Style2k6

http://www.lexus-europe.com/lexus_cars/is_new/index.asp

Found this in my search for IS pages.

Richie

The diesel is getting good reviews over here

gmeardi

I've just ordered one in Italy (220d Luxury, with Multimedia Pack), after having tried it a couple of times.
A s-p-e-c-t-a-c-u-l-a-r car, really.

I've not been able to test the engine seriously, 'cos I found so much traffic... and sure it will not pair the 350 petrol engine... But I think it'll be ok for me (and for my wallet... with all those new speed cameras around Milan...).

I've read many reviews about the diesel engine, some of them gave excellent results (e.g. http://www.motorbox.com/Auto/VisteeP...2006_test.html), others raised many issues on the lack of 20 more hps, given the 'fat' weight...

Amen, for this time I'll sacrifice some power to have an excellent, comfortable, gadgety car!
As soon as I'll receive it (hope soon) I'll post some reviews about the diesel performance and the Mark Levinson audio quality comparing to the home system (I'm a bit fanatic on this ;-)

Gojirra99

Congratulations & thanks for the link, can you translate that for us please ?

gmeardi

Can try with Google translation, but...

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

I think the translation is really weird ;-)
In any case it's a really good review, explaining all the excellent IS details. CIAO!

LexFather

Wow, nice to see so many International members here. Congrats

TED_FR

Well the question gmeardi is refferring to has not been answered yet.

Back in january, 'le moniteur automobile' belgium auto magazine tested both the IS250 and the first Lexus diesel ever the IS220d.

While reviews for the 250 were good, it turned out that the diesel engine did not deliver what it was expected to in words of performances and gas mileage.
The reporters then decided to dyno the 177 hp cleanpower engine. They got a poor result of 155 hp only, which explained the 10.3 secs required to achieve 0-60 mph.
Then started an argument between Toyota Europe (pretty upset) and 'le moniteur automobile'. Today we don't have any more infos on the subject.

French club LexIS members owning an IS250 are reporting very good gas mileage, while IS220d owners are not that lucky (not that bad, but not exactly what they expected) . We'll see in a near future what comes out of Lexus, either in words of ecu improvement or explanations.

gmeardi

Pretty happy to help spreading the Lexus quality around Italy...
In any case I think that the first diesel engine (yet with the 'little' problems it may have) will convince many european customers to go for a Lexi.
In my case is a company car, and I think many other 'business users' will follow my idea not to choose the other common segment options with a similar pricing (in particular Alfa - still very stilish the new 159SW, Audi and BMW), and try an IS.
Even if Toyota/Lexus in the past has never aimed so much to the less-profitable company car market (ie. try selling the few cars destined outside US/Japan at the maximum price).

gmeardi

Argh! That wouldn't be so nice... 10.3 sec... (I've ordered and not received yet the car for a test).
I've heard that modding the car electronics you could add to the diesel engine about 20hp: not a lot, but better than nothing. I never tried these solutions, so does anyone know how much could it cost and what problems (gas mileage, noise, warranty,...) could I encounter with such a mod?

spwolf

right, they expected their 177hp 400nm engine in RWD luxury vehicle to spend as much gas as their FWD A4 130hp 310nm engine :-).

Europeans would be happy with 150hp D4D engine, as long as it got 10% better mpg...

nehal51086

what exactly is that....is that just refering to ML?

TED_FR

You sure should have a look at what TTE has got in the pipe: 220 Hp for the IS220d, far better than the IS250, and annoncing 0-60 mph (100 km/h) in 7.5 secs.

http://www.clublexis.com/C07/eXcars....9?OpenDocument

gmeardi

Multimedia Pack = ML + Nav (+ rear camera)

gmeardi

Wow, that's a wonderful mod! The problem is that... being a company car, I would prefer a 'less intrusive' update ;-)

Big Andy

The Multimedia pack includes the DVD player, Sat-nav, ML Hi-fi, Bluetooth integration for your phone and the reversing camera.