Tyre Tread

Just for clarity minimum tread depth is 1.6mm across 75% of the cebtre of the tread width not 1.4mm.

I don't mean to be pedantic (or maybe I do) but how would you be able to say "As for impact to fuel economy - at least on IS250 it is so negligible I never managed to find any reasonable correlation." when you already said " Mine was used literally 100% of the time..." It will impact MPG. How much is debatable and dependant on many factors. Personally I rarely, if ever, turn off the aircon on any of my cars in which its fitted.

Put a new set of Dunlop Sport blureponse on mine. My other car is a TVR so I like grip. Also like peace and quiet and these tyres seem to do both reasonably well. I also like good value. Another box ticked.

I am fussy when it comes to buying cars and it took me over 6 months to find the one I bought. Searching Autotrader, Gumtree etc. I live in Cardiff and went to view and drive one in Bristol which was a tad over priced. I walked away and drove to Leicester the same day to see another one of similar miles (52K) but when I got there the condition wasn't a patch on the one in Bristol. Luckily, while I was sat in the car in Leicester I git a call from the dealer in Bristol offering me a better deal so I bought it. I was talked into the biscuit coloured interior by a friend who has one and I much prefer it to the black. What colour car did I buy? I wasn't that fussed on colour but I'm really pleased I ended up with a red one. It looks stunning in the sunshine when clean and the metal fleck really shines. I bought it almost exactly a year ago and 20K miles later its had a set of tyres (Dunlop Sport BluResponse- it came on winters) plus a further tyre due to a puncture, a water pump (did it myself in an afternoon and it cost £115 (Lexus quoted £550) and some rear brake pads at £30 (I think) which I fitted in about an hour or so. I've had an XFS Jag and top of the range Skoda Superb before the IS250 and I can honestly say its better than Skoda's best and not far off the XFS. It's averaging 34.8MPG on my regular commute (mostly motorway) and is a real stressbuster. Mine did have the dashboard creak but that was sorted when the dealer did the airbag and I got them to change the clips holding the dashboard (£25). Highly recommended car but make sure you find the right one and if creaks bother you make sure its been fixed. Also get the exhaust checked before you buy as they are very cotly to replace (see the buyers guide) Good luck and enjoy.

If an auto, is it in park or neutral? If so, get the inhibitor checked for a fault.

I asked the Lexus dealer to change the dash clips while changing the airbag to try and stop the squeaky/creaky dash. Initially they claimed the service receptionist said didn't know about the creaking dash issue then after speaking to the workshop manager said they didn't know which clips would need changing. I said I'd happily pay for them to order in all of the clips if they were £25 quid or so and change them all as they did the airbag. After more consultation they said that to order all of the clips would be expensive as some were £5 each! But said they'd look into it further. I got a call back a week or so later to say that they had identified the clips and were happy to change them if I paid for them. Asked how much. Bizarrely £25! I agreed. I took the car in for for the airbag on 27th December and some 500 miles later the dash has been silent. Well worth £25! Seems they must have put some fuel in my car but didn't tell me as I monitor my MPG using a phone app and the last tankful gave me 45MPG when I usually get mid to high 30's. Wasn't impressed with the loan CT200h though.

I asked the Lexus dealer to change the clips while changing the airbag. Initially they claimed the service receptionist said didn't know about the creaking dash issue then after speaking to the workshop manager said they didn't know which clips would need changing. I said I'd happily pay for them to order in all of the clips if they were £25 quid or so and change them all as they did the airbag. After more consultation they said that to order all of the clips would be expensive as some were £5 each! But said they'd look into it further. I got a call back a week or so later to say that they had identified the clips and were happy to change them if I paid for them. Asked how much. Bizarrely £25! I agreed. I took the car in for for the airbag on 27th December and some 500 miles later the dash has been silent. Well worth £25!

Took my car in to Lexus Cardiff today for the airbag recall today and they spotted that the water pump is leaking. They quoted £44 to top up the fluid and £550 to replace the water pump which I politely declined and picked up a water pump and antifreeze from the pooical factors on my way home at a cost of £115.20. Fitting time tomorrow! Oh, and the mileage= 69434 so it fits in with the general patter of around 68-70k for water pump failure.

Just had a message from Lexus Cardiff to say they've identified the clips and they are £25 so they've ordered them and have a loan car ready for 27th for me

Since I hadn't heard back from Lexus Cardiff I gave them a call the other day and spoke to the lovely Charlotte who said she hadn't forgotten about my enquiry re the clips but had spoken to the service manager who said it could be one of several types of clips. The problem being they can't return clips if they're not the right ones and they don't want to order all of them. I suggested that if the clips are cheap then I'd be happy to buy some of all of the types for the sake of £20 or so. I was told that some of the clips are £5 each. Is it just me being cynical or am I being fobbed off. Can anyone confirm what clips were the upgraded ones by Lexus please?

Thanks for the positive comments. As its a 10 year old car I used bog standard car shampoo from Costco followed by a Farecla G3 Clay Mitt with G3 Bodyshop detailer as the lubricant and finished off with a tub of wax I had on the shelf I bought about 10 years ago. Mostly a large tub of elbow grease but actually it wasn't too hard at all. It is really satisfying to go from sandpaper pint to glossy smooth paint. Clay bars an Mitts really are amazing and I was very sceptical of them but they do work as long as you use them correctly. Oh and use microfibre towels to dry off the car and microfibre cloths (cheap from Costco) to polish. Make sure you remove the labels though as they will scratch the paint quite badly if you don't.

Gave my car its first proper wash, clay Mitt and wax since I bought it on March and also touched in the stone chips. The light wasn't great when I finished but I took a couple of pics anyway: Not bad for 10 years old.

I had a quick Google on AR9100 but frankly don't see the benefit if the oil is being changed every 5k miles.

Obviously I'm not in a position to answer all of your questions so I shan't try. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I think you may be "barking at the moon" but wish you luck.

I think you may be straying into the realms of reductio ad absurdum. I agree that there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Perhaps I should have said data :) Anyway, I was only trying to give a wee insight into perhaps areas that were missing from people's understanding. I think you may be straying into the realms of reductio ad absurdum. I agree that there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Perhaps I should have said data :) Anyway, I was only trying to give a wee insight into perhaps areas that were missing from people's understanding. As for asking for the occupation of the insured, if you really don't understand the differences in how someone might drive( i.e. times of day s well as driving behaviour) of a musician versus an accountant then you haven't the vaguest clue how insurance companies assess risk. Maybe we should stop being mad at the insurance companies and be mad at the fraudsters who cost us all tens to hundreds of pounds each year in our increased premiums. If we were all suddenly allowed to self insure or have no insurance I wonder how many people would then become bankrupt overnight in trying to settle claims for which they have no funding. The insurance world is far from perfect but until someone comes up with a better solution... Funny how we pay 70%+ in tax on petrol and accept it Which for some can amount to a cost of thousands per year) but we recoil at a few extra pounds on insurance premiums. Anyway, I didn't intend to come on this thread to defend insurers as I'm sure like every other industry there are good and bad. So I'm out! Good luck!

Not sure its is as flawed as you would imagine. Statistics don't lie and insurance companies base risk upon data gathered and have to justify themselves to a degree in the prices they charge in a competitive market place. As the insurance companies say to the brokers, If you don't like my price just take your business elsewhere.

2007 IS250 with 58K when I bought it in March is now on 67K. I had the average indicated since I bought the car up to 40.5 and the average tank as high as 42.1mpg - However the car's computer is optimistic: All fuel logged on "Mycars" App and brim to brim calculations - Best =39.386mpg and 512 miles on one tankful which used 58.4 litres so still had a gallon left! Worst was 304 miles - 25.45mpg with all local running Will be making a trip up to Yorkshire from South Wales in a few weeks time so hoping to take a tankful over a genuine 40 mpg.

It's not that I don't want to, just I'm far from being an expert but consider things like: If you have had a no fault accident is it that you regularly visit/park in places where you are more likely to sustain damage to your car? The OP's experience would suggest that there is validity in that premise since he had a long driving history with no accidents and then 2 in a short space of time. The Insurance co may have to consider whether your driving is deteriorating? No accidents for many years then an accident. Are you regularly travelling through a high risk area? A14 near Kettering is apparently a high risk area for crash for cash incidents and one insurance company will investigate all accidents that happen there more thoroughly before payout. My own personal experience is perhaps also relevant. A couple of years ago I relocated from the Midlands to South Wales and rented a flat in a not so brilliant area while we found somewhere to buy. We ended up buying a house in one of the nicest areas of the city and my car insurance went up. When I enquired why from a friend who works in the insurance industry he said it was likely to be due to the area we'd moved to having a high level level of much older wealthy drivers driving bigger cars that are more expensive to repair. It also meant the area was more likely to be frequented by car thieves looking for high end vehicles to steal. The Insurance industry is far more complex than I ever gave it credit for and there are many more factors taken into account when calculating premiums than the ones you might be aware of when you sign up for insurance. HTH but I reiterate that I am a newbie to working in insurance so my insight is somewhat limited and possibly naive.

I used to think along the same lines as the OP until a couple of months ago when I started working for a motor insurer. It has certainly opened my eyes.

Today I changed the oil and filter on my car and since at the last Lexus service they mentioned the rear pads were 60% worn and that was 6K miles ago I'd bought a replacement set and thought I'd take a look at them and changed them as a precaution. While I was under the car I noticed quite a build up of mud and detritus particularly sitting on the inside lip of the rear arches. Obviously over time this traps moisture and promotes corrosion so may I suggest that the next time you are washing your car that you run your fingers under the lip of the rear wheel arches and check if they're trapping mud. Mine will be cleaned out regularly from now on.

Interesting observation: I think I previously mentioned that I've had this noise on start up occasionally but I've since figured out that it only seems to happen when the car is started from cold and it has been parked facing my house. What does whether its facing the house have to do with it? My drive is on a slope o if its facing downhill it happens (not always just intermittently) but when parked facing uphill it has never happened. Today I did the first home oil and filter change - on my other cars I would always at least part fill the oil filter but on the Lexus you can't because of the type of filter and the fact the filter sits horizontally. Even though I cranked the car for a few seconds after changing the filter and refilling with oil, when it started it made the same brief noise I get occasionally on cold start up. I wonder if the car is left at certain angles if the oil drains from the filter and hence you get the start up noise? Feasible?

I bought my IS250 in March - 07 plate with 58K miles and due a MOT in October. I was a wee bit concerned but it flew through with no advisories from my local garage who are notorious for picking up on the small stuff. Big advantage using the local garage is they let me have a wander around under the car while its on the ramp and check condition. Biggest surprise was the emissions which registered 0.0% CO, So my car is basically cleaning the atmosphere as I drive :D I now do a 90 mile round trip commute every day so will be doing an interim oil change at 5K miles in the next few weeks. (Had a service done at Lexus at 62K miles and now up to £66K)

I rang Lexus Cardiff today to book my car in and the earliest they can do is mid December so mine is booked for 27th December as I'm off work The service advisor said they will need the car all day so I asked about replacing the dashboard clips to cure the rattles. Lady said she'd not heard about this but said she would check and come back to me.

I'll do that and let you know the outcome. Thanks.