Help buying an IS250 - advice needed

rayaans · May 6, 2016

47 minutes ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Everything and anything to be honest, whatever takes my fancy. Lexus do this lovely bight bluey/purple colour but these seem to be few and far between. There is a nice model on Used Lexus, 2011, cream leather and 25000 miles, it's the same price as the 2012 model which I can't understand why.

Generally like all main dealers, Lexus dealer prices are higher bu you get a full Lexus service history and the warranty of course. The prices usually reflect the condition so if it's more expensive for an older car it's probably in better condition.

Some good deals going on IS250s at dealers so dont completely rule it out.

Deathstar · May 6, 2016

2 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Generally like all main dealers, Lexus dealer prices are higher bu you get a full Lexus service history and the warranty of course. The prices usually reflect the condition so if it's more expensive for an older car it's probably in better condition.

Some good deals going on IS250s at dealers so dont completely rule it out.

Difficulty I have is that down here in Wales it seems most of the IS series are 220d or 200d. It's only when you get closer to the midlands so you see more petrol. I would be wary about buying from a dealer far away as if you have problems, where do you go? At least with Lexus you should have some come back?

rayaans · May 6, 2016

9 minutes ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Difficulty I have is that down here in Wales it seems most of the IS series are 220d or 200d. It's only when you get closer to the midlands so you see more petrol. I would be wary about buying from a dealer far away as if you have problems, where do you go? At least with Lexus you should have some come back?

If you buy from a Lexus dealer and something goes wrong, you can take the car to Lexus Cardiff for warranty work. The Lexus warranty is national and can be used at any Lexus dealer.

tHomBleached · May 7, 2016

11 hours ago, steveledzep said:

I wouldn't worry too much about the ML sound system. The standard one is more than adequate in a noisy, compromised listening environment.....you can't even sit in the middle of the speakers !

I had ML in my previous saloon, my convertible has a standard 11 speaker system. I'm a bit of an audiophile with a tidy home system and the ML system wasn't anything special in the car environment.

Each to his own, but I couldn't live without my ML. I've had it in the 300h and my 250. When I've test driven non-ML IS's they just don't cut the mustard, no matter how much fiddling I do with the EQ the punchiness of a ML system can't touch it IMO.

If I was buying new I'd probably think differently about it as an option if it were a lease, but considering I've had 6 years in my 250 and plan on keeping this one for 10 years, the difference in price on a used 300h wth ML or not was negligable and I may well have forked out more than the premium difference if I had to.

rayaans · May 7, 2016

3 hours ago, tHomBleached said:

Each to his own, but I couldn't live without my ML. I've had it in the 300h and my 250. When I've test driven non-ML IS's they just don't cut the mustard, no matter how much fiddling I do with the EQ the punchiness of a ML system can't touch it IMO.

If I was buying new I'd probably think differently about it as an option if it were a lease, but considering I've had 6 years in my 250 and plan on keeping this one for 10 years, the difference in price on a used 300h wth ML or not was negligable and I may well have forked out more than the premium difference if I had to.

Barely any difference in the 3rd gen IS with the ML and Pioneer 8 speaker sound system. ML sounds slightly cleaner but its not enough to really justify the cost. Having said that the 8 speaker system is much better than the 6 speaker standard IS system on the 3rd Gen.

With the 2nd gen the difference was more pronounced

Deathstar · May 12, 2016

OK so I have been looking at a few cars, mostly low milers from Lexus direct however, nearly all the ones I have looked at have wear on the driver's seat. When I say wear I mean that the leather has come off. I can live with a crease or two but not where the leather has come from the seat.

Ideally I wanted cream leather however, having seen a few examples looking extremely dirty I have settled on black. My old Passat had a full leather interior and it wore extremely well. Is this a problem with Lexus?

I have uploaded an image here.

rayaans · May 12, 2016

2 hours ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

OK so I have been looking at a few cars, mostly low milers from Lexus direct however, nearly all the ones I have looked at have wear on the driver's seat. When I say wear I mean that the leather has come off. I can live with a crease or two but not where the leather has come from the seat.

Ideally I wanted cream leather however, having seen a few examples looking extremely dirty I have settled on black. My old Passat had a full leather interior and it wore extremely well. Is this a problem with Lexus?

I have uploaded an image here.

Having owned both VW Passat and Lexus, I can say that the Lexus leather is extremely soft and therefore does require some care compared to VW leather which is harder.

What you've pictured is not uncommon on the IS and thats because the seats have decent side bolstering. If you get the car from Lexus, insist that this is taken care of beforehand, it'll prob only cost like £100 if you get it done but they'll be able to do it. To be honest, most cars with decent seats and soft leather will result in this - look at any Audis with super sports seats with the nappa leather, it practically rubs off in that region.

Having said that, its MORE common on LOW MILEAGE cars. This is because low mileage cars usually get driven in town and therefore previous owners have been in and out more than on a higher mileage vehicle in most cases.

Deathstar · May 13, 2016

6 hours ago, rayaans said:

Having owned both VW Passat and Lexus, I can say that the Lexus leather is extremely soft and therefore does require some care compared to VW leather which is harder.

What you've pictured is not uncommon on the IS and thats because the seats have decent side bolstering. If you get the car from Lexus, insist that this is taken care of beforehand, it'll prob only cost like £100 if you get it done but they'll be able to do it. To be honest, most cars with decent seats and soft leather will result in this - look at any Audis with super sports seats with the nappa leather, it practically rubs off in that region.

Having said that, its MORE common on LOW MILEAGE cars. This is because low mileage cars usually get driven in town and therefore previous owners have been in and out more than on a higher mileage vehicle in most cases.

Is this something they would do? How would they actually repair this? Would it be obvious that it has been repaired??

DJP · May 13, 2016

Both my IS250 and IS300h had leather looking similar to the pics. As Rayaans says, it's a combination of the soft leather, side bolsters and in my case very definitely the in/out associated with short trips.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Deathstar · May 13, 2016

6 minutes ago, DJP said:

Both my IS250 and IS300h had leather looking similar to the pics. As Rayaans says, it's a combination of the soft leather, side bolsters and in my case very definitely the in/out associated with short trips.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Did you get it repaired? How much did it approximately cost if so? I don't want to be spending big bucks on a car only to find that the interior will look tired.

rayaans · May 13, 2016

3 hours ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Did you get it repaired? How much did it approximately cost if so? I don't want to be spending big bucks on a car only to find that the interior will look tired.

They'll sand it down and make it smooth, then add some liquid leather and texturise it. £100 max, it won't even be noticeable.

Deathstar · May 13, 2016

Is this something which Lexus should be able to do??

DJP · May 13, 2016

4 hours ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Did you get it repaired? How much did it approximately cost if so? I don't want to be spending big bucks on a car only to find that the interior will look tired.

No I didn't bother, it wasn't too bad on the IS250. The IS300h had "dark rose" aka red leather and that wasn't wearing so well but I p/ex'd for an NX.

rayaans · May 13, 2016

2 hours ago, Dylanlewis2000 said:

Is this something which Lexus should be able to do??

Yep, they usually have contact with trim and leather repairers anyway

Bratman91 · May 18, 2016

I bought my first IS260 very soon after they were introduced and am now on my third one. I am not sure if you have already decided on this but, if not, go for the automatic. The 6-speed box is silky smooth and actually gives better fuel consumption than the manual box. An average fuel consumption of close to 30mpg is realistic and a long motorway journey can get close to 40mpg. However, this does depend on driving patterns and traffic conditions. Reliability is superb. I don't think that anyone has mentioned this but safety in the event of an accident is, in my experience of one very severe head-on crash, excellent.

Deathstar · May 22, 2016

Thread Update

Well after a lot of deliberation and many sleepless nights I finally have some news.

Last weekend I could get no further - I had seen photos of two cars but photos cannot give you a real understanding of what the car is like. Last weekend the other half suggested that we go away for the night somewhere in-between Stoke and Stockport (both had cars that I was interested in). One of the cars was a silver 2010 plate and the other was a black 62 plate. Last Sunday we visited both dealerships. I have to say that Lexus are very accommodating and found both dealerships lovely. The silver car was nice to drive and needed a little 'tighting' up. It was fresh in from a trade in and therefore had not been valeted so I was seeing the car in its raw format. The one in Stockport instantly reminded me of an old car (Honda) of which I had many years of fun in! After many hours of deliberation and many sleepless nights I brought her home yesterday.

She has just had a nice wash and the lovely Welsh weather threw a bit more water over her too.

She is a 2012 on a 62 plate, 36,000 miles.