Prospective buyer of a used Lexus IS 220d

[Rob A]

I am looking for some advice as I am looking to buy a second hand Lexus IS 220d, hopefully the F Sport. I think it is a great looking car with lots of equipment but I am worried about how reliable the car and all the extras are. I am also looking at an Audi A5 and think the Audi might be more reliable but it is less appealing than the Lexus.

i would really like some honest feedback from owners as I can’t think of anyone better to ask. 

Thank you in advance.

[madasahatter]

Don't do it buy a petrol model instead. Diesel Lexus is not very good, to many issues and not good mpg either. 

[cruisermark]

Agree with keith

Lots of egr issues - buy a petrol instead

[Rob A]

Thank you Keith and Mark. I had reports on common faults but was hoping that they might not be common but I’m guessing may not be the case. Thank you both. 

[Brechin Slate]

And if you're looking for a petrol one, see my ad on this forum 🤣

[Texas]

Have a look in the ‘Engine & Transmission’ section of this forum and check the number of Derv posters compared to the petrol ones!

please do plenty of ‘homework’ before buying as I would not have/run a 220d if you Gave it to me!

Quite possibly the worst car ever to sport the ‘L’  badge!

[scudney]

Couldn't have put it better myself,will save you a lot of ache and pain,ultimately however the choice is yours 

[Linas.P]

22 hours ago, Rob A said:

I am looking for some advice as I am looking to buy a second hand Lexus IS 220d, hopefully the F Sport. I think it is a great looking car with lots of equipment but I am worried about how reliable the car and all the extras are. I am also looking at an Audi A5 and think the Audi might be more reliable but it is less appealing than the Lexus.

i would really like some honest feedback from owners as I can’t think of anyone better to ask. 

Thank you in advance.

Let me just summarise it in very short sentence - just don't.

If you want reasoning just read few pages on this forum and you will see why. Simply said - IS220/200d is worst car Lexus ever made, so if you fond of the brand it is bad place to start. Lexus stands for reliability and that is main strength of the cars - diesels are just not reliable in general and in form of IS220d is terrible. I used to participate a lot in discussion about IS220d issues, but nowadays I just ignore the threads - if you see thread about any Lexus fault it will be 90% related to IS220d and just from the title I know it is engine issues and uneconomical repair.

Further, when it comes to fuel consumption IS250 is not that much more expensive to run than IS220d... Unless your you spend 99% of time on motorway and doing 100miles+/day. In such case yes - the saving on fuel will cover additional maintenance expenses. If you do 10k miles a year petrol car will be cheaper to run, yes you will spend little bit more on fuel, but you will save thousands on maintenance. Obviously, if you definitely need diesel for whatever reason - just look for another brand. Well, that is unless you want to have list of never ending issues to deal with, none of which are very straightforward to identify or cheap to fix.

In the end of the day it is your money - you will have to decide where and how to spend it, but you been warned 🙂

[daisellex]

only true issue with 220 is the head gasket in older pre 2009 models. Most who buy these cars now are too poor so spend 3k for repairs. The egr and dpf is the same as any other diesel in the line, if you keep them maintained they work.

If you have to have a diesel look for 2009+ model or one with upgraded head gasket. You have to like to drive manual too, they dont come with auto box.

 

 

 

[Linas.P]

Nice to see reasonable comment from you Bill, cannot disagree with anything above.

The only thing I wanted to point out - after spending £3k for repairs which I think is fair assumption on used IS220/200d and spending money on "maintenance" of EGR and DPF what is the saving? 

In comparison one can get 120k miles IS250 very cheaply and drive it another 60k miles with next to no investment, apart of usual consumables oil, filters, tyres, brakepads and so on. And then you as well getting AT box which itself is much more reliable and maintenance free compared to manual.

So as I said again - it seems that one needs to have exceptionally good case to justify owning IS220d instead of IS250. And that is before even mentioning that IS250 is LEZ and ULEZ compliant whereas IS220d is not, and with LEZ zones increasingly popping-up around the country that may be reasonable concern as well.

[JamesIS220]

I certainly wouldn't buy another.

Browsing eBay one evening saw an ad for a 2006 IS 220d with 174,000 miles and immaculate MOT history.

Put a bid on and won! Before Collection found out all the issues. Like headgasket, gearing issues and turbo lag.

Went the 100 miles to collect it. Drove nice and  put it on the transporter.

Got back home, sorted insurance and tax the next day and took it for a drive, all good.

The space saver was knackered so bought matching alloy and cut tray to fit. AC didn't work and diagnosed as condenser. I bought a Nissens brand and fitted it.

Over around a year later all good, economy was awful. 33-38mpg. Had new Avon ZV7's fitted all round and a few months later the MOT, which it flew through.

Trouble started when I started to loose around 0.25 litres of coolant, but at the time no sign of a leak. Over a period of 4 months got to the point as soon as you started the engine the coolant would bubble up out of the coolant tank vent pipe  Tried K seal, no difference, if not worse as more foamy.

Decided to sell on eBay listing all faults. Messed around twice, then sold for £350 as a classified listing. Was going for breaking. Shame really as body not bad.

As has been said buy the IS 250 but only Auto. Manual tax is high!

I swapped my Diesel and now have an Auris Hybrid.

James.

[Texas]

There you go Rob (OP) straight from the ‘Horses Mouth’ , why you should consider the IS220 very very carefully!

[Mincey]

An auto 250 is a fantastic thing. I still miss mine.

[Linas.P]

3 hours ago, JamesIS220 said:

As has been said buy the IS 250 but only Auto. Manual tax is high!

Not only that, but as well it actually requires oil change (40k), clutches and dual-mass freewheels are expensive and the greabox rations themselves are kind of weird, not really suited for the engine and for driving in general in UK.

Auto gearbox, is simply bullet proof, well suited for engine and more fuel efficient as well. You may eventually need to change the fluid (which is ~£250-400 job), but that is not until at least 100k miles.

I don't think it would have made IS220d much better, but I am still confused why Lexus never offered automatic on it.

[daisellex]

Lots of nice cars end up in russia/east EU for cheap parts for that only reason. If you look around only head gasket can be changed in some shops for 1k or less. 

[Marleez]

The only issue with diesel is the ulez charge if you live in london. And maybe congestion charge in some city's. That's why I bought a petrol. It's a very good engine the petrol one is

[JamesIS220]

6 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I don't think it would have made IS220d much better, but I am still confused why Lexus never offered automatic on it.

Probably trying to get the rep driver? Quite a few drivers don't like auto. I do after driving my first 15 years ago, a Volvo 240 GLT AW70/71 The engine and gearbox were the 220d it's biggest issue. I loved the build quality, comfort, safety, even pass/driver knee airbags. Standard radio was fine too. Mine had the light cloth interior. I should of gone for the IS250 SEL.

James.