Silver Arrow

Nice one - completely agree about the BSM (blind spot monitor), once you've had this baby you will NEVER want a car with out it (or at least that is what I have found). The minor judder is something I noticed too….

Also, did you compare the suspension to an F Sport model? If so what did you think??

It just defrosts the wiper after being frozen to the windscreen over night. No good unless you clear the windscreen first, so it defeats the objective of it being there - never ever used on my IS!

Unless there is something fundamental (like with the 2nd Gen IS with the dash clips) then it will be likely due to temperature, and when they come you might hear them in more than one place too. If it's something more fundamental then in all probability the noise will be there either all of the time, when that particular set of circumstances is prevalent (i.e. mechanical, or seat/steering at a certain height etc regardless of temperature).

Good luck guys - it drove me mad, but then it was because the old IS220d failed to live up to other expectations too (reliability, notchy gearbox, pretty poor economy, vibrating mirror, final drive ratio etc etc). Thankfully this new IS seems to be much better made overall so I'm sure these things are minor ailments (teethers) that Lexus will sort out asap for you. Just be persistent!

+1 on the "pulse and glide" - on conventional non-h auto's you would get to speed and just release the pedal slightly for it to change up; it's the same with the hybrid, only difference is the engine will go off providing the Battery has some juice, or the CVT will change to allow for less RPM. That really works around town - more so on a hybrid.

My old IS220d was one of the first registered and one of the first cars to be initially fixed with the foam, back in spring 2006 and it was one of those really annoying things. It went away at the start, but did come back within a few weeks. Ultimately, after 2.5 years of fiddling about with different grades of foam, and the warranty expiry looming, it was confirmed by Lexus that it needed the dash out jobbie. I was really nervous about them messing with the dash like that - needless to say I took a hard financial hit and moved marques as I had suffered all manner of squeaks and rattles from Day one.

So I can sympathise with anyone who is suffering this, though I do believe that it was very much a manufacturing defect and as such Lexus should honour all complaints where there is a problem in their manufacturing (i.e. the clips that is well documented on this forum).

Things do wear out and "move", but I also think that there are too many plastics of differing grades all over the dash, which is never going to help.

Thanks for that - you're right - it would stay at home in the garage, ready for action!!

That 3T Costco one gets good reviews, as it's a workshop quality product, so it might have to be that one. Apparently they were selling it for less than £50 a while back! The Arcan 1.8T looks good too, but I'd rather have proper steel. i'm not sure about these lightweight jobbies even though I'm sure they are safe enough...

I've been debating for ages on which to get:

SIP (from Costco) at £89.99, weighs a ton and lifts 3 (lol)

Arcan from Costco £119.99, lighter, but a 1.8 Ton lift

SGS - they do a decent looking range, and their 3 Ton ones look good on spec

Then there are Clarke ones, RAC/Halfords etc etc and a shed load on eBay.

I won't buy a 2nd hand one - I wouldn't know how it's been used (or abused).

I've already got my Hockey Puk to sit on the saddle

The jack will be used 8 times a year to swop wheels over between summer and winters, and I haven't yet found a suitable place to place axle stands on the new GS, and it appears no one can help (might ask the dealer), but I reckon I could get away with just loosening lugs, lifting with the jack, changing the wheel and lowering without stands….gotta be safer than the "widow maker" scissor jack in the boot...

Anyone have any experience or views?

:hohoho:

They probably will - but you have to be careful of several things:

1) The rolling circumference - get that out by too much and your speedo will over or under read. Use THIS guide

2) Offsets - this is crucial - that is the position of the studs when taking a cross section of the wheel right down the middle in mm. Get that wrong and either the tyres will rub on the arches, inner wings when turning the steering, or not fit as the brake callipers will come in the way. I'm not 100% sure but the RX has a weird offset/width/diameter ratio as they are "tall" wheels. The lower that figure, the more the wheels will stick out and vice versa. You can buy adaptors off eBay to make the wheels stick out more (i.e. increase the figure) but you cannot reduce

3) Load and speed of the tyres - for example 93 (load) Y (speed) - generally for winter tyres people drop down a speed rating or 2 - but you have to tell your insurance company (many don't….).

4) 5x114.3 - stud placement in mm - anything else won't fit

5) Bore - 60.1 - I think this is the width of the central hole as it attaches to the hub. You can buy adaptors off eBay

6) The car will have been designed with a range that will fit - for example - on the GS I believe offsets are 38-45, etc - so check with the dealer

Inspirational…..this is awesome. Now you need the ISF Wheels - with the quads on the back it won't look right unless you have some decent 19 inch (or bigger) wheels and the correct suspension drop to compliment that! But all the same, it is a brilliant piece of work!

Just to add - like Ullevi says, I did the same. In the real world, it all depends on where you do the driving. If you drive on motorways a lot then you won't get much in the way of saving through the hybrid system. If you do a lot of town driving, then it will help.

Put it this way - if I was looking to replace my GS250 now with another Lexus, it would be a hybrid….most of my miles are towny.

EDIT

that taxi article is a good one - someone once said to me that you should always buy what taxi drivers use - and guess what? Where I live, almost every Taxi is a now a new Gen Prius….

Running costs (taking fuel, parts, servicing, problems…) on an older diesel should be expected to be higher than that of a petrol, especially a Lexus and if you use it for short journeys

I've seen two, the day I had the test drive - mine and the young lady driving hers were both Black F Sports, standing next to each other at the lights….and one about 3 weeks ago on the M6 between J4 and 3 southbound (Black F sport too) Friday evening

Your Pex will not help, to be honest. You are better off ebaying it - seriously - a lexus dealer will "price" it in their favour - any dealer would at that value. They'll effectively want it for nowt and so whilst you might think you're getting a good Pex, you'd probably get most of that (if not all of it) off without a PEX.

OMG!

I think modern cars are designed to handle well and provide a sporty drive - so the way to do that without electronics and AVS is a firm suspension. The firmer suspension you have, the more noticeable the effect of the tyres, as the rubber will bend and flex to help the suspension. The lower the profile of the tyre, then generally the higher the tyre pressures - and with rubber bands you're gonna get little flexing of the rubber = firmer ride.

As far as snow is concerned then as pointed out, the wider the tyres, the more likely they are of "sitting" on top of the snow as opposed to "cutting" through it and giving the rubber a chance to contact the tarmac below. As the tread fills up with snow, the worse it gets.

Lexus is no better or worse than BMW, MB etc when it comes to snow. And whilst a 4x4 is great for getting you going, with summer tyres it will be just as bad as a conventional car at stopping, especially if weighs over 2 tonnes. The new IS is a very heavy car - and so whilst the added weight of the batteries might help you to get going, it will be harder to stop. So I suspect winter tyres are a must!!

I have used www.mytyres.co.uk several times now and they are brilliant!! nThe tyres arrive in pairs within 3-5 days and at a fraction of the price.

Hi Jonas, That's really useful info which prompted me to do some searching. Found this http://www.wheel-size.com/size/lexus/is/2014/ which, if correct, seems to suggest I could get winter tyres on my spare set of IS2 16" wheels and use them on the IS300h. The centre bore diameter is the only missing measurement. If the IS300h centre bore is different I suppose adaptors could work but I'm not sure it's a solution I'd be happy using.

Yes you can, but….make sure you tell your insurance company, as not only will you be putting winters on, but of a different size too…...

2 things of importance:

1) The rolling circumference (which can affect your speedo)

2) The insurance company - what will they accept

And as far as the bore is concerned, do a good search on the internet/ebay, but I feel they won't have changed that, so they should go straight on

Never personally used them, but researched them a lot before I went down the winter tyre route. Bottom line>? You get what you pay for. Fiddly to put on, in cold slushy and if you do use them roughly, or even a short distance on tarmac they can tear and shred.

For years and years Lexus have generally used the following:

Stud - 114.3 (which is common to a lot of Japanese cars)

Offset - ET 38 to 45 (get this wrong and either your tyres will rub the arches, or won't fit the rotors properly - you can get shims to adapt off eBay)

Bore - 60.1 (you can get adapters from eBay)

In fact my new shape MK4 GS250 is running the 18 inch MK3 GS SE-L rims (5 spokers) with winter tyres and no problems - they went straight on. I did have a set of GS MK2 300 Sport alloys that also fitted it - they were 18's. (114.3, ET45)

However, I believe (could be wrong) that the CT has moved away from this standard - and so it's a valid question - has the new IS changed too? You can easily look by taking a wheel off - the offset, rim width etc are usually embossed in the casting on the inside of the spokes, or you can use a mirror. I should have checked the IS300h I had (F Sport) with a dental mirror, but never got round to doing it.

Once you have the wheels, you can compare what tyre sizes you have and what you are changing to by following this GUIDE

Surely you need a "switched +" (i.e. one that only stays live all the while that the ignition is on), if that is the case then the Battery terminal (in front or back) will be useless as the lights will be on even when the car is off….

You will need to access something like the ciggy lighter, or back of the stereo??

Thats a great review Haf, well done for taking the time.

Thats a top job, other than the dust caps!

Hope so. My GS looks like it's been through a battle field, only 11800 on the clock :( and it's sonic silver too

I have too on the GS, but this is what I found :

As the temperature went up to over 12 degrees, the winters did become a little more raucous. That was mid spring last year with the bad weather having taken March and a bit of April over - once i changed over to summers the car was much quieter and the grip much better; this year I changed from the same summers to the same winters, the temperature was 6 degrees, and the car felt much quieter and sharper to drive - in the dry. So that could be the sign that tells you it's time to change….

Might just be a placebo thing too….

I drove an RX in 2006, on a Lexus Open Road event, and I thought it was far quieter and superior to the IS220d I had. Everyone looks for something different, though it did suffer from pitch and yaw too much for my liking, and the RX350, showing 16mpg after the test drive was worse than the IS220d!!