Thinking About An Auto

[Sterling]

I have had 4 IS200's over the years. Currently have an Audi A8. But I am seriously considering getting rid of it and buying a late model, 54 or 05 plate IS200. The only thing is that I have really got used to the auto box in my Audi. I spend every day in traffic jams going to and from work. The auto box has been a joy in this situation. Also, I just love the cruise control, which you dont get on a manual box IS200.

The Audi has a 3.0 V6 diesel and the 6 speed auto is super smooth. Gear changes are hardly noticeable. All my previous IS's had manual boxes, but I am seriously considering buying one with an auto box.

I would be grateful of the opinions if you have experience of both the manual and auto IS200. How is the gear change and kick down? I assume that the fuel consumption is nearly identical, or is the auto heavier on fuel?

[noby76]

tho I have the 300, I test drove a few IS 200 auto's when I was searching for the IS and they do shift very smooth and kick down when needed but like all auto there is a slight delay for ECU to collect its thoughts before it kicks down ECT PWR helps it respond sharply tho..

off topic but what keeps bringing you back to the IS's? is the A8 not delivering ?

[Sterling]

The A8 is fabulous, but very very expensive when it goes wrong. The seal went on one headlight and although it was covered by warranty, it would have cost £760 to replace. Mechanically it is very good, just had a number of silly things go wrong. Again all have been covered by warranty, but if I did not have a warranty, I would have been out over £2k this year. Parking sensors, heated washer jets, bonnet catch.

Why do I keep coming back? In 1998 I got an early release brochure for the IS200. I completely fell in love. At the time driving a company Vectra, I was never going to be in a position to own one. Times change and I still love them.

[Rory]

the 2 litre auto is only a 4 speed box where the 3 litre has a 5 speed, so is not really any worse on fuel economy for the bigger engine and power, get a 300 :)

[noby76]

The A8 is fabulous, but very very expensive when it goes wrong. The seal went on one headlight and although it was covered by warranty, it would have cost £760 to replace. Mechanically it is very good, just had a number of silly things go wrong. Again all have been covered by warranty, but if I did not have a warranty, I would have been out over £2k this year. Parking sensors, heated washer jets, bonnet catch.

I know what you mean and I have been there...german cars look appealing to the eye and I did own a 98 520i a couple of years ago and it was a money pit. someone once told me, 'modern German cars are enjoyable to own and drive only when they are under warranty'

a headlight seal going one a car barely 10 years old? I can bet you my 11 year old IS is still running on its original seals and HID ballasts even if it was replaced at some point, it has not failed during my 2 years of ownership same applies to parking sensors, and all electrics, electric seats, washer jets and sun roof. everything still works on the IS.. good thing you haven't had to fork out of your own pocket..that 2 grand could easily be an IS purchase money. 300's are better..

have you seen GS430 prices lately??

[Sterling]

Never really a fan of the old GS. Also, fuel economy is an issue as I do about 25k miles per year. I have driven a new GS250, which was very nice, but they are far too much money.

[bullhorn]

Hi, I am on my 2nd is200 se both great cars. The 1st a 2000 x reg had the 6 speed manual box which is now my partners car with 115000 miles on the clock-still an enjoyable drive.

My current car of 2years is an 2004 auto which has covered 51000 miles.

Yes I would recommend the auto its 4 speed box is very smooth, good performance but can be a bit heavy on fuel around town.

Motorway driving consumption is about the same as the manual. Cruise control makes for an easy drive.

Last May we did 2200 miles in the auto to the south of France-brilliant!

[noby76]

economy is high on most lists these days due to fuel prices but this does not give the full picture of how economical a car is to run besides fuel costs. I mean I see and hear most spend like 30K on a brand new car which on rough calculations is costing them about £350 to £500 in finance payments but then watch mpg religiously and worry about saving £30 or 5 gallons to every tank full of fuel they purchase. imagine not having the warranty on the diesel A8 you would have forked out over £2000 in fixing minor issues which would have wiped out saving made at the pumps compared to running say a juicy V6/V8 petrol 'Jap' beast..

even the 3rd Gen GS's are fetching reasonable money these days.. if you are not worried about high mileage and year of reg you can pick one of these up for under 6K. and will return 40mpg if you do long distance cruising like motorways..in fact its mpg figures for town, motorway and mixed driving is the same as an IS200 Auto..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201312180596107/sort/default/usedcars/page/1/make/lexus/maximum-age/up_to_8_years_old/postcode/mk160ay/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/radius/200/fuel-type/petrol/model/gs/engine-size-cars/3l_to_3-9l?logcode=p

valet and slap a private num plate on one of these,ask a couple of people which year they think this model is and most will count from 2010 upwards.. why? because the newer 2012/2013 GS's are very very rare on the roads majority don't even know they exist...

[bullhorn]

Plus there are a few autos for sale on autotrader at the moment.

Hope that helps.

[Hondaman]

Go for a IS300 if you must have a auto.

[janet]

Ditto....but you're not having mine!

I decided to sell mine a month ago and get something more economical and smaller, but I drove a couple and I can't face it, so more TLC for my sportcross (yay!). Don't forget to factor in depreciation (or lack of it) into your MPG calcs. I have previously been tempted to by a second gen IS and a hybrid...but I can't break away from the 1st gen, despite advancing years.

[petayV8]

Ilove my auto. Its adaptive so its very clever at guessing what i want. With pwr buton it is over ridden and delivers. Snow mode has the opposite effect shifting nice and early. I came from a focus 4 speed auto and its like night and day. Its not going to feel as effortless as your toquey diesel with 6 gears though. Its definatley not a mover but still feels fairly effortless changing between 2 and 3k with adequate pick up for day to day driving and likes to settle as soon as its get opportunity . The selector is well designwd in the way you can gently nock it right into 3 for kick backs or engine breaking. But like i said its very pridictable and rarely if never shifting when you dont want

[petayV8]

Oh yeah as noby said have a look at mk3 gs's going for around 4k! And will be as economical if not more than a old is200 with a nicer auto box and power

[Sterling]

Thanks guys. MPG is a concern to me. I dont do finance on cars so dont have to factor in monthly costs. But at the moment the Audi cost about £115 to fill from near empty. For this I get about 600 miles. But that starts to get expensive when you are filling up nearly every week. £400 - £450 per month on fuel is hard to take.

I know what the book figures say, but in the real world, what is realistic mpg on the IS200 auto? I do about 30% town and 70% motorway driving.

[asharb123]

To be honest you are going to get a biased opinion from IS owners. It really comes down to what is important to you fuel economy or owning an IS. I have an IS auto and it is not economical compared to its German rivials (owned BMW 3 series 4 & 6 pot engines and Mercedes 190 & C Class). An Audi A8 and IS are worlds apart. Its like comparing an IS & LS, 2 completely different cars aimed at different type of customer and different focus.

I have a BMW 728i as well which is as old as my IS (both cars are 14 years old). You can't compare the 2 cars. My 7 is bigger, is more surefooted as in handles better than the IS which is saying something for such a big car and is a comfortable accomplished motorway crusier. It should be as it cost twice as much new than the IS and is more economical around town.

However I love the IS, because of the way it looks, sounds when you put your foot down and the level of comfort and standard equipment. For a second car which is mainly used for school run and local trips and covers no more than 3000 miles a year, why would I want an ecobox which has no soul. Everytime I look at the IS it makes me smile and everytime I see one on the road I know I'm part of that club as I have one. The IS owes me nothing got it cheap, spent a few quid fixing a few common known problems and costs peanuts to insure. OK tax is expensive and I have to go to the pumps more frequently, so what.

Its a heart or mind decision, owning an IS or fuel economy you want get both.

[petayV8]

I never bother to check the mpg. It doesnt have a trip computer so has to be worked out.i think im getting 20-22mpg around town 30-35 motorway. I reckon you could average 28-30 30% town 70% motorway getting easily getting 400 miles out of the 70 litre tank (70 litres right?) Its not economical nope. Like i said the newer and more powerful lexus's will achieve the same if not better mpg such as is250 gs350. I own one for same reason asharb gave although im working up to a bigger cruiser but is closest i can afford at my age

[noby76]

wont be any more than £10 or £15 extra when compared to your current IS200 manual based on the type of journeys you do. so if say it cost £50 to cover 250 miles based on 30% town and 70% motorway in the manual IS, you could be looking at maybe an extra 10ner to cover the same 250 miles in the IS auto over the manual..

[Sterling]

Damn, the old heart / head issue bit had not really entered my mind. If I look at it that way, the heart will always win with the IS..............

[sjrainsford]

I love my IS and will be sorry to see it go when I collect my company car in January. Have got to be honest I can't fault it. The 4 speed auto is lovely.

Personally speaking it could really have done with an extra gear ratio, but not high up like most would expect. 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears are all great. Floor it and it hangs on to 3rd gear until about 100mph.

1st is the only real problem. Or rather the difference between 1st and 2nd. The revs drop too much during hard acceleration off the line. But if you're not chasing 0-60 times then don't worry. It'l still beat most cars off the lights and when at cruising speeds all you need do is push the pedal to the floor and the car takes off. I run in ECT-PWR mode rather than normal mode as the gearbox just behaves nicer and is more willing to change. It feels laggy otherwise. I've not noticed any increase in fuel consumption doing this either. It's been in that mode for about 6 months now. Plus ours tows our caravan great too.

My average over the last 12 months is 28mpg. (every fill up recorded in software, including when having towed).

And, as is the case with most IS's I presume, it's just so easy to own and live with. The only problem I've had is needing a new radiator (£55) and lambda sensor. Fuel and insurance aside, it's genuinely cheap to run. If I wasn't getting a company car, i'd run mine until it died. It's done 145k miles now and showing no signs of being anywhere near death yet. Reckon it's got as much power as when it had 50k on the clock.

[noby76]

I run in ECT-PWR mode rather than normal mode as the gearbox just behaves nicer and is more willing to change. It feels laggy otherwise. I've not noticed any increase in fuel consumption doing this either. It's been in that mode for about 6 months now. Plus ours tows our caravan great too.

My average over the last 12 months is 28mpg. (every fill up recorded in software, including when having towed).

Not just you..i also noticed increased in mpg with ECT PWR and the car doesn't feel laggy compared to when in its off. 130K miles on mine and just did a 75 mile trip from Bham and averaged 33mpg and was roughly 20% town to get me on the motorway and 70% motorway and 10% from motorway to home. this was keeping the speed between 60 -70mph which I recon is the sweet spot to extract best mpg out of the engine. 33mpg for 11 year old 3 litre, I cant complain as officially am meant to be getting 26mpg for combined town and motorway driving. during my 2 years ownership I have noticed it drinks more if I am only doing mainly town stop/start driving but once you are on an open road/ motorway 33 -35 mpg is easily achievable with light foot of course. and in petrol engine terms, this is very good for a 3 litre

[petayV8]

The car is deff more suited to the motorway, in fact any 6 cyl and up is really

[sjrainsford]

@Noby76 Flippin eck, I didn't realise the IS300 was that good on fuel!

[noby76]

really depends...in town with heavy foot and lots of start/stop it can just drop to like 15mpg average. but my usual average is between 28 - 35 mpg all depends on the driving am doing but to me honest I too am considering something more econo hopefully from next year.. av had my fun with the 300 and kinda considering a 2.4 litre 4 pot auto accord I heard those VTEC engines are very smooth or another 3.0 6 cylinder Subaru Legacy heard they are very robust more powerful than my IS, has AWD system for any weather condition and does roughly 30mpg on combined compared to my IS's 26mpg anyone owned any of those two cars?

what do you recon sterling?? I quite fancy a late model IS now they look so clean and kinda different to the early models..

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201311190004863/sort/default/usedcars/radius/200/body-type/saloon/page/1/postcode/mk160ay/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l/fuel-type/petrol/price-from/3000/model/is/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/automatic/make/lexus/maximum-age/up_to_9_years_old?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201308208393382/sort/default/usedcars/radius/200/body-type/saloon/page/1/postcode/mk160ay/engine-size-cars/2l_to_2-5l/fuel-type/petrol/price-from/3000/model/is/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/automatic/make/lexus/maximum-age/up_to_9_years_old?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201312010261974/sort/default/usedcars/price-from/3000/body-type/saloon/make/lexus/fuel-type/petrol/model/is/postcode/mk160ay/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/automatic/page/1/maximum-age/up_to_9_years_old/radius/200/engine-size-cars/3l_to_3-9l?logcode=p

I personally wont pay any more than £3500 for a late IS200/300 tho anything more then mite as well get an IS250 auto which most confirm can do 40mpg on long journeys..

[petayV8]

I must admit its frustrates me that most modern V8s do same mpg as my is200! Such as the new merc S550 even the AMG models are close!Yeah you should easily find something better on fuel with same or better performance noby. Ppl say the is350 wouldnt sell but ide be first on the list if i could afford it in the first place of course lol and could prob only justify it if i paid cash....

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Just to pick up on the headlight seal issue quite a few comments back...

According to the paperwork I got with the car....My IS300 has had 3 sets of headlights replaced under warranty by Lexus due to condensation within the first couple years of it's life and had the HID ballasts replaced also under warranty. So it's not just Audi's that have poor build quality in some areas. Lexus are not perfect Noby ;)