First 1000 miles

[Micholas]

Hi guys, I'm new to IS250's but not new to the forum. I was an LPG LS430 owner for a number of years until the road Gods decided to take him away. I toyed with the idea of getting an GS460h but at the time I was looking they were all a bit worn and tired... So I settled on a one owner IS250 SE-L 2009 with 80K miles. Not much history but I'm putting that down to the previous owner being careless with his paperwork rather than it not being looked after. Do these cars have service books? I only have a handful of Lexus invoices. To tidy the car up I've had the headlights and the front two wheels refurbished. I've also put 4 new Goodyears on as the existing tyres were budgets, mixed treads and dated 2021. And I fitted a good second hand steering wheel as the original was a bit worn. I am planning to imminently carry out a full service inc sparks, gearbox and diff. 

So my impressions after the first 1000 miles. The car handles very well as I expected, it's not super fast but it's more than adequate for civilian driving like me. The engine does sound a bit tapety from the outside which I feel I may need to investigate. My LS430 was extremely quiet, and although from the inside the 250 is silent, if you're outside the car it's not as quiet as I would expect. Is this normal? I'm assuming this isn't the type of engine to have a bottom end go or something! The gearbox is also a bit clunky at times. When I'm at a junction and I pull off quickly it does hesitate before shooting off. I've heard the adaptations can need changing or adapting to your driving style and the car learns in time once the Battery has been discharged. 

I guess my only other qualm with the car is the economy, I remember in years gone by thinking 32mpg was quite efficient, but I guess in modern times with the extortionate price of fuel, it's not! I've been driving very carefully and my OBC is showing 34mpg but calculating in real time I'm getting 32.2mpg. This is working out at about a full tank in just over a week for me. I probably need to cut down on the miles!! But I do dread to think what economy I'd get if I drove it with my foot a bit more down around town. I can't be the only one noticing how quickly that fuel gauge goes down! 

Other than that I'm very impressed with the car, it's certainly aged well compared to a BMW E90, E60 etc. The shape is very modern and you'd be pushed to find these creature comforts in a modern base car. Just not quite sure if she's a keeper yet though! I like to keep cars for a good few years, but this might go after a year or two. I guess time will tell. 

 

 

 

[T man 545645]

Its strange how that wheel had worn so much, maybe the previous owner wore a lot of hand jewelry?

My 2006 IS250 has a traditional service book but there are not enough pages to stamp it after 17 years. 

[Micholas]

14 minutes ago, T man 545645 said:

Its strange how that wheel had worn so much, maybe the previous owner wore a lot of hand jewelry?

My 2006 IS250 has a traditional service book but there are not enough pages to stamp it after 17 years. 

Funnily enough when I was looking for a good used one, it was very hard to find one that didn't have that leather wear. I've not really seen that in other brands. After about 40 battered steering wheels I found one that was respectable for £60. 

[true blue]

Hi glad you are pleased with your new purchase I think the car stands up well if regularly maintained.I have had mine 11 years and I don't know what I would replace it with .The cars come with a book to stamp if you have some Lexus invoices they may be able to supply history or part history off their computer especially if you are considering spark plug change which is expensive but should have been done around 60000 miles so you may not need it.With regard to petrol consumption I achieve 32 in summer 27 in winter ,much better on long motorway runs ( 40 on French touring holiday .) The engine noise may be engine oil related I would replace the oil and filter ,I use shell fully synthetic never any problem .There is a lot of excellent information on here especially if you do your own maintaining with advice on rear callipers  which are a common problem .If you change the filter do not attempt to remove the housing without the correct tool Enjoy the car and any problems just ask

Dave

 

[Linas.P]

3 hours ago, Micholas said:

The engine does sound a bit tapety from the outside which I feel I may need to investigate. Is this normal?

I guess my only other qualm with the car is the economy, I remember in years gone by thinking 32mpg was quite efficient, but I guess in modern times with the extortionate price of fuel, it's not! I've been driving very carefully and my OBC is showing 34mpg but calculating in real time I'm getting 32.2mpg.

 

First of all - congrats! That is great choice! It is indeed not the fastest, but perfectly adequate for everyday use and indeed aged great, everyone is surprised when the look at number plate realise it is nearly 20 year old car and asks "is this private plate or what"... they just can't believe mine is 55 plate. 

The 4GR-FSE (the one in your car) is direct injection engine and this is just how it sounds, "little bit like a diesel from outside"... this is totally normal and most importantly can't be heard from inside. Nothing to investigate there.

32MPG is decent... I am long term averaging ~28MPG (so let's call that mixed), the worst was closer to 22MPG, but it was on very high miles car with suspected issues with o2/lambda sensor (basically running rich). Otherwise for city it is like 26MPG, for motorway about 44MPG, but when being careful and not driving overly fast (say 70 MPH indicated ~66  MPH actual) it goes even as high as 50MPG. For 2.5L V6 without any fancy hybrid system it is very good.

I have never changed the diff oil, and I never had any issues with them.. had many IS250s, one done over 200k miles and nothing had ever been done with diff. Gearbox another matter... around 180k miles I started getting solenoid performance errors (related with ATF being dirty basically), so your car being lower miles I would recommend doing gearbox fluid change at least every 60k miles. 

Also big topic on these engines are oil burning, generally starts past 120k on cars witch had "extended" service intervals or irregular maintenance. Second issue is VVTi rattle, which also plagues higher mileage cars latter into the service cycle, basically once oil been in the car for over 6k miles. So in my experience it is best to change oil every 6k miles to keep it in best possible condition, these engines really likes fresh oil.

Apart of that these cars really don't have any major issues, just regular maintenance required, oil, filter, tyres, greasing brake callipers (as those then to get stuck if not cleaned/greased) and not much else. 

P.S. - set on new premium tyres is much appreciated from fellow motorist... I just can't understand how people put themselves and everyone around them at risk for few £ worth of rubber, the same rubber that is the only thing holding the car on the road... and drive on odd, differently worn and mixed tyres... should be illegal. Also Goodyear is great choice when it comes value for money, so it seems you know what you doing there. Keep it up!

 

[Micholas]

4 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

First of all - congrats! That is great choice! It is indeed not the fastest, but perfectly adequate for everyday use and indeed aged great, everyone is surprised when the look at number plate realise it is nearly 20 year old car and asks "is this private plate or what"... they just can't believe mine is 55 plate. 

The 4GR-FSE (the one in your car) is direct injection engine and this is just how it sounds, "little bit like a diesel from outside"... this is totally normal and most importantly can't be heard from inside. Nothing to investigate there.

32MPG is decent... I am long term averaging ~28MPG (so let's call that mixed), the worst was closer to 22MPG, but it was on very high miles car with suspected issues with o2/lambda sensor (basically running rich). Otherwise for city it is like 26MPG, for motorway about 44MPG, but when being careful and not driving overly fast (say 70 MPH indicated ~66  MPH actual) it goes even as high as 50MPG. For 2.5L V6 without any fancy hybrid system it is very good.

I have never changed the diff oil, and I never had any issues with them.. had many IS250s, one done over 200k miles and nothing had ever been done with diff. Gearbox another matter... around 180k miles I started getting solenoid performance errors (related with ATF being dirty basically), so your car being lower miles I would recommend doing gearbox fluid change at least every 60k miles. 

Also big topic on these engines are oil burning, generally starts past 120k on cars witch had "extended" service intervals or irregular maintenance. Second issue is VVTi rattle, which also plagues higher mileage cars latter into the service cycle, basically once oil been in the car for over 6k miles. So in my experience it is best to change oil every 6k miles to keep it in best possible condition, these engines really likes fresh oil.

Apart of that these cars really don't have any major issues, just regular maintenance required, oil, filter, tyres, greasing brake callipers (as those then to get stuck if not cleaned/greased) and not much else. 

P.S. - set on new premium tyres is much appreciated from fellow motorist... I just can't understand how people put themselves and everyone around them at risk for few £ worth of rubber, the same rubber that is the only thing holding the car on the road... and drive on odd, differently worn and mixed tyres... should be illegal. Also Goodyear is great choice when it comes value for money, so it seems you know what you doing there. Keep it up!

 

Thanks @Linas.P great to hear that the noise is normal. This was one thing where I thought big end bearing shells might be going or something. Yes I always thought 32mpg was pretty good going, I just forgot how expensive it was since I've been using LPG! Interesting about the diff and gearbox oils. These are pretty easy and quick jobs so I'll just do them. I know a lot of Lexus owners don't like to disturb things in older auto gearboxes but I've never really bought in to that. With the tyres this is something I do every time I get a new car! You can tell a lot about a person by the tyres on their car 😀

[Linas.P]

54 minutes ago, Micholas said:

Thanks @Linas.P great to hear that the noise is normal. This was one thing where I thought big end bearing shells might be going or something. Yes I always thought 32mpg was pretty good going, I just forgot how expensive it was since I've been using LPG! Interesting about the diff and gearbox oils. These are pretty easy and quick jobs so I'll just do them. I know a lot of Lexus owners don't like to disturb things in older auto gearboxes but I've never really bought in to that. With the tyres this is something I do every time I get a new car! You can tell a lot about a person by the tyres on their car 😀

The theory is that once the auto box is past certain age/mileage and still going... it is better leave it at that. It is hard to tell when that is, but good range would be about 100k and then 60k miles after that (also depends on what sort of driving it as doing, but generally it is impossible to tell). However, if nothing was done until say 140k... then it is better not to risk it, as more often than not people start having issues after trying to do good for their cars. 

Agree on diff-oil - easy change, not much to it, but also they are just simple open diffs and as far as I know never fail, even without any maintenance. From all IS, only IS-F diffs fails, but that is 470 HP car with LSD, all other trims never fail... unless somebody does something stupid like drains diff oil and forgets to put it back, or puts wrong grade, or wrong amount.

As for tyres, I am 100% agree with you... before it was even "red flag" for me, if the car comes with 4 odd tyres, all different brands and different levels of wear... shows that person didn't care, or did not understood what matters and how to care for car. Sadly, in UK it is so common, that nowadays it is quite hard to judge... where I am from originally it is illegal (not only to have different size/type, but even just different brand tyres on same axle is instant MOT fail, even as much as having same tyres, but one new, one old could be deemed fail if the thread wear is significantly different) so much rarer occurrence. What strikes me most, that even on relatively new and very expensive cars... something costing like £60k one can find all sorts of chinesium fast-crash 3000 ditchfinders and I just can't understand how saving say £40 per 20k+ miles wear item makes any sense. That is before we even start calculating that premium tyre probably going to last twice as long, so possibly works out cheaper per mile than "budget" ones. 

[J Henderson]

5 hours ago, Micholas said:

The gearbox is also a bit clunky at times. When I'm at a junction and I pull off quickly it does hesitate before shooting off. I've heard the adaptations can need changing or adapting to your driving style and the car learns in time once the battery has been discharged.

If you haven't already, try using the PWR ECT SNOW switch in the PWR position. It sharpens up the throttle response and the gearbox will hang on to gears a bit longer before shifting up.

The effect on fuel economy will be marginal IMO. I leave the car in PWR mode all-year round, and always have done as I prefer the sharper throttle. My dashboard MPG reading is a constant 32.X, which is averaged out since the last time the Battery was disconnected, which was about 3 or 4 years ago.

Yes, the car should definitely have a service book. Its pretty thin and stored in the leather wallet, if you have it. Since you have the nav unit, your car would've originally come with 2 owners manuals, with one being solely for the multimedia system.

Nice looking car, BTW 👍

[Micholas]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

As for tyres, I am 100% agree with you... before it was even "red flag" for me, if the car comes with 4 odd tyres, all different brands and different levels of wear... shows that person didn't care, or did not understood what matters and how to care for car. Sadly, in UK it is so common, that nowadays it is quite hard to judge... where I am from originally it is illegal (not only to have different size/type, but even just different brand tyres on same axle is instant MOT fail, even as much as having same tyres, but one new, one old could be deemed fail if the thread wear is significantly different) so much rarer occurrence. What strikes me most, that even on relatively new and very expensive cars... something costing like £60k one can find all sorts of chinesium fast-crash 3000 ditchfinders and I just can't understand how saving say £40 per 20k+ miles wear item makes any sense. That is before we even start calculating that premium tyre probably going to last twice as long, so possibly works out cheaper per mile than "budget" ones. 

I do find it crazy, but then I have a lot of friends who are not car enthusiasts who really don’t care about tyres. Not that they’re particularly cheap people, but they’re disinterested. So they won’t do anything until they’re told. They won’t service until it prompts them, they won’t change a tyre until it blows or is advised on a service/MOT, and then they’ll take whatever the tyre shop has in stock. Before you know it you’ve got 4 different brands and tread depths on every wheel. 

[Micholas]

1 hour ago, J Henderson said:

If you haven't already, try using the PWR ECT SNOW switch in the PWR position. It sharpens up the throttle response and the gearbox will hang on to gears a bit longer before shifting up.

The effect on fuel economy will be marginal IMO. I leave the car in PWR mode all-year round, and always have done as I prefer the sharper throttle. My dashboard MPG reading is a constant 32.X, which is averaged out since the last time the battery was disconnected, which was about 3 or 4 years ago.

Yes, the car should definitely have a service book. Its pretty thin and stored in the leather wallet, if you have it. Since you have the nav unit, your car would've originally come with 2 owners manuals, with one being solely for the multimedia system.

Nice looking car, BTW 👍

Interesting! I’ll give the PWR button a go in the morning.
I’ve got all the books, and there seems to be a lot of them! but couldn’t find the service book just about servicing lol.. I’ll probably buy a new one and start a fresh! Thanks pal