I've been in discussion with a Lexus main dealer (I'll not mention theit name to save embarrasment) wanting to buy an 07 IS 220d SE with around 68k on the clock.
Service history goes up to 50k, Lexus say the previous owner had the 60k service done by a friend and has no receipts as evidence of this, so I would have to take this on faith. I put down a deposit of £1000 to secure the car and waited a couple of weeks for them to prep it for sale. Bodywork was touched up (scrape on front bumper), alloys were refurbished, two new front tyres plus a 70k service. All in all I thought this was good.
I had a call mid week to say the car was ready so on Saturday I drove 100 miles to take it our for a second test drive.
Before taking it out I had a quick look over it and noticed that one of the reat tyres was only just over the legal limit, way under the 3mm limit that Lexus had promised. I pointed this out to the dealer and he was confused how workshop missed it, the other tyre wasn't as bad but it was very close to 3mm if not under. Front discs seemed rather worn, there was a prominent ridge or lip on the outside of the disc. I raised it with the salesman and he insisted that it would have passed the checks before sale, though I'm not convinced of this as they clearly missed dubious rear tyre.
Anyway, we took it out for a short drive, about 10 minutes on a dual carridge way. Car drove fine, quiet other than a bit of whistle around the driver's door. Doing around 70mph I felt some hesitation, as if someone had dabbed the brakes, then about 20 seconds later all hell broke loose, the rear end started banging and grinding and we came to a smoky halt by the side of the road. Both tyres had locked up, and it was going nowhere! Me and the missus got picked up leaving the salesman with the car waiting for the AA. I suspect it was the rear diff (though I haven't spoken to Lexus about it since).
I have a missed call and a voicemail on my wife's phone from Lexus this morning apologising for the incident and saying they'd deliver the car once it's been fixed. Something now I'm not too comfortable with.
So I come to this forum to ask experienced Lexus owners for some advice....
The missed service record.. Should I take their word that the previous friend did the work.
Lexus said that in their pre sales checks that anything coming under spec would be replaced before sale, the rear tyre clearly being missed makes me wonder what other work may have been missed.
Front brakes, is it normal to have a sharp ridge on the outside surface of the disc or are they due for a change soon?
If Lexus fix the diff do you think it's fair to expect that the problem would be gone away? Are there possibly any other knock-on effects such as gearbox etc?
Do you think it's fair under the circumstances to insist on an extra 12 months warranty in lieu of the issues above?
I like this car, it's in my price range, the colour and spec is just what I'm after (though an SE-L with multimedia would be even better just a bit out of my pricerange. Should I persevere with this car with it's known problems should I give up on it and look elsewhere?
I was initially drawn to Lexus' good reputation for reliability and customer service, but this seems to be at odds with my recent (limited) experience.. Is this typical of have I just been very unlucky? Is this a blip or the shape of things to come?
Any advice very welcome
Regards
Paul
