SimonK1

Hi Hibee, Did you find yourself an IS250? I was just thinking about selling mine. 06 plate SE-L auto in silver with 130k. I can send you more details if interested. Simon

Great, I’ll give them a try.

Thanks all, I’m certainly looking forward to owning and driving it. It’s quite different from what I’ve had before but I’m sure I’ll get used to the sat nav and cruise. Tbh the cruise being on the stalk is just a bit more out of the way compared to the Astra which was on the steering wheel. Still it is just like with any new car, you just need to learn where everything is!! interestingly the garage owner I bought it off has had two ISs himself and loved them. I do think it is a car that I will do bits of work myself so suggestions like new head units and investing in a code reader are all useful suggestions. Simon PS. Does anyone know of any Independent specialist mechanics in the Oxford area?

Hi everyone, I’ve just purchased my first Lexus, a 2006 IS250 SE-L with 125k on the clock. So first time post and hope I’ve put it in the right place. Thanks to everyone of the previous thread for their advice pre purchase. I decided to buy the car I was looking at locally. The dealer has a good reputation and gave it an oil and filter service, new MOT and did the advisories which included new rear discs, pads and tyres. First impressions are….why didn’t I buy this earlier!! I love the v6, it is so quiet and smooth and much more powerful than my old Astra. First time with an auto box too, and loving it. I’m still tweaking the driving position but getting there. Struggling a bit with the sat nav (can you really not enter a full post code?) and cruise controls on the stalk somewhat annoying, but that seems to be the only issues. I did get the VSC/engine warning light come on. The garage replaced a split hose which fixed it for a couple of days. It then came back on but went off again when I took the car up the M40 for an hour. I know there are lots of threads about the VSC light so will check these again, but could it have just needed a good run? It probably had been sat for sale for 3-4 months. I am using super unleaded but not sure what the garage put in it. It has some warranty so will go back to garage if it comes up again. Overall though, I think I am really going to enjoy it. Simon

Just in response to the reversing off the driveway comments, we live on a quite side road with good visibility, so not really an issue. Thanks LenT for your comments, I think I saw the battery was fairly new. They will also check the exhaust before I buy, plus new MOT and will fix any advisories (there were none last year). Looking forward to joining the club properly😀

Thanks all, very helpful advice. Probably going to buy it early next week. I did have one more question that people can probably help with. A slightly different topic. This would be the first time I have had an auto and I am wondering how well the auto box deals with hill starts, particularly with the foot operated handbrake. My driveway slopes downhill and I usually drive into it forwards, so would reverse out. Does the reverse gear hold the car when you remove the brake or do you need nimble feet to also use the foot brake on hill starts? Simon

Thanks again. I’ve been for a good test drive of the 06 IS250. Very impressed. Smooth and quiet and also no rattles or squeaks. So good for a 16 year old car. Potentially looking to buy it in the next couple of weeks (at which time I will join the forum properly and set up my own thread😂) checked the things you pointed out Linas.P. It looks like it has been serviced annually but has only done 2-4k per year the past few years. I don’t think it has been 100% looked after recently (the tyres are a bit of a mixture) but some work has been done on the calipers. It will get a new MOT and the day they will fix any advisories, though I saw the last MOT passed with none. Only one more really query, which is the exhaust. I noticed they had resolved a leak with some welding rather than replacing the section, so another possible sign of less than full care. So will ask for the exhaust to be fully checked as I understand these can be expensive. I did see there is another chat with comments on the exhaust, so will look again at that but if anyone has any buying advice on this issue that would be great. It did drive so well that as long as I’m not risking a big exhaust bill, I’ll hopefully purchase soon. 😀

Thanks Linas.P and Anevb, Really good to know the mileage is not the most important thing. Great points about the little things like tyres and MOT advisories. I’ll check these out when I go for another look this week. It sounds like a good indication that someone has looked after the car if they’ve done the 6k oil changes too!

Hi Michael, and everyone else on this chat, I’m considering an IS250 2006 that has been sat at a local dealer for a while, so really interested to find out thoughts on purchasing a 16 year old Lexus. From the forums they really do seem to be bullet proof apart from the rear calipers. Is there really nothing to be seriously worried about with this age of Lexus? Has anyone had any big issues with auto gearbox or engine with the older cars? The car near me is a se-l with 125k on the clock, owned by an elderly gentleman. Dealer history early on but a bit intermittent servicing the last 3-4 years but also only done 2-3k per year recently. Im hoping to get 5+ years out of it. any thoughts on buying older IS250s would be most welcome, so I can join you all as an owner😀