Car Q - IS220d SE - anyone had one ?
Discussion
My dad used to have one, and now has a petrol engined one. The only things he used to complain about with the diesel were:
- The economy, as you said, isn't great. IIRC he only got low 40s mpg, and that was on his almost entirely motorway commute. For reference, on the same commute, the petrol is averaging 33mpg even though it's an auto and the diesel was a manual. Used to have an Audi A4 1.9TDi that did >55mpg.
- The 6-speed manual in the diesel has very high gearing. 70mph in 6th is at ridiculously low revs, any acceleration (not that it should be needed
) means dropping to 5th. It only feels happy in 6th over 0.8leptons.
Those are the only faults he had. I've driven them, but not in anger so I couldn't tell you how they handle. They are brilliant on the motorways though, very quiet and comfortable.
Enough rambling, I hope that helps.
- The economy, as you said, isn't great. IIRC he only got low 40s mpg, and that was on his almost entirely motorway commute. For reference, on the same commute, the petrol is averaging 33mpg even though it's an auto and the diesel was a manual. Used to have an Audi A4 1.9TDi that did >55mpg.
- The 6-speed manual in the diesel has very high gearing. 70mph in 6th is at ridiculously low revs, any acceleration (not that it should be needed
) means dropping to 5th. It only feels happy in 6th over 0.8leptons.Those are the only faults he had. I've driven them, but not in anger so I couldn't tell you how they handle. They are brilliant on the motorways though, very quiet and comfortable.
Enough rambling, I hope that helps.
Edited by Dyl on Friday 16th July 09:26
I've got a 220d just not the SE.
I've had it for nearly 3 years now and I am more than pleased with it. The only gripe I had was after two weeks the dashboard had a rattle, this was sorted under warranty no problem.
Fuel economy isn't the best for a diesel I struggle to get above 42mpg on the motorway but then I'm not the most light footed.
Build quality (apart from the rattle) is excellent. I still get comments on how nice it looks and when people are in it they like the dash (except for the 1970's LCD clock).
It is a long geared car and 6th gear is useless until you hit 80. It is very quiet, people ask if it's a petrol a lot.
Sound system is brilliant and the uprated Mark Levinson system is truly awesome!
HTH
I've had it for nearly 3 years now and I am more than pleased with it. The only gripe I had was after two weeks the dashboard had a rattle, this was sorted under warranty no problem.
Fuel economy isn't the best for a diesel I struggle to get above 42mpg on the motorway but then I'm not the most light footed.
Build quality (apart from the rattle) is excellent. I still get comments on how nice it looks and when people are in it they like the dash (except for the 1970's LCD clock).
It is a long geared car and 6th gear is useless until you hit 80. It is very quiet, people ask if it's a petrol a lot.
Sound system is brilliant and the uprated Mark Levinson system is truly awesome!
HTH
I had a 220D SEL for just over 2 years.
I did just over 60,000 miles in that time, it was a great car, very comfortable, felt very well built - but as others have said, economy wasn't great - about 38 mpg on average, sometimes up to 42 over a tank, sometimes 36 - depends on the kind of driving you do.
I would say that its down side was its diesel engine - AFAIK Lexus developed it for THIS car instead of using another tested unit, and it's not the best. I had 5 (yes five) EGR valves in that time, one of them leaving me in "limp-home" mode (which in my car apparently meant "limp as far as the top of the slip road and then stop dead") and needed recovery to the dealer - unfortunately this was on my way home from said dealer who I had just asked to look at it, because it wasn't running right, but they were too busy. Only car (apart from the Cerbera) that I have ever had towed, in over 30 years...
The dealer was great - by this time it was after hours, but they sorted out a replacement car (they hired a Merc from Eurocar or something for me), and were full of apologies.
Put me right off the diesel though - kept it a few months, but they knew I was unimpressed, so I got a good deal on a trade up to a GS450 which is absolutely superb!
Had an IS250 petrol courtesy car last week while mine was in for service, and that IS a very good car.
I did just over 60,000 miles in that time, it was a great car, very comfortable, felt very well built - but as others have said, economy wasn't great - about 38 mpg on average, sometimes up to 42 over a tank, sometimes 36 - depends on the kind of driving you do.
I would say that its down side was its diesel engine - AFAIK Lexus developed it for THIS car instead of using another tested unit, and it's not the best. I had 5 (yes five) EGR valves in that time, one of them leaving me in "limp-home" mode (which in my car apparently meant "limp as far as the top of the slip road and then stop dead") and needed recovery to the dealer - unfortunately this was on my way home from said dealer who I had just asked to look at it, because it wasn't running right, but they were too busy. Only car (apart from the Cerbera) that I have ever had towed, in over 30 years...
The dealer was great - by this time it was after hours, but they sorted out a replacement car (they hired a Merc from Eurocar or something for me), and were full of apologies.
Put me right off the diesel though - kept it a few months, but they knew I was unimpressed, so I got a good deal on a trade up to a GS450 which is absolutely superb!
Had an IS250 petrol courtesy car last week while mine was in for service, and that IS a very good car.
Edited by tvrgit on Friday 16th July 12:01
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You are going to be my test bed on this tonker =-) I heard grumblings on the forums that they were not to the standard of the petrol models.... so very usefull hearing from someone who is a bit critical as so many owner reviews are written by mindless fanbois. Olivera said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You could have said that BEFORE I bought it today 
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I had one of those before the Lexus. Mine was great for 3 years, and in the last 2 months I owned it, it was terrible - EGR valves, intercooler, Boost Valve all had to be replaced in stages.Car was unreliable as new, however once over teething problems they are brilliant.
Good alternative to the common 3 series, look good, plus pretty quick as standard. Also diesel lump v.quiet.
Gearing is long as said before, but ideal for cruising. Can almost touch 90 in third which is unheard of for a diesel.
Stereo system in car is simply brilliant, nothing beats it, standard equipment level is good, se level very good.
With se wheels and in Mesa red the car is very good looking
Good alternative to the common 3 series, look good, plus pretty quick as standard. Also diesel lump v.quiet.
Gearing is long as said before, but ideal for cruising. Can almost touch 90 in third which is unheard of for a diesel.
Stereo system in car is simply brilliant, nothing beats it, standard equipment level is good, se level very good.
With se wheels and in Mesa red the car is very good looking
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Nope never found out - as far as I remember, the were just getting blocked with carbon - poor design I think.A friend (also a TVR owner) had exactly the same car, but was about 5,000 miles ahead of me in mileage - he could tell me when mine was going to go again.
Don't remember any other faults - other than that, it was a really good car. The dealer was good too - the best I've ever dealt with (and the only one, ever, that I've bought a second car from).
But after the Saab, and then that, plus colleagues at work having problems with EGR valves on various diesels (including a Jag X-type and an Alfa) I decided that I was going back to petrol.
It seems that, to keep emissions down to new standards (and at the time the Lexus engine was one of the few that did) the emissions control systems hadn't advanced far enough to be reliable. Their impact on fuel economy was pretty drastic too. Add to that, diesel used to be cheaper than petrol, but got to about 5p per litre dearer (it's pretty much the same now) and the advantages of diesel were pretty much lost.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I think that everything you say is fair - mine had the 5th injector recall etc, and it did run well afterwards.Never noticed a problem with brakes - but like you, I'm probably pretty easy on brakes.
38mpg was the average for daily driving / commuting etc - well over 40 on longer runs out of town.
I'm sure you'll like it - as you say, make sure it's had that recall work done.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Nono, your short list looked just like mine a couple of months ago (IS220, 159 2.4, C220, 9-3,...). Eventually I knew I needed an estate, and the Lexus fell off the short list.
I'm very pleased with my choice, but I'd deffo have another look at the Lexus if they had an estate.
Ruskie said:
Always found lexus dealers to be fantastic, never had any issues with warranty work been done.
A neighbour of mine switched to Lexus (GS300) after years of Mercs and says he wished he'd changed earlier because of the dealer service.Lexus has become a pretty marginal brand though, and a fair number of their dealerships have closed over the last couple of years.
Lexus is a brilliant company, parents having an is220d, fil on his 2nd sc430 and other relation with a is250. All love their cars to bits, superb ride and extremely luxurious.
My friend runs a group of car dealers, 3 of which are lexus. He has countless stories of BMW, merc, Audi and even bentley owners trading in their super saloons for a ls or gs. Plus the dealerships are great, very luxurious with fantasic and very personal service.
Plus if you want a party get in an sc430 and crank the music up, the mark levinson system blows all of the typical Bose and harmon into the weeds.
My friend runs a group of car dealers, 3 of which are lexus. He has countless stories of BMW, merc, Audi and even bentley owners trading in their super saloons for a ls or gs. Plus the dealerships are great, very luxurious with fantasic and very personal service.
Plus if you want a party get in an sc430 and crank the music up, the mark levinson system blows all of the typical Bose and harmon into the weeds.
My folks have one of these and it's a cracker of a car. I thought they might have had the rose tinted specs on having come from a complete dog of a Golf GT TDI and a nightmare with VW warranty, but having lived with the Lexus for a while now it's given them no trouble and the dealer has been great. They only have the boggo model (cloth seats, manual adjust) but with the Mark Levinson system. The toys are fun enough - reverse camera, parking guidance, servo-driven dials that change colour at a preset speed...
The only major annoyance is the lack of a decent through-load/folding seats - my dad managed to break one of the rear electric window switches trying to squeeze some furniture onto the back seats. The dealer replaced it for free!
The economy is not that great either - mid 40s if you really nurse it - it does seem like quite a heavy car for the size. It is built like the proverbial tank though, and very quiet inside. Bit of a compromise, I guess.
The only major annoyance is the lack of a decent through-load/folding seats - my dad managed to break one of the rear electric window switches trying to squeeze some furniture onto the back seats. The dealer replaced it for free!
The economy is not that great either - mid 40s if you really nurse it - it does seem like quite a heavy car for the size. It is built like the proverbial tank though, and very quiet inside. Bit of a compromise, I guess.
Good choice Tonker. I get 44mpg on the motorways and 450 per tank. It's a great car to drive and pretty comfortable. The sound system is the best I've experienced. Road noise kicks in on the motorways but isn't too bad.
Lexus support was amazing.
On the down side, tight at back and the boot has a funny shape. The start up sequence is from Star Wars (if you didn't notice it when you fired it up, wait on!), however the clock system is more like something from a Japanese version of Steptoe and Son!
Lexus support was amazing.
On the down side, tight at back and the boot has a funny shape. The start up sequence is from Star Wars (if you didn't notice it when you fired it up, wait on!), however the clock system is more like something from a Japanese version of Steptoe and Son!
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