Linas.P

No. The problem is that he had premium sat-nav, so basically same unit, but older version of it which did not have apple carplay, 6 month later the exactly same unit with maybe 1 number different on it had apple carplay, but all the connections, amplifier, speakers etc. were same and compatible. So you can take unit from premium 2020 car and fit it into 2019 car with premium unit and get apple carplay without any other modifications. Your case is different - you have standard unit which has different connection and functionality from premium unit and as above - it would cost thousands upon thousands and would require removing whole interior to really and properly retrofit premium unit in place of standard one. As well, as I have already mentioned - Android unit is better than both standard and premium, so there is that solution. But obviously it won't help you at all with speakers, which at least in my opinion is way bigger issue than that just navigation features.

That is fair enough, but the problem I see here is that Carplay can be easily retrofitted (like £300 GROM or even new Lexus head-unit which would be plug&play), Premium sat-nav and audio can't be easily retrofitted. But good shout on transferable warranty, so in case of change you would not lose it.

Which one? 😄 I don't think there is fuse just specifically for steering controls and if it would be MPX then most of the stuff won't work. Like including sat-nav, stereo and even immobiliser.

It would throw solenoid errors well before it would start making noises. If it is "clacking" the way I imagine the sound, then it would be something mechanical... and mechanical can't be solved by flush. Imagine if you could just flush spun bearing with some new oil 😄 Again without being able to hear the sound it is anyone's guess really.

Yes I have heard the service prices came up recently, but £1200 still doesn't make sense. Perhaps it would warrant the call to find out what it costs exactly. When I had service plan for RC200t, I believe individually the intermediary service was something along the lines of £285 and majors where ~£545-685 depending on which one, RC300h was between £20-50 cheaper for each service, so say £265+645 was the most expensive you could get. But if you get it booked and paid right away, then Lexus was quite keen to offer ~20% off. And usually it would be the case that I would come to do intermediary (this is actually when I had IS250, but still the same applies) and after it they would say - "maybe instead of paying £285, you would consider making it as service plan and we can see what best price we can offer"... and that offer used to be in a range of £650. So it kind of makes sense, because say £285 +545 -20% in case of RC200t was ~£664 and for RC300h, that was probably £265+495 ~608, or in worse case scenario for 60k miles I believe it would have been £265+645 or ~712 if you take it as a service plan... and then as I said it approximately averages out ~£650-660. I heard few people as well getting on 3 year plans for ~£1000. Sadly now Lexus site is completely messed-up and it isn't clear what service costs what...

I kind of doubt it... premium fuel is proven to slow down accumulation of all sorts of varnish and dirt in the engine, but they are not proven to clean anything at all. So if one only runs premium fuel - after 100k miles the engine will be cleaner compared to running standard, but if you have engine which was running on standard then premium won't clean it much if at all. If anything in my experience (and I have documented each tank) I was getting worse MPG on premium than on standard all the time. So I think the MPG difference between normal premium vs. normal standard is nothing more but placebo. That said using premium now will have better fuel efficiency, because it is simply more power dense than ethanol. Finally... I don't mind ethanol as long as it is priced accordingly and for E10 that should be like 5% cheaper than regular fuel, but NO - it costs the same if not more. What a ridiculous time - now we paying same price for fuel which has 3-5% less of THE FUEL in it, or we have to pay ~10-20p more per litre to get premium fuel. This was scam of the century for the government and oil giants, using some ecomentalist nonsense environment scam they win either way, we lose either way. They selling us worse fuel and less of it for the same price, or they taking extra to sell us the proper stuff...

It was £1995, and another £1000 for ML, but one could not have ML without having premium sat-nav first, so ML always worked out as £3000 option. The third point is irrelevant - they already agreed they missold, so it is past it. Besides I doubt such T&C would even be legal, as it is statutory duty for seller (if they are dealer, not private individual) to describe the vehicle accurately. So this is no different as usual BS statements on eBay "no returns, buyers responsibility to inspect" - no buyer has no such statutory responsibility, it is always sellers responsibility no matter what. But I agree with second point, it is either return (which is what I would go for), or most likely the service package. I doubt Lexus does cash refunds, and they most likely would take car back and just resell it for same price rather than discounting it more than £500. This being RC300h sadly they would need to give like 6-Years free service for it to be worth it. After all the monetary value is at least £2000 and average 2-years service plan on RC300h costs ~£650 (if you negotiate and pay upfront). Again - I doubt they would give 6-years service plan, nor it would be very practical as OP would be stuck with the car for 6 years... and finally I would not agree for anything less. Because if they go - "ok we give you 2-years plan", then they basically saying "we give you £650, for misselling the £2000 option".

It would be good to hear the sound you have mentioned. But I would go with this theory as well. This is not known to be an issue, but most issue with Lexus IS250 are not known, because generally these cars don't have issues. If there is an issue, then it is usually related with some bad mechanic doing bad job on it. So in this case - maybe somebody removed prop-shaft for whatever reason and fitted it back improperly, or damaged it when removing/putting back on and overtime causing the prop-shaft bushings to wear out.

This being UK forum, the IS350 was never sold here (apparently we didn't deserve it according to Lexus) , so that would explain why no IS350 section, but it is still mk2 so you in the right place. Now I would assume your issue is steering wheel clock spring, which would connect all the buttons on the steering wheels - so that would be the reason for "Lights, Vol. Controls, station change, mode, and dist." not working. If you have faulty clock spring, then you should have "VSC-OFF" light, which would as well disable "Trac Control, sport/ecn/snow mode". However, I am not sure why "tire sensor and speed/tach indicator buttons all quit". First of all, mk2 saloons were not fitted with tyre sensors, so I assume this is modification and I am not clear what you mean by speed/tach indicator button? Considering car is highly modified it will be difficult to pin-point the issue, do you know what electrical modifications were done? Perhaps something shorting out your electrical system?

That explains it... I guess!

Washer hose not suppose to be in wheel arch, so I probably would start from re-routing it back to where it was... I wonder on what else your tyre was rubbing on 😄

I think my best tank ever was like 44MPG, so 600 miles are possible in IS250, but with average being closer to 30 to maybe 38 on the run this means ~450 miles is more usual. Not horrible, but not amazing either.

Not possible, the wiring harness is different, so unless they planning to do complete disassembly of car and replace wiring harness and all the speakers and amp I can't see how this could be done. Navigation wouldn't be my worry to be honest - it is crap either way, premium or not. The biggest issues is that you got terrible 6-Speaker stereo which is completely unacceptable in any car vs. very decent 10-Speaker system which comes standard with "Premium Nav". I honestly would return the car as this is quite major difference in key area (considering how little options there were - I mean literally Premium Satnav>Sunroof>ML and protection pack). And premium satnav is absolute MUST because of the audio system attached to it. However, if you really want to keep the car, then your option is to get "plug&play" android unit, they used to be ~£700-1000 range, but now they come down to like £300-400. Not only they are far better than any Lexus system, but they as well have android auto and carplay, and obviously google maps and all apps, so it is no-brainer really. But fitting android unit obviously will not solve the crappy audio issue. If I were you I would quote dealer the older price +£500 for fitting. And this would still be very kind of you as this sort of misseling is totally unacceptable - wear and tear maybe harder to justify, but saying it has premium system in place of standard is just horrible service. Although I would probably insist on another £1000 for surround amp and decent quality components (speakers). Here is just example, but you can definitely find them cheaper: https://www.dvdgpsnav.com/blog/10-25-lexus-rc-android-head-unit-hd-touch-screen-upgrade-factory-screen-replacement/

Carista will do only generic OBD2 on mk2, basically same as any £3 OBD reader. As above - do let us know where you got stuck. I spent good 8 hours figuring it out, but I have it running on W10.

Not at all... same as I got spoiled by IS250 and now I can't accept IS200/300h as one is too thirsty and rough, the other too slow and both sounds lame. Same for your - you got used to 660 miles tank, so it is hard to accept 330 miles tank. You got spoiled by the era of diesel range, whereas I never owned diesel so I don't know what it was like 😄

really?

I reckon the struct itself. It should have rubber gasket and it either dried out or leaked out. Your one being facelift has power boot right? That said it is hidden behind plastic cover, so I am afraid you may need to take it off to confirm what makes the creaking sound.

That is interesting theory... I never thought about that, but considering how crazy is the world nowadays I would not be surprised. Imagine how sneaky that would be!

What you talking about, with each post you make less and less sense? Where you finding IS250 for £2000. Maybe manuals, maybe IS220d, maybe ones with 180k miles. You can't get even 2008 IS250 for under £4000, nevermind 2010. Cheapest 2010 SE-L is ridiculous £9000! It is definitely not worth that, but one would sell for £6000 like hot cake!

Yeah 225/50/18 would be too big for the front. I had 225/50/17. They would be alright for the back thought. All in all with winter tyres you should aim to have as narrow tyres as possible - wide tyres are only good for dry grip. So I would look at square set-up, perhaps 225.

Wow. Imagine swapping engine for that! 😄

Well I guess I have benefited by not owning Accord, so that is where you went wrong! That said diesels on the run are always very efficient, so no surprises there. And let's not forget many people did not go back to the office and will never go back, despite government trying to feed it by force. It is so funny when they say they care about the environment, but at the same people demand people back to office... despite it being FACT that working from home is the best way to reduce pollution from traveling, it is even more green than cycling or even walking... yet they still demand people to "go out and pollute". Why? Because unsustainable economic grow and GDP inflation is more important than environment, and working from how pretty much destroyed hospitality and other services in the cities, which generates quite a bit in economic output.

That is wisdom speak. I can probably accept the car with two matching premium tyre on the front and another two matching premium tyres on the rear, but nothing below that. Tyres are CHEAP and they are the only thing keeping car on the road. No only that - premium tyres works out cheaper, because they last longer, so it is double no-brainer. Not only it is most crucial for safe driving, but as well cheaper to have good tyres. No 350 is real shame, IS, RC, GS... it would be genuine premium performance option without going into extremely expensive and unpractical F. I would still go for RWD, because Lexus does not do good AWD (I have owned IS250 AWD and it had wooden steering and lazy shifts +20% fuel consumption), but 350 would be so cool in UK.

LSD is certainly preferable, although not much help if you start aquaplaning, but even AWD is not much help in such case. I personally never had issues with RWD cars in any weather, the worst you can get in UK is just a little bit wet. Nothing compared to the place I learned to drive with 20cm snow over the ice and -30C in winter... Although I haven't driven may car with more than 300hp for long time. The key is experience driving on slippery road and good tyres, that is why I can't understand people on chinesium dichfinders asking for trouble on the roads - they are danger to everyone, not just themselves. Cheap tyres should be illegal 😄

I think the base started from £52k for 2012, the facelift started at £58k if memory serves. So by the time you get F-Sport or Premier, add ML, few more options it was not far from £70k, maybe £65k. Still it was a lot. One can certainly get BMW M5 for same money (be it very basic M5). Lexus really banked on it being "hybrid" and it was kind of unique in that aspect for some time, but it did not matter, because whole point of hybrid was lower BIK... yet in UK the way pollution and taxes were calculated gave no benefit to GS450h whatsoever. So it was basically dead on arrival and then BMW came out with 530e and MB with E350e few years later, which both were plug-ins and much lower BIK/tax... which was final nail in the coffin for GS.