IS 250 SE-L

Tarted-up Toyota with dodgy build quality

The exterior styling is beautiful. In my opinion, the second-generation IS is one of the most elegant saloons made in the last 30 years. My purchasing decision was informed by this together with Honest John's assessment that it represented one of the most reliable used cars that one could buy.

In 2020 I bought a 15-year-old car with a full service history (mostly Lexus) and 132k mileage. I sold the car in 2024.

Inside, the seats are nice. Ventilated leather with heating and cooling functionality, and there's plenty of legroom in the front. The dashboard is mostly tasteful, and I liked the combination of white backlit dials and green backlit switchgear. I loved the rosewood centre console. There was a lack of thought with the LCD screens though - each screen had a different shade of off-white lettering on a different shade of blue background. A small complaint, but surprising given the level of aesthetic coordination elsewhere.

The problems started to emerge when driving on poor road surfaces. This thing rattled worse than any car I've had other than a Peugeot 405. It rattled more than many vans I've driven. Indeed, I often drive a 2018 VW Caddy that has 362k mileage, and this has fewer rattles (and drives better).

The Lexus IS doors rattle. The dashboard rattles and creaks. Something in the boot area rattles - I never found the cause of this.

The V6 engine's quite nice - smooth and adequately powerful. The automatic gearbox is ok - but I didn't like how it would change down to 1st gear prematurely when trickling in slow-moving traffic.

Ride quality isn't the best - about on par with a VW Caddy and worse than a Mercedes Citan (i.e. Renault Kangoo). I suspect part of the problem is due to the OE 17" low-profile front tyres. On broken road surfaces, it felt as if this car was trying to shake itself to pieces.

Which it then did. Well, one of the exhausts fell off. The rear silencers are suspended at the back but not at their connections - hence when these rot, the back box(es) will then fall head first and gouge the tarmac. I had the exhaust system welded 3 times in 16k miles. A new exhaust system from Lexus/Toyota is over £2k plus fitting.

At 19 years old, the plastics were disintegrating outside and in. The soft-touch dashboard plastic had started to melt.

The worst thing about the car is its appalling maintenance access. Change sparkplugs and/or coils? The intake manifolds have to come off. Change a lambda sensor? The exhaust manifolds will probably have to come off. Change a headlight bulb? You'll need tiny hands - and don't drop the screws.

Overall, this is one of the less satisfying vehicles I've owned. Although only the exhaust system ever caused an actual breakdown, and the car never went into limp mode, the EML would make frequent appearances thanks to worn-out sensors, and it had annoying warning lights. Its red triangle of doom is bright and it's right in the driver's face. This would be triggered by the slightest thing, e.g. low screenwash - and you couldn't get rid of it without either addressing the issue or doing a battery reset.

Lexus dealer servicing is very expensive, and independents often don't know the cars. Visits to 'the Lexus lounge' did give access to good quality coffee and biccies, the chairs were comfortable, and the inevitable bad news on the bill was given in a sombre and empathetic way.

My conclusion - style over substance. Over-complicated and under-engineered. Less durable than I had expected. I wouldn't have another.

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