HartFB

Hey everyone, I've been doing my research and I've narrowed my next car purchase down to either an is250 or an is350. These will be in the 2006-2008 range and will have well over 100k miles, my question to you owners is: Are these Lexus' still reliable after the ~130k mile mark? I know the is250's have the carbon issue and the is350s don't. I like the extra power of the is350 as well but I am willing to sacrifice that if I can get an is250 of significantly less mileage. I'm also aware of the 9 year warranty that Lexus has provided regarding the carbon issue and since the models that are in my price range are out of that 9 year range, should I just avoid the is250 altogether?

I appreciate the time and advice, thank you very much.

Zmon

iTrader: (2)

IIRC, time has passed on the 06 250's from getting the carbon build up repair, 07's too most likely. I'd avoid any 06 250/350 and go for at least an 07 so you can disable traction control with a button vs doing the pedal dance.

You will most definitely find 250's that have much lower mileage than a 350 at the same price. Do you feel the more power and reliability (due to carbon build up) is worth it over the 250? I did. Gas mileage is very nearly the same, but expect less with the 350 if you want to enjoy the power. Common things that go wrong on these cars are alternators, water pumps, seized calipers (seems rears are more common), and failed touchscreens on the navigations. All of these are relatively cheap and easy to fix though. You will more likely eat through your rear tires quicker on a 350 vs a 250.

In the case of the 350... I owned mine since 80k and am at 120k now. Oil gets changed on a regular basis. Did the brake, trans, coolant, and rear diff fluids as well around 100k. Sparks plugs also done at 100k. Only issues I've had with it is a seized rear caliper when changing pads/rotors, and I guess the fuel pressure sensor, which I'm going through right now. I guess when I had the ELF recall done (both 250 and 350's are affected by this) last year, they may have not twisted the harness with the sensor when removing it (which can damage the wires), or dropped the sensor when doing it, so now it's failed on me. IMO, it's not a hard repair and fairly easy to do if you know your way around a car. Note that this seems to be an extremely rare thing as I did about 5 hours of searching trying to find the problem and I only found 2-4 similar cases (one of those posted a few days after I asked about it here, lolz).

Overall, they are your typical reliable Toyota product. Take care of them, they'll take care of you.

edit: since people are mentioning an oil analysis on these engines, here's an old one I submitted back in Feb 2016 when I was running Pennzoil Platinum (since switched to Pennz Ultra Platinum). I just sent my most recent oil to them, waiting on that report still. https://i.imgur.com/berVe6Y.png

HartFB

Thanks for the post, I was thinking the same thing regarding the is250, I just needed the opinion of actual owners.. The lower mileage definitely has appeal however I feel like getting the risk of the carbon build up isn't worth saving some money when it's going to cost significantly more to fix.

As far as the IS350, it doesn't sound like maintenance has been too bad so that's good. I'm just a little worried about the higher mileage ones, to give a figure.. about 130K+, should I be avoiding ones this high, or are something that shouldn't be too worried about?

Mrfix

I would stay away from the IS250. The IS350 has a reliable engine although you want to check it's history to make sure it received all it's recall work. 130k for a 2gr is not a lot. These engines don't wear very much. If you use a quality oil and filter and take care of the vehicle there is no reason why you can't get 250k out of it. Of course your driving habits will also make a difference.

On a tangent I just received a Blackstone report on my engine oil from a 2007 2gr engine (Toyota Avalon) with 90k on it and they said they found more metal in virgin oil stock than they found in my 7500k motor oil. They said there was very little to no solubles present and mentioned my filtration was superb. The report on my 2010 2gr engine (Venza) with 100k on it (7500k oil change) was even better. Both reports praised the quality of oil and the Toyota 2gr engine.

Amsoil Signature Series 5w30 with Mobile 1 filter.

Will post my IS350 report when it comes back.

HartFB

Now this a great answer, thanks a lot for the info! I'd be interested to see how the test comes back on your is350. Also, would you mind listing the maintenance you've had to do your IS?

Mrfix

I purchased my 2006 IS350 with 84k on it for around 10.6k. The previous owner was a woman lawyer who purchased a new Toyota Highlander. She took the car to Lexus for all maintenance and according to the report I pulled from Lexus the service was what the owners manual calls for. Everything was done at Lexus, Brakes, Rear Diff Fluid change, Oil Changes, Spark Plugs, all recalls, new tires, etc. Lexus did not hold back on anything, basically whatever they recommended she had them do.

The only thing I will be doing is draining the transmission pan and adding new fluid a couple quarts at a time. I will probably start that this weekend. The oil change is coming up so I will post the report from Blackstone when I get the transmission and engine oil analyzed.

Car runs great, the condition is immaculate (except for a few little stone chips on the front hood). I figure with the regular maintenance the car should go well beyond 200k.

Maintenance is the important thing. You can have a 2010 that is completely ragged out with75k on it or a 2007 with 120k that was cared for and serviced regularly that looks and drives better. Find an IS350 that is well taken care of.

Create an account on http://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/ and run any VIN's from vehicles your looking at. It will pull up a service history and if it doesn't then it is possible the car was either serviced outside of the dealership or wasn't serviced at all.

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

210K

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...000-miles.html

DJP333

I just traded out of my 2008 IS350 in November 2016 and it had 170,000 miles on it (I live in Texas so a lot of highway miles). I took it in for regular oil changes every 5k miles, and did most of my regular maintenance (filters and fluids) at my local Lexus service center. It was a solid car, outside of regular maintenance and water pump replacement, I had no other maintenance issues. I'm a very "spirited" driver and have put that car through a lot, but it stayed strong. It was a fantastic car, it was my first Lexus and I was so impressed with the reliability that I got a GS350 F sport. Make sure you can see the history of the car. I would go with the 350 vs 250, that engine is great.