Linas.P

They are just trying to flip you off. When I bought my RC it had burn mark/or scratch on A-pillar cover and I insisted they replace it (says in owner manual, if damaged replace, because it houses curtain airbag). They could not get the part within a week before they delivered the car, it took good 2 months until they shipped it to me and it was clearly used part (the clips plastic had white marks, meaning it was bent), it was in good condition so I didn't bother to saying anything, but I thought it was weird. This was 2019. Later in 2021, I had my seat motor failing and they fixed it under warranty, what I found weird was that instead of just replacing whole seat, they ordered all internal separately and then completely reassembled it for £4200. Again I thought for that price they could have ordered whole new seat, but apparently Lexus does not make spare seats, only the internal parts. I don't know if this is penny pinching on dealers part, or the parts are really that hard to get, but it felt like spares for RC were just not available. That said it is normal for any car manufacturer to make extra spare parts for all the cars they make and just run the line for few years after the model end to stock-up on spares. I just can believe Lexus finished making RCs and that is it, no spare parts being made and none in reserve.

There are few threads already - apparently "fuel breather valve", IS, RC, GS affected.

There was no recall far dash rattle, but US being huge market for Lexus many owners had complained and got their dash fixed under warranty, it was more like good gesture thing, but mostly whilst cars were new and only for people who complained. Similar story with sticky dash, it was not a recall, but it was TSIB - again basically the owners should have complained about it and Lexus had technical bulletin which allowed dealers to cover the cost and replace sticky dash. I would say mk2 dash rattles are overblown thing, they really not that bad and generally similar to other cars in the same segment. I guess them being well insulated and generally comfortable and quiet does not help... as then even small noise becomes more noticeable, but overall they are no more prone to dash rattle than Audi, MB or BMW... One of my IS250s had like a crack noise in the dash, it would be consistently after driving for 20-30 minutes with either cooling or heating on I would hear crack somewhere deep in the dash, but that would be about it. I thought I had rattle few times, but it was always something loose in the door pockets, or glovebox. I hope that covers dash rattles and how Lexus dealt with them. As for the sound you have... I had very similar one few times - once when my oil filter cover was lose, started dragging on the road and made quite a bit of noise and second when small lip in front of front wheel got detached and started rubbing against the wheel.

No - loose exhaust would be more metallic sound and it makes real racket, this is most like plastic buffeting in the wind.

I suspect underside panels rattling loose. The can catch wind and just oscillate. Or maybe wheel catching on loose inner arch lining.

It is pretty much like bicycle in the shape of car, very basic to the point where I would say it defeats the purpose of having a car. Didn't have much experience with latest models myself, but haven't heard any positives. It isn't even Toyota, it is made by PSA, but does have quite horrible and underpower 1L engine. Not my decision, but I would choose something that small then perhaps older Toyota Yaris is better choice. At least that is "Toyota". I understand that there may be other questions like insurance etc. so I can't really advise on that... the easiest solution is for kids to get their own cars (my parents did that to me and I can't thank them enough). Yeah - I would not accept Aygo. That said I had fair share of CT and UX recently... seems like times of IS or better are gone. Although I had loaded NX when RC went for warranty work. Probably depends on what one is driving, but certainly not Toyota from Lexus dealer.

This shouldn't be oil related, clear codes and see if they appear again.

SEL, F-Sport and SEi had windscreen heater, but only the bottom where wipers park. Key point for defrosting is humidity - I personally never had any issues because I was running AC all year long (and everyone should!). Yes sure it stops working at 0C, but at all other times it keeps car as dry as possible, which always helps with defrosting. But even then I generally do not have frost inside of the car - only outside, if you have frosting inside then again that would be issue with car just being damp. As for the rest it is all normal. Turn the engine on - set the hottest possible setting to windscreen and leave it for 5 minutes, if it is too hot inside I ten to leave front passenger and opposite rear passenger windows open just tiniest bit, so that pulls the heat out of the cabin and dries it further, but keeps hot air on the windscreen where it matter the most.

Manual cars are generally very cheap so it is in ballpark, £1500 is still very good find! Automatic are always almost double. @H3XME - didn't take you long to get another one ?

I doubt it is anything to do with driving style, instead it is everything to do with what IS220d is - it most likely completely clogged and on it's last legs. It could literally be dozens of issues - leaky 5th injector, clogged EGR, Turbo, DPF... clogged injectors... any combinations of any of that etc. The only conclusion - people... please don't buy IS220d! Admittedly many of the issues with IS220d are common for other diesels, but IS220d just overall has more issues and they are more common. So not only it is bad because it is diesel, but it is badly designed one even compared to other diesels.

I had rather bad experience with their sales and the way they prepared car for sale, but as far as service goes it was ok. That said I only used them twice for service (as that was included with the sale of the car), but again in those two occasions it was the service about as I would expect, nothing amazingly good, but nothing bad either. I would personally ask my car not to be washed, because they clearly don't know what they are doing (despite having their own car wash), but that is a feature of any Lexus dealership, so nothing particularly bad. Funny enough they as well asked me how far I am planning to drive in courtesy car and I had some business in Milton Keynes... and they were like... ok we will figure something out as UX300e won't get you there! So it seems UX300e is their main courtesy car, which I guess makes sense!

All IS250's from 2005 has aux-in the centre console storage. The ones with upgraded multimedia from 2009 had USB connection as well in the same place which could be used for data connection, I don't know exactly which devices are compatible, but they worked fine with USB sticks or Android phones which can connect as data storage. I believe there was a list of compatibility for iPhone and iPads, but they are more specific so getting them working is hit and miss. The Bluetooth is more tricky - most models with sat-nav had Bluetooth, but it was for calls only (you can't play music over it). I tend to believe very last models in 2011-2012 were able to play music as well, but don't quote me on that. So most cars have Bluetooth, but most can't play music over it. In either case multimedia system in IS250 is horribly outdated so I would not limit myself to models with updated set-up, it is bad either way. The android units which replaces entire thing and has Bluetooth, wi-fi, USB etc. are available for ~£150-500 and they are way better solution all around.

I am sure classic cars over certain age will be exempt... That said even if they allow private import of used cars it most likely going to make no economical sense - basically one will have to pay full import duties, so maybe viable for importing 20 years old cars, but I think my comment was more aimed at just buying brand new ICEV in another country (say Australia or Japan) and then import it into UK. Currently that would be 30% charge on top of purchasing price.

Yes, but they pretty much running into the same issue either way... and as it seems they already looking to address it in 2025. That is - they can kill off ICEVs anytime they want, but that kills off revenues which are not insignificant (~£40bn), so they have to tax BEVs as soon of actual number of ICEVs fall.

If I am not mistaken then modifications are not ban either, so in hypothetical case you one can by EV and fit petrol engine in it. Sounds far fetched, but I have seen LPG Tesla - that is legit, there are LPG generators which works like range extenders.

That is actually valid strategy - mine was on sort of "private plate" and I was amazed how many people had no clue how old it was, even those who work on the cars and should know. mk2 styling was understated yet modern, it definitely aged very well. Sadly in UK you can't put plate which shows newer year, but probably exactly for this reason - if I would have say 2016 plate on it I have no doubt 80% of people would think it is legit.

Kind of doubt on this point, but agree with the rest. I think once ban get's into plate you won't be able to register ICEV - so regardless of where you get it you won't be able to register. So "sale ban" is little bit misleading. The only way around it is to get your petrol car in 2029 and drive it as long as you can.

I did those bits myself and it was quite a bit less - something like £42 for drop-links and £114 for ball-joints. So ~£350 altogether and 2h to fix. People who scrap £2000-£4000 Lexus IS do not buy brand new Corolla, they generally buy another £2000-4000 used car and drive it until wheels comes off. On one hand quite sad when nice cars gets into their hands, on other hand they part of "ecosystem", they sort of pre-scrap the car before it is properly scrapped.

That is fair enough and I think there are some similarities, you right - Japan was seen as "copycat" back in 60s and 70s, same as we see China now. I think there was one smaller step before China - that is Korea in 80s and 90s... and since ~2010 we have China. However, my point was more along the lines that having Korea and Japan copying some of western designs or technologies was only damaging to European/American car makers, yet it was beneficial for us consumers, China is different beast altogether - it getting on top of the game may risk our life or at very least freedoms. Almost worst than anything compared to Japan and Korea was that most of western bands, not only failed to protect their IP, they willingly gave it away and continue to give it away to access Chinese market. As per Chinese laws to make or sells anything in China the company must be Chinese controlled ands that means all western brands (particularly German) lost control of their IP quicker than their could blink. I am not big fan of government intervention, but I think this is where governments should draw the line (i.e. block IP sharing). I think dealing with ruzzia is enough at this moment. Sorry for making it political, it just feels to me the stakes here are way higher than it was with Japan and Korea. For same reason I will never own Volvo/Polestar and MG... especially when autonomy becomes more widespread. The last thing I want is for Chinese to spy on me when I drive... it is enough that they already have my fingerprints 😄

The difference is that Japan is democracy and the other country mentioned is dystopian totalitarian regime. I have not hear of Japan trying to rig elections in the west or mass survey neither it's own citizens (at home and abroad), nor foreigners. We are talking about the country here which killed 120 million of it's own people in peace time to get to where it is now. In short - I don't think they are comparable... and I think we making big mistake trading with them at all, their ideology is very dangerous. I was lucky to visit China in 2016 before it turned for worse - even then my fingerprints were scanned upon entry and they had police checkpoints every 200m and xrayed everything on every entrance to metro. As far as I know it is getting increasingly worse with each passing year.

Yes I think it would be better idea - identify where it leaks and just try to patch that area in particular, rather than resealing whole unit. I tried to open mine once and the sealant was more like plastic (as I said epoxy) and less like rubber, so I am not sure even oven would help.

It was quite obvious where it will end, just can't see how anyone can act surprised about it. There was short period of time where rich could enjoy novel ideas and pretend they are so "clean and environmentally friendly" by being subsidised from tax payer money. Realistically ordinary person was never in position to by brand new £60k electric car and benefit from subsidies, it was just upper classes. But it was always clear this will be short period of time when it was beneficial to own electric car... it turned out to be ~ 6-8 period. No surprises it will end at some point! As far as I am concerned the sooners is the better -BEVs needs to find the ways to "stand on their own two legs" without subsidies and without coercion. I am sick and tired of having to pay tax so that it could be spent on making them more viable. The only thing I am wondering about - how that will work with 2030 band on ICEVs... as clearly without being subsidised BEVs just doesn't make any sense for like ~80% of society. I am guessing transition will not be very smooth! But again - who is surprised about that?!

Car last as long as they are cared for. IS250 isn't the most inherently reliable car (like LS400 for example), but it can still easily last 300k miles and 30 years just with regular service and replacement of wear and tear components. So I am pretty confident 16 years and ~100k miles wasn't what killed your car. My previous IS250 got close to 200k and it was in excellent mechanical condition... why? Because I have maintained it very well... it was still mostly original, suspension almost all original, lower ball joins and drop links were replaced because boot rubber perished, but there were never any knocks from suspension, shocks were still original. There was no rust either, apart of exhaust which is just inevitable. Electrical part was perfect. The engine burned a little bit of oil, but not enough to bother as long as 6k miles services where performed. So I am quite confident it could have lasted another 12 years (it was 2008 in 2020) and another 200k miles. The story of the car ends with me giving it away to family member who parked it for 2 years during the covid, then after the covid car developed all sorts of issues, gearbox solenoids started acting-up, A/C pump got stuck, generator got finicky... and the end was that it was stolen when he left for holidays. I suspect the scrappers were driving past, noticed the car which looked abandoned (it was parked for ~3 months at the time) and they just quietly picked it up and scrapped it. Obviously never to be found again, police as always didn't even bother looking. What can kill any car, can kill IS250 and that is neglect! Second part is economics - they car may last 30-40 years with relatively small maintenance, but add little bit of neglect, missed service or two and suddenly instead of being relatively low £300 bill every year it turns into £2000 bill after 4 years, part of what suppose to be done and wasn't and part of the damage it caused. There is simply certain point for any car where it's value is at the bottom after ~15-20 years and combined with neglect it is very easy to end-up in situation where car is worth £2000 and fixing it costs £2000. It is not like it can't be fixed and driven for another 10 years, but it is simply uneconomical to do it... and the car get's scrapped for whatever £1000 or so.

There is no way to separate front "glass" from the unit without destroying it, it is just glued in place by what seems like epoxy. So I guess you could separate it by cutting around with Dremel, but it is not coming back together.

Bumper will be even bigger pig to put back 🙂