LexIS200Sport

Do have a test drive and report back. :) It'll be interesting to hear how the 3rd gen GS stacks up against the LS430.

Welcome to the club! Nice looking car and interesting colour! :)

^^ that's the previous generation, Graham (the MK2). :) Not a GS300, but I do have its sibling the GS450h, and from what I can tell these GDI engines seem pretty robust. Never really heard of any issues with them. There was a valve spring recall but it doesn't apply to the GS300. Other than that, have a test drive and listen out for any creaks/rattles from the interior trims. I find the GS to be a very comfortable cruiser but just noticed that you have an LS so that may not mean much to you :P

Good luck with the bidding! :)

Haha, I did wonder about that too! Thankfully you can easily disable it via the multimedia display ;)

All the best Giles! Watching this space with a keen eye :)

Not a 300h, but I have been driving a courtesy car IS250 Premier for the last 2 weeks and I abso-freakin-lutely love it!! This car has all the features that you mentioned except the illuminated scuff plates and rear motorised blinds. However a quick flick through the user manual reveals that the option for the rear blinds does exist, although I'm not sure if it's offered in the UK.

Good luck mate and keep us posted. Hope this is resolved soon. :)

Sod's law man, what can I say :P Sounds like an epic trip though, the IS was made for this! Have fun :)

Did you update with the Toyota-specific firmware? Anyway, I'm sure you would have but just worth double-checking. The next step I'd take is to remove power to the stereo unit altogether (keep the Grom unit plugged in) and let it be for a minute or so before reconnecting. It may recognise the GROM unit after that. Failing that, I suspect it could be a dud unit so worth chasing up GROM for a replacement.

I got stunt driver too. Although I thought I chose pretty sedate answers haha..

Wise choice on keeping the car and all the best at university :) What course will you be studying?

Congratulations on your new car! Now, where were the pics again...? I'm driving around a new IS250 at the moment (on loan from Lexus), and I absolutely love it! The ride and handling is spot on in my opinion. :)

Ewwww.... haha :D

Sorry, can't help with the uneven heating from the steering area. I don't have my car with me at the moment, but I do not recall the pop-out controls for the mirrors, etc, to feel particularly warm either. As for the 60k service, it's pretty much the full service that you see in your service handbook + spark plugs. The spark plugs are Denso FK20HBR11, such as these. A reputable independent should be able to take on the 60k service. However, looking at the myriad of problems that you are facing, a Lexus dealer may be able to troubleshoot it better (just a guess). Plus they do a hybrid health check and give you a year's warranty on the battery.

Looks mint, congratulations!

Just recorded this for you, hope it helps!

Haha... it depends on what you prefer mate. The IS200 served me very well and is fun to drive. It's one of the best cars that I've owned. That said, it was time for a change and I fancied something quicker and more advanced - so the GS hybrid it was ;)

Hi Ian, hope you are feeling better :) I'm with the others on the pens - they look class! Take it easy and looking forward to catching-up in the next meet :)

I had an IS200 Sport and then swapped it for a '07 GS450h SE-L just over a month ago. The GS is back at Lexus for some warranty work, and for the last week or so, I have been driving around in a '14 IS250 Premier and have clocked almost 1000 miles on it. The following is my quick opinion after driving all three Lexuses for relatively extended periods: Interior quality - IS200 feels like it has the most "solid" interior of the three. After 13 years and 130k miles, it is still creak and rattle-free. The GS on the other hand has a mixture of creaks and rattles depending on the ambient temperature and road conditions. The IS250 loaner has 2000 miles on the clock yet it does rattle slightly on certain coarse roads. Ride quality - GS wins hands down. Very smooth ride and excellent seats. I find the IS250 to be rather firm (not uncomfortably so) and the IS200 is somewhere in between. Handling - IS250 stands out here, it does feel like the successor that the IS200 would be proud of :). Very sharp car and I really enjoy driving it at the moment. Audio quality - This baffles me. Both the GS and IS250 are fitted with Mark Levinson systems. Yet, to my ears, the 8-speaker system on the IS200 Sport still sounds the best! With all presets at neutral, the GS sounds bass-heavy whilst the IS250 is treble-heavy. To me, the IS200 has the most "natural" sound of the three. That's my take on how the IS200 stacks up against those cars. :)

Welcome to the club, Steve. It looks like yours is the "Sport" model with the bodykit. Congratulations! :) I too got myself a GS450h about a month ago, and I'm still learning to tame this thing! Enjoy your car. If it doesn't have a spare wheel, it has active roll control, which should make it that much more fun to drive!

Somewhere in Japan, the author of the owner's manual is probably banging his head :P

That's handy, keep us posted on how it goes with the fault scanning :)

Hi Paul, the easiest way would be to plug-in an OBD scanner and read the fault code. How many miles has the car done?

I briefly owned both cars and can confidently say that the Celica will swallow a mountain bike and out-handle the IS200 simultaneously ;) I found it more fun to drive through the twisties, and mine wasn't even the VVTLi model. I highly recommend it. Of course, it goes without saying that the Celica isn't as quiet and as refined as the IS200. ;)