BeepBeep

On 2/27/2015 at 9:48 PM, Exdee said:

I get 23-25 MPG on mine in Winters as I do a lot of short trips and drive on congested roads.

I also have a BMW 335i (3.0 litre) and get the same mileage from it so looking at it from that perspective, the Lexus is a bit thirsty.

The servicing is also more expensive in comparison to the BMW. The back seats are cramped, probably has the same amount of leg room as the BMW which is a coupe.

The Lexus however is still my preferred car of the two for reasons which have already been mentioned here.

The lexus is more to service, but nowhere near as prone to issues. I'm guessing that little servicing price bump doesn't offset the parts when they go wrong.

17 minutes ago, McShmoopy said:

I don't think it's something to get too worried about. The Americans have lower quality fuel than what is the lowest grade in the UK (95 Octane) so if it is a point of concern you could be using Shel V power occasionally or add an engine cleaning additive to stave off carbon build up. I know this was addressed with the 2009 facelifts but I don't think there are very many horror story cases in the UK for carbon build up. Doing that combined with regular servicing either yearly or every 5k to 10k miles the car shouldn't give you any major issues. 

Thanks for the advice, I can now sleep easy. I just don't want my babbe getting sick. 

Hello

I recently bought an IS250 with 50k on the clock and full Lexus service history, but I've been seeing lots of horror stories about carbon build up on the valves although they tend to be only coming mostly from american forums. Should I be worried about this?

2 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

It's as much to do with how the power is delivered as the actual power.

Also that RC300h looks the absolute dogs knackkers.

1 minute ago, NemesisUK said:

It's as much to do with how the power is delivered as the actual power.

To be fair the last American car I was in had an automatic gearbox from the 16th century, makes sense.

On 12/3/2021 at 2:25 PM, Mike_Mac said:

Well, I've done it again...  I am now the owner of a prime, sourced sight-unseen from a salvage auction in Edinburgh, Non-running, High-Mileage Lexus IS 250:

 

 

The backstory is three-fold.

First, I was getting bored out of my skull sitting in accommodation at work, and couldn’t risk doing too much to whatever car I drove there (at risk of being stranded if something unexpected happened).

Second, my wife has decided to start learning to drive in Jan and this could become her first car (or, if sold, provide the money for her to buy what she wants, assuming the option to make money on it still remains…).

Third, I’ve been interested in doing some kind of ‘auction rescue’ project for a while, so recently joined Copart and started browsing the salvage Cat N, S or U cars. Having always liked them, a Lexus IS 250 was settled on as the project of choice and, having bid and lost on a few with structural damage, I finally won this one with minor cosmetic issues but a non-runner, for £900

(Cheapest Lexus IS 250 in the Country?)

The auction notes said the following:

The ‘VSC, Non-Start’ thing is potentially down to a few different causes, most of which I can solve. That Copart had it listed as ‘Runs and drives’ was of some interest, but I resolved to see what turned up and diagnose the actual fault from there. Ultimately, if it’s anything top end, VVT, fuel or electrically related I should be able to fix it, and have a fair budget to work with depending on resale value (fees and shipping added a lot to the overall bill so far). If it’s bottom end, I’ll be either punting it on, or sourcing a used engine (have a few candidates already).

These engines are direct injection so are liable to carbon fouling and a design fault in the earlier ones can lead to high oil consumption. I have plans to tackle both these issues, depending what I find, but again if it starts looking like a lemon then I’ll just either go for an engine change or get rid.

SO! The newest ‘biggest mistake ever’ arrives on Monday and I’ll be getting stuck into it in a car park at my work weather, availability and facilities dependant.

Just hope the first fault code read doesn’t look like this:

(Much) more to follow, I’m sure – including, potentially, a lot of pain…

Looks good, I've just bought a 2006 is250 in Black with Black wheeles, they look so much better in person as photo's don't do them justice.

On 8/30/2021 at 5:40 PM, Sundance said:

Hardly a good analogy John, sorry mate.  But if you're out and about, get delayed and need a bite to eat you don't buy a loaf of bread.  But I get what you mean ... I think. 😉

What is more apparent is that the price of a sandwich tends not to vary from £3 one week to £3.50 the next!  And it's difficult to judge the long term benefit you get from eating a sandwich.  I won't go on ... 😊

Are you saying I should stockpile sandwitches? 

On 9/1/2021 at 12:07 PM, Ozzay said:

The only issue I have had with my IS250 is that I have the most basic one. I don't have any parking sensors and reverse cam unit and would like the radar control system as well. Other than that its great.

Have you retrofitted any parking sensors? My Is250 has the MK audio with reversing camera,

On 8/30/2021 at 11:20 PM, McShmoopy said:

Congrats on the new Lexus, I've had my IS250 F Sport for around 9 months and its certainly has been a welcome upgrade from my Corsa! I'm not able to answer some of your questions but I'll try and provide as much info as I can. 

The sunglasses holder I believe was only for non UK spec vehicles like the US, as UK cars have the alarm / immobiliser fitted in that area so I don't think its worth you trying to retrofit anything into there.

I think I have experienced the seat getting warm at times but I can't easily reproduce do that so I'll do some investigating myself on that front. 

I'm not sure about your boot issue but like mine and the IS250C we got for my mum, it had worn out struts so it may be worth replacing these with some from SGS engineering to have the boot easily open.

In terms of the type of fuel the car needs, it will do fine on 95 which is the bare minimum in the UK as far as I'm aware . Depending on the year of your car (I believe yours is 2005 based on sig) you may occasionally benefit from using the higher octane fuel as pre 2009 IS250s suffered from carbon build up issues so those higher octane fuels with their additives do help with keeping the engine clean and will help prolong the life of the car and minimise issues. My car is a 2010 and I've not had an issue using Texaco Unleaded 95 fuel and the car seems to return 400ish miles of range depending on my drive style.

The range on the trip computer is somewhat misleading as it depends on how light your foot is but you can usually go off tank average. Cruise control at 70mph will easily return 40 to 43 mpg depending on your load so while the car isnt exactly economical its not bad for a 2.5L V6!

One thing worth doing in your car depending if it came with the NAVI system or not is upgrade the infotainment. I myself have a GROM VLINE2 in my car and while its not perfect, its getting me Wireless Apple CarPlay in my car while preserving all the OEM functions so it does help modernise the car! 

is the Grom Vline 2 really worth £600? I'll be honest I want apple car play and Android auto but that seems like a lot of cheddar for what's a basic android TV box with some cables.

On 10/7/2021 at 5:00 PM, The-Acre said:

I saw a lovely red IS250 in Waitrose carpark today, and being nosey I looked it up. Reg number A11YEO 2006 with less than 11k! The reason I was curious is a friend has the name Yeo but it wasn't them!

That's insane, I though mine was mad for having only 50k on the clock. 

I've recenely bought a 2006 IS250 with the Mark Levinson sound system and would really like the ability to play Bluetooth audio from my mobile which will be used for satnav and audio. Does anyone have any reccomendations in regards to this, as I don't really think I can afford a Vline 2 for what it is.