Should I Buy An Is200 Se?

[krosfyah]

Hi all, been wanting to get my hands on an IS for years, just got a new job and feel like updating my car (which i've had for 6 years now - a 1995 Fiat Punto Sporting).

The Lexus IS200 SE is ticking all the boxes right now, aside from the fuel consumption which seems pretty heavy from what i can gather, although i don't drive more than a few hundred miles tops a month anyway, so that's not a HUGE concern.

The problems i have, which are hard to really quantify and feed in to the "weighting equation" of the yay or nay on getting the car are this...

1 - i live in an area of SE London that has seen approx 6 combined break in's/vandalism attacks on my Fiat over the last 4 years. This has either been smashing a window and/or pulling the top of the door frame open, or just randomly keying the car, booting it on one of the door panels, breaking off a wing mirror etc - all infuriating things. I have no reason to believe anyone has a personal grudge against me, it's just endemic of the area i live in - which isn't necessarily "the hood" as such, but there are ghetto rats here and there that **** things up for the majority even though they are in the minority. As a result, i've always said i would never buy a nice car while i live in this area. Now, i have taken in the last 18 months parking the car away from the front of the flat (which is where 95% of all the problems happened) and i now park a 5 min walk away in a quiet cul de sac, but still, i think if i dropped £7/8k on an IS, i might find it psychologically a worry compared to my Punto, currently worth about £500 due to all the vandal damage.

2 - i'm unsure of the running costs. I would probably prefer to go Lexus serviced all the way, but have no idea how much it costs to run one of these puppies. If anyone could please give me an idea of average yearly running costs, i would be grateful indeed. At the moment, im getting about £700/year full comp for business use protected NCB insurance costs with 7 years of NCB (endemic of my area) so i know insurance and tax alone is going to set me back circa £1000, but i figure yearly running costs (excluding fuel) could easily be another grand plus if i need parts, say factor in another grand on top of that - so between £2000-3000/year just to run it sans fuel - does this sound about right to you guys?

Thanks if anyone can help me weigh things up objectively - im sort of torturing myself not knowing what to do here - i keep bouncing from "its affordable and forget about worrying about the car, it will just be such a pleasure to drive that you should go ahead and get one" to "its going to cost a fortune to run each year, you dont need to drive much anyway, and the local kids will make a wreck of it".

[Parthiban]

Welcome to LOC mate!

Can't really help with the vandalism thing except that that would scare the :tsktsk: out of me too having to leave the car where that kind of thing is a regular occurrence........

However, I don't think you'll regret buying the car at all. As you've already mentioned, fuel consumption is the only real downside - otherwise there's not really much else wrong :)

I've had my car since new for just over 5 years now, and have always had it serviced at Lexus. So far the car has actually not cost me any more each year than its service (touchwood!), all I've replaced are things like brake pads, tyres and one Battery. The service sets me back on average about £400-450, but as that's the only expense every year doesn't really bother me much.

As far as the car goes, as long as you get a good one that's been looked after and has full Lexus history, I don't think there'll be much to worry about............

Good luck finding the right car!

[Rikos]

I'm not sure where your looking for your service costs but it should not cost you anywhere near £1000!!

So far i've bought new discs and pads for the front which cost me £112. New tyres all round which was £240 and a service for £300 and thats all. I found that the running costs for me are less than my old clio 1.8 was costing and thats not including the nightmare of a £1200 bill!!!

You will also find that you will save money on running your lex by beeing in a member of the LOC as the majority of the time it's where to look for parts or servicing. Even if you stick for a lexus service history, all the dealers charge different rates.

The only worry you should have would be the vandalism aspect as i'd be gutted to come out and find my car scratched or dented due to some little :tsktsk: :tsktsk: !!

But the bottom line answer from me is YES get an IS and you wont regret it.

[IanB]

I agree, you won't regret it. I started on an IS200SE and I was sold by the test drive. It's a fun car to drive, handles well, good seats, slick gearbox, booming stereo and it just oozes class.

Go for it!

IanB :D

[Noel]

Body panels are expensive though.... maybe you should consider moving? as scum hate nice cars so will probably get targeted.... :(