noby76

few things you can try which might help. switch off your air con and only use when needed. use the recommended 5W-30 fully synthetic oil. try using V power shell as I found out burns slower than standard 95 RON giving more mpg. drive in ECT PWR mode all the time. not just me..but most guys on the US Lexus forums also noticed a slight mpg improvement when driving in this mode compared to normal mode due to the engine throttle and transmission being more lively resulting in the car picking up speed from a stop more quickly then you can ease off the throttle earlier and cruise. inflate tyres to about 36PSI this will decrease rolling resistance thereby increasing your mpg slightly. loose some weight in your car. I am not saying you have but most drive around with a lot of junk in their boot or back seats of their car which contributes to low mpg. the lighter the car, the better. you also mentioned you do mixed driving. is this a 50 - 50 split i.e. do you do say 10 miles town/traffic driving and 10 miles open road/motorway driving? cus if your daily commute involves driving more miles in town/traffic driving compared to miles driven in open road 6th gear then you wont achieve the low 30's combined mpg stated for the IS250.

Lexus stamps looks good in the service booklet for when its time to re-sell for sure. whoever will decide to buy your Lexus off you might have already done their research about Lexus to realise its parent company is Toyota. as you already aware, a service is a service. an oil change is an oil change so I don't think Lexus would have done anything special when servicing your car compared to what Toyota engineers would have also done as they will have database information to change the needed parts based on your mileage or age of the car. and so long as the necessary parts have been replaced , checked and tightened Lexus can guarantee job has been done by Toyota to their specifications.. hence they confirmed your warranty will still be intact. but a lexus stamp will look good, you might get the courtesy car and some coffe and biscuits refreshment when you use Lexus. like I did when it was time for my cambelt change :)

modern Diesels were designed with long distance driving in mind but looks like most buy one even when they don't cover long distances. I read an article a while back were a man was suing Jaguar as his XF diesel kept on breaking down with limp mode coming every now and again and Jaguars response was the driver wasn't driving the car for longer distances enough which helps prevent DPF's, EGR's clogging up over time. most wont also drive the car hard (rev) every now and again due to them wanting better mpg which might also accelerate the clogging up process. below is a link which does a small pros and cons of diesel v petrol cars. to me petrol always wins. if I wanted fuel economy, I will down size to a smaller petrol or hybrid powered engine. if I wanted a torquey engine for overtaking I will stick to 6 or 8 cylinder petrol. and if I wanted a car with both I will get a smaller turbo/super charged petrol engine or more so a large displacement Hybrid like GS450h or Infiniti M35h .if I was spending £10 to £30k on a 40 - 50MPG car, I would chose one of those as their motorway mpg is around diesel mpg figures, wont suffer from the common diesel engine problems, has overtaking acceleration and cheaper tax bands. http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/112073/petrol-or-diesel

is about you saving a bit of ££'s if you use Toyota and as you sated wont void your warranty as I bet the Lexus and Toyota tech's all get trained at the same place and Toyota will also have access to Lexus database and diagnostic software's to help them service your car so why would you worry about people looking unfavourably at your IS-F? its only a car which you chose to own so not any ones business I think...

I am currently running Pagid discs and pads at all 4 corners. and cant fault them. I did run Mintex a while back at the rears and it didn't last that long to be honest. but next time I need pads I personally will stick with Toyota's parts as that's what was engineered for the car and run Pagid discs with them. lexus bham ebay store is cheaper than pagids at euro car parts for front pads. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Lexus-Front-Brake-Pads-IS200-IS300-/170900442048?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27ca75cbc0

if you fail maybe someone else did...

whats your problem dave did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today??

all because most diesel drivers you encounter and other forums I am active in like to brag a lot about the torque their engines are able to make.

I too haven’t been sold on diesel cars.. almost all suffer from 5th injector problems, DPF issues, dual mass flywheel, clutches, and turbo problems. I must admit a mates 530d I rode in a while back did not sound like a diesel and felt really punchy aswell but only for a few rpm and then goes dull..but am still not sold on the thing.. to me diesel is really not for everyone and most jump on it due to the attractiveness of the mpg figures and if you actually sit down to do the maths the savings made from say driving a 50mpg diesel car for 400 miles over an equivalent 30mpg petrol car over 400 miles is about £30 saved to a 60litre tank full. This does start to add up the more miles one does but comes with the uncertainty and unreliability of the parts listed above. So I keep asking myself does the benefit of saving around £30 per tank fill up outweigh potential issues known to affect diesel engines regardless of manufacture?. I know some manufactures do better than others but they all seem to suffer from these problems. Most diesel owners brag about how much torque their engines pack but forget torque gets chucked out of the window if an equivalent petrol makes the same horse power and more so if that petrol has a form of valve timing. E.g. a 2005 E60 530d makes 500NM (369ft lb) at around 1750rpm which sounds very astonishing when compared to say an IS300 which makes only 288NM (212 ft lb) at 3800rpm. Horse power calculation formula is always (ft lb x rpm / 5252) so if we punch the 530d ‘s figure into this formula at 1750rpm were the BM generates this monster tourque, the engine is actually producing 123bhp at the crank this is 369 x 1750 /5252 = 123bhp. at 3800rpm the IS300 an equivalent engine size without a turbo is producing 153bhp at the crank this is 212 x 3800 /5252 = 153bhp this means the less torquey car can out accelerate the tourquey one so long as it’s in the right gear and come 4000 to 4500 rpm the diesel will be grabbing the next gear as its run out of revs but petrol can still hang onto the gearing to 6200rpm before engaging next gear. so huge torque figure really does not mean anything if its not being generated at a higher rpm. will certainly feel very fast at low rpm's tho..

not even sure why you need a second opinion on this Petay. Lexus engines are VVT-I so why not?? BMW still used the letter (i) which actually means fuel 'injection' to denote their petrol engines and (d) to denote their diesel models at the back of their cars and side of if its a 4x4 model. but all petrol cars these days are fuel injected and most diesel cars of other manufactureses don't carry the d badge so does this make BMW chavvy? our cars are VVT-I engones so I don't see any thing wrong with sticking a VVT-I badge any were on the car tbh.. what I actually find chavvy is e.g. an IS with BMW M6 or Merc AMG wheels wheels on it..if I wanted 19" or 20" rims on my car, it wont be rims of another car manufacturer lol...

its easy.. workout out if you can live with 21mpg for town driving and 29 mpg for combined motorway/town driving and go for it if you can. but please don't make the mistake of thinking you can extract 1.4 litre mpg out of 2 litre 6 cylinder engine.

mmmh 180 miles from 36litres of lpg is very interesting. is this from mainly town driving or combined? since 4.54litres equals to 1 gallon, 36 litres will equal 8 gallons. thats 36 / 4.54. and if you can only travel 180 miles out of 8 gallons this works out at only 22.5 miles to each gallon. thats 180 / 8. are you really saving from having had this conversion done? IS200's without lpg officially returns around 21 miles to each gallon for town driving.... so lpg convertion has only bettered it by 1.5 miles to every gallon. is it me or something is not right here??

I personally think it’s a combination of factors and this is my own opinion.. Brand name: Most in Europe opt to drive BM, Merc or Audi due to the history behind them and the whole ‘German Engineering’ cliché which makes them attractive and I found out first hand after owning a 5 series for a while their engineering wasn’t that superior as most people make it out to be when compared to Japanese equivalent. Most see it as a status symbol But I see it as every man and his dog drives a BM, Merc or Audi. Badge Snobbery: When Toyota released the gen 1 LS, GS and IS Lexus’s, they all carried the Toyota badge in some continents even though they never drove and felt like your typical Toyota and most will automatically skip a Lexus dealership even before they test drive one and you hear most say ‘Lexus is just a Toyota’ yeh rite.. like Audi is not just a VW.. Running costs/MPG : with fuel not cheap in UK/Europe compared to say US, most in UK will opt for BM, Merc or Audi as those have invested huge in diesel technology and are perceived to be more fuel efficient which can be true if one drives on the motorway most of the time but not so much of a difference compared to petrol if one hardly does motorway driving. Most will see 50MPG printed in on the spec sheet of an Audi and think mmh very fuel efficient but forget they have paid around £5-£10K for the full spec diesel Audi compared to the equivalent full spec petrol Lexus and forget it might take them 3-5 years before they might actually start saving in running costs due to the fact that they paid more at the showroom to begin with and diesel is still sold at a higher price than petrol at the pumps. Even if one saved around £100 in road tax a year from buying a diesel car over petrol, that’s still only £500 savings over a 5 year period. Not a lot saved in terms of road tax if one paid £5-10k more to begin with. Not fun to drive: most UK car comparison articles and websites always knock down Lexus labeling it not a fun car to drive, too refined and always trailing behind its German competition in terms of driver involvement which translates into most flocking onto mainly BMW and Audi showrooms and lets be honest BMW and Audi’s Quattro models can stick to corners like glue but the Lexus is not far off in terms of handling but its more comfortable than most if not all 3 German brands. Advertising: I don’t think Lexus markets/advertises their models well in UK or Europe they need to know a BM, Merc or Audi will sell itself in UK due to the badge but Lexus being around for only 25years or so old still needs to market and advertise twice as hard to gain the UK/European recognition. and I also think it might be a Toyota arrogance as to why they have to put in the work if their cars are recognised in other continents like US/ Australia /Africa without them having to bend over backwards to them for sales. after all they are one of the if not the no1 car manufacture company in the world. but once the dust settles most of us who happen to have owned or own a Lexus knows they are better than BM, Merc, Audi in many ways not just in refinement.

yeh WRX's and STI's looked soo basic with not a touch of Luxury to them...well they were not meant to pamper thier drivers to begin with lol but this new model looks really 'up market' compared to the interior Subaru usually goes for except thier Legacy models which are more refined/luxury. here's a more detailed vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHBZX7ZAWfU oh and thier Symetrical all wheel drive is tested to be better than that of VW/Audi's 4Motion/quattro systems.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OzK-oRPCbs

yeh front end looks a bit gen 1 IS'ish/ Volvo'ish . I don't care for looks tho but these things are one fast car...I want one lol..check out the previous gen doing a lap round Isle of Man.. now tell me you would have much fun in a 458 Ferrari compared to this animal proper drivers car!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlSG9_Ue4A

the 2.4litre 190bhp Accords Executive auto's are looking very tempting for me as a replacement for my IS.. only if they had the Honda S2000 engine in them..Hondas are solidand cant go wrong with a Honda

'you cant shift faster and more accuratley than a computer'... I still enjoy driving manuals tho

I hated auto's aswell for the fact that old school autos were boring to drive, sapped a lot of power from the engine, had bad fuel consumption and were not quick to respond to commands..well those days are long gone!! modern auto boxes can hit 2 - 300,000 miles without needing a rebuild if fluids are changed occasionally, they are as quick to respond to gear changes in Manual/Sport mode and also involving to drive as a full blown manual box, and most new cars with auto's are more fuel efficient than their manual models. tho some cars like Subaru STi' , Evo's , high revving Toyota' and Honda's will always wear manual boxes better. almost all powerful production cars are all sport auto's so unless one will be using their cars for drifting, there is no real advantage these days for having a manual box over a good well engineered sport auto box.

nice one Stuart.. looks like you really have to sit down to do the calculations to make it worth while. all depends on if you will be keeping the car for minimum 2-3 years as stated above..fitting cost alone is £1200 and although you will be buying the Gas at a more cheaper price you will still be buying petrol occasionally. last I checked lpg near where I live was £0.76 and unleaded at £128.9 that's a difference of about 0.53 pence per litre not a lot in it but makes a difference the more gas you buy . also consider how close you live to an LPG gas station as not all fuel stations cater for this so if you live say 10 miles away from one then consider the small cost involved in driving there and back occasionally to fill up all adds up within a year. also consider how much it really cost to carry out the annual lpg service as that was not stated above since its done remotely you will also have to budget for normal servicing of your car as well. that's two services yearly. if it costs say £100 - £200 for an lpg service annually then has it been a huge saving over running petrol on a yearly basis? all these needs to be considered I suppose..

Altezza's are so rare Pete and why an Altezza when IS300 makes same power..ok one can have an Altezza in Manual box but still very rare..

Thats not negative Stuart, that's the MPG the car was meant to return on combined driving figures infact 30.6 mpg is an improvement. :)

same ones used in GS430/LS430 V8's Ganesh...smooth as you like.. and can apparently handle a lot of torque through it 350-400 bhp with just a valve body upgrade for the auto and manual is the W55 gearbox

owned one and cant stress anymore on the common cooling problems. get one with warranty or replace all cooling system. also includes their VVT-i version called Vanos the seals are known to go on these aswell. http://www.autoevolution.com/bmw-blog/tips-on-what-to-look-for-when-buying-a-bmw-e46-58276.html https://www.bimmerfest.com/wiki/index.php/BMW_E46#How_durable_or_reliable_is_the_E46.3F_Is_it_expensive_to_own.3F

not quite Chris.. if a car has a common problem from factory then regardless of how its maintained, the common problem will arise at some stage!! one can service it at the dealers and drive it like miss Daisy without trashing it and the common problem still crops...how many times have we heard IS220d owners mention about their head gasket failing on their full dealer service history Lexus's ?? BMW's are solid cars JP Wilson but like any other car they also do have their common problems. best to register on bmw forums and ask the guys on there what to watch out for when buying a high miler model.. of course being a premium brand, parts wont be cheap same as Lexus.

all the best Pete...I too was thinking of relocating to US as I have some family living up there but situations have now changed and plan is now on hold.. I too love American muscle cars cars they are known not to handle as good as Japanese or German cars but in a straight line can be brutal lol.. always have a soft spot for Chevvy Corvettes 's and Ford F1 150's those trucks makes a Range Rover look like a baby in terms of size and most pack some serious punch aswell...I heard Buicks are quite comfortable aswell but can't beat a Lexus in terms of comfort and build quality tho lol.. mate just get a GS430 when you get there lol.. cheap gas, cheap insurance, no road tax to pay aswell...