LordByronUK

So we've had the dealership check the car over twice now and they can't find the source of our whistle noise. I think we're about about to give up on them, not very impressed with their techs and they recently messed up a tyre change and wheel alignment requiring us to take the vehicle back again. Not impressed at all! The whistle is really loud now, especially if you wind the window down. Does seem to be coming from the wheel area drivers side, front or back. It starts after driving for about 25-30 mins, can happen at any speed, mostly when cruising and slowing down, especially when going travelling in a straight line and goes away temporarily if you start turning the steering wheel. So my best guess at this point is something brake related, possibly warped rotors. It's quite a high pitched whistle, so I guess bearings are probably not the culprit. Any thoughts guys?

Make sure there are no creaks and cracks coming from the centre console area, anywhere! I've had a nightmare with this. You need to quite aggressively move the centre console from side to side, especially the area where the silver trim meets the leather knee pads. Also check the service history, make sure no accidents, but biggest issue to look for will be creaks, cracks and rattles, the IS is plagued with this

This also drives me nuts, but I've never been able to find an option to disable it!

Yeah I've tried it in manual mode and been very aggressive with it, but it always downshifts and same result. Even using the kickdown switch, same! I think you're right, it's the way the CVT has been programmed for efficiency, and I imagine if I floored it for long enough from a motorway speed then the computer would be more inclined to rev all the way to the redline (as seen in the the NX). You're right in that it's programmed to quickly give peak torque between 4200-5000ish RPM, and won't give full power unless you really really need it for efficiency reasons, the eCVT way I guess...

Has anyone ever been able to reach 6000rpm in their IS? I've tried hard, it goes up to about 4800rpm fairly quickly but then it massively slows down after about 5000rpm in the long climb to 6000. So slowly in fact that I've never been able to reach 6000rpm. In my partners NX300h however I can reach 5800rpm fairly quickly and predictably. I know the gearbox is tuned slightly differently in the NX, but I do find it strange how seemingly impossible it is to redline in the IS. Thoughts?

Did you need to take the wheels off to paint the calipers?

That's the one! I believe you need one bottle for every 70litre tank or thereabouts, just can't find any official usage instructions. Thankd 🙂

Got some of this for my IS300h, but cannot find any instructions of any kind on exactly how to use it. I assume I just pour it all into the fuel tank right?

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll be checking everything you've suggested and will report back!

Similar, but not quite the same, thanks for the video though

We're getting a whistling noise coming from the front driver side wheel area after driving for 20+ minutes or so. It's quite loud and super annoying, is worse when going in a straight direction and temporarily goes away when steering. Dealership had a look, but oh surprise it didn't happen and they found nothing wrong. Anyone else had this?

Lexus parts direct should be able to provide you with a replacement

- Try and do all your braking under regen, this is probably the single most important tip, so start braking/rolling as early as possible - glide/roll to a stop as much as possible just feathering the brake, again, this is to try and ensure all your braking is done using the regenerative braking - Use ECO mode around town and go lightly on the throttle - Use pulse and glide to ensure you're crusing on battery power as much as possible at speeds below 45mph - use cruise control as much as possible - get up to speed fairly quickly, don't labor up to your desired speed. Enjoy the performance in sport mode, it won't impact economy that much - use the Aircon system only when needed - pressing the EV mode button immediately after ignition will also prevent the engine switching on, assuming enough charge is present. I'm able to always average 50-55mpg all year round, but it does take a lot of practice. However, it's really just a matter of making the above habit, and after a while you don't even think about it. On really long journeys I've even averaged 60mpg a few times. I still can't believe Lexus are discontinuing the IS, it's the best hybrid car they sell! I tried a UX, and it drives a bit ****, just felt like an impractical toy with worse economy/performance than the IS. I digress...

The 4th gen IS300h is supposed to be a lot better in terms of transmission performance and responsiveness. Sadly, to my dismay, we're not getting it over here in the UK 😞

It is quite a low car, but here in Cambridge with my luxury model, I've never really had a problem, but you do need to be a bit more cautious than say with an NX.

I find the news about the refreshed IS being cancelled in the UK market very strange indeed. My dealership tells me they sell quite a lot of IS300h still and there are thousands of people with existing IS300h that are waiting for an update like this. I mean they'll all be built in Japan most likely on the same production line, so why just chop out the UK market, it just doesn't make much sense to me. I rarely ever see any ES300h on the road, but loads of IS, and it's quite a different customer to honest. I asked about the IS just a few days ago at the dealership while taking our NX in for a service, and they were quite positive that a refresh was probably on the way. Dunno, maybe I'm just in denial, just don't want to see Lexus become a boring SUV company here in UK/Europe... I also don't want to leave Lexus either, but if no more IS, then I might have to think about BMW/Tesla in a few years time for my rear-wheel drive passion... Makes me sad 😞

This was the average mpg just from the trip, not the average since filling up the tank. The average since refill obviously stayed more or less the same with just a slight increase from the last trip of 47mpg.

And low and behold the 12v battery on our 2016 NX FSport is now dead and got it replaced by the AA today (£165). We thought it had just run low because of low usage of late, but turned out the thing was on its last legs and just wasn't holding charge and needed to be replaced. Quite surprising for a 4 year old vehicle...What was interesting is that the new 12v battery may have slightly improved fuel economy. I noticed immediately that the hybrid battery wasn't having to be topped up as much when low, as the hybrid battery is used to top up the 12v battery. The AA guy even said that when the car detects the 12v is low (when idle or in slow traffic), the car will top up the hybrid battery more often to keep the 12v topped up, and the manual even said something similar if I remember. I was sitting in the car stationary for about 20 minutes on lowest 2 bar charge and even then it didn't need to top up the hybrid system once. Managed to get 47mpg from a good mixed drive after 30 minutes with the new battery, which is definitely higher then what I usually get on that route. Could be a coincidence, I'll have to see what our average is like after a few more tanks of driving to be sure though. It does make sense that a dying 12v can put a drain on the hybrid system. Anyone else experienced this?

Move the shift gear lever into the 'S' position for manual shift range, then you can shift either by pushing the lever up/down or using the paddle shifters on the steering wheel.

We have exactly the same, a 2016NX FSport. The ride quality can definitely be improved. - Make sure you put the tyre pressure to the recommended 32PSI, that made quite a big improvement to the harder ride. - Secondly, and as stated many times in the forums, upgrade those rock hard Yokos to Michellin Cross Climates. We haven't done this yet, but we will at the next opportunity. Those two things combined should give a much better and smoother ride I reckon you'll be happy with. Sadly our NX didn't come with AVS, but I've heard very mixed things about it, sometimes even harder, sometimes too soft and can't make its mind up...

Might be worth seeing how much the all electric UX will go for, as if the government's policy is anything to go by now, hybrids will be obsolete too very soon! The resale value on an all-eletric car will be much higher I predict than the hybrid, and running costs will be much much lower! Also, the boot is going to be bigger in the electric UX too, and quite a bit faster at 7.5sec 0-60.

That's right, it's just a mistake

According to the latest news over on LexusEnthusiast, https://lexusenthusiast.com/2019/07/10/next-generation-lexus-is-is-f-sedans-coming-in-2021/ It's going to come out in 2021, but yes, Lexus do need to seriously up their game for the next IS. Even the latest RAV4 is faster than the current IS, 0-60 in 8.1secs. The next Hybrid IS must be faster than this if it's still to be taken seriously as a BMW 3 Series competitor, and compete with the other luxury brands. I'm personally not going to upgrade unless it's around the 7 second mark. I have heard from the dealership also that the next IS should also be launched with a plug-in version, so expect RAV4 plugin performance numbers I'm guessing. Not just the IS though, what about the ageing NX. The ICE engine in the current NX is seriously out of date, and the vehicle is way to heavy with poor performance and fuel economy. If these issues are not addressed in the next generation, then Lexus sales could start to take a serious hit, and don't get me started on infotainment... My partner and I are already thinking about changing brands for our next upgrades if things don't significantly improve.

That's correct, they are only stating the power of the ICE engine. Combined with the electric motor, the IS300h has 223bhp.

Absolutely take it to the dealership ASAP, and get them to fix it as that is not supposed to happen. We have an NX and the ABS system has never had to kick in yet and that's under lots of heavy braking scenarios. Sounds like a faulty ABS sensor.