michaelH

I tend to leave it in 'ECT pwr' mode because it does not really seem to harm fuel consumption, so why change it. My best ever mpg figures (about 41 mpg from one measured fill) have been obtained in pwr mode. No need then to fumble for the hidden switch. Not sure about using the paddles for braking though. Using them or the gear lever to lock the car in first or second gear before a steep descent makes sense, and I do that on one particularly wicked hill every time, even though with the brakes on it would probably stay in second gear anyway; but shouldn't we use the brakes to slow the car before a bend? Isn't that what they are for? Autoboxes are more expensive than brake pads, so let the brakes do the job. When you brake, the car will then change down and select the right gear by itself. It is probably much better at doing that than we are. A variant of the police / IAM driving mantra 'use brakes to slow and gears to go'?

Well, they do primarily act as limiters becasue the autobox will still shift down if it thinks that it is the right thing to do, but in practice you can also shift up and down with them within whatever limits are imposed by the software protecting the gearbox. One use might be to limit 4th as the top gear on a long winding climb, so as to keep the revs high. Have you tried setting the ECT switch to 'pwr'? That sharpens up the gear changes, so if you brake on the approach to a bend or roundabout the gearbox will go straight down to (say) third without any need for you to to use the paddles.

don't know about the towbar but black floormats look just fine on a beige carpeted car (keep the beige ones for summer). Lexus also make black rubber mats which can be useful in filthy weather or for winter use. No doubt you can buy some others that can be cut to size for less money. If you ever hire a rug doctor for the house it is worth using the toolkit and cleaning the carpets in the car while you ar at it (unless already exhausted by cleaning of said house). Black cars are the easiest to keep clean (because you can see at once if they are dirty). But try using a waterless product and microfibre cloths to keep it clean. Even the likes of Autoglym and Meguiars now offer waterless cleaners (even if they call them detailing sprays). Less chance of a swirl mark than from using a sponge and bucket, or even drying it with a chamois. And far less hassle.

I have one the same age and spec, similar mileage (ish), and love it to bits. I would happily recommend such a car to anyone who wants something reliable well equipped and stylish and who would be happy with about 32 mpg from mixed driving (perhaps 40 on long journeys). Lexus dealers tend to be very good, so take it to one for servicing. This is the spec to go for - of the others only the advance comes close and they only started appearing I think in 2011. You will never get a BMW 3 series with so many bells and whistles. Once you have used HIDs you won't want to go back to standard halogens unless all your night driving is on urban roads and motorways Listen out for rattles and try to make sure that any little rattles are sorted before you buy. Mine was silent when I bought it a couple of years ago, but something worked loose in each of the front doors ove the last year - such a rattle is easily fixed (there is a kit for dealers to sort it) but its not usually covered by a used car warranty and is the only thing (other than servicing, tyres and updated sat-nav disc) I have had to pay for.

yes, but this assumes the mileage recorded by the car is correct. Can we safely assume that it is? How accurate is the odometer and is it linked to the accuracy of the speedometer as the guy posting on the fuelly site suggests?

I find the onboard computer on my current car overreads 'tank average' by about 2 mpg as did the one on my previous IS250 - assuming of course that when I check it against the recorded mileage for 'Trip A' the latter is spot on. But what if it isn't? On the 'fuelly' site one contributor suggests that if the speedo overreads by 5% (as many do) the the trip mileage may be out by a similar amount. In other words we may be driving further on one tank of fuel than the car says we are, so the mpg reading may not be as far out as it seems. If trip A is underreading does that mean that the main odometer also underreading - has the car perhaps covered more miles than it suggests? I am no engineer and don't have the time or resources to conduct detailed calibration exercises, although I could I suppose quite easily compare the mileage recorded against 'trip A' with that on the main odometer (and would then expect to find an exact match) Otherwise I have no answers. Has anyone ?

yes, a super gearbox. Have you noticed how differently it works in 'ECT power' mode. Not different as in night and day, but def quicker to change down as you touch the brakes. to overtake when in 6th gear flick the lever to sport mode and floor it. Who said the Is250 was gutless?

The ones that don't work very well tend to be classical or choral discs, and that is often so even when parked up quietly. With classical there is also the problem that on the move quiet passages can get partly drowned out by even quite low levels of road and engine noise, but if you turn it up then the next crescendo is too loud. Nobody examining the discs in my car would realise where my real musical interests lie. No Beethoven in sight. But Bob Dylan is there and the DVDA of 'Rumours' works very well, especially if you crank up the volume. Linn, Naim, Exposure, Ion eh? I am a Meridian man myself.

'You really need to drive other cars to appreciate the real beauty of the factory xenons.' Ah, perhaps that is so, but the HIDs on my IS250 are still much better than any standard halogen lights I have used. And they walk all over the halogens on my wife's Smart four-two (as well they might).

There was a news item the other day based on an AA members survey (that I cannot trace directly) saying that most motorists see little or no point in many of the gizmos found on modern cars - items picked out for mention as particularly unwanted were heated seats, powered seats, HID headlights, built-in Satnavs and automatic wipers - all of which (and more) comes as standard with the SE-L multimedia. But I would love to know whether the motorists who dismissed these gizmos had ever actually tried them. When I drove cars with manual transmissions, as I did for over 30 years, I would have said that I would not miss an auto box. But after few minutes with a good one I changed my mind. Apart from that, I would hate to give up the HIDs in particular, but I might have said otherwise if I hardly ever drove on dark roads at night. The one gizmo I think is over-rated is the Mark Levinson audio system. I would describe it as ' a good car system, but not really hi-fi.' And I have heard versions of it in at least four different Lexus vehicles. Some instruments (e.g., brass) can sound quite good and it will indeed go pretty loud, but many recordings just don't work on it and I have never, ever, heard anything on it that could fool me into thinking I was hearing live voices or music (or allow me to fool myself), which is what real hi-fi is supposed to be about. I say that only because it is so often hyped up as 'stunning hi-fi'. I would still rather have a Lexus with it than without it!

What bad ride and noise do they mean? I chose my first IS250 auto after comparing it with two different Mercedes CLK coupes in the same price range - I liked the Mercs but preferred the IS250 overall, especially for its equipment levels. I don't recall the ride being in any way inferior and if it had been I would not have gone for it. I bought my current IS a year or so later, after the first one was written off (while stationary) in someone else's accident. I was minded to try a BMW 320i auto coupe. Quite nice I suppose, but there was no performance advantage I could identify (should have tried a 325, perhaps?) , and the gear change was not quite as smooth. Oh, and no leather, no premium CD/DVD changer, no satnav or hands-free system, no Xenons, no reversing camera, no voice recognition, no electric seats with heaters and aircon and memory settings... A fair bit of wind noise too. Did it have keyless entry? Can't recall that, but it was ll a bit spartan. Got back in my hired GS450 (that the other guy's insurers were paying £220 a day for!) and the latter's superiority was so very obvious that I tried to buy one. But when I went back to trying a more affordable IS250 the difference in quality and ride from the GS was much less marked, so that is what I bought. You may see it (and (ahem) its 'happy Lexus owner') in Auto Express sometime very soon. My car is now five years old but I still find that almost anyone I give a lift to comments on the quiet smoothness, nice ride and levels of luxury. That includes my younger son who drives a BMW 5 (fast armed response) for West Yorks police. Perhaps he was too used to the high speed and sirens? Oh, and in eight years of owning one lexus or another, none have ever let me down. You want a really dodgy ride over manhole covers and other bad surfaces? Try a smart four two with silly Brabus wheels. Yes, I confess that I own one of those too. Oh dear. But my wife loves it and it does go well on a smooth road.

I don't think the used car warranty covers creaks or rattles. As to the rear shelf rattle, my first IS250 was a used car on 56 plate and it quickly developed a bad noise from the rear when in the sun. I would not describe it as a creak but as a 'clonk', so it may have been a quite different problem from yours. The car was however still under full warranty and Lexus Leicester tried various remedies (including removing the shelf and replacing the electric sunblind) before hitting on the true cause, which was a faulty rear window. They found the same problem arose when putting two guys in the back. There were no more problems once that was fixed (ie by a new window), but a few months later the car was written off after being hit by wreckage from someone else's crash. It was a lovely car but was always a litle bit less quiet and less economical than the one I replaced it with (an 07 plate) - the only rattle this one ever had was one that developed after a year from inside the driver's door - they fixed it at once, while I waited, but it did cost me about £70 because the extended warranty did not cover rattles etc. Part of the problem with a Lexus 250 is that it is so quiet that you always notice such things. My wife's Smart car is so much more noisy - one rattle just seems to complement another. If the rattles have stopped then so have you.

No, the IS250 auto has a six speed gearbox. The LS, GS, CT and RX hybrids (and the toyota prius)have CVT boxes (more specifically HSD or hybrid synergy drive tranmissions)with no fixed number of gears between top and bottom. If some of us think the 250 has a CVT transmission that is perhaps a tribute to its smoothness. I have seen dealer websites advertise used IS250s as CVTs but they aren't, nor are GS 300s That at least is my understanding.

It is your choice of course, but I suggest that if your budget is tight you might perhaps do better to give up the SEL trim first rather than miss out on the auto box. There are more SEs out there and some sport models too. Some manual users are happy enough but you often see comments along the lines of 'I wish I had bought the auto'. You never see anything like,'I wish I had got a 250 manual' or for the matter 'I wish I had got an IS220d'. The daily Telegraph's motoring adviser (honest john) was asked recently if he knew of any really smooth autoboxes. He mentioned two or three, including that on the is250 /250c. The others I think were CVT types.

put the car in 'ECT-power' mode and you will hardly ever need to use the paddles. Touch the brakes as the car approaches a corner or roundabout and it changes down (often to third) in a flash. I don't find it uses more fuel in normal driving. But I sometimes use the paddles to lock the car in first or second on a very steep (1 in 4) descent; and pushing the lever into sport can be useful for overtaking because it gives an instant kick down to 4th - I think it is quicker than just flooring the pedal to get kick down. with a poorer auto box, a paddle shift can be very useful - I use it on my wife's smart car all the time

yes, my IS250 was in for servicing in Leicester yesterday and I asked for a CT200 as a courtesy car. I was given a white SE-L and quite liked it. Overall not as good looking or quite as refined as the IS but not at all bad. The ride was very much better than I had been led to expect - firm but well controlled- and I could easily live with that (if you want to experience a really hard ride try a Smart coupe wth Brabus wheels and suspension) There was some tyre noise, but plenty of power, good handling and a nice interior. I have the old style touch screen satnav on my IS but liked the new style mouse driven one. The CT200 I was given lacked the ML stereo of my IS250 and I don't know if it had HIDs, but otherwise it ticked the right boxes and may be a sensible car for me to retire with a couple of years. Perhaps.

if you want everything it should be an SE-L mm automatic. The auto is brilliant,costs less to tax and offers you semi-auto option with paddle shift if you prefer to choose gears yourself. Whether it has adaptive cruse control or a sunroof is down to personal preference. I had a sunroof on my previous SE-L and would have had another had the right car come along.

Welcome back. what spec, what colour etc? As to the little scratches or buckle you should perhaps ask yourself whether these are the things you would ever really notice in everyday use? After all, you missed them before, didn't you? Just before signing the contract on mine I notice a tiny nick in the leather of the passenger seat. It had been repaired at some point but was still visible. I worried about it at the time but have scarcely noticed it since. If I have a passenger it is invisible, and if not, well, who drives around staring at the passenger seat? Pretty much the same when decorating the house. At the time I worry whether that little mark/air bubble in the wallpaper needs fixing, but a week later ... BTW, Here is mine, not washed once in the last year, except the alloys (go waterless!)

ah, I stand corrected on the ventilated seats. I also forgot to mention that the SE-L has real wood veneer trim, although some don't like that because of the heavy layers of varnish/sealant that make it hard to tell whether it is real or not. The front and rear parking sensors are useful anyway, but especially so if there is no reversing camera. The most valuable feature I think is the provision of HID lighting. Not because the dipped beams turn vey slightly with the steering wheel(you probably wouldn't notice that in normal driving anyway) but because of the good spread of light in front of you at all times.

I think you will find that the SE-L adds Xenons/HIDs, front and rear parking sensors, auto dimming interior and exterior mirrors, ventilated/air con'd front seats (as well as heated, as in the SE), illuminated 'Lexus' scuff plates when you open the front doors and an electrically operated rear sunblind. The seats, steering wheel and exterior mirrors enable you to choose up to three pre-selected/memorised and multi-adjusted positions (useful if your partner also drives it)and the steering wheel slides away when you switch off (and back of course to the memorised position when you switch back on). I am pretty sure that the SE has none of these gizmos, but others may confirm or deny that. I once had a loan car (was it a sport?) that had the xenons and auto dimming mirrors(and 18" wheels) but none of the other stuff that I can remember, and no leather. SELs from the 2006/2007 period have 17" wheels, but I think that the most recent ones have 18". Again, not sure about that. I didn't think the 18s on my loan car ruined the ride as some big wheels do, but 18s will cost a lot more to replace when the time comes and 17s looks just fine on the car. You can get a SE-L with sunroof. My first SEL had one (it was written off when hit by a spinning wreck from an accident in front of me)but most do not. You definitely want the SE-L mm for the bluetooth, nav screen and rear camera etc, but i think the hi-fi is a bit overrated. Quite good for a car I suppose. Its worth paying for a sat nav update if you get the mm from a few years back Mine is an auto and the auto box is sublime, with semi-auto option. Have not driven the manual but road tax on the manual is a lot more and some say the clutch is hard work. New models are auto only.

Width is quoted as 1800 mm or 5'11" excluding the mirrors. Like you I can't seem to find any stats that include the mirrors, but although large at nearly 6" the mirrors are not sited at the widest point of the car (the wheel arches) and I don't THINK they add anything to overall width when folded, which can be done at the touch of a button. When open they probably add about 3" either side, but precise measuring is very hard. I had a manual IS200 sport which I loved, but the IS250 is best as an auto. Having used it for two years I would never willingly go back to a manual now and hardly ever even need to use the paddle shift option (although I use that all the time on my wife's smart car). Activate the green 'power' light and the gearbox is much quicker to change down when needed but seems to cost no more in fuel if driven sensibly. Fuel consuption overall is significantly better than for the IS200 and I have even managed 40.5 mpg (carefully measured actual consumption - and 42 according to the readout) on a long journey at motorway speeds. But 36 mpg is more typical and more like 24 trundling around town in heavy traffic. No reliability issues in my experience although the surveys suggest it is not quite as bombproof as the old IS200. I have had two rattle problems with my 2nd hand cars(one a feak rattle caused by a faulty rear screen)and squeaky front brakes on one - but all fixed. Survived a head on smash with a spinning wreck from a crash ahead of me. Lexus was a write off but nobody in in it was hurt at all - the other car bounced off us and spun 20 yards up the road. No tyre wear issues (unlike 200)and it is faster and quieter with super front seats and lovely soft semi-analine leather. Do get the 250 SEL mm if you can. More toys than you can use and some great features like auto dim mirrors, parking sensors front and rear and HID dipped beams. MM gives you the reversing camera, sat nav upgraded audio and bluetooth. People go on about the 'brilliant hi-fi', but I would say only that it is good for a car set up and good on some kinds of music but not all. It does go pretty loud though Ater I lost the first SEL I had a GS hybrid on hire and test drove another - very nice but could only afford high milers so stayed with the IS250. A BMW 320i auto coupe seemed a big step down after the luxury of the GS (toys, what toys? Leather what leather? etc) but the IS250 SEL didn't. In some ways it was even better than the GS. A lovely car. Get one by all means.

I noticed a big improvement in my previous IS250 when I replaced the old Bridgestone Potenzas with ... new Bridgestone potenzas. Much smoother and quieter. Can't say how well they wore because a few months later two cars collided in front of me and my Is was totalled when one of them spun off and smashed into my front end. My current IS came with Pirellis on they front and they seem pretty quiet but there is no rim protection against kerbing and they are wearing fairly fast, albeit quite evenly. Can't criticise the grip or handling but then I don't drive it like a racing car so never really test their limits or indeed the car's.

Go auto! I drove cars with manual gearboxes for 30 years (the last one being a Lexus IS200 sport) and was complemented on my gear changes by my IAM instructor, but have been completely won over by auto boxes now. Apart from it being easier to use than a manual, a manual could never match the speed and smoothness of the Lexus IS250 autobox, which I think is best (and quickest to change down) when the car is in ECT high power (green light on) mode. It is perfect then for winding A or B roads and you can still get nearly 40 to the gallon (out of town). Yes there are paddles as well so you can change manually if you want, but I only ever use the paddles to give instant kick down when overtaking. I think I am right in saying that the autbox gets even smoother once it is used to your way of driving, but someone who knows more may confirm or correct me on that. I sometimes drive my wife's smart four-two coupe which is also an auto (of sorts) with paddle shift option. But with that car I use the paddles in semi-auto mode all the time because unlike the Lexus it cannot be relied upon to get the gears right on its own. It is almost always too slow to change up and you feel the changes more in auto mode. BTW the Smart if fun to drive and certainly doesn't feel gutless. But that is because you think you are flying when doing about 45... In the Lex you think you are just cruising gently when doing 90.

I am now on my second pre-owned IS250SEL auto. The first was a total loss after being hit by the rebound from someone else's crash, but did a very good job of protecting me and my passenger, which was one reason for choosing another just like it. I would agree with much of what has been said above, but would point out that not all cars are quite the same, even if they have the same spec. I liked my old one (a 56 reg)but did have some issues with it in the first two months or so (namely brake squeal and assorted rattles). Lexus Leicester fixed most of them and I fixed another with the simple remedy of some duct tape wrapped around the u-shaped door catching posts. The only unfixed noise was a slight rattle from the area of the DVD player when going over rough ridged concrete surfaces (and you should hear what that kind of surface does to my Smart four-two!). There was also a bit of tyre roar from the Bridgestone tyres, but not too much to worry about and I was happy to buy another once the insurance money came through. I did test-drive a BMW 320i coupe, but much preferred the Lexus. My current IS250 is an 07 reg and for some reason seems clearly superior to the old one. It is quieter, with no rattles at all and very little tyre roar (Dunlops on the back and Pirellis on the front). It also has a much better ride over poor road surfaces (revised suspension? different tyres?)and gives better fuel economy. 40 mpg on the car's computer usually means about 38 mpg in reality, but that figure can be obtained on a decent motorway / A-road run. Only Mid 20's crawling around town however. I have not found any extra fuel cost in using the ect pwr mode and it makes the car much more lively. Seldom have any cause to use the steering wheel paddles, whereas on my Smart I use them all the time The gear change is sublime and in pwr mode the car is easily fast enough for any normal use. it is a lovely car. But beware because it is so refined that you can easily underestimate your speed. The toys are great and the HID lights are worth having. No issues with the paint quality in my experience. I got shunted from behind by a lady parking her vauxhall Insignia. It was hard enough to visibly rock the car, but it left hardly a scratch.

Time to retire my old nokia phone (held together with sellotape). TMobile are offering the Nokia C5 as part of a basic £10 /100 mins package that in most respects is all I need, but does anyone have any experience of using it with their hands free set in in IS? The Lexus phone compatability chart is not exactly bang up to date (only to August 08, I think), so of course the C5 is not listed there.