michaelH

I have become a convert to waterless cleaning, and others might want to try it, given that we have quite widespread hosepipe bans this summer. I use the Proshine version but would guess that most of them do pretty much the same job. It leaves no swirl marks and a gives a very good shine. No doubt a full valet job with claybar etc could improve on that and I would consider doing (or paying for) that once or twice a year, but for day to day cleaning the great bonus of using a waterless product is that it is so quick and easy. I can clean the car so quickly and with so little hassle that I can (and do) keep it that way almost all the time. It is no big deal if it rains the next day - I just clean it again when the rain has stopped (or perhaps just clean the flanks and rear). It shrugs off most of the rain and dirt anyway; rain beads well on it and the body feels very slippery if you draw a cloth across it, just as if it had been waxed or polished in the usual way. The proshine alloy wheel polish /protector also does a good job of repelling brake dust, so the wheels stay clean and shiny for longer. The jury is still out on their screenwash, carpet and leather products - they seem OK, but I don't know if they are any better than others I have used. I don't think I would try to get roadsalt off without a hose, but for ordinary purposes the waterless stuff does the job just fine. I have also used it on a friend's car which had not seen a car wash for months. The transformation was both quick and amazing. Encrusted dirt and tree sap etc came off easily, revealing a surprisingly good finish underneath.

I have used this feature a few times now. It seems to be a rather neglected feature and one that few people seem to consider important. I can't find much mention of it on this forum (nothing since around 2008)and the handbook says very little about it. One contributor denied that it had any real effect at all. When I bought my first IS250 I was told that it would merely 'sharpen the throttle response' at the cost of significantly increasing fuel consumption. Now I am not a petrol head or even technically literate, but my firm impression is that this button completely transforms the behaviour of the auto gearbox and makes the car a great deal sportier to drive. In particular, the gearbox downshifts more readily under acceleration or at the merest touch of the brakes on the approach to a corner - a firmer touch will send it right down into second or third and it then hangs on a little longer to the lower gears as you accelerate out of the bend. I think it may also sharpen the throttle response, just as I was told, but it is the gearchanges that really make the difference. Driving the winding and hilly A44 from Aberystwyth to Llangurig late last Sunday night really proved the value of this - there was absolutely no point in using the sport /paddle shift mode on the bends because the auto changes where so quick anyway and I could concentrate on steering, braking and dipping the headlights as required. The downside is that the gearshifts are more intrusive when driving sedately, so I do not use power mode around town or when my wife is a passenger(she suffers from chronic pain following a serious injury two years ago, so has to be driven around very gently). There does not seem to be much of an impact of fuel consumption: according to the car's computer I managed 40.5 mpg driving sedately in normal mode from Leicester to Aberystwyth.Coming back alone with power mode engaged I had a clear road and took a full hour less to complete the journey, but the mpg readout had dropped by the end only to 39; and that largely ties in with my previous experiences. In practice the readout usually proves to be out by one or two mpg's but the indications are that mpg does not suffer much, if at all. I have noticed that some reviewers complain of the car's supposed lack of power, and this is especially true of reviews of the coupe/cabriolet. I wonder whether the reviewers in question tried using power (or indeed sport) mode or whether that would have satisfied them a little better...

If it is not too late to add something, I traded my trusty old 200 sport (manual)for a 250 SEL /mm auto last February. I loved the old 200 but would never, ever, choose to go back to a manual transmission. Manuals are such hard work once you have ben spoiled by having the car do it for you (and doing it better, faster, more smoothly, etc into the bargain). Of course the 250 offers semi-auto mode that can be useful in difficult conditions (eg to lock it down into seconed or third)so you can have the best of both worlds. I expect that some will disagree. I used to be one of them, but no longer, and certainly not with a 250, where the road tax on a manual is so much higher

Another possible cause of rattles (or perhaps they are better described as knocks heard in your right ear as the car crosses broken or uneven surfaces) may be the sliding seat belt mounting behind the driver's door. Try lowering this as far as it will go if you have previously had it raised. I wondered why I was starting to hear irritating noises in a car that had been beautifully quiet when I bought it. I tried my old trick of putting tape over the door binding post, but on this car it made no difference. So I asked myself what if anything I might have done to spoil things. Only possible answer was that I had adjusted the seat belt mounting on my side. I tried inserting a piece of card to ensure that the trim around the mounting did not rattle but evidently it was not that, so I then lowered the mounting down to where it was originally. Problem now seems to be solved, and the seat belt still crosses my shoulder in the right place. Have not had any problem from the passenger side, but if you have experienced anything like that it may be worth doing the same thing on that side too

I was thinking of updating my 08-09 discs and selling the old ones, but have been advised to wait a few weeks for the very latest 2010 version. The update comes out in April each year, I am told.

Well, maybe, but I was fairly successful at getting rid of the rattles that initially plagued my used approved IS250 SEL. The pity is that after a few months of nice rattle free motoring it got written off when hit by debris from a crash between two other cars. So far its replacement has been well nigh silent. fingers crossed!

You may find that there is a bit of play between the door catch and the u shaped post it catches on. Try wrapping some insulation tape around the post, to make it very slightly thicker (and softer). Two layers of tape all round should do it. If that works, the proper solution would I suppose be a slght adjustment to the catch itself. If it doesn't work, it will have cost next to nothing to try.

I had a 200 sport for five or six years. It was a great car, and no trouble at all in all the years I had it, but would never go back to one after having had a 250 Auto. I initially had some issues with my first 250 (a used/approved 250 SE-L mm) but only in connection with squeaks (brakes and passenger seat) and rattles (faulty rear screen) - all fixed under warranty. Once they were fixed I loved the car and have just bought another. When my first 250 was wrecked last month (see my 'total loss' thread)I did test drive a BMW 320i coupe but in the end the only real issue was whether to replace it with an IS auto or a GS450h. The latter is simply awesome but BIG. The IS won primarily because my budget would not stretch to a 'young' GS and there were some issues with the older one I tried. The auto box on the IS is brilliant and you would pay more tax on a manual. I have never heard of anyone wishing thay had bought the manual instead. The 250 is not quite as thirsty as the IS 200 (but still no angel around town) and is better equipped, esp in SE-L /mm guise. Yes it is poor in the snow, as are most big rwd cars, but I have bought snow socks (fabric snow chains)and keep them in the boot in winter just in case. European owners seem to have no problem with snow if they fit winter tyres, but it might not be worth doing that over here unless we keep getting winters like the last one. Hope you find a car you like

I would not be surpised if it is repairable, but in terms of economic value it made more sense for the insurers to write it off, pay me for it and then recoup the salvage value, which may be considerable. One factor is that someone will eventually be paying for my hire car until my insurance cheque comes through - at least I know it won't be me.

My first accident in 33 years of driving. Only had it for 14 months and 20,000 miles and could not find another in the same colour and spec, but drove a very nice one today and hope to do the deal tomorrow. Same SE-L/MM auto spec but newer and in silver with grey leather. Tried a BMW 320i coupe as well, but wasn't all that impressed, given that it would have cost about the same. How did it happen? Russian driver thinks she has missed her destination just after dark on an unlit, winding Welsh main road through the hills (she hasn't reached her destination at all, but no matter). Tries to do 3 point turn, but gets stuck (stalled?) sideways-on in the middle of the road. I see her as I come down the gradient and manage to stop with a few metres to spare, but at that moment she is hit by a Peugeot coming up the other way - driver of which fails to see her in time. Peugeot spins out of control and slams into me a second or two later. We all go to hospital together, but my passenger and I are not really hurt, so full marks to Lexus for making a good strong car that protected us at it was supposed to. Just had a letter from Russian driver's insurers solicitors saying they hold me responsible for the crash (!) which would be absurdly funny if it wasn't so annoying. Thankfully, the police know what really happened, and why (because she admitted it when interviewed), so we will have to get the accident report when it is available.

Professor of Criminal Justice at a midlands university, specialising in substantive criminal law and evidence. I have a second income as a contributor to a well known work on Criminal Practice. Which I need to run a Lexus.

Interesting. I occassionally get a rattle in the general area of the door pillar - not bad enough or persistent enough to really bother me, so I've never bothered to try and get to the bottom of it. Are you saying that the cause of the rattle (in your case at least) was a slightly loose door latch? Cheers. I think the problem is one caused by there being too much play there, ie the posts are fractionally smaller or thinner than they should be. Apparently it is also a known problem with the Lotus Elise.

The insulating tape fix post was mine. I am pleased to see that it has worked for others too. Duck tape can also work, and lasts longer, but requires more care if you want it to look neat.

I could not find one for the rear screen. There is one for the GS rear screen (NV002-05) from Lexus USA which involves shortening two locating pins at the top, but as far as I can make it out that was not the fix for my IS250.

As I understand it, fabric mats designed for the manual 220 or 250 may not fit the 250 auto, so check before buying. Rubber mats can be trimmed at certain points - I trimmed my driver's mat with scissors, but most would probably use a stanley knife or similar.

Yes, I had this problem on my car. They tried replacing the rear sunshade, and when that didn't cure it they tried removing the rear seats and parcel shelf to test it and even removed and refitted the rear screen. Nothing worked, until they diagnosed a fault with the rear screen itself and replaced it under warranty. That was two weeks ago and I've heard no noise since, even after deliberately leaving it out in the sun. Lexus Leicester reckoned that putting weight in the back seat or boot also made the problem worse, but in my experience it was worst in sunshine. Apart from an occasional mild squeek from the brakes when easing to a stop, the car now seems seriously solid and quiet. It is worth being persistent I think (and yes, I must be persistent about them fixing that brake squeal, even if it isn't all that bad). I have posted before on a quick DIY fix for door rattles - which is still working by the way. If you have a rattle in that area you probably think it is the seat belt housings, but try wrapping some insulating tape around the striking posts.

It seems that the problem has been fixed (at last) by installation of a new rear windscreen. Taking the old one out and refitting it was tried but did not work. Odd that a faulty rear screen could make such noises.

The other development is that Lexus has slipped to 2nd place overall behind Skoda. It is of course a good result for the old IS and quite a good result for the new one. What it measures primarily is customer satisfaction, so it is pretty subjective, especially on issues such as braking and handling, although those who contribute are also asked for some hard data (how many breakdowns etc). I have little doubt but that some contributors who are generally dissatisfied with a car's reliability etc will give grudging responses on other things too, even if the car is not really so bad in those other respects. The Lexus results do match my own experience of the IS200 and IS250 - the 250 is in many ways the better car, but does seem to lack the old car's bulletproof and rattlefree quality.

Am I right i thinking that manufacturers have no say in what mpg figures they quote? The car is officially tested and the test figures must then be used at all times, even if it is clear that the figures obtained are not 'real world' figures. But that does not explain why some cars return lower mpg figures than others of identical design. If it is not a driver issue then it must be to do with the set up or tuning (ECU etc)(?) BTW in my experience the readouts from the car's onboard computer may be a little flattering. When my 250 auto says tank ave 32 mpg it means about 30. But it can also be pessimistic about other things, so when it says 'range 1 mile' I seem to have about five litres left, which should be good for at least 25, and much more on an open road. If top gear seems useless at 70 (on the speedo) might you only be doing 65?

well, they are not in quite the same place, but your ears may be deceiving you. If in doubt, wrap three layers of tape tightly around each of the striking posts and see if your car is quieter over rough surfaces. It has worked for me. I only wish the rear end (rear screen?) rattle could be fixed with a piece of sticky tape...

Duck tape, ah yes, I had been thinking about something like that and will try it when the old tape starts to fray. But for the time being the insulation tape is doing the business. It really does seem to work.... No, it cannot be the blind because Lexus Leicester changed that for a new one and when that solved nothing they tested the car with the entire parcel shelf removed and it was still there. So they are resetting the rear screen next week.

Do you mean that it doesn't tell you to 'turn around where possible'? Or that it does not select the next best route from that point? In my experience it does immediately find an alternative route, and usually does a decent job, but does not always choose the route I would have expected and sometimes, yes, it would indeed be better to do a u-turn. When using the 2005 version recently (I have only just updated the disc) I was perplexed by its (her?) stubborn desire to route me from Leicester to Aberystwyth via somewhere just south of Manchester. I accepted the proferred route (quick 1) without checking it very carefully - I thought, oh yes, she's offering a route using the M6 toll motorway, rather than the shorter but congested route via Birmingham M6, but then I found she wanted to keep sending me North at the end of the M6 toll instead of cutting back down to the M54 or taking the A5 to Telford, so I ignored her and took the M54 anyway. She did not like that and kept trying to send me North again, and she perversely kept this up (even asking me to turn around!) until I was more or less in Shrewsbury. The tom tom I used to use seemed quicker to adjust and less stubborn in that respect. But in most other ways the Lexus version is much better. On that same journey the split screen showing major junctions and roundabouts in large scale proved a big help when navigating through dense fog at night. without it some of those junctions would have been very tricky indeed. No satnav is perfect, so it does make sense to preview the routes offered and if necessary select an intermediate destination to encourage a more sensible choice of route.

Well, a bodge rather than a fix, but it seems to work... I have been having some rattle problems from the otherwise-brilliant and beautiful 56 reg 250SEL I bought in February. Lexus Leicester have dealt with some (with mixed results) and are going to have another go at the rear screen rattle (if that is what it is) which I mentioned in another recent post; but I have also been irritated by a rattle from the driver's door which was happening only on bad and uneven surfaces. I fiddled with seat belt fixings and LL changed some of these, but it seemed to make little difference. I read somewhere (perhaps on a US forum?) of adjustments being made to the door catch and striker pin to minimise movement there, so I tried an experiment which involved wrapping the striker pins tightly with two or three layers of black insulating tape, the thinking being that this would reduce any room for movement and would indicate whether door catch looseness was indeed the problem. I did the rear doors too while I was at it. It looks quite neat - well it does when first applied, anyway. Two days and some really bad roads later, my impression is that it really has worked. The doors don't rattle and the whole car seems tighter. A bit more research and I found that very same bodge being recommended for the Lotus elise, which apparently suffers from having striker pins that are a ml too small for the catches. For those with warranties (myself included) a proper solution must be adjustment of the door catch. For Lotus Elise drivers it is buying a new set of aftermarket striker pins. But the tape solution takes only minutes and pence and apparently lasts much longer than one might think. I wish there was a similar bodge for the rear screen rattle.

Well it isn't the brake cable it seems, nor is it the parcel shelf because Lexus Leicester say the rattle continued from the back even with the entire shelf removed. Having previously replaced the rear sunblind (oops) they now propose to remove and reseat the rear screen. It does seem to be heat /sunlight related. For five years Lexus Leicester saw me once a year for the annual service on my 200 sport. Now they see me about once a fortnight. Oh well. I had better explain before I take it back in that the brake squeal they fixed (at the second attempt) with new pads two weeks ago seems to be making a comeback - not too bad as yet but we shall see. Pity because they did seem to have cured it. Has anyone had that rear screen fix done? Does it work?

Anybody? I trawled through part of the LEXUS owners USA website last night and came across one rear end rattle case in which they suspected the cable for the parking brake. Thinking about it, the worst case I had was after leaving it for an hour on a steeply sloping driveway with the brake hard on, and the rattle began almost as soon as I released the brake, engaged reverse and backed down onto the road. It stopped about two hours later. The car was also standing in the sun that morning - stetching, expanding in the heat = too much play in the cable...?? Is this possible? If so, I assume that tightening the cable should solve it.