Newbie

[Craig W]

Hi all,

i'm looking to buy a black IS200 Sport early next year, what sort of price should i be looking to pay for a 2nd hand one with reasonable mileage?

Also, i'm in the Bedfordshire area but read that Lexus Milton Keynes is closed - can anyone reccomend any other dealers within reasonable distance?

What sort of finance deals can i expect?

Any info would be a great help and much appreciated.

[marshy]

Hi all,

i'm looking to buy a black IS200 Sport early next year, what sort of price should i be looking to pay for a 2nd hand one with reasonable mileage?

Also, i'm in the Bedfordshire area but read that Lexus Milton Keynes is closed - can anyone reccomend any other dealers within reasonable distance?

What sort of finance deals can i expect?

Any info would be a great help and much appreciated.

Milton Keynes is a new dealership, not sure when it will be open though. Hatfield is the next closest I reckon or maybe Cambridge?

From a dealer you can expect to pay about £1000 more than buying private. What that extra £1000 gives you I have found to be very worth while. How many private sellers would be interested to hear that the rear light cluster fills with water after you have driven away? My dealer swapped the cluster without any questions. The 12 months warranty is complete peace of mind against any problems. The car is HPI checked and RAC inspected too. If it's within 2000 miles of a service that's done for you.

It all depends what you call reasonable mileage. The engines are good for 150000miles+ so don't be put off by high mileage in a young car. As long as the service history is there then you can guarantee the miles will have been done on a warm engine up and down motorways. If you budget around £16000 you'll have lots of choice. If you want deals then go in now, xmas is very quiet for car salesmen.

As for finance I was offered 3.5% flat rate (7.8%ish APR) and there was no movement on that. Try Lombard Direct or Tesco, both offering APR's in the 7.x% region at the moment. If you prefer leasing then you'd be jumping into an £18000 car for about £350 a month with about £6000 to pay at the end to keep the car or hand it back and start over.

[Craig W]

Thanks for your help, some very useful info.

I heard the Mk dealership is opening early next year, so hopefully it'll be around the time when i'm going to purchase.

Leasing would probably be better for me, one thing though - when leasing do they let you modify it? All im really looking to do is give it some 19's and lower it (and tint the windows and add a spoiler if i decided to go for the SE)

[Rodders_UK]

There's a use car directory on http://www.lexus.co.uk - it'd be worth you doing a search on there.

Other dealers close to MK are Coventry and Leicester.

Also, Lexus Oxford is part of the same Group as MK.

[Craig W]

That sites a great help :)

I think this would be best for me:

Lexus Purchase Plan

Lexus Purchase Plan is a flexible, traditional and simple hire purchase option. This plan is suitable for customers who want to pay a fixed amount each month and are certain that they want to own the car at the end of the agreement.

Key Benefits:

You will own your Lexus at the end of the agreement

Budgeting is made simple as your repayments are fixed throughout the agreement

No large final payment

Reduced initial outlay

How it works

Choose the Lexus you wish to drive

Agree the repayment period that is right for you

At the end of the agreement, providing the terms have been met, pay the option to purchase fee and the car is yours

Typical Example

Lexus Purchase Plan

Lexus IS200 SE

On The Road Cash Price

£20,230.00

Deposit

£5,000.00

36 Monthly Payments

£495.77

Total Amount Payable*

£22,887.72

APR

11.3%

*Includes £90 acceptance fee payable in the first rental and £40 option to purchase fee payable at the end of the contract.

Full written quotations available on request. Indemnities required in certain circumstances. All applications for credit are subject to acceptance. Prices and rates are correct at time of publication.

[Claire G]

I'd shop around for leasing options Craig.

I pay out about £450ish p.m for an IS200 Sport and that includes all servicing and tyre replacement (due to normal wear and tear). This is for 14,000 miles a year and my buy price at the end of 3 years is £10.5/£11k. Or I can get a brand new car or just hand back the keys/

I'm with Lex Vehicle Leasing - http://www.lvl.co.uk/

And a quick search on Google came up with these:

www.MotorFleet.co.uk

www.smartlease.co.uk

www.fleetdrive.co.uk/Car_leasing_uk.htm

http://www.ovl.co.uk/

http://www.apexvehicles.co.uk/

[ianw1974]

Mine has gone, and is with a garage in Ruislip. It is a 2001 Y Reg, is200 Sport in Astral Black. It's fully loaded too, Sat Nav and the Lexus body kit (as these were the only optional extras at the time). They are selling it for £16K.

Fully serviced at Lexus Croydon, and everything is spot on. The mileage is 44K though, but it's definitely a good deal, and looks the business. Felt run in and performing good at that sort of mileage. One thing, use Shell Optimax - yes a few pence per litre more expensive, but the car performs better and also saves you money in the long run. On average I got an extra 50 miles out of the tank. I'm no salesman, so depends what you want. Just going through the car I had!!!

Visit www.caldermore.co.uk if you want to check it out. I'm not sure if it's gone already or not, but worthwhile checking if you're after one.

[jenners]

Mine has gone, and is with a garage in Ruislip. It is a 2001 Y Reg, is200 Sport in Astral Black. It's fully loaded too, Sat Nav and the Lexus body kit (as these were the only optional extras at the time). They are selling it for £16K.

What did you get to replace your is200 ?. Just interested to see what people go for after an IS200 !.

Also, did you not consider selling privately ? - was it the hassle or was the price the garage gave you too good ?!

I'm selling mine early next year and just trying to organise how I do it. Appreciate any advice.

[ianw1974]

They gave me £14K for it, and I effectively just didn't want to sell it privately, mainly for the hassle.

You will get better trade in against another Lexus. I was offered £15K by Lexus Croydon against a Lexus is300 they had, which they too would give me for around £25K - their demonstrator. I thought about it, but didn't in the end, as I'm still unsure of what I want to do next. I'd go for Lexus over most other cars though mainly because of the specs, etc.

Although performance is something I'd like a lot of, only looks like that'll mean something that costs a serious amount of money!

[jenners]

Does that mean they just bought your car off you? - i.e. you didn't trade it in against something they had ?

[ianw1974]

I did trade it, just unsure of how long I'll keep the current car. Anywhere between six months to whenever I feel like changing for something else.

I'm pretty sure if you just give it to a garage you'd get even less back. I'd had offers from £12K-£15 but they were all against trade in. You'd be more likely to get around the £12K mark if you didn't trade it against something.

[cdouble]

Hi Ian

Seen your car in the showroom thinking of buying it. Is there any thing I should know because to me the car looks great if there is please let me know thinking on getting next week.

Cheers Mate.

[ianw1974]

Absolutely top nicker mate. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

The 40K service cost me somewhere just over £600 including brakepads replaced all round, so you wouldn't have to do that for a long time.

Also, tyres were replaced around the 25K mark, and still have shed loads of tread. Rears are Bridgestone S03's and the fronts are Michelin Pilot Sports. Not cheap tyres, but if you shop around should be able to get replacements for £120 each - although you won't need to do that for a while either.

The CD player might need a clean with one of them CD cleaners, but then expected after being used every day for the last 18 months!

[ianw1974]

I just phoned them and it might have been sold but the sales guy isn't in until around 11am, so will keep you posted.

Number is 01895 677477 if you wanted to contact them yourself.

[ricky_is200]

The CD player might need a clean with one of them CD cleaners, but then expected after being used every day for the last 18 months!

I've never cleaned mine in 3 years/70000 miles and I use it everyday! Never had a problem with it.

[ianw1974]

No, nor mine, but it did jitter now and again, but that could have been cos of the is200 Sport being lowered, or that the laser needed cleaning!

I just never bothered cos it didn't jump that much anyhow.

[cdouble]

Cheers mate

Thanks for that its put my mind at rest sounds as if you looked after it well. If I do buy it, it well be going to a good home I'll keep you informed. B)

[ianw1974]

I just found out that he sold the car!

However, he did mention that he has an Altezza RS coming in January. Year 2000, so unsure of the reg, but it's Tiptronic with 11K miles. Apparently, it's 16K to buy. If you're interested....

[cdouble]

Yes your right it's sold and Guess who ?

ME :D that's right I'm picking the car up monday to pay for the rest of the payment so any problems please tell me now. Thanks

P.S can you play CD-R's in the cd player as most of my music is recorded on Burned Cds. :D :D

Thanks

[Rob]

yes u can play cdr's no problem -if anyone says that cdr's are the cause of the radio jamming they are lying! the only thing that you must watch for is that you use decent cdr's as you dont want the foil backing peeling off when its in the player.

[Wrighty]

What a happy ending :D

[drwong]

Just curious, anyone have any ideas of what upgrades help in the lexus resale value and what modification do lexus dealers stay well clear away with a barge pole!

[ianw1974]

Well done chap! You got yourself a nice motor. So you picked it up yet? Pleased with it?

I used CDR's in there without any issues. The only problem with some CD players is that they don't work sometimes, but that is due to how you burnt the CD. When doing music CD's, make sure the CD has been closed off so no more data can be written to it. Then you'll have no probs using it in any CD player!!!

Glad to hear the car has gone to a good home! :D

[ianw1974]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. There's a load of replacement bulbs in the boot. I bought all these when I went to Le Mans last year for the 24hr racing. Was good watching all them nice motors race.

Anyhow, they should still be there with the spare wheel, about £60 worth. I'd only had to replace one or two brake lights on the rear clusters. So if you ever have to do that, the whole rear light comes away from the back of the car (unlike most cars where you can change them inside the boot). When you open the boot, you'll notice along each side of the light two round circles (covers across the screws). Remove these, unscrew, and the light comes away!!!

Took me a short while to figure that one ;)