NeilS

Maybe I should live in the US, cos I'm never satisfied either!

I agree with BC99's comments, performance is adequate for a 200hp V6. But having owned mine (IS250 C)for almost a year now, I feel it could do with slightly more power especially on steep hills. As has been said though, that could be down to the lazy auto box. Fuel economy could be more generous too, but again, it's a heavy car for its' size. I get 28/29 mpg around town and 30 - 32 on the daily, which involves about half traffic jams and half m-way & dual. You have to remember these cars are mid-size, mid-range luxury tourers/cruisers and they do that extremely well. They were never designed with 'performance' in mind. A better compromise might be something German. For now though, I'm more than happy with what I've got.

I wouldn't be too concerned regarding the nav system, for two reasons: 1. If it requires an update, it'll cost upwards of £150 as apparently it is a Lexus-only job. Unless of course you can negotiate a deal that includes a free update . . . 2. The nav system itself is hellishly complicated to the average user (myself included). Some of the brighter sparks amongst us will disagree, of course. And, in this age of high-res and 4k etc, the screen displays clunky graphics in glorious vga quality. Having said that, it is however, perfectly adequate. If you have read my earlier post, you will see that I suggested that maybe the best way forward (see what I did there) is to use a popular smartphone-based navigation app.

It turns on a heating element in the windscreen which melts any frost in cold weather, to protect the wiper blades ie. it prevents them sticking to the glass.

Btw Vlad, When I installed my little add-on radio, I did a side-by-side comparison of wired v. FM connections, and found no difference or improvement in sound quality. So I went for the easiest option . . . It's interesting occasionally. Another time, a guy in a car behind me had a handsfree Parrot system or whatever and I heard him and his missus arguing about a brand new phone that she had bought, but did not come with a SIM card, and she wanted him to call in somewhere to get the SIM, but for reasons unknown he just kept digging his heels in and refused. Raised voices and more cursing ensued . . . and yet again, I missed the outcome as the guy turned off the main road that we were on. Hilarious.

I know what you mean. I've not experienced the aural delights of Jungle, but I'll take your word for it!😆 However, a couple of months back, I was sitting in traffic waiting for the lights to change, when what I was listening to at the time cut off and was replaced by some jazz track. Took me by surprise until I realised what was going on, and I was looking at the other drivers nearby to me to try and guess who might be listening to such obscure nonsense! Alas the lights turned to green, the channel I was listening to returned and I never found out the identity of the mystery listener!

Hi Roland, like you, I didn't want any add-on units plonked on top of the dashboard but I sort of bit the bullet and bought a DAB+ unit, and mounted it discreetly at the side of the windscreen, along with the supplied aerial on the inside top corner of the windscreen on the passenger's side (yes, an add-on DAB radio requires its' own separate aerial). Trust me, it's really not an issue. I routed the wires behind the A-pillar trim panel, under the dash by the pedals and across and up into the centre cubby with the sliding cover. That's the power cable, which connects to the usb port in the central cubby. The installation from start to finish took less than 30 minutes. I too considered having a DAB module fitted after I bought the car. But after a little research, I found out that the Lexus-only upgrade is expensive for what it is and crucially, they are only able to provide an upgrade to a DAB system and not a DAB+, on which many more radio channels are available. There are two ways to connect the radio to the car's stereo system; a stereo cable (about 3m length) running along with the power cable and connected to the 3.5mm auxilliary input, next to the usb port. Or, as what I've done, a redundant FM radio frequency (eg 87.1 MHz) can be selected to output on the DAB and then simply tune the car's FM radio to that frequency. I've done it this way and have to say it works really, really well. Sound quality is very good. I rarely experience any dropouts and reception is generally excellent. The DAB system was intended for unobstructed outdoor use anyway, so any comparisons with poor reception INDOORs, is somewhat unfair I think. I have a usb stick with music on it and it works very well, once you get used to the selection interface on the screen in the dash. But as mentioned I don't bother with that anymore, as I have the DAB+ radio plugged into the usb. The 'infotainment' system (I'm a bit old school and I simply call it "the stereo") fitted to my SE-L is made by Pioneer, I think and I would describe the sound quality as average to OK; it's not terrible but it's not brilliant either. My daughter had a 2012 Fiesta with a stock sound system which sounded a lot better. In my opinion. Having said that though, it does sound much better when the roof is down, as it automatically applies a boost to some bass frequencies, a bit like pressing the 'Loud' button on some older systems. It has a 6-cd changer built in, but I have never played a cd since I've had the car. I don't even know if it works, though I expect it does. I have not heard a Levinson system though. Bluetooth seems to work ok, though I don't happen to have any music stored on my phone. The navigation system is a bloody nightmare. There, I've said it! I wanted to get it updated to present day but was put off by the high cost of an upgrade by Lexus and after using a few times, decided it wouldn't have been worth it anyway. If it was presented differently it could be brilliant, but it's far too complicated to set up and use, takes you through all the back streets, and is way to complex for its' own good. My advice would be to stick to your favourite navigation app on your smartphone.

Some nice mods there Ahmed, that centre console looks boss! That's what I'm working towards eventually. How long was the car out of action for?

One morning this week, they were interviewing some rep from the Petrol Retailers Association on the Today Show and he said that if everyone purchased their fuel 'as normal' as from right now, it would still take a week to two weeks for the situation to stabilise because of the disruption.

Halfords Berry Scented. Ready mixed, doesn't freeze, does the job and best of all, it smells like summer fruits pop!

LC500 ? I've had 2 people - one a stranger in a car park, the other a work colleague - ask if mine was a Mercedes!

The office where I work is right on the corner of a busy junction and when the traffic lights turn green, it's either scary, annoying or awe-inspiring, depending on your perspective. Trust me, it's like Santa Pod sometimes. I go for the annoying category. With the re-mapping and subsequent sound effects, the end result can't be good for the exhaust system in general. I would've thought that at the least, the life of the joints and components like silencers, internal baffle plates etc is seriously shortened due to all that back pressure. Exhaust systems ain't cheap, either. Maybe a new exhaust every I dunno, 18 months or so is considered a worthwhile expense? Keeps some in employment, I suppose.

Hi All, the filling station situation seems to have stabilised somewhat around where I live, at least as far as the supermarkets are concerned, however the local independent in the village has decided to sell fuel to emergency / key workers only. Prices remain the same as they were two weeks ago. Something I have noticed though, is that there aren't many drivers of all types and sizes of vehicle driving at more than about 60mph, presumably to save fuel. This is on the M4 (daily commute) and a few other dual carriageways that I've been on. Anyone else noticed this phenomena? I find it slightly amusing to see thrusting, young bearded male professionals with their crisp shirts in their un-badged BM's and Audi whatevers pootling along at 50 - 55.

In the five months or so of owning my 250C, for the first time yesterday morning I spotted another! Have seen quite a few saloon 250's but not a convertible. I really wanted to honk the horn (not a euphemism), but seeing as it was driven by an attractive lady I didn't want to give the wrong impression! Maybe I should post this in the 'Was it you?' forum? In other news, I had my had my first "quiet V6 on tickover moment" last week. At the filling station with roof down, daughter distracting me with chit-chat, jumped out of car to fill up, nozzle in the filler and . . . For some odd reason I happened to glance at the tacho, which was showing 800rpm or whatever and I then realised that I hadn't switched the engine off! It was (is) so quiet and vibration-free, and combined with the hustle & bustle background noise at the filling station, I just had one of those 'moments'.

Hi Ant, The sensor in question is located in front of the radiator, fastened with a 10mm bolt. I'll post some pics and show the sensor location with a red circle. As I mentioned, I disassembled it and cleaned the filter but it wasn't that dirty tbh. I have no way of testing the sensor module, the connector appears to be OK after a visual inspection only, so I'm thinking the issue could be with the wiring or cpu. That's a tough one to fault-find without a schematic or wiring diagram.

Hi, does anyone have experience of dealing with issues regarding the air quality sensor? I must admit I didn't realise what it was, when I first had the car I was curious as to why the aircon system had two 'AUTO' buttons. But after a good read of the owner's manual I figured it out. However, the sensor doesn't seem to want to play. It's always in the re-circulation mode, that includes heavy traffic conditions (lots of exhaust fumes) or up in the hills (clean air) regardless of the sensitivity setting - I've tried them all. I suspect there is some issue or other with it and I'm guessing that it sets itself in the re-circulation mode when it detects a fault. I've removed the sensor module and taken it apart, cleaned the little sponge filter (which tbh, wasn't all that dirty), put it all back and it's still the same. It is possible to manually cycle between the 3 modes, so it's not too much of a big deal. Bearing in mind that when the folding roof is opened, it automatically switches the aircon system to recirculate, so maybe a faulty microswitch somwhere? I just thought it's a rather cool feature to have when it's working properly!

Thank you for the kind comments! 👍 I'll find somewhere with a more picturesque background next time. Maybe a nice sunset shot.

Hi, I recently joined the forum also. I've never been a fan of any wood - real or fake - in any car, but that's just me. Others seem to like it though and and that's fine. I'll try to provide a link to a topic I started, https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/129908-new-member-my-is250-c/ where I expertly posted some pictures with the expertise of an expert, of a few cosmetic mods I've done on my car. Specifically, the vinyl wrap I applied to the centre console area and the door button panel inserts. I went for a dark brushed steel effect wrap, as I don't care for carbon fibre weave either (I know, I'm a fussy bugger!) and there are many effects to choose from. There are also many helpful videos on the tube of you which I would suggest watching before any work is carried out. Don't rush it! Allow plenty of time, I found it a straightforward job which took me around 2 hours from start to finish. Oh, and invest in a set of trim removal tools, as there is some levering out of panels involved.

I'd have like to placed some descriptive captions under the pics, but it wasn't to be. Sorry about that, I'm sure you guys will figure out what's what from my op. I'm clearly not as sharp as I think I am with tech. 🙄

Well that turned out terribly well. How the hell did I manage to double post the pictures? Oh whatever. Here's some more.

Thanks Mr Vlad! OK here goes:

ETA: Didn't mean to be harsh or rude, maybe it's my stupid Flickr account. Which photo hosting site do you guys use?

First of all, thank you very much to all the respondents to my post, and for the welcome greetings. I'll try to respond in thread order, so please bear with! Mike246: Hi Mike, it appears that the guy who purchased the car from brand new decided he didn't want the DAB option. I considered approaching Lexus about a retrofit, but I found that it would have been rather costly (for what it is) and also that crucially, they would only be able to retrofit a DAB system, and not DAB+ which as I'm sure you will be aware, has more channels to choose from. So I decided to chance my arm and go for a 30 quid adaptor which I sourced on fleabay. It came with all the kit & caboodle including the aerial, and it works surprisingly well, even tuned in to a redundant FM channel. I was expecting to have to connect the output to the auxiliary socket in the centre console, but really it works well enough. I must be one of the sad few who still actually listens to radio in the car, and I remember back in the day compiling a "mix tape" for every possible occasion . . . and eventuality. But you know what? The older I get, the more lazy I get and these days I just can't be bothered anymore! better to listen to a computer-generated playlist, and when the adverts come on, just switch the channel; there are 80-odd to choose from on DAB+. Believe it or not, I hardly use my mobile so I have Pay as you Go SIM card. I see little point in paying £30+ a month for an unlimited data/text/calls contract to have streaming music in the car when I can get pretty much what I want with a little add-on adaptor. If I'm honest, I didn't really like the idea of something plonked onto the side of the windscreen, but the unit is quite discreet and not that intrusive. As for the supermarkets, we are very fortunate to live within a 10 minute drive of all the major brands. The nearest Wait & Pose is about 15 miles away. Beamish: Hi Dec! Many thanks for taking the time to produce your interesting research results! Wow, they didn't manage to sell many convertibles in the UK did they? If I was asked to guess, I would've said at least over a 1000 units. Maybe brand 'awareness' could be a factor. This may be a good discussion topic for another thread. Johnno: Agreed, the folding roof mech is pretty much a work of art as well as being an engineering marvel. I think only the Japanese or the Germans could manage such perfection. Also agreed, France is a beautiful country. As regards to posting pictures, perhaps someone would point me in the right direction to the procedure? I'm a member of several other internet forums, and I've posted loads of photos in the past. But I apologise for saying that I don't find this board particularly intuitive.

I'm a bit busy atm, and I'm going Out out later, so I'll put up some pics tomorrow, pinkie promise! 😄

Hi All, Just joined the forum yesterday. I bought an IS250 C a few months back and have to say that this is, by a country mile, the best car I have ever owned. It came with a full Lexus service history and no issues at all, until a couple of minor ones cropped up recently. I have some questions for the experienced owners, but first let me tell you a bit about the car. Wifey and I got bitten by the convertible bug around 6 years ago when we decided to get a Megane CC, itself a nice comfortable car but sadly things were starting to go wrong, so it was time for it to go. I didn’t want another boring straight-4 and having owned a Probe V6 many years ago, the idea of having another lazy V6, VR6 or a straight-6 was quite appealing. So after some research I whittled my options down to either a VW Eos with the right spec or an IS250. Being aware of Lexus’ reliability and refinement, I took the plunge when the 'right' one presented itself and we’re not disappointed. The car is used as the daily, I get 30–34 mpg and after having this and the previous car with auto transmission, I doubt I’d choose a manual again as like most of us, I frequently have to deal with stop/start traffic during the 32-mile round trip commute, and this is where an auto box comes into its’ own. Occasionally, I get the odd ‘good’ run to work and back home. I’ll briefly run through some early mods I’ve done, but before that some of the first things I replaced were the air filter and cabin filter (which looked as if it had never been changed), and I sourced a space saver for use as a spare. I then bought a third-party set of floor mats in black, for use in wet weather to protect the cream mats that came with the car. Didn’t like the black steering wheel much, I felt it made the dash look slightly monotonous so I got a cream coloured steering wheel cover to give some contrast and I also treated myself to a soft head restraint pillow, which is very comfortable. I’ve replaced the interior bulbs and side lights with some nice bright LED’s and I bought a basic but easy to read analogue clock, which I stuck over the digital clock display that I felt was a bit dated and looked like a 1990’s era VCR. As the model is an SE-L you’ll be aware that it comes in 'grandad' spec, which is absolutely fine for those who like Classy and Refined, but it’s not to my taste. So I covered the door button panel inserts and great aunt Fanny’s dining table with a smart, contemporary dark brushed-steel effect wrap. It’s all subjective, and this may not be to someone else’s liking, but I think it’s an improvement. In fact, everyone who has seen it thinks it’s better. I’m not a fan of carbon fibre weave either. Whilst I had the centre console out, I thought it might be good idea to replace the green/amber LED’s on the seat heater & cooler rotary controllers with something more appropriate, so I removed the control pcb module and replaced the LED’s with red/blue bi-colour LED’s. Now, when the seat heater is turned on, the indicator lights red and when the cooler is turned on, the indicator is blue. More recently I’ve bought a small third-party DAB+ radio adaptor, which works surprisingly well and sounds ok too. Future projects may include replacing the green dashboard LED’s with something more fancy, but I am hesitant as the car is so well put together, I don’t want to ruin anything. So there you go, my initial impressions are very positive. Although I have a few nit-picks with the car, the comfort, quietness and sheer driving quality outweigh the other things I’d like to change. Oh, and the missus is now officially the queen of our local Tesco and Asda car parks! On a sunny day. Anyway enough waffling, sorry for the looong first post, and thanks for letting me join LOC.