First Lexus, looking to buy an IS250 2007-2010

[H3XME]

@DnG you bought a car yet?

[DnG]

3 hours ago, H3XME said:

@DnG you bought a car yet?

Not yet, going to see one and buy it hopefully by the end of next week. I think I’m obsessed with this car… I’ve already made a list of mods and I don’t even have the car yet lol

[DnG]

On 5/31/2024 at 4:26 PM, J Henderson said:

Worth pointing out that the auto-fold function is not on all 2009+ cars.

It was one of the features, along with paddle shifters etc, that was dropped for the August 2010-2013 "2nd facelift".

@DnG, have you seen This One ? High-ish miles and possibly a bit rough looking, but an F-Sport with ML for just over £2K.

Doesn’t seem to be available anymore. I’ve been fixated on one for 2 weeks now and I’m planning on hopefully buying it next week, wish me luck 😬.

Will definitely come back with an update and pictures when I buy it.

[DnG]

Update:

Car was sold before I could call and arrange a viewing. Had to wait until I had the money but it was too late, the dealer was asking £4.000 for a 2010 black SE-L with ML and custom alloys. Really bummed about it, I fell in love with it...

Search still goes on..

[T man 545645]

Hi 

Plenty of posts already made stating some of the things i was going to mention. 

In summary, i've had my is250 over 10 years and added over 120k to it. I bought it from the 1st owner who i knew and got all the main dealer history. 

- spark plugs, a jap specialist will know what to do - regular mechanics don't want to change the three that are difficult to access. I waiting till mine started mis firing in one cylinder before changing them. 

- original water pump will fail - i had mine done at lexus dealer for a fixed price.

- alternator will also fail at some point, like any other car (luckily i was parked at home when mine failed - you get a warning whining noise before it goes)

- i haven't ever opened the auto box for maintenance - prob too late now with over 140k on the clock. 

My car has been bulletproof. a bit of the exhaust heat shield came off was a cheap fix to put back. Also the a/c drain got blocked and the water started coming into the car, another cheap fix. The front passenger door had the lock actuator fail, bought one off eBay from a car being broken with labour was about £50 to sort. I think these are the 3 issues i have had which you could say are not generally expected. All minor in my view.

The only thing i find annoying is that its hard to get a good reading on oil level from dipstick - but that might just be me. 

Also the headlights are not the best (i dont have xenon) i know i could change bulbs but cba

I think the money i have saved on maintenance gets eaten by fuel but i'm happy with that! 

[chr15gb]

Nope, that's not just you. 

Takes me about 10 dips before I get any confidence in the reading

[DnG]

On 6/5/2024 at 12:57 PM, T man 545645 said:

Hi 

Plenty of posts already made stating some of the things i was going to mention. 

In summary, i've had my is250 over 10 years and added over 120k to it. I bought it from the 1st owner who i knew and got all the main dealer history. 

- spark plugs, a jap specialist will know what to do - regular mechanics don't want to change the three that are difficult to access. I waiting till mine started mis firing in one cylinder before changing them. 

- original water pump will fail - i had mine done at lexus dealer for a fixed price.

- alternator will also fail at some point, like any other car (luckily i was parked at home when mine failed - you get a warning whining noise before it goes)

- i haven't ever opened the auto box for maintenance - prob too late now with over 140k on the clock. 

My car has been bulletproof. a bit of the exhaust heat shield came off was a cheap fix to put back. Also the a/c drain got blocked and the water started coming into the car, another cheap fix. The front passenger door had the lock actuator fail, bought one off ebay from a car being broken with labour was about £50 to sort. I think these are the 3 issues i have had which you could say are not generally expected. All minor in my view.

The only thing i find annoying is that its hard to get a good reading on oil level from dipstick - but that might just be me. 

Also the headlights are not the best (i dont have xenon) i know i could change bulbs but cba

I think the money i have saved on maintenance gets eaten by fuel but i'm happy with that! 

 

Thanks for the input. I've heard that the water pump and alternator seem to fail after 100-110k so that is something I'll have to look out for.

Do you happen to remember the price for the water pump and alternator + labour? I've seen people say that the alternator is quite expensive, about £300+

[zoricib]

I replaced the water pump in 2020  (water pump, a pulley, the accessories belt & coolant) for £230 inc labour. Water pump alone was around 130 if I remember right...

The alternator I replaced with a remanufactured part from eBay which cost £125 & £166 for labour - it's known to be quite tricky to replace because of lack of space. 

[T man 545645]

Water pump was done in march 2022 at lexus cambridge for £319 (fixed price). Here is breakdown from invoice: 

GEN 2.00 15.65 31.30 S

X U16326-31020 GASKET,HOUSING 1.00 1.15 1.15 EACH 1.15 S
X U16031-31020 WATER INLET 1.00 123.91 120.00 EACH 111.60 S
X U08889-80072 ENGINE COOLANT 1.00 33.58 33.58 EACH 23.51 S
X T16100-39435 PUMP ASSY,WATER 1.00 173.05 98.27 EACH 98.27

Alternator was some years ago would have to find the invoice, but don't rem it being too bad price wise. Was done at a jap car specialist (Japex). 

 

[DnG]

As another update, I've been searching pretty much daily and there's are no new cars being added. I've searched eBay, autotrader and cargurus and within a 150 miles radius.

Before I had all the money there would be at least 1 new lexus added every week, sometimes even more and now, nothing. I've been seeing the same 4 SE's, not even SE-L, for the past month.

Has the price gone up for these? Or are people not selling them anymore?

I increased by budget to nearly £4K (of course I wish to keep some of it if I can) but there's nothing out there.

I'll list what I'm looking for and maybe you guy can tell me if I'm expecting too much for £4k budget:

• Be the SE-L model
• Over October 2007 manufacturing date, preferably a 2010+
• Black exterior / interior
• Xenons with headlight washers
• ML nav
• Front/rear sensors
• Not be all rusted or have framework repaired
• Aftermarket alloys if possible
• I'd love it to have all the extra option buttons (the ones to the right of the steering wheel)

[H3XME]

10 minutes ago, DnG said:

As another update, I've been searching pretty much daily and there's are no new cars being added. I've searched Ebay, autotrader and cargurus and within a 150 miles radius.

Before I had all the money there would be at least 1 new lexus added every week, sometimes even more and now, nothing. I've been seeing the same 4 SE's, not even SE-L, for the past month.

Has the price gone up for these? Or are people not selling them anymore?

I increased by budget to nearly £4K (of course I wish to keep some of it if I can) but there's nothing out there.

I'll list what I'm looking for and maybe you guy can tell me if I'm expecting too much for £4k budget:

• Be the SE-L model
• Over October 2007 manufacturing date, preferably a 2010+
• Black exterior / interior
• Xenons with headlight washers
• ML nav
• Front/rear sensors
• Not be all rusted or have framework repaired
• Aftermarket alloys if possible
• I'd love it to have all the extra option buttons (the ones to the right of the steering wheel)

Xenons, washers, sensors are standard on SE-L. Touch screen (ML) was an option on all trim levels and that comes with buttons on the right hand of the steering wheel as they have Bluetooth for calls too. 

 

Try marketplace. Granted, a lot of scam ads (mainly ones that seem too good to be true) but that's the go to place for a low value car like that. 

 

Black on black is rare so doesn't pop up very often. 

[DnG]

22 minutes ago, H3XME said:

Black on black is rare so doesn't pop up very often. 

Damn now I feel even worse for missing out on that 2010 for £3.800

As for the "optional" buttons, I mean these:

I've seen a lot of cars that have either 1 or 2 of those missing.

[H3XME]

42 minutes ago, DnG said:

Damn now I feel even worse for missing out on that 2010 for £3.800

As for the "optional" buttons, I mean these:

I've seen a lot of cars that have either 1 or 2 of those missing.

These are standard on SE-L 

[ahmed-abrar]

from what i can recall pre2008 cars can have issues regards the fuel lines when running on E10 petrol, please correct me anyone if i am wrong

[DnG]

3 minutes ago, ahmed-abrar said:

from what i can recall pre2008 cars can have issues regards the fuel lines when running on E10 petrol, please correct me anyone if i am wrong

From what I know it’s the pre October 2007 that have a lot of plastic/rubber seals and washers that crack when E10 fuel is used for a long period of time.
That’s the main reason I’m looking for a 2007-2012 car, I’d rather it not be that picky 

[H3XME]

1 hour ago, DnG said:

From what I know it’s the pre October 2007 that have a lot of plastic/rubber seals and washers that crack when E10 fuel is used for a long period of time.
That’s the main reason I’m looking for a 2007-2012 car, I’d rather it not be that picky 

Why not just use e5 anyway? It's better for the engine and better for mpgs. It's only ~£5 more per tank. 

Also this one popped up on the FB group. 

 

[DnG]

1 hour ago, H3XME said:

Why not just use e5 anyway? It's better for the engine and better for mpgs. It's only ~£5 more per tank. 

Also this one popped up on the FB group. 

 

It’s a 2005 and from the looks of it not an SE-L. Anyway it’s way out of my budget, I'd like to have the option of putting E10 in it without fearing that I'll cost me more, maybe I won't have enough money to fill up and I'll need to save every penny for a while, you never know what the future holds, but that's not the only reason I’m looking for a 2008+ up. The cheapest insurance I could find was £1.800 for 2008+ cars, insurance on earlier models seems to be £2.500+ for whatever reason. And 2005s-2006s aren’t clean air zone compliant 

[H3XME]

21 minutes ago, DnG said:

It’s a 2005 and from the looks of it not an SE-L. Anyway it’s way out of my budget, the fuel is not the only reason I’m looking for a 2008+ up. The cheapest insurance I could find was £1.800 for 2008+ cars, insurance on earlier models seems to be £2.500+ for whatever reason. And 2005s-2006s aren’t clean air zone compliant 

It is an SE-L and they are ULEZ compliant. He'd take 4m I'm sure. It's worth like 3.5imo. 

Fair enough on the insurance though.. 

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle

[DnG]

Weird, doesn’t seem to have front headlight washers and front sensors. Be it the pictures are not the best.

Just checked and there is a £8 charge to drive in Birmingham city centre and £14 in London: https://vehiclecheck.drive-clean-air-zone.service.gov.uk/air_zones/compliance

I’ve tried several IS250s from 2005-2006 and most of them were not compliant 

[DnG]

Found this for £3.500, a bit far but it's pretty much what I'm looking for: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406020322306

Problem is, the last MOT shows corrosion to the front and rear subframe. I already know of a "pristine looking" one in Birmingham that had the frame completely detached and since these cars are nearly 20 years old, how bad do you think it is? I wouldn't want to have to put the axel on one shoulder and the frame on the other and walk 128 miles home

[H3XME]

9 hours ago, DnG said:

Weird, doesn’t seem to have front headlight washers and front sensors. Be it the pictures are not the best.

Just checked and there is a £8 charge to drive in Birmingham city centre and £14 in London: https://vehiclecheck.drive-clean-air-zone.service.gov.uk/air_zones/compliance

I’ve tried several IS250s from 2005-2006 and most of them were not compliant 

That's an option discrepancy. If you get a camera (touch screen, ML) package, you may or may not have sensors too. I had one with a rear camera and no sensors and vice versa. 

As for the spec you're after with your budget. You can either up the budget or lower your standards. ML isn't much better than non ML. I had both. The downside of ML system is the ever blowing subwoofer if you listen to loud bass heavy music. The screen itself is pointless because £200 carplay head unit will be a lot better, actually usable and cheaper than buying a car with ML. Camera etc can be still fitted.

As for low emission zone compliance on the early cars. They all emit the same amount of co2 - 214g/km. I just checked a 2005 and a 2009 facelift. There are no changes to the exhaust system. This can be disputed with Birmingham council if its an issue. Had to do something similar with a different car before. 

[DnG]

1 hour ago, H3XME said:

That's an option discrepancy. If you get a camera (touch screen, ML) package, you may or may not have sensors too. I had one with a rear camera and no sensors and vice versa. 

As for the spec you're after with your budget. You can either up the budget or lower your standards. ML isn't much better than non ML. I had both. The downside of ML system is the ever blowing subwoofer if you listen to loud bass heavy music. The screen itself is pointless because £200 carplay head unit will be a lot better, actually usable and cheaper than buying a car with ML. Camera etc can be still fitted.

As for low emission zone compliance on the early cars. They all emit the same amount of co2 - 214g/km. I just checked a 2005 and a 2009 facelift. There are no changes to the exhaust system. This can be disputed with Birmingham council if its an issue. Had to do something similar with a different car before. 

I really don't care that much about the ML system, would be a nice to have, I'm going to get a carplay headunit anyway and I recently installed 2 subs on my BMW so I might do the same to the Lexus. Also, I'm trying to find a car with as many options as I can within my budget, trying to have to retrofit as little as I can if I can buy one with said options. Another reason I'm looking for a later cars is the fact that they're nearly 20 years old, they're metal and I'm finding more and more IS250s that have subframe rust problems, fixing little dings or changing parts is one thing, but having to fix the actual structural frame of the car is a totally different headache, especially when I can get an early 2010s car for £4k but I just fell in love with the IS250...

[T man 545645]

I have a 2006 IS250 and it came back as No Charge in all clean air zones? 

Your list of things you want is good. 

I find the camera at the back enough not sure i would need front sensors as you can see the front of the bonnet. 

[Texas]

The only ‘Options’ on a SE-L model IS are 

Multimedia Package

Sun(Moon)Roof

and Dynamic Cruise Control.

 

[DnG]

On 6/15/2024 at 9:34 PM, Texas said:

The only ‘Options’ on a SE-L model IS are 

Multimedia Package

Sun(Moon)Roof

and Dynamic Cruise Control.

 

That's a nice list, thanks for that. It's weird that the list doesn't say anything about the windshield / wipers heating, which some cars do have it and some don't.