New member looking to buy

Smiffy_ae100 · July 13, 2017

Well lads, i know this has probably been covered before so forgive me if it has.

My friend is going looking at a 220d at the weekend and im thinking of getting 1 in the not too far future. The car he is looking at is a 2008 with 123,xxx miles. apart from the usual checks when buying a car is there anything else to watch out for on this model? I read somewhere that head gaskets can give trouble but don't know if it applies to this year/model. Are there any recalls that should have been carried out?

Farqui · July 13, 2017

Welcome to the forum Adam.

What is drawing you and your buddy to the IS220d?

A quick scan found a few related threads on this topic, here's a few for you to peruse...

Linas.P · July 13, 2017

I believe Lee already copied all you want to know, not much to add. This topic is well disused times and times again.. and I would probably just going to ask same question - what in particular your fried found interesting about IS220/220d and is there any reason not to consider IS250?

Verbout · July 13, 2017

That damn search function, what's it all about man?

peachy · July 13, 2017

Mine was a 2008. First owner had head gasket replaced under warranty. 68k later when I owned it the head gasket went again.

Apart from the egr valve and dpf, the turbo wastegate stuck and the 5th injector causing plumes of black smoke it was a very reliable car during the 8 months I owned it.

Posted July 13, 2017 · July 13, 2017

I wish I bought a petrol first as I get 30mph and the diesel was going down to 31mph by the end and I budgeted 2000 pounds a year for maintenance especially as my car had 110000 on it although I had it 5 years

Rebecca · July 13, 2017

Hello and welcome to the lexus owners club.

Please spend some time reading through the many threads regarding the lexus is220d and then decide if this is the car for you.

If I had joined the forum before purchasing the car I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole.

dougie175 · July 13, 2017

I feel really bad that every person who comes on here thinking of buying a 220 gets pushed to the 250 but it is for good reason the 220 can be a ticking time bomb, the 250 in general however is still 1 of the finest cars around.

I have zero experience with 220's and I know some who have them on here love then, but a scan through the first 10 pages of the 2is section will yield a very telling story of issues with 220's and almost no issues with 250's despite there been a lot more 250s on here than 220s!

Linas.P · July 13, 2017

Same here, I don't want to say - don't buy IS220d, because I don't know circumstances, but many of there cars are indeed ticking time bombs. That is not even bad design, but more of general diesel craze. To be more specific that is combination of design, marketing and government blindly supporting diesels in last decade.

Lexus made not 100% polished design
People bought it for city driving for which it is completely unsuitable

this all results in many problems with reliability... this is further compounded by the fact IS220 is getting relatively cheap and getting in the hands of people who not necessary have plans to keep them maintained. So realistically, many cars on sale are on sale because they have some kind of issue already and current owners doesn't really see it financially feasible to fix it.

The only real place where IS200/220d is good at is highway driving, though gearing is not suitable for 70MPH, more like 80-85.. So if you really looking for a car to do 20-30k miles annually on motorway I am sure good example would be brilliant choice (I would even buy it myself for such journey).

peachy · July 13, 2017

Linas p are you sure you would want to make the motorway journey in a 220d?

At least in the 250 it's a certainly you will reach your destination.

Linas.P · July 13, 2017

Nowadays you are probably right, but it wasn't like that from a factory. I guess some well maintained examples (which you won't find starting below £5000) can still be reliable even today. The problem is that these IS200/220d are no bulletproof like IS250 and people simply had sipped on maintenance, were running them in incorrect environment (city) and that results in these cars failing... I know IS250 is a hammer... I don't really know what can be done for it to fail...

bobmc · July 14, 2017

To be fair, Lexus aren't the only manufacturer with unreliable diesel models. The Ford Focus TDCi has a loads of reported issues, whereas the petrol variants are solid and reliable motors.

Linas.P · July 14, 2017

10 hours ago, bobmc said:

To be fair, Lexus aren't the only manufacturer with unreliable diesel models. The Ford Focus TDCi has a loads of reported issues, whereas the petrol variants are solid and reliable motors.

Indeed.. that is why I said "diesel craze" and blamed it on government policies ... It is more like there are hardly any reliable diesels if you keep them in low speeds and in the city, diesel cars are not good for that and any modern diesel will surfer from many problems, especially DPF. So the Lexus is not an exception.

Government shouldn't have supported adoption of diesels or should have at least explained and enforced dealers to explain e.g. what diesel cars are good for (motorways) and where they should not be used ever (that is city driving)

Texas · July 14, 2017

Stop/start on a Diesel I always thought was not a good move, Diesel engines work at their best at constant revs under constant load for long periods, ie generators, ships etc. Not Land Rovers on the 0.75 mile school run!

i think that DERV has had it's day personally. (For light duty vehicles anyway)

paul m

dougie175 · July 14, 2017

I agree that derv has had its day but peoples obsession with MPG will mean plenty of diesels will still sell for a while.

The obsession with MPG on brand new cars baffles me surely people are most interested in MPG because they think this will lead to lower running costs and cost them less, but surely depreciation is the biggest cost factor so they should be far more interested in how much a car will depreciate over the next 3 years say, its no good buying a 30k car that does 60mpg and its worth 10k 3 years later over buying a 30k car that does 30mpg but is worth say 15k 3 years later. The fuel saving is total outweighed by depreciation before you even start on the increased repair costs on diesels and higher purchase costs!

rayaans · July 14, 2017

3 hours ago, dougie175 said:

I agree that derv has had its day but peoples obsession with MPG will mean plenty of diesels will still sell for a while.

The obsession with MPG on brand new cars baffles me surely people are most interested in MPG because they think this will lead to lower running costs and cost them less, but surely depreciation is the biggest cost factor so they should be far more interested in how much a car will depreciate over the next 3 years say, its no good buying a 30k car that does 60mpg and its worth 10k 3 years later over buying a 30k car that does 30mpg but is worth say 15k 3 years later. The fuel saving is total outweighed by depreciation before you even start on the increased repair costs on diesels and higher purchase costs!

Seems to be a common theme amongst sone manufacturers. For example..... erm..... VW. TBH never had a mechanical issue with any petrol VW but the diesel ones been a nightmare

Wisty · July 15, 2017

If there's a turbo, an EGR and a DPF involved, it doesn't matter what car it is - if you drive it inappropriately, you're going to have a bad time.

One of the best dieselisms I've seen was hand written on the rear of a Mondeo TDCi: "Have you been missold TDI?"

Linas.P · July 15, 2017

19 hours ago, dougie175 said:

I agree that derv has had its day but peoples obsession with MPG will mean plenty of diesels will still sell for a while.

you BIK depends on co2 as we all know diesels still shows great figures, that is why many new leased are are diesels (now gradually being replaced with hybrids). It is simple truth that goverment never bothered to care to do proper research and base policies on real thing, they just when easiest possible way - "lets calculate it by co2 emissions" (doesn't matter that there are much more to it than just co2) and it continues to this day.

Secondly as you mentioned and @Wisty quoted people being "miss sold" diesel vehicles based on their paper claims, nobody care to explain this is un-achievable the city and most of the savings will be absorbed in actually higher maintenance costs for diesel. There are very few people who cares (as we do) and just takes the dealers for their word.

Imagine now "school mum" type of driver... how much does she knows about the cars? Exactly nothing... she just choose it by the some misconceptions and illogical criteria like looks and colour... she would not care how car handles or what is the engine, but it must be SUV "because they are safer", it must have reverse camera.. "just because" and the higher is MPG and the lower is tax the better... what car it is ? diesel SUV obviously...

The second type is corporate lease where the BIK, corporate tax savings and depreciation offset against income tax is key.. again they will get diesels, though as previously mentioned - hybrids are getting into this bit... probably more of PR thing rather than good will gesture.

Smiffy_ae100 · July 18, 2017

wow lads, i hadn't checked on this, thanks for the replies.

The main reason my friend wants to go for the 220d is because of tax and fuel cost in ireland. A 220d registered after july 08 has tax at €570 whereas before july 08 it is €1080. Diesel €1.16/l Petrol is €1.30/l

Myself i will be getting a 250, (personal dislike of diesels)

I will pass on what you guys have said to him, he will probably still get a 220d, but at least i have it in his head to get one with a full lexus service history.

Linas.P · July 18, 2017

Yeah, you should have mentioned it is Ireland, because it is significantly different story here in UK (IS220d just doesn't really make economical sense).

Monocle · July 19, 2017

I'm in Ireland too. So if you are looking at a 220D you will save €630 on road tax per annum. At 15,000 miles yearly and with a difference of €0.12 per litre you will save €650 per annum (32mpg for the 250 and 38mpg for the 220). That's a total of €1280 yearly. There is a threat of a €0.08/l increase in the next budget on diesel only. The transport industry will struggle to object due to the growth in industry over the past three years - just my opinion!

Excluding service and wear parts (tyres & brakes), I have spent about €600 a year since I passed about 100,000 miles. And I do a lot of the work myself - EGR, caliper pins, inlet manifold, etc. And potentially I have a €700 bill to replace the DPF.

I'm not saying to get one or the other, just some figures to keep in mind.

Linas.P · July 19, 2017

Good list... I mean it is fact IS220d costs more to maintain, everything falls down to how much you drive and whenever due to lack or share number of miles it works out better. In UK diesel is more expensive and tax is the same so there is no actual saving unless you do 20k+ miles as mentioned before, again Ireland might be different but it still seems like one needs to make good calculations before buying into IS220d game.