Lexus ISF

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giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Sunday 17th January 2016
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cry

At least you know it will be well looked after and pampered. I'm counting down the days!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Monday 18th January 2016
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Visited the local dealer this morning to get a price on servicing and warranty. The warranty prices have gone up this year so £895 for 2 years of cover. An after market exhaust won't affect cover as it turns out the exhaust isn't covered under the warranty anyway.

I was quoted £1296.45 for 1 full service, 1 intermediate and 1 full+ (not sure if it is the 60 or 100) along with 3 MOTs, 3 fuel treatments and one air conditioning service. The standard price for the 3 services and the extras is £1859.50 so the discount is pretty decent.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Monday 18th January 2016
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f1nn said:
Good info, thanks.

What are the service intervals, apologies if it has been mentioned previously.

This info is allowing me to formulate a plan!
From what I gather it needs a service every year or 10,000 miles (whichever comes first). Year 1 is intermediate, year 2 is full, year 3 is intermediate etc with the 60+ service being required at 60k or 6 years. 60+ is the most expensive due to the spark plug change. Costs are as follows - £295 for an intermediate, £545 for a full, £895 for the 60+ and £695 for 100+

Just realised my quote will have been for the 100+ as it will be due in 2018 which marks 10 years.

Edited by giblet on Monday 18th January 12:54

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Monday 18th January 2016
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Calza said:
£450 a year warranty, and a £400 a year for servicing (and related extra's) / MOT's for 3 years.

These cars just keep getting more attractive.
Yup pretty damn reasonable for a performance saloon.

I tried ringing a few other dealers to see if the price quoted for the servicing by Lexus Leeds could be beaten. Lexus Bradford would only give me the standard list price so no savings. Lexus Sheffield will be emailing me the price tomorrow.

Insurers quoted me £150 extra to switch to the ISF but that was based on a quote at the start of December, should be cheaper when I collect the car. Now if I can get 22-25mpg from a tank of mixed driving I'll be laughing!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
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mrfunex said:
I've had mine for several months now - it's a simply astonishing car. Quite rare, comfortable and reasonably economical for such a big engine. It seems able to completely change character - at low speeds it purrs and slips song with minimal fuss, yet given a bit of room it lifts up its skirt and charges along like a total hooligan. With a cat-back H&S exhaust it bellows like a NASCAR and tbh, isn't that much off the pace of my old 911 turbo. I'm astonished Lexus made so few of them, I think there are just over 200 in the UK...
Your post is useless without pics! I notice your post on the loc forum about the change of suspension. That's something I may look into later down the line if the stock suspension becomes annoying. I've found it fine on test drives and passenger rides.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
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Drivers Republic times at Silverstone

BMW M3 - 2.15.60
Lexus ISF - 2.17.20
Merc C63 - 2.18.00

Top Gear times
BMW M3 - 1.25.30
LEXUS ISF - 1.26.90
Can't seem to find a time for the C63

It loses out in the power wars to the C63 but the difference isn't huge on track. Those times are for the earlier cars which didn't have a mechanic diff. Later cars have revised suspension, steering and a proper diff.

All that is irrelevant on the road though!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
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k-ink said:
Has anyone compared the ISF to an RS4 V8?
There is a fairly biased video (in favour of the ISF) here

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 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!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 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.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Wednesday 20th January 2016
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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:

8,867 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

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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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.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Friday 29th January 2016
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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.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Good question. This is what mine sounded like with an aftermarket exhaust and a valve

https://youtu.be/8bKw3T5As40

Still had a pair of silencers in so could be made louder without them.

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Sunday 10th June 2018
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Welcome to the club. I recently return to the fold. I’d strongly recommend that you get an aftermarket exhaust fitted as it makes the car more entertaining biggrin

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Wednesday 10th July 2019
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Good to hear you are still enjoying it. I owned 2 pre facelifts in the end since I started this thread.

Both were purchased from fellow LOC members. The first one was replaced with a modified Evo X. The second was eventually replaced with my current shed, a saab 9-3 wagon. It’s a shame Lexus never offered the 5.0 V8 engine in an estate, as a result I find myself looking at the C63 wagon.

I still love how leftfield and rare the ISF is, only ever saw a handful on the road. Brilliant car for the money!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Friday 12th July 2019
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The ISF is indeed a rare sight on UK roads. Reliability is superb compared to it’s rivals (E9x M3, C63 and the RS4).

The only weak point is the waterpump, the manufacturers extended warranty covers this and is reasonably priced considering it also includes breakdown cover.

I just wish they had made it in estate form!

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Monday 4th May 2020
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Interesting idea, your best bet is to speak with SRD - https://www.srdtuning.com/

They did a fair bit of work on a ISF owned by a chap on the Lexus Owners Forum including fitting a supercharger kit from RR Racing so they would probably be best placed to advise you

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Sunday 25th October 2020
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I really want a GSF at some point. Keep seeing one local to me and it’s superb. Chap up the road from me had a ISF then a RCF and now a LC500, impeccable taste

giblet

Original Poster:

8,867 posts

178 months

Monday 26th October 2020
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Mezzanine said:
LC500 is superb looking, I would be hanging around his driveway for uncomfortably long periods hehe
It was his ISF that inspired me to get my first one a few years back, was the only one I’d ever seen on the road. Agree on the LC500 styling, looks lovely