Lexus Rattle Free Yet

[alpappy]

HI

I am moving to Sydney form London later this year Last year we bought 4 IS250's 3 of the four went back upteen times for rattles. Having said that the cars are good value for money and lovely to drive Are you having the same problems with build quality inAus or is it safe to order one now for September delivery

Thanks

alan

[ldc]

Very unfortunate that you have so many rattles issue but as you said, it's top value for money.

The rattles i feel are self fixable and i recommend you do it yourself ragther than taken it back to the dealers. I heard they not only cannot solve but will add to the problem.

I don't think the IS250 differs from country to country in the built sense.

[Art_76]

I think most of them have some rattle or other, mine has some intermittent rattles every now and then. When you see the state of Sydney's road though you will wonder how you don't en up with more rattles.

[ldc]

Mine is also intermittent. It's hard to pin point what and where it's coming from because it so random.

[Jamil]

I was considering getting a Lexus IS250 Sports + Enhancement Pack sometime in June but with all these posts about horrible rattles being experienced by current owners, its disheartening to say the least.

What happened to Lexus's reputation? You would expect to pay that much money for a hassle free car. Might consider the new Mercedes C Class or a well specced BMW 320D now, even though the IS250 looks so much better :(

[ldc]

I doubt you can get any 320i or C class with the same the same level of inclusion or power, dollar or dollar.

This is something you have to weigh up, you can be sitting in a corolla-like interior or a 320 or a first class lexus car. Performance wise, i will say the bmw is also corolla like.

I bought the prestige model Is250, so it was well worth the money imo.

[Jamil]

320d is actually a far better car then the 320i which is gutless, hence the reason why I was looking at the diesel 3 series, not the base model bimmer. Petrol prices aren't going down and the diesel has grunt. The 325i isn't value for money and the can't stand the harsh ride. The new Mercedes C-Class has been getting good reviews in car mags and online auto sites, but only a test drive can make up my mind.

I test drove the IS250 Prestige but preferred the Sports on the road. Furthermore, having had Xenons on my other car, an Audi A4 2.0 TFSI Quattro, I can't see myself buying another car without this option.

I'm not putting down the IS250 because it is a well balanced car, having all the right ingredients - value, looks, performance - but I haven't had people with bimmers complain of build quality. Funny enough, when I asked the dealer representative over at Blackburn Lexus about the rattles, he said none of his IS250 owners has come back with such problems (typical response).

I'm getting the impression that owners put up with the rattles and that you spent money on a car thats near perfect but let down by quality control, which is shocking for this particular Japanese car maker.

[ldc]

When i think of quality i think more of reliability in machanics rather than chasis. So there is rattles which has to do with insulation, this is difference than say the screws are loose or poorly assembled parts.

When i was test driving the cars before i bought the lexus, my criteria was that the car must be strong, has all the features i wanted, looks and feel good to drive and most importantly mechanically reliable. My previous car was the 5th gen Honda Prelude and although this car was perfect in the engine department, it had bad gearbox and what they called it shock knocks (from inadequate rubber insulation of the shocks). I have managed to solve the shock issues but the gearbox was what really made we want to sell the car. I could live with the knocks but could not live with the grinding of the automatic gearbox.

I made a choice not to get the BMW for a few reasons, one of it being the lacking of power and the experiencing of gearbox issues (yes i've driving a few e90 3 series and their gearboxes were on the way out already). Be warned, BMW gearboxes are not all that reliable, and neither are they smooth.

Ultimately it would be your choice but if i were to get a BMW i would get a newish 325Ci (2004 up), the coupe just looks awesome.

[dafidav]

we have a 2007 prestige is250

the only rattle i've experienced is the moonroof (about 2-3 times), havent heard it for a few months now

so im pretty pleased with the car

plus it is the best value for dollar i reckon

BMW is renown for its build quality and drive control, but for ~$65k AUD, you wont get anything near the performance of the i250

[Rap03]

Hi Alan.

Have seen your postings on the UK site. Not good.

Moving to the lucky country. Good on you.

Don't know if they have fixed the rattles, but as they are 2 years into production, you would hope so.

I have just got a new one in mine (had now for 18 months) which is only there for the first 5 or 10 minutes of driving when first drive of the day.

Going to Sydney, you will have some good drives north, south and west, and the car is great on the open roads.

Maybe write it into the sales contract, to return and get your money back if any rattles appear in the first 12 months.

[dafidav]

my car was purchased in march 2007

rattles are starting to creep in now

moonroof - when it is open and you go over bumps, you can hear it slightly if you listen for it

front dash - just started hearing this last night when going over bumps, it sounds like when plastic expand and you hear that cracking noise, its on and off, not always present

[ldc]

When i took my car in for rattle fix, they gave me a brand new is250 as a loaner. The moment i drove off with the loaner, there was already minor rattles.

I truely thing the rattles can be fixed if you know here to insulate.