Discussion
A friend has an ISF which I have driven alot. Ride is firm but not harsh, its a sporty ride from a sporty saloon.
Makes a lovely noise, great gearbox when you learn to work the paddles properly, very comfy, lots of room, fast and extremely driftable if you want to play.
He chose it over a C63, xfr and M3 and honestly has no regrets. I suspect it so far having 100% reliability would have been more than the competitors could manage. Far rarer than either of those and a great car allround.
Its a hard car to criticise, it does everything very well. His is a '10 plate with diff and I believe revised suspension that later cars benefited from.
Makes a lovely noise, great gearbox when you learn to work the paddles properly, very comfy, lots of room, fast and extremely driftable if you want to play.
He chose it over a C63, xfr and M3 and honestly has no regrets. I suspect it so far having 100% reliability would have been more than the competitors could manage. Far rarer than either of those and a great car allround.
Its a hard car to criticise, it does everything very well. His is a '10 plate with diff and I believe revised suspension that later cars benefited from.
Edited by rb5er on Friday 1st January 10:46
rb5er said:
Apparently the ISF was built in the same plant as the LFA so build quality is excellent.
It wasn't - LFA had a totally separate facility within a plant where only the very best / most experienced personnel where chosen Build quality / reliability of the IS F is excellent though, Lexus Europe have IS F which spent most of their time on track for internal events and they seemed to use noting more than consumables - gave the technicians a very easy time
I can't really comment on the IS-F but the RC-F is definitely on my radar come the time to change.
They are very rare, look great and the figures for performance sound good too.
At the moment they are still close to 50k used but if they are c 40k in August I'll be giving them serious consideration.
They are very rare, look great and the figures for performance sound good too.
At the moment they are still close to 50k used but if they are c 40k in August I'll be giving them serious consideration.
Andy665 said:
rb5er said:
Apparently the ISF was built in the same plant as the LFA so build quality is excellent.
It wasn't - LFA had a totally separate facility within a plant where only the very best / most experienced personnel where chosen Build quality / reliability of the IS F is excellent though, Lexus Europe have IS F which spent most of their time on track for internal events and they seemed to use noting more than consumables - gave the technicians a very easy time
They were using them as demo cars at Mazda raceway ( Leguna Seca ) when I was over there in early 2009, it was my first introduction to them..........we just wandered into the pits and asked the 1st guy that looked official if we could take the hire car on track for a couple of laps. He pulled a horrified face, then called one of the drivers over, had a word with him, then took us off into a side room and made us sign our lives away on some sort of disclaimer. Next thing we know, we're out on track as passengers in an IS-F, with some homicidal maniac throwing it around on fast forward. Hell of a way to see the track for the 1st time, the corkscrew taken at speed by someone who knows the track is something that I'll never forget.
Great drive, and great intro to the car...........seem to remember we had one on the drive a month later!
Great drive, and great intro to the car...........seem to remember we had one on the drive a month later!
Edited by Heaveho on Friday 1st January 12:42
Thankyou4calling said:
I can't really comment on the IS-F but the RC-F is definitely on my radar come the time to change.
They are very rare, look great and the figures for performance sound good too.
At the moment they are still close to 50k used but if they are c 40k in August I'll be giving them serious consideration.
Might be able to help you there if you fancy buying a little earlier than that...................They are very rare, look great and the figures for performance sound good too.
At the moment they are still close to 50k used but if they are c 40k in August I'll be giving them serious consideration.
rb5er said:
You got a source for that? I either read it in Evo or on that program on sky about the LFA. Its definitely something I picked up. Will have a search now.
The source was LFA Chief Engineer (Tanahashi-san) who I did some work with. LFA was built in a dedicated facility within the Motomachi plant in Toyota City, IS F was manufactured in the Kyushu plant Edited by Andy665 on Friday 1st January 13:14
rb5er said:
A friend has an ISF which I have driven alot. Ride is firm but not harsh, its a sporty ride from a sporty saloon.
Makes a lovely noise, great gearbox when you learn to work the paddles properly, very comfy, lots of room, fast and extremely driftable if you want to play.
He chose it over a C63, xfr and M3 and honestly has no regrets. I suspect it so far having 100% reliability would have been more than the competitors could manage. Far rarer than either of those and a great car allround.
Its a hard car to criticise, it does everything very well. His is a '10 plate with diff and I believe revised suspension that later cars benefited from.
The M3 saloon and the C63 are on my shortlist but the left field nature of the ISF appeals to me. XFR would also be on the list but it's a class bigger and my brother already owns one, can't have the same car as him!Makes a lovely noise, great gearbox when you learn to work the paddles properly, very comfy, lots of room, fast and extremely driftable if you want to play.
He chose it over a C63, xfr and M3 and honestly has no regrets. I suspect it so far having 100% reliability would have been more than the competitors could manage. Far rarer than either of those and a great car allround.
Its a hard car to criticise, it does everything very well. His is a '10 plate with diff and I believe revised suspension that later cars benefited from.
Heaveho said:
I think the later suspension made a lot of difference to how live-able with the car was as a day to day prospect. I can't honestly say that I felt a better diff was especially necessary on the road, but that's maybe more a reflection on my driving style.
Doing the research now on prices for the later suspension set up and the cost of coilovers to compare them.MDMA . said:
Get one. Only ever seen 1 on the road since they came out. Looked so much nicer than an m3 and sounded great. White one. Took a picture but deleted now somehow. Was that surprised to see one, caught it last minute.
I've only ever seen 2 on the road since they were launched, one of which was owned by a chap who lives up the road from me. He has replaced with a RC-F now, would feel a bit odd to knock on his door and ask him about his ownership experience though, tad stalkerish.Viewing one tomorrow afternoon, let's see how it goes.
I think if you want to enjoy the experience of a fast saloon, you won't do better. Reliability plays a massive part in the prospect of ownership for me, and an unreliable ( petrol ) Lexus is a rare thing indeed. Other cars may have certain characteristics that make the idea of them seem more appealing, but all of the other cars you mention won't stand up to scrutiny as far as longevity is concerned.
I'm slightly biased, I used to process warranty claims for Lexus, easiest job I'll ever have!
I'm slightly biased, I used to process warranty claims for Lexus, easiest job I'll ever have!
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
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
Ran a late 2008 model for 2 years and loved it. I had a intake and exhaust fitted purely for acoustics and whoooooo!!!!
http://youtu.be/OzvbajDrtZE
The suspension on the earlier models is a bit crashy but not horribly so. What you would expect from a performance saloon imo. As mentioned the nav unit is poor not allowing iPhone streaming in early models or full post code look up. The mark levenson sound system is truly epic though. Loads of kit as standard. You can address brake dust issue by getting different pads. You can get extended manufacturers warranty for up to 8 years which is great and it's not bad at 700 ish per year. They are very reliable cars, rare, look great, sound epic and a joy to own.
http://youtu.be/OzvbajDrtZE
The suspension on the earlier models is a bit crashy but not horribly so. What you would expect from a performance saloon imo. As mentioned the nav unit is poor not allowing iPhone streaming in early models or full post code look up. The mark levenson sound system is truly epic though. Loads of kit as standard. You can address brake dust issue by getting different pads. You can get extended manufacturers warranty for up to 8 years which is great and it's not bad at 700 ish per year. They are very reliable cars, rare, look great, sound epic and a joy to own.
Thanks for the informative replies. I'm recognising some usernames from the Lexus Forum that I've been spending some time on recently.
The sound with the H&S exhaust is awesome. If I do end up with one I might go with the muffler delete first to see how that is.
The stereo and sat nav menu doesn't look great bit looks like a iVICi5 would allow for me to use the maps on my iphone and more importantly allows for Spotify use. The Apexi throttle controller looks good as well, that's something for later on though.
What sort of economy did you chaps get on average and how many miles from a tank? V Power is down to 110.9p round these parts which is handy. Did a quick search for tyres and looks like £600 for a full set of premium tyres including fitting which isn't too bad. I seem to average around 10k miles a year so I'm hoping a set will last for 15k.
The sound with the H&S exhaust is awesome. If I do end up with one I might go with the muffler delete first to see how that is.
The stereo and sat nav menu doesn't look great bit looks like a iVICi5 would allow for me to use the maps on my iphone and more importantly allows for Spotify use. The Apexi throttle controller looks good as well, that's something for later on though.
What sort of economy did you chaps get on average and how many miles from a tank? V Power is down to 110.9p round these parts which is handy. Did a quick search for tyres and looks like £600 for a full set of premium tyres including fitting which isn't too bad. I seem to average around 10k miles a year so I'm hoping a set will last for 15k.
I managed up to 34mpg pre takeda intake and 32mpg after fitting the intake on a motorway run doing between 75-85 with a few bursts. Averages mid 22-25mpg in mixed driving.
The throttle controller was great imo. Added the throttle response setting between sport and normal I felt the car was missing. The h&s exhaust transformed the car. Best mod ever! There is a video on the Lexus forum somewhere with a few different systems.
The throttle controller was great imo. Added the throttle response setting between sport and normal I felt the car was missing. The h&s exhaust transformed the car. Best mod ever! There is a video on the Lexus forum somewhere with a few different systems.
It will require a water pump at some stage..........it's about the only common weak point across the whole Toyota/Lexus range, they don't seize or do anything drastic, just start to leak slightly, from memory I think the pressure relief valve fails, and they spit out a small amount of coolant from time to time.
I couldn't get anywhere near the claimed fuel consumption from some on here, it never bettered 22mpg in my hands. Single figures mpg at Thorney Island raceway in the process of a 13 second quarter mile @ 116 mph, very impressive terminal speed for that elapsed time. By comparison my 380 brake Evo ran in the mid 12s at the same track, but the terminal speed was 10mph less, indicating how quickly the IS-F was reeling it in at the top end of the strip. If it had had the same traction off the line, the IS-F would have murdered it.
I couldn't get anywhere near the claimed fuel consumption from some on here, it never bettered 22mpg in my hands. Single figures mpg at Thorney Island raceway in the process of a 13 second quarter mile @ 116 mph, very impressive terminal speed for that elapsed time. By comparison my 380 brake Evo ran in the mid 12s at the same track, but the terminal speed was 10mph less, indicating how quickly the IS-F was reeling it in at the top end of the strip. If it had had the same traction off the line, the IS-F would have murdered it.
Edited by Heaveho on Friday 1st January 23:48
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