Ian J. Parsley

Basically it's a buyer's market and it's January, when no one is buying. So you should be looking around £2500 off (in various ways) and under 4% APR. I suspect they are slightly overstocked currently too.

Are you absolutely sure you can't go new, btw? My wife bought one today - superb deal.

In terms of your original =214 problem, ensure your Personal Hotspot is on (in settings - exactly where in settings depends on your model/latest update, but it should be alongside Bluetooth). This is shown to be working by a blue bar across the top of your iPhone.

Is there SMS read-out on all models, or just those with Premium Navigation? (To answer the question - do ensure your phone is properly ready to be connected. I'd say you'll need your "Personal Hotspot" or equivalent on, for example.)

Certainly I have had rattles, which come and go. I find them entirely unpredictable. I must say I'm having a good run currently. My main one actually came from above but specifically just left of the clock. One day, counter-intuitively, instead of trying to hold the padding down, I kind of held it up. The rattle has never been as bad since. Now, about that one, I have to say I always perceived it as much further left than it actually was - initially I thought it may even be coming from the passenger door or mat. It seems mad, but it's worth being absolutely sure what seem to be distinct rattles are not in fact the same one (noting, ahem, that men are genuinely worse at picking up the origin of sounds than women...) I also have a definitely distinct one which comes and goes above the steering well, but a quick slap soon sorts it! So, overall, I'm okay. I do find I can't travel with a jacket or coat hanging in the back - too annoying! So it must be pretty quiet!

1) I'm not familiar with the F-sport trim. I just fold mine manually via the button on the driver door. 2) I'm sure there is a way (mine doesn't skip back), but I don't recall it! It's probably in General settings somewhere. It is worth reading specifically the Navigation manual if you have Navigation, because ultimately it's all connected to that rather than to the car (with my trim, anyway). Re insurance, I'm around £325 - and that's in Northern Ireland where insurance is typically higher (because the law on maximum pay-outs is different). So have a good hunt around!

On topic - not particularly. My commute varies but 10-20 miles each way is typical; I would expect to see at least one and probably 2-3, which is a slight increase of course simply because the car has been out longer, but not evidence of any startling sales numbers.

I ordered an IS300h before they were even out and never regretted it! You get used to the driving style. Personally, the biggest change for me (coming from a Volvo diesel) was what happens when you press the brake pedal. The car doesn't actually brake until below 5mph, but rather decelerates by reversing the flow. It's slightly odd at first but you begin, quite naturally, to slow down well in advance of stopping (which maximises the benefits of the hybrid). Oh, and watch out for people in car parks and residential neighbourhoods who don't hear you wafting by :) Enjoy!

Sounds like identical age and spec to mine (though I've only heated seats; didn't know you could get ventilated on Lux trim). Enjoy!

I'd agree with Colin that if you're going to use Sport mode, use the paddles!

Re the interior, I am so keen on the IS I could be on its sales team, but actually I think the interior is the weak link. So a review even more positive than I am! (To be clear, the interior is okay but I don't like the boring rows of random buttons - more thought should have gone into that. Audi does it best for me.) On the sat-nav mute: I have my sat-nav voice volume set at zero. It is important to do that, rather than turn it off, if you want the on-dash guidance (unless recent updates have changed this). By the way, reviewers often speak of a mysterious "drone" which I cannot fathom. Could it simply be they didn't turn the ASC off?

Good luck with the new car. I suspect you made the right call.

They return the wheel nuts box to my glove compartment every service - and I put it straight back under the cover in the boot! But rattles are a slight issue and, in fact, the description above is spot on for mine. Mine are not permanent, but do appear to come from the speakers around the sat-Mac screen.

I passed an XE on the motorway out of Belfast today and initially mistook it for a 3-series. I actually find the interior quite ordinary too. It seems to me they've made the standard mistake of trying to compete on the 3-series' own turf. That's never going to work. I'm disappointed - I like to drive premium brands but not the Big Three Germans, so Jaguar is somewhere I would have considered.

You can get them serviced etc through Nissan. The big issue for me is they do not look particularly outstanding. And, frankly, despite their relative rarity, everyone has heard of Lexus; whereas try Infiniti on people who don't follow F1...

I'm definitely biased, but the fact is I took part (and am, ahem, below average age!), and the fact is I am unsurprised the Lexus IS won. Can anyone think of a better car to buy at comparable cost? Indeed, I was only surprised the running costs rated so low - I daresay they are not quite so good for private buyers! The "reviews", as mentioned above, take account only of a blast around a test track and of a pre-existing "belief system" on behalf of motor journos that German must be king. Take that belief system out, add in the actual ownership experience, and the outcome is somewhat different of course.

Last winter (my first with the car) I noticed the light come on in the winter every time I started the car and go off after about 10 minutes. I could see no problem with the tyres so I checked in at Lexus Belfast, and they confirmed there was no problem - the Head of Sales suggested that it takes that long in winter for the tyres to warm up (as noted above) and also said something about grip. This winter I noticed the light come on again, as last, but in retrospect it never went off again (I didn't really notice that it didn't, tbh - I was so used to it on!) Again I checked the tyres myself and could find nothing wrong; but I also noticed by mpg was down to about 43 (from the usual winter 46) and wondered about how the car was driving - so, to be sure I left the car in with Lexus Belfast to check. I returned two hours later to find that yes, one tyre had a slow puncture. I am no expert about tyres, but I would note this was fixed free of charge, and reprogrammed as noted above. That suits me! The other thing I would say is, if in doubt, just pop into the Lexus dealer. They're Number 1 in all the rankings for a reason. [The one exception to that is software updates, about which I inform them rather than the other way around!] The light is off now, btw!

David (Surrey), Have responded on Tyre Pressure Monitoring - basically yes, the light was on, but it usually comes on in winter anyway so I hadn't paid attention to it!

Welcome, Si. Another thing which hasn't been mentioned yet is Lexus customer service. It is top of all the lists for a reason! I contacted Lexus last week to say I suspected I had a tyre problem as my mpg was a bit low but couldn't find the problem. Took it in this morning, returned to collect at lunchtime to be calmly informed that I had indeed had a slow puncture. This was fixed, the tyres re-aligned, the calibration re-programmed and the car washed inside and out. No charge. You just won't get that anywhere else.

I've noted elsewhere also that I now get full-screen lane guidance on motorways, including an image of the gantry signs. As far as I can tell this is exclusive to motorways. I was in Dublin on Friday and wish I could have tested it out both on the other side of the border and on the Northern Ireland A1 (which is "expressway" rather than motorway, a bit like the A50 or A14 in GB) to see if it worked there. Will report back next time I'm down! :)

Yes, it's on Map Configuration. Be aware, however, that the options here change depending on where you are. "Intersection" only appears within 300m of an intersection; and "Motorway" within 500m of a motorway exit. By the way, far from a small arrow, with "Motorway" I get a full screen analysis complete with exact road signage!

Steve, A propos of your own advice on another thread, do you need the Nav double-screen to be set in a particular way to get the dashboard pop-ups? I found if I turned "intersection" off I seemed to lose it?

I turned off the auto-zoom and found that the display in my dashboard is now also available on the main nav screen (as you say, assuming it's on full nav), including the location of the car itself. How bizarre; I never knew that was available!

You do get used to it. Now, admittedly, step into an Audi and you see its is notably superior, but not the end of the world. The one thing I really miss is lane guidance.

I saw the What Car review (haven't look at Auto Express yet) and again was left mystified. I didn't disagree with everything - I've some sympathy with the view that the IS interior is already beginning to look old and a bit boring (with all the random buttons just thrown on), for example. However, the stuff they write about the driving experience utterly mystifies me. Most obviously, they report rolls and growls which simply do not exist. My wife had an Audi A4 diesel courtesy car for a month (which should tell you something in itself) and, while I accept the A4 is about the change, it wasn't in the same league (other than the interior, which was superb). To drive, it was light years behind. This was not my view (well, actually it was, but I'm admitting I'm not neutral), it was my wife's! And she is used to Audi. There's an argument this doesn't matter but I think it does. Poor reviews put off buyers not just because they feel the car may be disappointing, but also because it's just not "cool" to drive such a car. I can't help but think it's something Lexus should tackle.