Jamesf1

I read somewhere - cant remember the source - that s stands for sequential. S mode purely allows the gear range to be set. Its doesn't physically change gear any quicker nor remap the throttle. S mode also disables the AI shift. The recomendation of Lexus is to use d as the default and s purely to limit the shift range. PWR mode puts the ECT into a more agressive - performance orientated - map for gear changes. Some claim this makes the throttle more sensitive - however that may be a red herring as PWR mode keeps the engine at higher revs than standard so throttle response would be better than ususal anyway. Never seen anything that confirms throttle mapping in itself is actually a part of the system on the IS250....although it could be. I have tried snow mode and the throttle does seem less sensitive - but its difficult to be certain. the nearest setting to a "sport" mode is pwr on the ect.

S is not sport mode. It allows the lever or paddles to fix the shift range. The same as old autos having 1, 2, 3 positions. It has no effect on the car performance nor is it a true manual mode. The ISF had a manual mode and as such it's gear selection is d or m. In a 0-60 standing start doubt pwr mode on the ect will have an effect either. Floor the throttle in d and standard ect setting and the gearshift will redline through the first few gears anyway.

As the engine is Japanese, and Japanese fuel is higher RON than Europes default 95 then Id of thought conceptually its designed with higher RON in mind anyway?... Evo magazine tested Shell optimax some years ago. I'm generalising a bit from memory here but it went something like this:They used a standard non performance hatch back - such as a Fiesta or Clio 1.6 , a Civic Type R and a Porsche Boxster. All 3 cars were at around 10k miles at the start, and were tested for fuel consumption, BHP and 0-60. All had been run on standard unleaded to that point. All 3 were then run exclusively on Optimax for 10k miles and retested. The standard hatchback showed very little difference, the Type R showed a definate improvement in power and 0-60 and the Boxster showed bigger imrovement than the Type R. The overall impression was - the bigger the more pwerful the engine the bigger the gains. Personally I use Vpower for its cleaning properties. Any perfomance gains are fine by me but not my main objective. I have use normally unleaded and Optimax\Vpower back to back in my own Type R and the IS 250 and both have improved MPG by a small amount. It may be a placebo effect but the IS runs very smoothly on Vpower. Having read a lot on this subject it appears that Momentum 99 lags behind Vpower in terms of the cleading\additives package.. Evo magazine also did a test of 95 vs super, using a Golf GTI. The results were: BP 95 Max power 204bhp Max torque 242lb ft BP Ultimate Max power 212bhp Max torque 252lb ft

Ditto.

I had a similar problem, what cured it for me was the plastic panel under the car, a couple of the bolts were loose. Tightened them up and noise stopped. The plastic panel itself didnt appear to be loose . The bolts appear to correspond with the mounting points for the rails the seat sits on.

Agree with first response, IS250 petrol is a better bet than the diesel.

I think there are 2 main issues : rattling dashboard - fixed where you have to put something between the windscreen and dash to solve - a common problem on early cars - the clips that held the dash in place where too large allowingthe dash to move - this I'm pretty sure was fixed on the face-lift 2009 onward cars with better sized clips fitted at build. Mine is a 59 plate registered Sept 2009 and doesn't have this problem. I bought it used and have all the servicing maintainence paperwork and there is no mention of this problem being fixed or worked on. The second issue is a crack sound from within the dashboard - behind the climate control panel. My car does have this, and it seems to be related to significant change of temperature: 1. Most noticable when its very cold and the heater is on high setting for 20 mins or so. Its a one off loud crack caused by the plastics expanding. It is loud, so much so its made me jump once or twice. Sounds like a ball bearing has hit your windscreen at high speed. 2 the opposite of the above - very hot and colling\ air con on a low temp setting. In this case though its a quieter noise, but again generally just once. For temperatures in between - mild heating or mild cooling - either doesnt happen or is very quiet. With no heating or air con on, doesnt happen at all. It is not related to car movement eg uneven surfaces. To be honest it either doesnt happen or is quiet most of the time, and if it does only happens once per journey if it occurs at all, Ive never bothered about it.

I've been fortunate enough since 2002 to have mostly have brand new cars, some of which I've sold before they have needed an MOT, so always stuck to main dealers (I factoror main dealer service costs in when considering a car purchase). I've had 1 service done on the Lexus - which is 5 years old - and did it at Lexus under essential care. It needed new front discs and pads and a rear caliper replacing in addition to service and MOT. I got a quote from a local garage - trusted by other family members - and it came in £150 less than Lexus. But I went with Lexus in the end. Why? Just peace of mind really. And I suppose I got a full valet for free. And a brand new CT200 F sport for the day. And my service book maintained as full Lexus history. Worth the extra £150? To me yes. The only time I went out of the dealer network for one of my cars was for a Mondeo which needed rear suspension bushes changes. Cost me £180 whereas Ford dealer wanted £400. So my main dealer habit will only go so far...and its not only "premium" brands that can take the you know what. Lexus have offered me a 2 year service plan for £23 a month to cover the next 2 services. This is the same price as a Ford service plan I had for the Mondeo so doesnt feel expensive. My only hesitation is commiting to Lexus for a car aleady nearly 6 years old...

by default it always goes into 4 or 5 depending on speed at the time. It can default to 2 or 3 if you have been gently plodding around before hand (according to the handbook). Ive only ever seen mine default to 4 or 5 - mostly 4

you need to pull on the "- "paddle for a second or 2 to activate them in D. But my car is post facelift..

My explanation may have been too vague. S mode= set a limit for highest gear full auto Upto that gear. Set s mode with the stick, and that mode is used until the stick is put back into d, regardless of paddle use. Set s mode using the paddles(stick stays in d) and s mode is temporary. Full gear range is restored automatically if you come to a complete stop, select 6 as the highest gear allowed or don't operate a paddle for a set period. You can also override s mode if activated by paddle rather than stick by pulling the + paddle for a couple of seconds.(stick in d) S mode isn't intended as a sports mode as such (imho) but by limiting the highest gear it is useful for planned overtakes As it allows the engine to rev. The handbook only refers to s mode to allow engine braking to be increased where necessary. I find using the paddles to "manually" change gear results in a less refined gear change than full auto. The ISF had an m mode in place of s, which is a true manual gear change mode. In a 250 the paddle isn't directly instructing a gear change, it's setting the highest gear allowed parameter.

I thought s stood for sequential. Sports mode is ect pwr setting. The difference between paddles and s on the lever is in my experience, use paddles without s it drops back into normal auto mode after a short while if you don't pull a paddle (the number displayed showing highest gear allowed disappears) and full auto resumes. Put the lever into s and it sticks with highest gear selected unti you move the lever back to d.

Hi, This wont do anything for the centre console but I have just silenced several little knocks\sqeeks etc from the door areas. using undiluted washing up liquid rub down the door and door frame rubber seals. Over time the rubber strips become greasy (from car washing) and seem to allow a little movement of the doors within the frames (?). I did this a few months back and its amazing how much more solid and silent the car has become. Just done it again at the weekend and again its made a suprising difference. One of the noises that disappeared was a tap noise that sounded like there was a loose cd case in the door bin 2. On the rear doors, where the metal arm goes into the door frame (seat belt pillar), each side of the car has a plastic cover where the arm enters the frame. mine where fairly loose. Ive popped a small bit of foam under the top of each plastic cover and thats remove a couple of door tapping noises too.

is you car on 60k? Mine will only be at 50kmiles for the sixth major service so my plan was to have a full service on the cut price servicing for older vehicles and have the 60k elements ie spark pllugs done at the following service - which will be the 7th minor one (again on the older vehicle cheaper service) when my car will actually be on 60k miles. As for is it worth sticking to the main dealers - well I suppose a dealer service history may be a bonus at resale time. Try a quote from a Toyota main dealer - use the same parts but lower labour rates(?)

nice car the Supra, why let it get like that?

As we drive Japanese cars built in Japan its a fair bet we have this make of airbags in our cars? Honda, Nissan and Toyota are looking at recalling 11 million cars between them in addition to the huge US recall http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32806056

V power has gone up around 7p a litre near me in the last 3 months

Sweet.

Found this on the US owners site: hope it helps I had the same squeak as you. I could hear it when I moved in the seat (really annoying because mine is a manual tranny and when I pushed the clutch in you could hear the squeak). When I pushed on the side bolster I could hear it. I fixed mine with the seat in the car. Took me about 10 minutes. Removed the back cover from the seat. Then I worked a small piece of cotton cloth up into the seat back between the steel and the foam. Been 4 months and hasn't made a sound since. Read more: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-second-generation/601076-squeaky-drivers-seat-when-turning.html#ixzz3Wi6PEuMD

Reading the suggestion of seat bolts Ive had a thought of Something else you might try. I had a noise I thought was the bottom of the seat which turned out to be the plastic panel underside of the car under the driver. Around the pillar put your hand under the car, there is a plastic panel. Ther are four bolts which may be the bottom of the seat securing bolts - ther four equate to where the four are inside the car which bolt the seat rails to the floor. I found the bolts which secure this panel were loose enough so the plastic panel was able to move around a little, and I could hear it in the car. They are a bit tricky to get to but just tightening them finger tight sorted the noise. I didn't mention this previously as this noise was inmistakably coming from the bottom of the seat but may be worth a try. One final suggestion is the noise could be the door seal. The rubber seal can get greasy over time and mine started to make a squeak over bumps. Simply wipe the rubber door seals- both around the door and frame - with a cloth with a little neat washing up liquid on - solved that squeak straight away. Not sure either of these are your problem but each only takes a few minutes to do so worth a try.....

As you say the torso area this is a longish shot but - I had a noise from the right hand side of the drivers seat over bumps. Turned out that with the seat at its lowest position, the side plastic panel was rubbing on the plastic below it at the rear of the chair. To be more precise - the side panel with the buttons on - at the rear of that, at the bottom of the panel, it wraps underneath itself. There is virtually no clearance to the top of the plastic section this sits on top of (at least with me sat in it!). By raising the seat a fraction at rear the noise disappeared.

I was going to suggest driving style before you try the battery. Just a bit more gas. Worth a try.... Another thought, what fuel do you use? I've run almost exclusively on Shell v power and find the engine smooth an pulls ok from low revs.

At 30 mph mine is in 5th @ around 1100 rpm, with no problems like you describe. I'm wondering if the labouring could be down to the common sticking brake caliper issue...

mine always goes into the foot well on auto, but when warmed up it add the dash vents as well

I got some tailored for the is from Halfords - they are pretty good in my opinion