First time Is250 owner - Brakes/Mark Levinson questions

[CiaranMcK]

Hi all,

 

I've just picked up a lovely, well maintained but high mileage (140k) is250 after our car was stolen at the weekend. I’m obviously worried about the mileage but it has 6 months warranty and of course a 30 day rejection period should anything  go wrong 
 

It had 1 previous owner (so i’m #3), very good condition visually, and I’m pretty happy with it so far. The one thing I have noticed is the brake pedal seems pretty hard. I’m used to feather soft bmw brakes but with this there seems to be a bit of push before they engage. The dealer suggested it’s just a Lexus thing so I wanted to ask some experienced owners! 
 

My second question is about the the head unit. Is there a decent head unit I could upgrade the standard nav to to modernise it a bit WITHOUT compromising on audio quality? I have the MS sound system so I don’t want to ruin that, but the sat nav is clunky and I don’t own any CDs!

 

Finally, is there anything I should be looking out for in a is250 of this mileage? It seems to run well, exhaust recently replaced, water pump done last year etc. I’ve just never had such a high mileage car before!

 

thanks in advance 

 

CMcK. 

[madasahatter]

Welcome to the forum my brakes sound just like yours. Head unit just use your phone maps will be better anyway. Issues i have had in 7 years Battery and alternator.

[CiaranMcK]

16 minutes ago, madasahatter said:

Welcome to the forum my brakes sound just like yours. Head unit just use your phone maps will be better anyway. Issues i have had in 7 years battery and alternator.

Thanks! I’m hoping to have this car long term so I should stick around.
 

Glad you’ve said that about the brakes! Mine are probably fine then.

 

Im looking to upgrade to a head unit that can do apple car play, use Waze etc ideally. I just want to make sure the head unit won’t impact on the sound quality. I’ve been told the MS kit is quite desirable so I don’t want to ruin the experience!

Battery has been changed, as have the water pump, exhaust, brake disks etc. hopefully this will keep it ticking along 🙂 

Thanks! 

[H3XME]

Brake pedal is fine like that. It's for better feedback rather than tapping the pedal by 5mm and you're licking the windshield like you can experience in newer cars.

There are some aftermarket 10" Android Head Units you can have, just be careful as not all of them fit cars with factory touch screen - something to do with the supplied wiring. £213 for QT10 4G 32GB https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002002983968.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.b6ba2e0emfN6y5

It's on my list of things I want to get, but I'm getting front upper control arms before that.

I don't think there is anything specific to look out for, there hasn't been any horror stories from owners.. but logically at this mileage, you could expect water pump, alternator and some bushes to be worn out. Just stay on top of 6000-7000miles oil changes and you'll be golden. Mine is on 170k now and no issues, touch wood. Owned it for the last 40,000 miles and it needed nothing but a new Battery and slider pins in the rear caliper brackets, but that's only because the previous owner didn't grease them up annually as you should to prevent seizing due to poor design.

[Texas]

Ditto on ‘Grabby’ as I call them brakes👍 There is on option to fit IS350/GS300 front disc’s/calipers to have a more gentle ( but effective) braking feedback but you might have to upsize your alloy wheels to allow calipers to fit!

as for mileage then the 250 deals with it very well and doesn’t show it as obviously as other cars and should not be a concern for a maintained car.

[CiaranMcK]

I have a singing brake too, so perhaps they just need bleeding and the pedal will get a little less stiff. I agree, I like a bit of travel before locking on too! 
 

This has eased my mind a lot. I’m going to give it a while to let any niggles present themselves before I spend any money on head units, or any mild modifications (I thought the SR style spoiler, wind deflectors, and the mesh type grille WITH a badge would look nice!)  

Thanks! 

[CiaranMcK]

Oh, and what MPG are people getting? I’m at 23mpg since getting it (suburb driving). Is this normal? If so OUCH! 

[LIJO151]

1 hour ago, CiaranMcK said:

Oh, and what MPG are people getting? I’m at 23mpg since getting it (suburb driving). Is this normal? If so OUCH! 

Yeah the mpg looks right.

[Linas.P]

I would not be worried about mileage, as long as it was maintained should be good. Actually, higher mileage car may even be better, but I would not exactly call 140k miles as high for 14 years old car - more like average.

The only way I would advise regarding sat-nav is to upgrade it to android unit as other suggested, that is best bang for the buck. It does not affect ML (I that is what I assume you have, not MS), because amp and the rest of things will stay the same. The only thing to keep in mind is wiring harness - they are different for Sat-Nav, ML, Non-ML models, so you need to let the seller know what you have, I think it is just wiring which is different, but some models are incompatible. Other option is to get GROM, but that means staying with old and rather outdated screen and it isn't even cheaper.

As for brakes - I found them alright, but they are too small for the car, so you get excessive dust and wear - hence some people have upgraded to GS or IS350 brakes which are larger. I they brake just a little better, but they require less maintenance for sure.

MPG - over like 70k miles in UK I got average of ~28MPG, best was 48MPG, but towards the end (car was like 200k miles) in the city I was getting low 20s. So generally if you don't push car too hard and don't try to win any traffic light GP I would expect 26MPG. I am generally heavy footed, so I am confident you can do better than 23MPG.

You can see some stats from my ownership: 

 

[CiaranMcK]

Thanks so much for the replies.

 

Ive found a niggle! The ambient temperature sensor is very wrong. It’s been telling me it’s -16 degrees Celsius outside. Is it common for these to go wrong?

[Linas.P]

Generally no, but it is 14 years old car, so it is possible. Could be wiring as well, not necessary the sensor. 

[CiaranMcK]

14 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Generally no, but it is 14 years old car, so it is possible. Could be wiring as well, not necessary the sensor. 

excellent I’ll go look for it today and see if I can wiggle it back to health.

 

I’m having it carbon cleaned today as well. It’s done very few miles over the past few years so I’m guessing short journeys. It might not do a thing but it will give me peace of mind!

[CiaranMcK]

MPG improved after a hydrogen carbon cleaning. 24mpg there 36mpg back. More traffic back too. Could be a coincidence though

 

Outdoor temp sensor is connected by two spade plugs. Bodge job. Not sure why. No other sign of potential crash damage apart from the fact the air box is snapped from both mounts. Weird!