Spotted: 2008 Lexus ISF

When it comes to fast saloons is this a viable alternative to the Germans...and the Brits?

If large-capacity, sports saloons with eight- or ten-cylinder engines are your bag, but the usual German offerings aren't doing it for you, there is an alternative. The Japanese, for instance, can do the thunderous saloon thing, too... as well as the swingeing depreciation that often comes with such cars.

But big depreciation means there's value to be had in the used market. Take this Lexus ISF. It looks well in silver, is brimming with toys, shows a full dealer history, and the boast of 26mpg seems plausible according to other ISF owners, provided you're in Driving Miss Daisy mode. There really isn't much not to like. Especially for less than £24k.

Interestingly, searching for three-year-old ISFs presented a few candidates both from our classifieds and elsewhere, but demand would appear to be high for the rapid Japanese monster, as all but one of the cars we looked at is already either sold outright or sold subject to finance.

Of course, the Lexus is a few ponies short of some of its rivals, but still they're properly rapid machines and the signs are that they may be less likely to present you with a cringe-worthy bill once the miles begin to pile up. But despite this, does it have the same kind of appeal as the cars from Ingolstadt, Munich, and Stuttgart?

If your answer to that is 'no' then you may be surprised to learn that, on the used market, if you can afford the Lexus then you can probably afford one of the brutish Germans too. What's more, you wouldn't have to make any major compromises in terms of age or mileage.

As a matter of fact, this Audi S6 not only has a tad more snort than the ISF, it's covered fewer miles and would require you to part with just a grand more to get your name on the V5. It's impossible to discuss powerful four-doors without covering the BMW M5, and we're not far off seeing well-used early E60s changing hands for around £10,000, but for the purpose of comparison with the Lexus we're looking at something like this M5 from our classifieds. It's just one year older and costs a grand more, but it looks pretty mean in black and of course you get that M button...

You'll need to pay a little more still for a Mercedes Benz E63 AMG, but at £25,995 this one is still within reach if you prefer a thumping V8 to the M5's screaming V10, and it's only showing 33,000 main-dealer-serviced miles. Speaking of thumping V8s, if you could stretch the budget a bit further still you could even get into an early 2009 Jaguar XFR like this, up for £29k. The mileage is a bit high at 45,000, but then again so is the power at 510hp.

For half the price of the Jag, you could get into this Vauxhall VXR8. Yes, there's a lot less badge than you get with the Germans, the Lexus, and the Jag, but just £15,980 could put you in this 2008 Wortec-supercharged beasty. The noise alone is surely almost worth that!

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