Which One Please Help?

[GaryD1975]

here is 2 links to IS200d on Autotrader.

Opinions and advice on which one would be best to go for please. I know one is higher mileage but it is newer and it has the posh sound system etc.

the other is older less mileage but has had engine work done which i believe is an issue with these. I could probs get the older one for under 5K.

anyway here are the links:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201304046100848/usedcars?logcode=visc

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201304226402125/usedcars?logcode=visc

Many thanks

[noby76]

Hi Gary,

for 5K money I would skip the Diesel all together due to their known engine head gasket issues and unrefinement and opt for this. its smooth, quiet and no known engine and transmission issues compared to the Diesel models.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201303275975410/sort/default/usedcars/body-type/saloon/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l/fuel-type/petrol/model/is/make/lexus/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/1/radius/200/keywords/2.5/postcode/lu63hp?logcode=p

most owners are averaging between 35mpg-40mpg in the IS250's all depending on how and where one drives of course but question you need to ask yur self is why spend £5K on the Diesel model known to suffer head gasket and clutch issues? infact this will result in more money being spent to fix if and when the headgasket or 5th Injector goes and more over if your daily driving does not include 60 to 70% motorway driving then the diesel model wont be as cheaper to run even if you do more than 10,000 miles town driving a year.

[GaryD1975]

I thought the 250 would be heavy on petrol. What would you say is the most economical.

I do a lot of motorway miles

[noby76]

Diesel will certainly be more economical on motorway journeys but most owners on here have recorded 40+ mpg from the IS250 on a long motorway journey which was worked out manually and not from the on board computer. way you have to see it is this. you will save maybe £500 a year if you run the diesel model over the petrol and maybe £100 on road tax aswell but if say the head gasket or an Injector fails, it will cost more than the savings made on running the diesel. there is also the EGR valve blocking to worry about aswell which causes the car not to run efficiently resulting in more diesel being used by the engine. not saying the IS250 is bullet proof but reviews i have read proofed they dont have any common engine/transmission problems. with all these common problems the IS220d's suffer i personally will by pass it and go for petrol model but thats just me. infact the Auto IS250 is slightly better on fuel than the manual version. best to work out how many miles you really do in a month and based on extra urban figures of both models, work out how much you would save if you travelled in the diesel model against the petrol model. to help you out i did a small maths below

IS220d

extra urban mpg is 52MPG so if you travel say 1000 miles a month you would need 19.2 Gallons(1000/52). 4.54 litres makes a Gallon and if a litre of diesel is sold at 142.9p , a gallon would be (4.54 * 142.9) = £6.48

so 19.2 gallons would have cost £124 that is (19.2 * £6.48)

IS250 auto

extra urban mpg is 40MPG so if you travel say 1000 miles a month you would need 25 Gallons(1000/40). 4.54 litres makes a Gallon and if a litre of petrol is sold at 135.9p , a gallon would be (4.54 * 135.9) = £6.17 so 25 gallons would have cost £154 that is (25 * £6.17)

which results in a difference of only £30 to drive a V6 auto petrol IS250 over the manual Diesel IS220d. multiply this £30 over 12 months and it works out at £360 to drive the Petrol over the diesel in 12,000 miles.

a faulty EGR valve from the IS220d cost around £350 to replace if it breaks which wipes out saving made over 12,000miles driving the diesel over the petrol.

[mikey's IS]

If you are looking for a mile muncher deisel i wouldnt bother looking at lexus, i would lean towards the german marques but thats just me.

[TigerFish]

How many miles a year do you do?

[GaryD1975]

I do about 25,000 miles per year

[GaryD1975]

I'm looking at one that's already had egr valve done and head gasket too engine done all by Lexus. Thought this would help as this seems to be the thing that goes wrong with them

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Yeah but there have been cases of the gasket going for a second time and Lexus won't do it twice for free.

I'd be more inclined to look for one on its original head gasket with a full Lexus service history and around the 50-60k miles mark. That way if the worst happens Lexus will build you a new engine for free :)