I come to you in a place of desperation, I saved for a year to buy a nice car, I wanted AWD with decent gas mileage and already owned a Camry, so when I found this 2007 Lexus IS 250 AWD (150k M) I thought I was in for a good purchase. I Made an appointment at the dealership for one of those 92 point inspections, and had it looked over before I made the deal. The dealership raved at the amazing condition it was in, and said it had a "stored code" for O2 sensor. But the light wasn't on so it could have just been there from driving in unusual conditions, such as maybe a trip by the ocean, ( I live in ohio). I test drove it for around an hour, and made the deal. A week, maybe 2 later, the lights came on... as Im sure u know, when the check engine light comes on, so does: !, check VSC, and traction control disabled. I was told it was catalytic converters, all 4 sensors, and cylinder 1 misfire. I Had both manifold catalytic converters replaced, and both airflow/o2 sensors replaced. ( $2200 ) then 6 spark plugs and a fuel cleaning ( $475 ). A week later the vehicle went into "limp mode" and was undrivable. The scan said, again, Bay 1 sensor 1. So I had it done by the dealer and sent the "faulty" sensor back for a refund. THat service was $750. A mile down the road, the light came back on. Its now saying Bay 2 catalytic converter ( which is brand new). The dealership said its $2300 for the part not including labor, and he could not in good faith recommend the service, as I am clearly beyond the value of the vehicle. And there was no guarantee that would make the light go off. I live in area with emission testing and cant pass with the light on. Im in over 10k and cant get it plated. The previous owner was a "platinum member" at the dealership, the sticker was still on the window. This can't be blamed on poor maintenance or abuse.
Well it's time to hire a lawyer you had them do a 92 point inspection and they lied to you about the shape of the car sue them or get your money back you obviously got a car that's worn out.I know in Germany they charge quite a bit of money for these inspections and part of the deal is if your car has a problem right after the guys that did the inspection have to fix it for free. The US isn't that stringent but still you paid for an inspection and then all this money was due higher a lawyer because they pulled fraud on you
Find an honest mechanic to check the car. Bad catalytic converter is a cause not a reason and you need to fix the issue which caused it rather than throwing parts in the car. Could you post the codes here?
This is more a reflection on the dealership than the car itself.
So you had the car looked at before you bought it, was your mechanic blind and deaf?
A full scan of the vehicle should of given some kind of indication that there were
issues. Hopefully your mechanic at least did that.
You gotta toughen up sir, and get your money back.
Hire a lawyer or fight it on your own, you have rights......
I have heard somethings about those IS 250s not being up to par for Lexus/Toyota reliability, every brand has good and bad days and good and bad cars. It sounds to me like your dealer did rip you off big time. Good luck and welcome to scotty's forum, unfortunately it had to be under bad pretenses.
I love Lexus! But I hate the IS250. Bad motor IMO. 150,000 miles is not a lot for ES or an IS350 but that 6cyl 250 - blech!