dash (sounds like a small stone hitting the windscreen), the long time it takes for the engine to heat up and of course, the odd gearing (I'm a little disappointed that they didn't apply the same ratios as the Sport model to the F-Sport). I'm also learning to live with the really inconsistent USB/iPod integration with it's random cutouts (no audio although it still says it's playing) and skipping the first few secs of some tracks. Above all though, after my previous soft-roader (X-Trail), the performance and the handling of the IS2220d is what is making me smile. Tonight on a 45min trip back from the cinema (some motorway and some windy country roads), I started giving it some right foot and it was fantastic - one minute calmy wafting along snug in the leather/alcantara seat (with heating on) and then, dropping a gear (ok, that's a bit lol), foot down and surging forward as if the hounds of hell were chasing us. It's the first time I've seen the speed warning ring go red (didn't even realise it does that) which was handy as it's far too easy to exceed the limit without much effort. On the windy roads, i was taking corners at a pretty decent turn of speed with confidence - the grip not letting up, the AFS HIDs illuminating every corner and me and my missus firmly anchored in the sports seats. Since I got the car I had been averaging around 38-39mpg although now I've started flexing it a bit, that's dropped to around 35 but driven sensibly, I can can see it easily hitting 40+ once we hit warmer weather. Really looking forward to summer drives into the Scottish Highlands with the IS220d that's for sure :) Overall, I'd agree that the car isn't perfect and many of my colleagues asked me why I didn't pick a C-Class or 3-Series but despite some initial reservations - I'm quite happy with my decision.

Interesting OP, I've only had my 220D F-Sport for a few months now and with around 700 miles covered, I guess I can't really speak with any kind of authority on the points mentioned. I'd certainly agree about the gearing but I had already read about this in numerous reviews and forum posts so knew what I was in for - it's not like it's something new - that bugbear has been around since the launch of the IS220D. I've yet to experience any crack, and have not noticed the offset pedals or found the car uncomfortable in any way but I've yet to do any long journeys in it. The higher idling (around 1200 rpm) I only started noticing after seeing it mentioned here, but I've seen that before in previous cars during colder weather so it's not unusual. I certainly don't find it annoying as, like I mentioned before, I only noticed it after reading about it here. Economy, again, I read about long before buying the car (who buys a car without doing some kind of research first?) but it's not unique to Lexus, one of my colleagues has a 320d M-Sport which has a claimed MPG in the high 50s and he doesnt see much over 40 at the moment, I was getting around 39mpg average from my 220d (town driving a a bit of dual carriageway) but now the cold weather has hit, that's dropping a bit - considering that the engine hasnt quite hit 1k miles and it is a fairly heavy car, I'm not complaining about it. In fact my only real issue thus far has been the fact that during the snowy weather, it's been pretty much grounded in our drive but then, having formerly owned a 330d M-Sport as well as a FWD Saab 9-3 Aero Convertible that were both equally as bad with their wide 18" summer shoes, it's not really a Lexus issue is it? (I currently miss my previous car, a 2007 Nissan X-Trail that was just brilliant in the snow last year, even sans-winter tyres).

Just spotted the new (annual) tyre test results from Auto Express - caught my interest mainly because it's focussed on the same size tyres as my IS220D F-Sport which is currently grounded with the weather being as it is in Scotland at the moment. http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/total_tyre_guide/259582/tyre_test_2010.html

Just a quick update - in additional to the issue in my OP, there was another issue that was evident which was the occasional crackle during playback (almost sounded like an old vinyl player) - and it appears that it's an issue with iOS 4/4.1 and USB playback which is resolved in the upcoming 4.2 update. Bluetooth audio works fine (albeit missing tracknames etc). http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2574930&start=150&tstart=30 Speaking of using a USB flash drive though - I tried this and, while the audio sounded fine, the tracks were being played in what appeared to be a random order.. I selected a folder and it played only the tracks within that folder, but in some random order that I couldn't quite fathom (no shuffle). It certainly wasn't using the filename, nor did it appear to be using the ID3v2 so I need to do a bit more inevstigation into what actually defines the order of play within each folder.

Someone needs to tell Lexus that :P http://www.lexus.ie/about/news-and-events/2010/is200d.aspx

While it's not as butt-scorching as our previous Saab 9-3 Convertible, I find the heating on the IS220d uncomfortably hot at setting 3 (and hotter than those on our last car, a Nissan X-Trail) - I usually put it at 2 for the initial warm-up preiod and then drop it to 1 for comfort. The missus likes the heating at 3 then 2.

I recently took delivery of my 2010 Argento Ice IS220d F-Sport and have uploaded some pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/progressionuk/sets/72157625146987227/with/5127802609/ The colour wasn't my first choice (Cadoxton Slate) or even second (Artic Pearl) but I got this from stock rather than waiting for a factory order and I'm quite liking the colour now.

When you say copied from iTunes, how do you mean - copied from the iTunes downloaded music folder? The default audio format for music downloaded in iTunes is AAC which I don't belive is supported by most 3rd party players including the IS's audio system. The USB stick may also need to be formatted using FAT/FAT32 filesystem instead of NTFS or the MACos equivalent (I'm not certain about this but I know other car audio systems such as VWs require a FAT filesystem on the USB device).

Hello all, I just recieved my 2010 IS220D F-Sport (not MM) this week and have a query regarding the USB socket/iPod integration. So far, I have connected my iPhone4 to the USB socket using the standard sync cable and can get it playing tracks from the iPod section of the phone without problem. However, what I'm finding is that every now and then (particularly within a few mins of starting the car and setting off) that the sound disappears. The display still shows it playing (with the timer still incrementing) and the iPhone still shows that it's connected but there's just no audio - i can change tracks, go from FM back to iPod and it makes no difference - to get it playing again, I have to unplug and plug the device back in and then press Aux again and then it's fine. Anyone else experienced this?

Hi folks, Just a quick message to say hello - just gone from a 2007 Nissan X-Trail DCi 173 Adventura to a new '60 plate IS220d F-Sport in Argento Ice. I got the car last Monday but as I was on a flight down to my current workplace the next morning, I've barely spent a couple of hours with the car so first impressions are a little limited. However, I really like the car from the little time I've spent with it so far - from reading this form, I was expecting a few of the foibles such as the strange gearing but one thing I absolutely need to know is.. what the hell is it with that 80's digital clock? Is it supposed to be retro or just an afterthought? I'll post pics in the relevant section when I get home this weekend. cheers, Marc

Doing a search brought this thread up which seems to point to both the IS220d and IS250 having timing chains rather than belts.