LEXUS IS250 RECALLS!!!

[venividivici92]

Dear All,

Hope this message finds you well. I would be super grateful for some car purchasing advice. My Alpha Romeo 159 has just had a cambelt failure and is now beyond repair . I am looking to buy a replacement saloon car and although looks are important, the incident has taught me that reliability and safety are key (broke on motorway- could have been very dangerous) . I have a budget of around 6-7k. One care that keeps coming up as very reliable (and indeed one that I like the look of) is the Lexus IS250. For my budget I could probably get a 2007/2008 model with 80000 odd miles on the clock.
However, I have recently noticed these cars have multiple recalls. Some of the recalls are for serious things like fuel leaks which potentially increase the risk of fire as well as a trapped accelerator pedal potentially causing the car to accelerate uncontrollably- I have read of a fatal incident involving a family in California.

https://www.cars.com/research/lexus-is_250/recalls...

Given the above, would you say the IS250 is a safe purchase? It seems to be rated as very reliable by owners but the number and potentially dangerous recalls have worried me. Furthermore I am using the following website to check to see if there are any outstanding recalls:

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

If the above website lists no outstanding recalls, then need I still be worried?

Finally, if reliability and safety are my main concerns, would I be better off purchasing a German brand like Audi A4 etc? Although they are listed as less reliable, they do not have the same number or recalls as the IS250.

Thanks a million for your kind help!

Warm regards

[Baldchap]

I had one for several years. They are an excellent car to live with.

If the recalls have been done the car is as safe as one that hadn't had the issues to begin with. Toyota/Lexus are very proactive with them but certainly not unusual in having them.

Also, a FAR better car than an A4 in my opinion. Go for SE-L spec.

[ZX10R NIN]

They're fine you can check to see if your car has had the recall work carried out, if it hasn't check with Lexus & you should be able to get the recall work sorted.

[Ryan_T]

Just don’t ignore any future recalls like you ignored the cambelt change interval!

[ooid]

I purchased one from Lexus Approved last year, 2012 model. Brilliant cars imho, coming from all german previously (vw, porsche and merc)

You can check the registration on Lexus UK recall checker to see. I would buy from the dealer with two years warranty even though they are quite reliable.

[kurt535]

It's Lexus/Toyota. You think German will be more reliable? Only caveat was their 2.2d engine. That wasn't their finest hour.

[Truckosaurus]

The IS250 is probably the most reliable car you can buy.

The acceleration issues are an America only problem as they can't drive for toffee.

I had a couple of recalls on mine, one for some fuel pressure regulator and the other for a dodgy airbag (an issue which impacted several other marques) both were simple fixes and the airbag was done while I waited.