Greetings folks,

I'm 37 and am considering purchasing a new car and luxury AND reliability are major concerns. I've never owned a Lexus before but while car shopping, I fell in love with a 2014 Lexus IS 250 AWD with 20K miles. After viewing the car's Carfax history, there were a couple of occasions where it had tires replaced and realigned (no accidents in its history). This concerned since the car doesn't have enough age or miles to warrant two tire changes (although I suppose it could've merely ran over a nail or two). After Googling a little, it seems many IS owners complain of uneven tire wear, causing tires to wear out within 10-20k miles. Have you IS250 owners experienced this? Was this only a concern for previous generations?

Also, please don't hesitate to warn me of other issues I should consider before committing to the IS250. I'm very new to Lexus research but am very impressed by it's reputation for reliability.

Thanks.

 

I believe tire wear to be based on the tire you choose and how you drive. I have an is350 f sport and my rear tires went 31k miles, Michelin AS3. The fronts still have decent tread left. The stock tires made it 26k miles. My driving is 60/40 highway to city driving and I drive spiritedly during those city miles.

As for luxury and reliability, Lexus probably is tops. I feel Lexus is a great value for the money and this is coming from a Porsche owner as well. Porsche is a whole different level, but also comes with a price. I'll always keep a Lexus around. 60k miles on my is350 now and only done routine maintenance.

 

When it comes to reliability, nothing beats Lexus. If reliability and money is not a concern, I'd have to say Mercs beats Lexus in luxury unfortunately, this is not to say Lexus is cheap and ordinary, just saying Mercs is better in that category when comparing cars in the same class.

 

The original factory tires that came on 14+ IS's are crap so don't put a lot of worry in that the tires were changed.

 

From what I read, it appears to be a "camber" issue. Anybody experienced this?

 

I think there are arguments on both sides that it's camber wear or it's toe wear.
Honestly if a little uneven tire wear is the only issue with the car, I'd still pull the trigger...again.
Realistically how long do you want a tire to last. After 5-6 years the rubber is hard, noisy, probably weather cracked, and traction would have been dramatically reduced, no matter the mileage on them or the brand of tire.
And there are aftermarket parts available if you really want to tackle the tire wear issue...if it happens to you at all.

 

Great so the camber/toe issue doesn't happen to all IS250s? Could any guesstimate just how many this affects? Is it like a 50% chance of a random IS250 experiencing this problem or is it much less common than that?

 

Partially it boils down to the user more than the car.
Think of questions like:
Do you check you tire pressure routinely?
Do you rotate your tires routinely? (if you can)
Do you have the alignment checked every couple years?
How do YOU drive?
Where do you drive?
What have you done to the car? (lowered it, aftermarket wheels, etc.)

 

There is no Camber issue for Lexus, you probably watched that Stupid dude reviewed the 3rd generation IS on youTube that said, Lexus 2014+ camber can't be adjusted, they said Lexus IS doesn't have a Camber, you come here you ask is the right Choice, if you listen to YouTube or your friend you are DOOMED ! that Redneck guy and his mechanic has no idea about Japanese cars and Luxury Lexus brand, that guy his mechanic friend only fix OLD American car.

 

I experienced nothing of the sort, I drive 2016 IS350 (non Sport), but within couple months after I purchased this car brand new I wanted to switch to all-season tires since I was going into cold mountainous weather. After 13,000 miles - I don't see anything wrong with my tires. The original (summer) tires are waiting in my garage practically unused and will put them on eventually. If you can, grab a car with Mark Levinson sound - this is an experience to behold, it puts smile on my face whenever I start the car.

 

If reliability is at the top of your list Lexus is a great brand to look at. The recent IS's all have great reliability scores.

Also keep in mind that on an AWD car, if you blow one tire and you have some miles on them, you have to replace all four. One of them could have been as simple as that. Also summer tires wear out much faster than most all-seasons, so knowing what's on the car may help explain the rapid wear.

If it were me, and I liked the car and was worried about the alignment, I'd just plan on getting a 4-wheel alignment after getting it. If the tires show visible signs of uneven wear, use that as a bargaining chip to offset the cost of new tires and get an alignment.

 

Totally agree. I have had both Lexus and MB and my wife and I both prefer the MB. With that said our last two cars have been Lexus strictly because of maintenance costs. And yes we do enjoy the Lexus, just not quite as much. We also like the lower cost of ownership.

 

Couple minor frustrations this Lexus 2015 IS owner is finding:

• GPS Map update's not free... come on?!?
• Auto-start via App is a subscription, key fob is 'somewhat reasonable' but it's all digital so just enabling this 'feature' should be a given. Reading tells me auto-start doesn't allow setting for climate based on some outside temp/condition (Please correct me if i'm wrong here, this would sway me to buy the FOB starter). My wife's 2014 Volvo allows us to set the climate/defrost,seat/wheel heaters to ON based off temp outside below ~40 degrees F.
• No parking obstruction warning dings (at least on F-sport crafted), that assumption was my own after trying 2014 GS350 which had them.
• Cannot browse music between folders over Bluetooth from my Android.

 

I've never found the climate aspect of remote start to be a problem - just set to auto and let it do its thing.

FWIW, I agree the remote start is silly to be a paid subscription. Not a deal breaker, but it feels like being nickeled-and-dimed a bit to pay for it every year.

 

Good to know about auto/temp resuming last setting. On that note, do the seats and steering wheel stay on, or start on if left on at shutoff?