IS220D (new owner, new member)

[Miles Simmons]

I have posted this to the model specific part of the forum, but it doesn't appear to be overly active. So thought I'd post here with a view to hearing your thoughts. I'll be grateful for any advice. Many thanks. 

Hi all

I'm new to the forum and recently bought my first Lexus. A 2006 IS220D. I bought it direct from someone who used to work at Lexus Poole, and who bought it from the dealership. FSH with only 32k, absolutely pristine, inside and out, silver with beige interior, so got it dirt cheap (£4k) Naturally I was buzzing at having procured such a car, at such a price, with exceptionally low mileage and then I read this post and the horror stories of headgasket leaks, constantly failing DPF's and EGR's, mpg figures averaging low 30's and I started to question my decision, albeit too late to do anything about it, so I set about getting it booked into my local indy garage who have looked after all my previous cars for as long as I can remember and asked them to do a full service, multipoint check and check for headgasket leak, condition of EGR valve ETC.

Prior to having the car booked in, I'd done around 500 stress free miles, averaging 40.1mpg (80% extra urban/20% urban, with a tank average of 46.6mpg) Initial impressions were that the car is somewhat sedate on the power delivery side and certainly doesn't not belie its BHP/LBFT figures, nor the fact its turbocharged, in all honesty, it felt like a naturally aspirated vehicle up to 2500rpm and above 4000rpm and like many others have alluded too, the gearing is long, too long, the engine felt like it needed another 30bhp/50lbft to come into alignment with the gearing. I was super impressed with the level of refinement, general build quality, comfort and also the complete lack of NVH in the cabin. I was also quietly pleased that despite the car needing a service, I had averaged 40mpg+ and 46mpg+ on the motorway/dual carriageway, despite being in 5th gear for the entirety of the motorway miles (travelling at approx 68mph at c.2100rpm) I tried a couple of times to use 6th gear, but I needed to be travelling in excess of 80mph to avoid the car displaying signs of choking and juddering (IMHO Lexus have really let down their UK customers by not having the correct gearing ratios and it left me wondering how much better the mpg could be) Anyway reports back from the garage suggested all was in order, they described the car as 'very clean' mechanically, no signs of gasket leaks, EGR and fuel filter both impeccably clean despite having seen 8k miles, although air filter definitely needed changing.  Naturally I breathed a sigh of relief and went about my way. I have since completed another 500 stress free miles and I have to say the mpg has improved drastically post service (c.8%) I averaged 43.8mpg and on the motorway 52.2mpg. 

All in all I'm really very happy, but I know there's more to be unlocked from this car. A person who lives in my village, used to own an IS220D and his son, who at the time worked for a remapping company, specialising in Japanese stuff, had a stage 1 remap installed on his IS220D and he said it totally transformed the car, once it had learned the new map, it consistently averaged upwards of 50mpg, most of those urban miles and more importantly, mostly short distances and all but eliminated the ratio issue. I have since spoken to a remapping company in the South West, who have previous experience in mapping the IS220D, having performed 9 custom dyno remaps on them over the last 5 years, they guarantee an improvement of mpg anywhere between 8% and 15% based on anecdotal evidence from customers and generally speaking the maps offer an increase of 34bhp/45lbft, they also assured me that every single IS220D owner has said the long ratios are no longer an issue with the increased power. Mine is booked in this Tuesday, the 28th. I will report back my findings. 

All the best and thanks for reading

[Illogan]

Welcome to the forum, Miles. It sounds like you've found a little nugget there!  We'll look forward to hearing of your progress.....

[steve2006]

Hi Mike and welcome to the LOC.

How about some more pictures of the complete car 😀

[Miles Simmons]

2 minutes ago, Illogan said:

Welcome to the forum, Miles. It sounds like you've found a little nugget there!  We'll look forward to hearing of your progress.....

Hey Illogan 

Thanks for the reply, yes it does appear that way, early days still yet, but a promising start. I was amazed I found it to be perfectly honest. Literally first car that came up on search, 16 yo, just shy of 32k miles and full LSH. 

[Miles Simmons]

Just now, steve2006 said:

Hi Mike and welcome to the LOC.

How about some more pictures of the complete car 😀

Hi Steve 

Thanks for the warm welcome, yes of course I'll take some tomorrow, the light is a little dim now. 

All the best 

Miles 

[Miles Simmons]

Pictures as promised 

[Las Palmas]

Welcome to the forum and a nice car you have found.

Here there are several Lexus IS diesels driving round and they all look like well maintained as they do not have black clouds coming from exhaust.

Do not blame the gearing of the car on Lexus. When car was new speed limits were far more relaxed than today and 6^th gear could be used on long tours on German highways. Today 5^th probably is enough to keep fuel consumption on decent level.

We had a Golf 2.0tdi DSG 2005 and used if a couple of times yearly to drive from southern Spain to family in Scandinavia and never had problem with it, only prescribed service. Diesels are meant to be driven till engine is warm – really warm and then continue till exhaust system is cleaned by the heat. Kept the Golf till 200.000km when we got the CT. The Diesel used much less fuel than the hybrid does, but the black cloud coming from the Golf when accelerating uphill was embarrassing.

The horror stories here on the forum for diesel cars could be from owner’s wrong use of the cars. Diesel is not for continuously being used to drive very short tours in city as that will not keep the self-cleaning of them functioning.

Best diesel car we have had was a 5 cylinder MB – 240D 3.0L. Long time ago, but then it could leave many gasoline cars looking lame when accelerating and did not get black clouds coming out even when pressing it, while we had it. Maybe it still drive as taxi in Africa.

The IS is a beautifully designed car and hope you have much enjoinment of it.

[Miles Simmons]

4 minutes ago, Las Palmas said:

Welcome to the forum and a nice car you have found.

 

Here there are several Lexus IS diesels driving round and they all look like well maintained as they do not have black clouds coming from exhaust.

 

Do not blame the gearing of the car on Lexus. When car was new speed limits were far more relaxed than today and 6^th gear could be used on long tours on German highways. Today 5^th probably is enough to keep fuel consumption on decent level.

 

We had a Golf 2.0tdi DSG 2005 and used if a couple of times yearly to drive from southern Spain to family in Scandinavia and never had problem with it, only prescribed service. Diesels are meant to be driven till engine is warm – really warm and then continue till exhaust system is cleaned by the heat. Kept the Golf till 200.000km when we got the CT. The Diesel used much less fuel than the hybrid does, but the black cloud coming from the Golf when accelerating uphill was embarrassing.

 

The horror stories here on the forum for diesel cars could be from owner’s wrong use of the cars. Diesel is not for continuously being used to drive very short tours in city as that will not keep the self-cleaning of them functioning.

 

Best diesel car we have had was a 5 cylinder MB – 240D 3.0L. Long time ago, but then it could leave many gasoline cars looking lame when accelerating and did not get black clouds coming out even when pressing it, while we had it. Maybe it still drive as taxi in Africa.

 

The IS is a beautifully designed car and hope you have much enjoinment of it.

 

Hi Las Palmas 

Thanks for your kind message and the warm welcome. That's very reassuring that there are many examples on the forum of well behaved IS220D's and although I only have limited anecdotal evidence from two other people I've known to have owned one, they also very much rated the IS220D and enjoyed their time owning one. I'm really pleased with the car and looking forward to exploring it further. It's incredibly well maintained, and like all my other cars, it will continue to be looked after to the extreme. I've had diesels for many years now, and I tend to only do long motorway journeys which as you allude too, obviously plays to their strengths, I service them every 8-10k miles, although as I understand it Lexus state 7.5k intervals for this model. I also use a product called Archoil D6400 every 5k miles which is an all round engine and system cleaner, after each system clean, I then use Archoil D6900 Max which is a fuel conditioner for each tank. I swear by these products, I've used them religiously for 6 years and the difference to not using them is light and day; in terms of a quieter/smoother engine note, increased mpg and more linear power delivery, it also eliminates idling issues and flat spots. Before I used them I would on occasion suffer from an EML, mostly pertaining to DPF and EGR issues, and nearly always had black plumes of smoke behind me when under load, but I've never had a single issue since using Archoil. 

 

As far as the gearing is concerned, I did say Lexus had let down their UK customers exclusively. I can imagine its fantastic on an autobahn or similar limitless highways, but it's wholly inadequate for a 70mph limit, of course you can, as I stated I had done, lower your speed to 60-65mph and cruise comfortably in 5th gear, but IMHO that is a compromise a driver should not have to make in a diesel car.  My previous three cars have been a 2007 Mondeo 2.0 tdci, a 2010 Passat 2.0tdi and a 2005 X-Type 2.2d. Combined mileage of over of 275k, with 100k put on the Mondeo, 90k on the Passat and 85k on the X-Type. The Mondeo was a brilliant car, easily the best of those three, infinitely reliable, great to drive, very economical, high spec (Titanium X) but all 3 of them outperformed the IS220D for fuel economy, and by some margin. I'd regularly average 54+mpg in the Mondeo and 52+ in the Passat and X-Type and ALL of them you could utilise 6th gear at 60mph and achieve crazy mpg figures, especially the Mondeo, I'd regularly see 60+mpg on the motorway. The Lexus is hands down the most well engineered and easily the most comfortable on long journeys, the level of refinement is also unrivalled. I absolutely love it and I'm over the moon I've managed to find one so cheap. My days of spending mega money on cars are well and truly over, here's to your MK5 TDI Golf too, an absolutely bulletproof car and outstanding platform, I used to have a stage 4 MK5 GTI (360bhp/440lbft) it was absolutely savage, but also the best car I've ever owned, across the board, not just because it would body your high end Porsche's, Mercs, Beamers etc, but because it was faultless and uber versatile. 

All the best 

 

 

 

[Miles Simmons]

Thought I'd add a few of the engine bay. It hasn't been professionally cleaned, I've wiped over the plastic with some multi purpose polish for photographic purposes, not that it needed it. It literally looks brand new to me, I cannot belive it's sixteen years old. No brittle hoses/pipes, nothing loose, nothing seized, oil cap and thread in mint condition (I had heard that was another universal fault of this model) 

[steve2006]

It looks in new showroom condition, for £4K you’ve done really well.

Combining your enthusiasm for care and maintenance it will serve you well.  

[Miles Simmons]

4 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

It looks in new showroom condition, for £4K you’ve done really well.

Combining your enthusiasm for care and maintenance it will serve you well.  

Thanks Steve, I really appreciate your comment. 

[Miles Simmons]

Can anyone shed any light on what exact model this is? I assume entry level, no leather, no electric/heated seats etc. 

 

Thanks in advance 

[Mincey]

12 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

Can anyone shed any light on what exact model this is? I assume entry level, no leather, no electric/heated seats etc. 

 

Thanks in advance 

My IS250 had the model number on the inside of where the driver's door shuts, just above the tyre pressures. Worth a look there?

[steve2006]

With no leather and manual seats I would say the base SE model.

It’s a Lexus so you still get plenty of goodies 😀

[Miles Simmons]

9 minutes ago, Mincey said:

My IS250 had the model number on the inside of where the driver's door shuts, just above the tyre pressures. Worth a look there?

Thanks Mincey, I'll have a butchers first thing. Really appreciate you taking the time to reply 🙏🏼

[Miles Simmons]

6 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

With no leather and manual seats I would say the base SE model.

It’s a Lexus so you still get plenty of goodies 😀

That's what I figured Steve, it was way ahead of its time and what with me being a bit of a technophobe, I enjoy a bit more of an analogue experience 🤣

[Miles Simmons]

Also, I've noticed the parking sensors don't make a noise when selecting reverse or when nearing objects. Could it be a replacement bumper or am I missing a trick? 

[Mincey]

20 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

Also, I've noticed the parking sensors don't make a noise when selecting reverse or when nearing objects. Could it be a replacement bumper or am I missing a trick? 

They might be switched off. This is taking me back a few years but is there a green "P" icon with diagonal lines coming out of the top right or left on your dashboard? From memory, they only beep when there's something to hit, not when reverse is engaged (I stand to be corrected).

 

Edit: 

 

[Miles Simmons]

4 minutes ago, Mincey said:

They might be switched off. This is taking me back a few years but is there a green "P" icon with diagonal lines coming out of the top right or left on your dashboard? From memory, they only beep when there's something to hit, not when reverse is engaged (I stand to be corrected).

 

Edit: 

 

There isn't Mincey 

[Mincey]

6 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

There isn't Mincey 

I edited my post above to add some extra info about switching it on in that link - see if that helps

[Miles Simmons]

12 minutes ago, Mincey said:

I edited my post above to add some extra info about switching it on in that link - see if that helps

Just been through the process and no parking assist present, only tach indicator, speed indicator and fuel primer 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Mincey]

9 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

Just been through the process and no parking assist present, only tach indicator, speed indicator and fuel primer 🤷🏽‍♂️

 

 

😞 That's a shame - hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge (or sense!) than me will be along in a moment to offer better advice. It could of course be a replacement bumper thing as you say. Are there any sensors in the front bumper?

[Miles Simmons]

2 minutes ago, Mincey said:

😞 That's a shame - hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge (or sense!) than me will be along in a moment to offer better advice. It could of course be a replacement bumper thing as you say. Are there any sensors in the front bumper?

Don't do yourself down, perfectly reasonable rationale behind your thinking and I really appreciate the advice. No sensors in front bumper 

[Mr Vlad]

Hello Miles and welcome to Lexus ownership and the best Lexus forum there is. My word you've copped yourself a rare beast. A car that has been looked after and by a Lexus technician owner. 

I see you've had a titanium x mondeo 2.0. I had one too some years back. After a remap and dpf gutted it was superb. Not as good as the 2.2 diesel titanium x sport (had one of those too both manual and auto).

Nice to see someone advocating Archoil. Ruddy good stuff. I used it for years until I found Millers Oils stuff.

Enjoy your steed and it'll be Interesting to read your summary of the remap you're going to get. 

[Miles Simmons]

28 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Hello Miles and welcome to Lexus ownership and the best Lexus forum there is. My word you've copped yourself a rare beast. A car that has been looked after and by a Lexus technician owner. 

I see you've had a titanium x mondeo 2.0. I had one too some years back. After a remap and dpf gutted it was superb. Not as good as the 2.2 diesel titanium x sport (had one of those too both manual and auto).

Nice to see someone advocating Archoil. Ruddy good stuff. I used it for years until I found Millers Oils stuff.

Enjoy your steed and it'll be Interesting to read your summary of the remap you're going to get. 

Hey Mr Vlad 

Yes it seems as though I've landed on my feet! And I intend to do my utmost to keep this car in as good a condition as possible so I can pass it onto someone else in the next few years with a clear conscience and in good faith that it has been meticulously maintained. 

Interesting to hear you mention the remap and DPF delete on the Mondeo, I did wonder about getting that done, but the car already had 100k when I bought it, so I didn't want to stress it out. I thought to myself if I can get it cleaned up and maintain it regularly to a high standard it might last another 100k and it did just that, without a single fault, breakdown, issue, the thing literally never missed a beat and I must say for only a 130bhp unit, it was well balanced, had a very linear delivery and never felt lacking in power. I very much enjoyed that car! The Titanium X Sport was next on my list, but since 2021, good second hand examples went up about 30%, due to lack of new car imports and the global chip shortage, so I shelved the idea and boy am I glad I did. 

Yes Archoil is fantastic stuff, but can I presume you now rate Millers more highly? If so can you please advise on which Millers products are the equivalent to AR600D and AR6900D-MAX? 

I'll keep you posted on the remap, it's happening this Tuesday, the 28th, it'll be a standard stage 1 dyno driven map, no additional hardware. The remapper has very kindly offered to do a DPF and EGR delete F.O.C, if I so wish and my local garage are very accommodating if you get me. 

All the best and thanks for taking the time to reply.