So after just 6 months and 5000km of ownership I've said bye bye to my IS220d. It was a love hate relationship but I have definitely not been put off buying another Lexus - far from it, although I would certainly think twice about it being a diesel Lexus. Luckily I've lost next to nothing on the car and I've decided to go back to VAG and have bought a Leon TDI.
I loved the looks, styling, features and in some ways the drive but I did not love the engine. If I was doing long distances/motorway miles I'm sure it would have been better but I don't. Diesel cars are the norm out here as petrol is more expensive than diesel but if I'm honest I made a mistake with this one. I cleaned the egr valve quite early into ownership and I checked it again after just 3000km and it was badly coked up again, this is with using an additive and premium diesel. Over the 6 months I only managed an average of 35mpg, with aircon I'd be closer to 30! I can't believe Lexus are allowed to quote such high figures when in real life it's so much lower.
There are a lot of things I like about the car though so I guess I'd probably really like a IS250.
I'll probably still pass by the forum now and again as I really like it, it's obviously a bit of an older environment (less immature) and people are very helpful and polite, unfortunately it can be a little quiet on here but this is probably due to Lexus being relatively rare on the UK roads.
Thanks for all the help, and see you around!