Linas.P

Wouldn't that be covered under warranty or car is over 100k miles?

Nice old thread! Back in the day (2014), that may have been viable, but as of today one is better off just to get IS-F... I guess the best window of getting it is late - IS-Fs no longer costs £12-14k, but still even at £18k it would be cheaper than fully sorting out IS250 supercharger. Say IS250 in good shape costs £4000 (questionable), then you need to spend like £10k on just parts and installation of the kit... and then if you need different gearbox add another £3k to sort it out. End results - you still have IS250, with ~300hp and similar amount of turkeys, but loads of lights, issues and headaches for £17k vs. IS-F with 471hp for ~£18k which is very reliable and dependable. I tend to believe it could be done without gearbox, but still you end-up with way more complicated car with less power for not much less. I feel standard gearbox should be able to handle the supercharged - IS350 was fitted with same gearbox and I am sure Lexus kept some margin of safety there, so it should be fine as long as one doesn't go significantly beyond IS350 power levels. Whole thing is helped by supercharger delivering power in line with the engine linearly, so there are no sudden bursts of torque like on turbo. Besides if resale value is of any concern - IS-F will maintain the price, may even become classic, IS250+SC will be worth about the same as normal IS250 and most people will avoid it because they would not be inclined to deal with mod related issues. Ok maybe in a long while one may found enthusiast who will part with the cash knowing how much it costs, but still that is going to be maybe £2k extra on normal price of IS250 for what was £10k investment. And not to mention that £10k itself can buy you whole separate car which would be as fast as IS-F and you still have money to spend on few years of insurance.

Absolutely ridiculous price for 11 years old car, nobody should be paying this when mk3 can be had for less. This is one of the issues trying to find excessively low mileage examples - people think that based on low mileage alone they can overcharge. Just for some reference - I have bought 2008 IS250 in 2014 for £3950. So that was 6 years old car for £4k, now these guys are expecting nearly £11k for 11 years old car. Sure inflation is the thing and current used car market is inflated even further, but that car is in no way shape or form is worth £11k. I would say £7-8k would be expensive, but maybe acceptable if the car is in really perfect shape and in current crazy market. It doesn't take much to run valuation and confirm that -sale price comes up as £8400 from dealer i.e. if Lexus themselves would be selling the car it would be that. From third party I would expect to pay closer to £7k, privately probably 6k - because PX range is like £5200-6400. So it is not about being able to afford the car, it is just silly price. I don't believe it is ever going to be sold at this price unless they found somebody completely clueless.

For £12 I would give it a shot, worst case scenario - return it. In your case do you still have the part which is mounted in the steering column (the base), or is it removed completely? The part number and connector would be on the base, so you would be able to double check.

Yeah, on IS250 is way more painful - at very least windows reset, but alarm likes to get angry about it, the key hole cover would surely got missing or broken and so on. Then there is the case of ECU keep getting reset, which often a good thing when you want ECU to re-learn previous owner driving patterns, but having it to re-adjust for each drive just isn't most efficient. Then there may be a risk of some weird ECU communication issues to pop-up as well, because effectively ECUs have to re-sync each time. When I say "kill-switch" is an option, I mean exactly such "isolator/disconnector", but it is kind of last resort thing and it is more suitable for simpler cars. Although in other hand - if battery dies and has to be removed to be charged, this is effectively the same thing, just less fiddly.

Great content on your channel, I was wondering how long it is going to take to hear about Sumo on this forum 😄 Sadly can't help you much with the cluster, but hopefully you find the way to sort it out. The only comment I had on youtube was about wires which seems to be a little crusty, event thought (I assume) there is continuity, maybe they short to the board or to each other. I wasn't even convinced the burn mark was from trace on the board - if it would be trace it most likely be burned through. So my bet was on the wires causing the burn, perhaps replacing the wires or insulating them better could help?

Yep - that is the way to go! As well, I always like to give people a chance - everyone can make mistakes, but it is most important they are willing to admit it and reimburse for the issues. If seller reimburses it to you fairly, then it sounds like genuinely trustworthy seller to me.

That is fair enough - all things being equal, lower mileage cars should be in better condition, sadly in practice it is hardly ever that simple. For example I got IS250 from auction which is lower miles (100k), but it absolute pile of **** - never washed, never serviced and in terrible shape. I guess what I am saying - don't falsely believe that lower mileage automatically means good condition, you need to check to validate it is actually the case. Besides 150k is no "high-mileage" for 15 years old car, because you looking at ~2008 car you should expect average one to be around ~130k, I think in UK average mileage is somewhat lower ~8.5k/year, so you looking at 110k in best case scenario. Finally, car likes to be driven on long distance - car which was doing loads of miles on motorway will always be in way better shape than car which was driven on short journeys in the city, or worse was "owned by pensioner" who drove to the church only 10 miles on Sundays. In my experience these hyper low mile cars are even worse condition than high mileage ones, with all rubbers and seals perished, underside rusted and so on, because they were sitting still a lot.

It is difficult to say - for me it took like 10 minutes 11PM at night so it was hyper-embarrassing. What seems to have solved it for me - I got inside and tried to start engine as soon as possible. As soon as immobiliser was triggered to unlock the steering wheel and engine started, the alarm stopped. If you can connect the tenner to the car (i.e. if you have garage) you don't need to disconnect the battery to charge it. That is how people maintain classic car batteries, provided they have garage or driveway where they can connect it to electricity.

As far as part number goes it seems that 84632-30010 was fitted to Toyota-Lexus cars from ~1992-to this day. The indicator stalk has changed, but as far as I can remember cruise control was always the same. I would double check part numbers in case connector changed internally, but they look the same otherwise.

Other option is to get used one from breakers yard or ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255336887273 Or even new generic one for Toyota (they are identical) - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363481738438 And finally - there is an option to let the seller to resolve this issues, because unless this was specifically mentioned and you knew it when buying, it is seller responsibility to mention or fix such issues, otherwise it is miss-selling.

As long as car is maintained you don't need to worry about mileage on IS250. My last one was nearly 200k miles (now it is well over that) and it never had any major issues. In other hand low mileage car could be just as much headache and even more if not maintained. For these cars (and most cars) maintenance is everything - not mileage.

Re fuel economy - the most noticeable difference is motorway and it has nothing to do with how you drive it, just gearing. The best I got from automatic was 48MPG, but truth to be told I never drive @70MPH, city was ~26-28MPG. When it comes to city driving then I think manual could be as economical as automatic provided driver changes all gears perfectly all the time. So in theory automatic is slightly more economical, in practice automatic it depends on what sort of driving you doing and how well you shift with manual and that could be anywhere from slightly less economical to significantly less economical. Just to be clear - I am not saying difference is significant - few % at most, but in favour of automatic.

I don't have manual, but I have driven one and the points related to manual are as well quite well documented and common knowledge on forum. First of all is the road tax - automatic was £325 and manual was £585 last time I have checked, probably more now. At least for me it makes no sense to pay same road tax for IS-F as it costs to run IS250 manual. Second point is reliability and cost of maintenance, manual gearbox just costs more - fluid in manual gearbox needs to be replaced every 40k miles and is expensive job, whereas in theory automatic does no need it at all (but I would say at least once in 100k miles would be good idea) - so in short you will need to spend £400-£600 to replace fluid 2.5 times more often on manual. Same for clutch and DMF - neither exists on automatic, so you don't need to worry about them, on manual it is £1200 just in parts. Third point - how fun it is to drive... I would argue manual is more fun if you know what you doing, but particular one fitted in IS250 just doesn't suit the car as well as automatic, doesn't suit UK speeds either. So automatic in this case suits the car more and feels smoother and more luxurious overall, gear ratios are better for UK and I would argue it is even more economical where it matters. Manual is "more fun" - but IS250 isn't a sports car and doesn't really benefit from additional "control" you get from manual, but suffers from worse economy and other manual gearbox related issues. I mean sure - if you plan to use IS250 as cheap drift car platform, fit it with rock hard coilovers, change suspension geometry, fit LSD, strip the interior and trash it on the track... then sure manual is the way to go. But for daily driving, comfortable, reliable, entry-luxury car the automatic just makes more sense.

Yes and batteries are different, but my point remains the same - when I started worrying about the battery going flat that helped my decision to sell the car. It is not Lexus fault that one does not drive the car for extended periods of time, although it could argued they could have designed the hybrid in particular a bit better (other makes maintains the battery without need of owner intervention). 1-2 weeks once in a while are fine, maybe even a month, but if car is constantly parked then battery will eventually die, there is no other way around it. On top of that all lead-acid batteries are not suitable for "deep-cycling" and even single deep discharge can damage them - meaning they deteriorate quickly and lifetime shortens rapidly after each cycle.

Sounds to me like it is about right for used battery. As I said - even brand new battery in perfect condition would die after 6-8 weeks. If you battery lasted 3-4 weeks, then it just shows your battery is average condition and not as good as new. Under normal circumstances this would not be the problem and it is fully serviceable battery, you just need to drive the car more or take the battery out for charging (or use battery tenner if possible). Replacing battery would be pointless under such circumstances, say you get brand new battery which lasts 6-8 weeks. After leaving the car once for 3-4 weeks, it may still work, but after another 3-4 weeks you will be in same position as you are now. Lead-acid batteries deteriorate quickly if deep-cycled and that is what driving car only once in couple of weeks does. The only way not to have issues with alarm is "not to arm it" in the first place i.e. lock the car with the key blade and not fob, which means that alarm is not on and when you reconnect the battery it won't trigger.

30 mins won't be enough to charge the battery if it needed jump starting, you need 20 mins just to recover the amount needed for single engine start. I think it may be parasitic drain issue if it would be fully charged battery and died in 3 days, but because it was never properly charged then that was just enough to kill it again. I would say - brand new battery could last 6-8 weeks without driving, but after a while it drops to maybe 3-4 weeks. Your option here - buy battery charger and charge it fully, then I am sure it will last for over a month.

These are not standard mirrors - only aftermarket, so breakers won't have any. There is no difference between LHD/RHD covers.

Not only Volvo - this idea was around for at least decade and there are still not a single working manufacturer backed scheme. At very least I know PSA, Lexus, BMW, MB, VW Group were all considering such schemes. And unless law would change in some dystopian way prohibiting private ownership of the car I can't see this ever working (for reasons not related to this thread).

151k is actually quite normal for 2007 car - 15 years, 10k miles each year. As you already fitted the tyres, this means you locked yourself on 17" wheels, perhaps mistake in hindsight if you planned to change wheels. As short term solution the cheapest and safest way would be just to refurbish the existing wheels and maybe change colour a bit - guaranteed fitment, keeps the tyres and just £200-£250. Pitting and peeling is not an issue for refurbishing as long as wheels are straight and not cracked. If you insist on diching the standard wheels, then my next call would be to look for wheels you like from other Lexus models or later IS in particular. Almost all Lexus wheels fits across all models, with only exception being CT and new LC/LS wheels. The only problem I can see here - again your new tyres are for 17" and choices on that size will be limited, at this point you would get most choice in 18" variety (newer IS, most GS uses them). In terms of what exist for 17" I can only thing about IS FL "Advance" wheels, and few examples of wheels used on IS mk3. I am always very careful to recommend aftermarket wheels, they are often poor quality and fitment becomes an issue.

That sounds a little bit excessive, but it depends on what you mean by "drove". Realistically you need to drive for 15-20 min just to recharge the energy you have used to start the car and whatever was used overnight by alarm. If you drove it for 2 miles and back, then not only it did not recharge the battery, it most likely discharged it more. This is not some sort of Lexus problem, it is how lead-acid batteries always worked, the only difference is that we living in kind of unprecedent times. I do agree that when it comes to Lexus hybrid, Lexus could have made it better, on some other cars hybrid battery automatically charges lead battery, so this is never an issue, or at least it take a lot longer for both batteries to die. Actually, this was one of the final reasons I decided to sell my RC200t, the battery never died on me, but there were times where I would have left car for over 3 weeks under cover. I live in large housing estate so trickle charging was not an option and I started worrying that one day I am going to come and car won't start - at which point I made conclusion that if I am worrying about such things then I don't need a car. Another option is to remove the battery and charge it at home, or install "kill switch" - battery would still discharge, but at much slower rate. Obviously this would mean no alarm, but I can't see thief carrying suitable batteries for the cars they want to steal. This is very common issue for classic car owners as well, or any car which is not being driven often - hence things like trickle chargers and "kill switches" exists. There are other less conventional solution - lithium/capacitor batteries, but they would be very expensive solutions and may even need to be custom made. Besides I believe it would be possible to design the device which would charge lead battery from hybrid battery and could be retrofitted as trickle charger - but again this would be experimental, custom designed for you. Fairly simple in principle - converting 244 V to ~12.8 V and with two sensors to monitor both batteries, for discharge/overcharge (and I am sure that they already exists in other hybrids which already uses hybrid battery to maintain lead battery), perhaps another one to disconnect the device once car is in ignition mode. This is official Lexus advise which is in line what was said before: https://www.lexus.co.uk/discover-lexus/lexus-news/lexus-hybrid-parked/ Edit: Almost forgotten - there are solar trickle chargers, which may be an option for you. It wasn't for me and UK overall is not the sunniest place, but if you keep your car outside apparently they are enough to keep the car charged, or at least significantly prolong the battery life.

That would be great, but sadly this is not what this scheme is about, at least according to this article. I am wondering whenever they take the cars from developed market like EU and then sell it refurbished in developing markets - say South Asia. Because otherwise I foresee some issue related with homologation and taxation of such cars.

It may impact you. This will cause similar effect as chip shortage during pandemic. Basically car ownership has cycles - first is brand new cars that are leased for ~3 years. After that car has depreciated like 50% making in affordable for next part of the society to own it at huge discount, sometimes they are bought outright, sometimes leased, then there is tertiary market after ~8 years, when cars depreciates like 80-90% and being sold by third part of society which would not be able to afford (or simply not willing to pay the money) cars in previous 2 cycles. Now if you remove the first cycle, and then the second cycle, the supply overall is going to become lower, which will significantly increase values of used cars, even the 10 year old ones. There may be delay, but the point is - for every year where there are less cars sold, the supply will be lower down the line and likewise the depreciation will be lower. Just look at what is happening in the market now, used car prices are increasing, which was never the case before. I bought 2008 120k miles IS250 in 2014 for £3950, the same cars still sells for similar price now in 2022 - the difference is that when I bought it, the car was 6 years old, now it would be 14 years old yet costing the same even after considering inflation (~£4522 in todays money). I guess the difference - pandemic impacted all makes across the globe, this Toyota plan only impact Toyota brand and it may not have such profound effect if other makes won't follow the suit. Is that really bad thing? I don't know... less depreciation means that people maybe going to keep cars for longer and care for them better. One thing is to regularly service the car when it is still worth £10k, and another is to do the same when it is worth £1200... at some point it just becomes not economically viable to maintain it. Keeping depreciation lower may reduce demand to upgrade as often, which in grand scheme of things maybe a good thing - less consumption = less pollution.

Kind of true if not for two things: used cars sales are unbelievably low margin, so any used cars yard and even Lexus used "approved" cars are being sold in substandard condition already, because no salesperson wants to put any money in it. Be that anecdotal evidence, but there were multiple treads on how substandard are "used approved" Lexus cars, including my own experience - so imagine how poor are third party dealership cars. they are proposing rebranding cars under different brand, that is quite a big leap from just "used approved", so they really want them to be viewed as remanufactured/refurbished to nearly new standard.

You sound a bit pessimistic here friend... The idea is sound in theory, refurbishing cars is way better than making new ones and way better for environment than crazy EV agenda which is currently being pushed. Anything that extends car lifecycle and reduces the number of new cars sold is generally good. This seems bright idea and opposite of planned obsolescence which in my view should be illegal. My RC was in exactly such situation - lease return after just over 2 years and it kind of needed "refurbishing", new driver seat would have been nice, mud flaps were kind of shot and as it turned out all brake disks and pads were worn out. Something that dealership was not willing to replace when selling used car, despite branding it as "used approved", but probably something "refurbishment" programme would replace. So potentially we can just look at this as more thorough approval process for used cars if not for rebranding of the cars. However, I see your point - I take particular issue with definition of "lifecycle". If they say they would "refurbish" 8-12 years old cars, then this would be amazing idea. Sort of at the end of the warranty period and give it another 5 years warranty. That said proposed "refurbishing" time after 3 years doesn't make sense and sounds a lot like what you said - taking perfectly good cars off the market to throw unnecessary parts at them and try to profit from the car again. What could be wrong with 3 years old Toyota that needed "refurbishing", that is basically nearly new cars with say 30-40k miles on it. That said cars usually looses majority of their value in 3 years if sold as used, but if sold as new/refurbished on different brand name, then they probably will command similar price as new lower end car. So sadly I have to agree with you - seems like Toyota wants to profit twice from the same car. In short I don't know your reasoning, but I agree with your conclusion.