larry chester

This is not a sports car. I don't really understand the concept of wanting to buy a hybrid so that you get good gas mileage, and then complaining about the acceleration and performance. If you want a performance car, then go find one. If you want a car with good gas mileage, then buy that one. Certainly, there are some specialty cars that provide high performance in an electric or hybrid vehicle, but they are not going to be purchased for roughly $30,000. I'm happy with my CT. It does what I want it to, and gets me around in the summer in reasonable comfort, while delivering an average 49 - 51 mpg. That's what I wanted. I just don't drag race with it, and if I have to hit the gas to accelerate to highway speeds quickly, my mileage suffers. But that's not what the car was designed for. Good look looking for the utopian vehicle. Hope you find it. larry

I have no problem getting up to cruising speed, or maintaining speed on the highway. The car is comfortable and quiet. You don't need to blast the radio to hear it. I use mine to commute a 55 mile round trip, so you're going farther than I do, but it's an enjoyable drive. I spend a lot of time looking at the "gas meter" and easing my foot off the gas. I find that I tend to drive at or 5 mph below the speed limit, which is not my normal practice. It's just a calmer driving experience. I'm doing it for gas mileage, not for speed from point to point. I'm very happy with it. larry

My "primary" car is a Porsche 911 Turbo. I love driving it, and it has been my daily driver for the past 3 years. But I had a Subaru wagon for the winter. It was a beater that cost me an arm and a leg to maintain, and didn't get any better gas mileage than the Porsche. Just got a new job, and my commute is 27 miles in each direction in rush hour traffic. Filling up a Porsche twice a week at prices approaching $5 a gallon was getting painful. I wanted to find a hybrid that would make the pain go away. For reference, I have owned an SC300, and two IS250's. Put over 200K on the SC, and 75K on each of the IS's. So, I like Lexus (owned Toyota's before that.) At the Chicago auto show, I gave the various Priuii a sit and look. Also looked at the CT200h, which is where I was leaning to begin with. I also looked at hybrids from Honda, Ford, etc. Got a very nice deal on a CT from McGrath downtown (2 blocks from my office) Fully loaded, it's a 2012 with 8K miles on it, and was a service loaner. Cost me $29,900. The car has all the main goodies, nav, backup camera, leather, sound etc. Plus, they gave me $2,500 for my POS subaru. It was a very positive buying experience, and I paid the same for this car that I was going to pay for a new 2012, stripped. And the nav with bluetooth is really nice. It integrates well with the phone and radio, so that when you get a call, the nav voice prompts and the radio both mute. So, after a month of driving it, how do I like it? It is my anti-Porsche. Inexpensive to maintain, easy on the gas, comfortable ride, slow from point to point, a bit utilitarian (with the hatchback) and it makes me a "tender" driver. It serves a different purpose for me. I am coaxing gas mileage from it. Averaging 45 mpg, (measured by dividing mileage by gallons - the meter on the dashboard is about 4 mpg optimistic.) In the Porsche, I am coaxing speed. But I like the gadgets, the comfort, the efficiency and the calm. I am very happy I made this purchase. But this isn't a car that you're going to zoom from place to place in. It corners well, is reasonably comfortable (not an LS or SC by far) and has a decent ride. I think that people need to understand the character of the cars that they buy. Buy something that suits the purpose that you want. Why do you want it, what are the short comings and benefits of each model? I was looking for a comfortable, high quality (fit/finish/reliability) hybrid. I wanted to spend less on gas going to and from work, with enough tech gadgets to keep me happy, in a high reliability car. I got it. When I want to go fast from place to place, I have a car for that as well. larry

Thanks, everyone for your comments. Yes, I bought this IS250 used. It had 11,000 miles on it, and ran flawlessly till about 3K miles ago, when I started getting the error codes and warning lights on the dash. So, I don't think that this was a problem with the original owner of the car. Yes, oh yes, I am a PIA customer. But for what I pay to the dealer every 5K miles, asking them to do a compression test when they are tearing down the top side of the engine for a warranty issue . . . . . shouldn't be a problem. Yes, the techs working on the car are at a Lexus dealer. This was $2,600 worth of work. Totally absorbed by Lexus. Lastly, Yes, the rattle occurs after the car is started. Doesn't make any noise when starting or while idling, happens when the engine is cold, warm, hot. It is when I engage the clutch, and begin accelerating that I hear the rattle. It doesn't matter how much gas I give it, but it rattles just the same. It is just easier to hear the rattle when I just give it a little gas. In the final analysis, I picked up the car yesterday evening. It certainly runs differently. There is much smoother engine response starting from a dead stop. No rattling, I think that it accelerates faster than before, but I suffer from the new tennis shoes syndrome. . Still love my car, and now, it seems that it will run better from here on out. larry

I have a 2006 IS250 MT6. It has 30,000 miles on it. Over the past 6 months, I have noticed a "rattling" when I start out from a stop. At first I thought that it was knocking in the engine, but wasn't sure. Over the past 5 - 7K miles, I have received a number of warning "check engine" lights, and the error codes showed carbon buildup in the cylinders, resulting in misfiring on two or more of the cylinders. My dealer told me that I wasn't driving the car hard enough, and this was causing the carbon buildup. They also suggested that I was buying cheap gasoline - but I only use Shell Premium - so that's not the problem. And, this is my second 2006 IS250 MT6, and in 50K miles on my first car, I never had any of these symptoms. After digging in the service bulletins, the dealer noted that there were two service bulletins that talk about: 1. replacing the camshaft gear system, because it causes rattling when the engine is cold. 2. replace the valve lashing assembly because it was causing the valves to not be "self adjusted" properly. With those problems, I was concerned about premature wear on my valves. The car has only 30K miles on it, and I expect to drive it till at least 200K. So, while they were doing this work on the car (over 16 hours of labor, and they had to pull the engine to perform those repairs.) I asked them to do a compression test on all of the cylinders, and report to me. The "new" compression measurement on the engine should be 200 PSI. The mechanic's measurement of my engine came back with each cylinder measuring between 190 and 195 PSI. Now, I am no mechanic, so that is why I am writing this. With a Lexus engine with only 30K miles, shouldn't the compression be more than 190?? If it lost 10 PSI in the first 30K miles, and loses 10 PSI on each 30K miles, when I hit 200K, the engine compression would be about 140 PSI. That is NOT a good number. So, am I worrying prematurely? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Is the compression number fine, and I should just be glad that they put in that service bulletin and move on? I appreciate any skilled answer. larry

Bart: I dunno, I think that some of this might be expectations, and some of it poor driving habits. For years I drove my Lexus SC300 with Bridgstone Turanza all season tires on it in all seasons (is that repetitious?) Never got stuck - NEVER, and never slid off the road either. I did rear end someone once, though, when I was dozing in slow traffic, and woke to see her bumper approaching me at 30 mph. Too fast to stop fast on icy pavement with anything but studs. My bad. But I learned to drive a car with a 3 on the tree, with regular tires in the snow. No positraction, no snow tires, just plain check it out, and ya' better know whatch yer doin. (oops, I'm dating myself) larry

Well, here's the skinny. My car is a 250 RWD MT6. For the winter, I mounted it with 16" wheels, and Michelin Ice and Snow tires on it. I put them on just after the first snow hit our fair city (Chicago), and have been driving on dry pavement ever since. Didn't get a chance to try out the traction (or lack thereof) till this past week. I'm telling you, what a GREAT COMBINATION. The car drives like it has AWD. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but the street down the side of our building, where the snow is piled up by drifts and by semi trailers, where Pickyupp trucks were getting stuck, and Semi-s were getting towed, my little IS250 in low gear, with the ETCS on, just idled forward at about 1200 - 1500 RPM, and just kept me moving forward till the end of the street. I never got stuck in three days it took Mayor Daley to dig us out of this mess, and even got into some pretty deep snow in parking lots and parallel parking along a curb. No problemo. BTW, In the summer, take the time to wax your wheels. I had the time to put two coats of wax on the wheels before I mounted them, and then did wash the car back in November or December, before it got really cold here. Boy, did the wax make it easier to clean what is normally a messy job. That's my story. larry

Thanks for the info. Sometimes it's just hard to find specific topics in the 350 page manual. I haven't been caught in a snowstorm lately, so I haven't taken the time to read the whole thing. ;) larry

And that is one thing that I REALLY miss on my IS250. memory seating. I had it on my SC300, and didn't realize how much of a pleasure it was. Swingaway wheel, and auto setting of seat and mirrors. Now I am electric but still manual. Boy how we get used to the simple pleasures of life. larry

You know, when I installed winter wheels and tires on my IS250, I didn't spring for the $500 for the TPMS, figuring I would tolerate the red logo in the center of the dash and the yellow one on the right side. Now it is time for an oil change - my first since I bought the car (used) - and there is a flashing display in the center that says "oil maintenance required now." Great. Since I don't plan on going to the Lexus dealer for a $40 - $50 oil change, do I have to tolerate this flashing display for the rest of my car loving life? :cries: We faced that with a Pontiac Phoenix, that had a cover slide over the odometer when it came time for service, and a Volvo that had a flashing light on the dash every 10K miles that cost $90 to be reset. Our new (1998) Volvo has a service light that comes on and would cost $90 to reset, but at least it goes off after 2 or 3 minutes. The light in my IS250 doesn't go off, it just keeps flashing. My hope is that the car is smart enough to know when someone has changed the oil, just like it is smart enough to know when someone has filled the tank up, and it automatically resets the Ave Tank Mileage. Anyone know for sure? larry

You're not. I like using the "oar" as well. My favorite kind of driving. Somehow, the paddles just don't make it for me. larry

You know, I don't care how good their paiint shop is, if they have to break into the primer down to bare metal to fix the paint, then it is more likely to rust there. There will be no electrostatic adhesion from the primer to the bare metal. I bought mine used, off a lease, and there is paint damage in a couple of places, but I saved $3 - 4K off the price of a new one. It was worth it to me. You're buying a new car. Years ago (too many to mention) I bought a Fiat 850 Spider (now you know how many years ago), that was damaged in transit. It was painted in this wondrous mustard yellow. The dealer told me they would fix it, and they did - sorta. The door they repainted didn't quite match, but I was young and I was anxious to get the car. But it always bugged me. I say to hell with the discount. Suck it up and have them get a new one for you. How the hell do they damage the hood on a car while shoveling around it, anyway? Maybe their front end loader dumped snow on the hood and bent it? Get a new one. Let them sell this one to some other sap. (just call me the grinch) larry

BTW, I just read through the specs that Lexus puts on their website, and the only reference to premium gas is in the footnote on Performance, in which they state, "Performance may suffer if premium gas isn't used." They don't say anything about premium gas needing to be used to keep the engine from being damaged. And, yes, this thread was started from an intellectual aspect. But it is interesting to note how many people have turned it into a cost issue. Not only that, but it still surprises me at how many posts I see about people who complain about the lack of speed in the IS250, or how they can hop up the car and make it faster. Fer cryin' out loud, this ain't a racing car. It's a luxury sport sedan. If you want to race something that you can beat to hell and have fun doing it, buy a Subaru WRX. It'll blow the doors offa just about anythin, and you can buy two of them for the price of an IS250. larry

Roq: There's no denying that you put a lot of miles on your car. I average about 20K per year, which puts me at 2/3 of what you drive, which is why I like a car like a Lexus. More miles per total dollar spent. But the piont of higher cost and higher grade gasoline isn't that it burns cleaner, but that it burns FASTER. That makes it better suited to the turbo engines, the high compression engines that can make use of a higher octane gasoline. Even Lexus puts their stats on the car with a footnote saying that these are if you are using Premium Gasoline, indicating that using a lower grade of gasoline will reduce performance in the car. I am not convinced that the car won't notice the difference between Premium and Regular over a long period of time, but between Mid-grade and Premium, I'm not so sure. As I had said. I put over 200K of mid-grade fill-ups on a Lexus SC300 that was supposed to burn Premium and I haven't notice the difference in how the car starts or runs, or in the gas mileage, except what you would expect from a 200K car. Regarding the economic differences, you haven't really read all of my posts in this thread if you think that I have missed the paltry economic differences of this. To be honest, if it made any difference, I wouldn't do it to save the money. And my a$$ can't tell if it notices a difference, it just knows that it loves sitting in the car while it's moving. ;) larry

Brain(?):Don't kid yourself. Here's the scenario. You come into the dealership, under warranty, with a car that traditionally has ZERO problems running hi-test fuel for the 70K miles of the warranty, and you're having trouble. So they take a look at the engine. Compression is around 75 psi, and the only way that would occur is from bad valves or bad rings. The valves are most suspect. So they tell you that they'll take a look, but the only way that this car goes through valves is if you don't use Premium gas. So they ask "have you used Premium Gas?" Now, whatcha gonna say, because they will know for a certainty when they open up that engine. And then they'll give you the bill for the $6 - $7K that they'll charge for a set of valves and rings to bring the engine up to spec. Or else, you'll just drive your poor car home, limping with your tail between your legs. And all because you wouldn't pony up the extra $3.50 per tank. But you'll put in some gas additive every few tankfuls in your car for roughly the same amount of money. Go figger. I sure can't. But like Bart said -- It's yer car, you can do what you want. larry

I've been using midgrade since I purchased my IS250. I wouldn't drop to regular, because there may be some pinging or knocking that you don't hear. Any of that nonsense could result in damage to your engine which is not worth the savings. But to mid-grade? Not sure that it's a bad option. I ran midgrade on my SC300, and it now has 210K on it. Hmmmm Hey, what's a couple of octane points here or there? On the other hand, look at the economics. Premium costs $.10 per gallon more than mid-grade. You put 20,000 miles on your car every year. You get roughly 22 miles per gallon. That means that you are using 909 gallons per year. Using a Mid-Grade will save you $90 per year. I'm all for saving a couple of bucks, but if it really made a difference in the way the car performed, I wouldn't do it. larry

I am also interested in finding out whether you have noticed any difference if you switched between Premium and Mid-Grade. I have used Premium and Mid-Grade, but since I don't push my car all out all the time, I don't know that it really matters. If I buy Premium, I feel that I am just spending $.10 per gallon for nothing. Comments?? larry

The one thing that I noticed with the clutch is more to do with the throttle. There is a delay in the release of the throttle, so that there is a bit of a rise in the engine speed even though you push in the clutch and take your foot off the throttle. The issue, from Lexus' point of view is that the throttle is electronic, not mechanical, so they have programmed it to release slowly, to make quick shifting easier, less of a match needed between throttle and clutch when you come on to the next gear. Interesting thought, but I would have preferred that they trusted my ability to modulate the clutch and throttle. larry

Eraser: The question is "quick" compared to what? I also own a classic Porsche 911, and get blown off the stoplights by WXR's. So what? That isn't what I bought my car for, neither the Porsche nor the IS250. I wanted a car that was luxurious, had pep, a stick, and would last without making me hate the service shop at the dealership the way BMW owners feel. I have had my car for about 6 weeks, and love every minute of it. I look forward to my drive to and from work. I play AutoCross on the highway, using the cars in my way as pylons. There is more to driving than straight line, spin the wheels when the light turns green performance. What I have found is that it seems that the sweet spot in the torque curve is over the 4grand mark. I think that it really gets humping when it hits 4500, and from there to the 6500, it really kicks. Now that's pretty narrow and pretty high in the range, but for a car with a short throw MT and a 6 speed, what else do you need? After all, you bought the car so you could row, didn't you? I'd be careful about the add-on chip, unless you like burning out engines. I am sure that the use of the chip would void your warranty. But if you don't care about that -- have at it, and let me know how it works. ;) larry

Rookie:To clarify what Bartkat said. You don't need to buy them. I have 4 aftermarket wheels installed on my car without the TPMS sensors. The car display has a message that continually reads "check system," there is a red warning symbol in the center of the dash, and there is a small tire symbol blinking in the right corner of the display. I don't find this annoying, especially when I compare it to the annoyance of paying $500 for the sensors and installation and configuration. larry

Those are pretty wheels. I have always liked a 5 spoke. Are those painted or machined? The 16" wheels I got are machined. They are a 7 spoke wheel. All of the others that were less than $100 each were painted, and I wanted a metal surface on the wheel. If the weather stays moderate in Chicago, I'll give the car a wash, and send some pictures your way on Sunday. larry

BTW, for those that were wondering what happens when you install a set of tires without TPMS, I did it, and here's the scoop. I bought a set of winter tires and wheels for my IS250. Spent $890 for machined 7 spoke 16" alloy wheels and a set of Michelin X-Ice tires. 225/50QR 16 - Front and 225/55QR 16 - Rear. Didn't spend the money for the TPMS. Another $500 was more than I wanted to spend. When I first started the car up to drive it around, I got no warning signals, and thought I had beaten the bug. Then after about 25 miles, there was a ding, and the red caution light came on in the center of the display, the yellow tire light came on in the lower right and the display read something like "you've got a problem - check it out." No continuous blinking lights, no continuous dingings. Can I live with the little red and yellow lights? You bet - in exchange for the $500 for the TPMS. And if I want to see what the rest of the display really reads, I just need to put my thumb on the Disp button on the right side of the wheel, and when I press it, it cycles through like normal. larry

Yes, I don't like them either - where can I get a set?? What did you use on your car to get that shine??? It looks phenominal larry

The manual does say something about the fact that there are two tire sensor "groupings" so that you can have two sets of tires, and that you need to make sure that the second set of sensors is registered. But that settles things for me. I bought a second set of wheels (16") with Michelin X-Ice tires, and decided to NOT have the sensors installed. Guess that this was a great idea after all. The joys of owning a Lexus. In the past, it was the only car that I knew that said that if you had a lamp go out in the turn signals, that you should return to the dealer to have a new lamp installed. Now they have finally wised up, and show you how to replace the bulbs yourself in the car. About time!!! larry

My only comment is that I am also a member of several Porsche clubs, and they use it extensively. The Lexus dealers in the area use it (or something similar) on the cars that they deliver new. I wish that the PO (prior owner) of my vehicle had used it. My front spoiler is, uhhh, spoiled. I don't know if it is the result of soft paint or not, but it certainly is partly due to the very vertical surface of the spoiler. Adds to the look, but also to the potential paint damage. Buy it. larry