Lexus ISF

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k-ink

9,070 posts

180 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
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Thanks for the link. Although I was thinking more along the lines of real world use in the UK. I suspect poor weather and bumpy roads would favour the RS4. Although the Lexus reliability would be very welcome. Has anyone owned both?

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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RR Racing have release the results from their first tune over on Club Lexus

Increase of over 40bhp at the wheels. Promising sign and some fun times ahead for owners! I'll be taking out the extended warranty so won't be looking at a remap for a while!

Calza

1,994 posts

116 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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giblet said:
RR Racing have release the results from their first tune over on Club Lexus

Increase of over 40bhp at the wheels. Promising sign and some fun times ahead for owners! I'll be taking out the extended warranty so won't be looking at a remap for a while!
Nice numbers .. looks like it's with a decat though which is a shame.

JockySteer

1,407 posts

117 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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SimpleSimonSays said:
My first post - I figured as I've owned one of these I might be able to say something sensible...

I bought an ex-demonstrator (a 2008 model, no LSD) back in 2009 and ran it for 3 years. I loved it, regretted selling it and would buy another one again tomorrow if the purchasing committee wasn't looking! I sold it because my job changed and I was suddenly commuting 50 miles a day, which at 22ish to the gallon started to hurt a bit. Had I been able to see into the future and predict that the next pay rise would cover the extra running costs, I wouldn't have changed it.

Things I liked:
* The noise it made.
* The way it drove - the suspension was firm but I didn't find it uncomfortable. Nice gearbox, although not as slick as more modern DSG-types but still very good.
* The noise it made.
* The interior - very comfortable, everything lights up blue, lots of toys to play with.
* The noise it made.
* Dare I say it, the dealer - we had 2 x Lexus (IS-F and IS220) at the time, and the service was always excellent.
* Reliability - no problems. Had the water pump replaced early on under warranty (something the dealer spotted during the service, rather than after a failure), but never broke down, never failed to start. No bills other than standard servicing. The only weird gremlin I had was sometimes, when the AC was on, the idle speed would drop to 500 rpm. Turning the AC off would fix it. Never got to the bottom of that one.

Things I didn't like (but could obviously live with):
* Active cruise control - sometimes had a mind of its own and either did emergency stops or full bore acceleration, depending on what it thought was going on around it.
* Brake dust - trying to keep the front wheels clean was a PITA.
* Cost of front brake pads (already mentioned by someone else, around £300 a set excluding fitting I think), and I went through 2 sets in 30000 miles.
* Tyres - not sure whether I needed to fit the exact type, but the standard tyres are 'special' Bridgestone RE050's, which can sometimes be hard to get hold of. Different sizes front and rear too. Rear tyres could last anything from 5000 miles to 15000 miles.
* SatNav - crap. Wouldn't take full postcodes.
* Traction in the slightest bit of snow - non-existent. There is a snow button, but it just seemed to make it snow harder.
* The fake exhaust pipes - a bit too Max Power for me (that shows my age).

In summary, IMO they are great, make a fantastic noise, but some of the bits and pieces can be a bit expensive. I took out the extended warranty and never used it, but I figured for ~£80 a month it was better than an expensive bill on a low volume, expensive car where none of the bits seem to be standard across the range.

Did I mention the noise it makes?

HTH,

Simon
Never heard or seen one in the road. Seen them parked up at car events etc, but that doesn't count! Would love to hear one and see how it compares to the AMG. Discounting the M3 V8 on that comparison as it's more similar to an AMG noise from videos I've seen.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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Calza said:
Nice numbers .. looks like it's with a decat though which is a shame.
Secondary cats were removed by the looks of things. The primary cats will have been retained in the headers. Removing the secondary cats won't cause you to fail an MOT and no CEL issues either as the sensors are earlier on in the setup, after the primary cats.

JockySteer

1,407 posts

117 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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giblet said:
Calza said:
Nice numbers .. looks like it's with a decat though which is a shame.
Secondary cats were removed by the looks of things. The primary cats will have been retained in the headers. Removing the secondary cats won't cause you to fail an MOT and no CEL issues either as the sensors are earlier on in the setup, after the primary cats.
Secondary cats removed is what I've had done to my Merc. Should cruise through the MOT according to specialist and would imagine it'd be the same result for the Lexus.

Calza

1,994 posts

116 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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Ah fair enough - that's much more tolerable!

So the question is ... 40bhp or Lexus warranty? scratchchin

Heaveho

5,315 posts

175 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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Calza said:
Ah fair enough - that's much more tolerable!

So the question is ... 40bhp or Lexus warranty? scratchchin
You'll probably only ever need the warranty for the water pump and the bottom ball joints, they're usually the only things that go wrong on Lexus models of any flavour ( well, unless we start talking about the diesels, that's a different story! ).

Neither of those parts are deal breakers if you have to buy them yourself, they're not barmy money.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
quotequote all
Heaveho said:
Calza said:
Ah fair enough - that's much more tolerable!

So the question is ... 40bhp or Lexus warranty? scratchchin
You'll probably only ever need the warranty for the water pump and the bottom ball joints, they're usually the only things that go wrong on Lexus models of any flavour ( well, unless we start talking about the diesels, that's a different story! ).

Neither of those parts are deal breakers if you have to buy them yourself, they're not barmy money.
I think I will go for the warranty as it is pretty reasonable for 2 years. Gives me time to get used to the power and if the waer pump, ball joints or the touchscreen on the stereo act up I can get it sorted under warranty.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Thursday 28th January 2016
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Got bored of waiting until next weekend, took the day off work and collected the car today!

Nursed it back home from Oxford to Leeds. Far too damn and too much traffic to even consider opening up the taps properly. Managed 32.1mpg according to the display.

First impressions. It's pretty damn quiet at normal motorway speeds, the gearbox shifts effortlessly and the sat nav is as bad as everyone says.

Need to get the Galant VR4 cleaned up and sold asap and then I can focus on exploring the power of the ISF. biggrin

k-ink

9,070 posts

180 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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Congratulations! cool

Harvey Mushman00

271 posts

134 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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giblet said:
Got bored of waiting until next weekend, took the day off work and collected the car today!

Nursed it back home from Oxford to Leeds. Far too damn and too much traffic to even consider opening up the taps properly. Managed 32.1mpg according to the display.

First impressions. It's pretty damn quiet at normal motorway speeds, the gearbox shifts effortlessly and the sat nav is as bad as everyone says.

Need to get the Galant VR4 cleaned up and sold asap and then I can focus on exploring the power of the ISF. biggrin
Excellent, you will love it!! Strangely I don't think the sat nav is that bad, it has always got me there!! Very quiet at motorway speeds, but once it hits 3700rpm everything changes.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Friday 29th January 2016
quotequote all
Cheers chaps. I think my issue with the sat nav is two fold. Firstly the lack of postcode entry and secondly the whole GUI is just pants. Maybe I need time to get used to it or do the logical thing of reading the rather substantial user manual.

Calza

1,994 posts

116 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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What was your average cruising speed to get 32mpg?

Jim AK

4,029 posts

125 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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Damn you giblet!

Can see this could end badly for me.

Had planned to replace a different toy this summer but now I think Il possibly end up with a 4th car!!!

Have a good weekend, I think that is a given bounce

SteveJL

84 posts

212 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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giblet said:
Cheers chaps. I think my issue with the sat nav is two fold. Firstly the lack of postcode entry and secondly the whole GUI is just pants. Maybe I need time to get used to it or do the logical thing of reading the rather substantial user manual.
If you click on destination and look at the top of the screen you will see a button that looks like 1/2 and an arrow from memory - clicking that will take you to a second screen and it allows you to enter full post code.

I took some pictures but the work fire wall is blocking me uploading them - sorry

bobski1

1,779 posts

105 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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Always lusted after one of these ever since the concept was revealed.

If only the finances would allow the purchase frown

giblet

Original Poster:

8,863 posts

178 months

Friday 29th January 2016
quotequote all
Calza said:
What was your average cruising speed to get 32mpg?
Motorway was pretty busy, lot of stop start and 40/50 zones. Average speed on the trip was 44 mph. The previous owner swore by premium fuel and I'll be doing the same with V Power only. Previous owner did say I would see 30+ on a run. I'll be happy with 25 on an average tank.

Jim AK said:
Damn you giblet!

Can see this could end badly for me.

Had planned to replace a different toy this summer but now I think Il possibly end up with a 4th car!!!

Have a good weekend, I think that is a given bounce
Cheers. This is my only motor and without knowing what else you own I would recommend switching your currently daily driver for an ISF. Being fairly sensible this weekend and sorting out the VR4 for the sale pictures.

SteveJL said:
If you click on destination and look at the top of the screen you will see a button that looks like 1/2 and an arrow from memory - clicking that will take you to a second screen and it allows you to enter full post code.

I took some pictures but the work fire wall is blocking me uploading them - sorry
Cheers. I need to spend a bit more time getting used to the interface.

bobski1 said:
Always lusted after one of these ever since the concept was revealed.

If only the finances would allow the purchase frown
I used a pretty heavy amount of man maths to justify it. I average around 10-12k miles a year so the running costs should be fine.

mrfunex

545 posts

175 months

Saturday 30th January 2016
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Regarding fuel economy,

I've seen 34mpg on a long run from Southampton to Birmingham, with light traffic cruising at 70-75mph.

My normal trips are slow town/urban stuff with 40mph limits being the fastest stretches, or going for a hoon. These usually yield about 20mpg.

It's certainly better than I was planning for!

k-ink

9,070 posts

180 months

Saturday 30th January 2016
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I went from a 5 litre CLS V8 to a 1.4 turbo Alfa. Mostly to save up for something I really wanted. The difference in fuel is not that huge, if you use the abilities of the little turbo. 30-35mpg in the real world at decent speeds. So hardly better than your ISF on a run! So my point is, don't worry about the mpg at all. Just enjoy what you have!!