Two Tone Interior IS250

bobmc · July 5, 2016

Just spotted this on Autotrader, not seen one with a two tone interior before..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607025482559

Shahpor · July 5, 2016

That is strange. Why do the back of the seat but not the fronts?

Also, not sure about the white buttons and belt buckles.

Nice idea though.

Linas.P · July 5, 2016

This car is a bit fishy to say the least. It is pre-facelift 2007, with post face-lift (or just chinese knockoff) taillamps and rims. And the interior is re-upholstered?! It previously was light grey (not cream) hence the buttons and belts are light grey as well. I must admit it looks very decent job... except it has ventilated seats and the leather is solid .. not perforated. I wonder how that works?

bobmc · July 6, 2016

Looks very dodgy, Linas is right, the SE-L should have ventilated seats.

Can't imagine this was a factory option - must have had the seats replaced somewhere along the line.

Linas.P · July 6, 2016

Well it does have the controls for both heating and ventilation.. is just that somebody who did upholstering used normal solid leather. I cannot believe that the company which did this job were stupid enough (considering stitching and colour matching is is top quality). It must have been customer request....

My guess - he had light grey interior and because he was very dirty (impossible to clean) he decided to reupholster it black, but instead of doing it properly he did half job... Which probably makes sense because all the front plastics were grey .. like glove box etc... so he did kind of 2 tone leaving door cards and some details grey... Where it failed ... I guess he decided to go for solid leather instead of perforate to make it easier to clean and longer lasting without realising ventilation and heating won't work.. what a retard.

bobmc · July 6, 2016

If it had just been reupholstered, then the plastic seat covers would have been ivory? whereas they are black with white control buttons.

On the other hand: from the official brochure

So perhaps it might have been a factory option. Still doesn't explain the non-perforated seats on an SE-L though

Linas.P · July 6, 2016

That was not ivory interior (cream), it was light grey. Not sure how Lexus called it but I used to have it in IS250AWD.. very easy to make dirty and very hard to clean. I believe the grey interior had contrasting black carpets and seat covers...

Anyway it is impossible to really tell what was done, because even if we find out it would be hard to believe.

rayaans · July 6, 2016

The car hasn't been reupholstered

Its had a seat swap from grey to black and the original grey plastic piece has been swapped into the black seats. Wouldn't say its that much of a problem except the VIN will be showing grey interior......

This is what it used to look like:

Linas.P · July 6, 2016

28 minutes ago, rayaans said:

The car hasn't been reupholstered

Its had a seat swap from grey to black and the original grey plastic piece has been swapped into the black seats. Wouldn't say its that much of a problem except the VIN will be showing grey interior......

This is what it used to look like:

And how would you explain solid leather on the seats without holes for ventilation/heating. Factory option?

rayaans · July 6, 2016

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

And how would you explain solid leather on the seats without holes for ventilation/heating. Factory option?

Simple. Seats have been pulled out from a lower trim car. It's a job someone had done with seats from a breaker

rayaans · July 6, 2016

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

And how would you explain solid leather on the seats without holes for ventilation/heating. Factory option?

Simple. Seats have been pulled out from a lower trim car. It's a job someone had done with seats from a breaker

Linas.P · July 6, 2016

There are some lower trim models with ventilated only seats (heated only is not an option). So you have 2 options heated and ventilated or ventilated only, meaning both would require perforated leather to operate. Solid leather could never come from factory (at least not in UK).

rayaans · July 6, 2016

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

There are some lower trim models with ventilated only seats (heated only is not an option). So you have 2 options heated and ventilated or ventilated only, meaning both would require perforated leather to operate. Solid leather could never come from factory (at least not in UK).

Ok just done some research and here are the findings:

1) The car originally should have grey perforated leather seats

2) The interior has NOT been reupholstered - it has been replaced with genuine Lexus black seats from the Advance spec which does NOT have perforations. The backs from the original grey seats, as well as the seatbelt holders and fittings have been kept as they are and the black seats have just been put on top really.

3) The rear lights appear to be from the advance spec too

Here is a 2011 Lexus IS250 Advance with the same lights and non perforated leather interior

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201606185049471?search-target=usedcars&make=lexus&model=is_250&sort=pricedesc&radius=1500&searchcontext=default&page=5&postcode=wf177eu&onesearchad=new%2Cnearlynew%2Cused&logcode=p&adPos=10

bobmc · July 7, 2016

15 hours ago, rayaans said:

Ok just done some research and here are the findings:

Do you know the car or did you contact the seller?

Linas.P · July 7, 2016

That was interesting investigation Rayaan. It is funny how Lexus "advanced" with IS250 Advance, by going from ventilated seats as standard to non-ventilated. I must admit I never knew such option existed. But they were upholstered so nice it was hard to believe it is armature job.

rayaans · July 7, 2016

3 hours ago, bobmc said:

Do you know the car or did you contact the seller?

No, just an observation - they are definitely genuine Lexus seats but it'd cost ALOT of money to reupholster the front and rear seats completely hence the logical thing to do is find some good condition seats in a car thats been written off or something i.e. the bay of E's!

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

That was interesting investigation Rayaan. It is funny how Lexus "advanced" with IS250 Advance, by going from ventilated seats as standard to non-ventilated. I must admit I never knew such option existed. But they were upholstered so nice it was hard to believe it is armature job.

The Advance spec is supposed to fit in between the SE and SE-I I think. Im not too familiar with the specs on the SE but I think it has the cloth seats without ventilation? correct me if I am wrong.

Therefore the advance would just be a leather upgrade I presume

Linas.P · July 7, 2016

It is quite hard to say - leather seats are optional on SE, but at least until 2009 all leather seats were ventilated. Cloth seats can as well be ventilated and heated. So essentially if you find SE 2005-2009 with leather it will be 100% ventilated and some heated as well.

For me it makes no sense to have leather if it is not ventilated.