Why Did You Buy A Lexus?

[noby76]

Wanted to find out why you guys opted for a Lexus..sure you could have gotten a Merc, Audi , BMW or top end Ford? .

• Got a Lexus because i wanted something you dont see a lot on the roads Merc, Audi and BMW's are everywhere infact no day passes without me seeing an average of 5 of these cars on the roads which makes a Mondeo/Vauxhall a very rare sight.
  
• Wanted something with a bit of luxury, style and taste.
  
• What also sealed it for me was the fact that the car is built by the number 1 car manufacter in the world(Toyota) who are known for buliding rigid and reliable cars that can see the back of 300,000 miles on same engines and gearboxes.(if maintained)
  

tell us why you went for Lexus instead :)

[IHgs300]

Always wanted an Is200 since they came out, finally became affordable and bought one (well ive had 4 and an is300 so far). Used to have a ...dare i say it a..... vectra ! but was fed up of rust after every winter.

[dave1]

I was looking at a Merc but the main dealer messed me around after we had agreed a deal. I told them they had 30 mins to sort it out but when they phoned after 90 mins I was not impressed with their timekeeping. Happened to be looking at cars at Lexus Coventry and purchased a '96 GS300 Sport which served me well for 6 yrs until I chopped it for my current GS430 4 yrs ago.........so 10 yrs of Lexus with no problems.......touching lots of wood!!!!!

[wicked677]

A combination of things:

1. Value for money, the car was only 3k, 75k miles, 2003 and looked the part (will struggle to get anything like that price with a BMW/MERC/AUDI).

2. Insurance purposes, being 21 at the time of purchase it was cheaper to insure than my older 1.2 corsa.

3. Looks, as pointed out earlier - Don't see many around compared to BMW/MERC/AUDI

4. Very reliable car and comfortable but with some extra power.

I see this car as a 'gateway' drug, I know my next car will be another Lexus and the one after that. As I get older I'd like to try and be able to afford the LS :P I hope!

[north]

Simply couldn't ignore the price and while I was driving it home it grew on me...

Luxury & everything worked properly except for the OEM radio cd changer.... then I put my foot down and found that it wasn't having problems going fast. There is just one thing I want to change and that is the front if that is a fact then the IS will stay for a longer period and might even end up with either a 2JZ-GTE VVTi Turbo conversion or the RB26 Nissan Skyline GTR conversion or worse a V8 conversion ( nice dreams right now :D )

[sprinter2012]

1. You get a lot of car for the money, how many other cars of the same value give you stuff like climate control, heated seats, 6 speed gearbox etc.

2. It's a pretty good looking saloon if you ask me

3. Rear wheel drive, no point having 150hp if it's all going through the front wheels

4. The straight 6 sounds lovely

5. Because it's so economic to run...oh no, wait....

[The Transporter]

5. Because it's so economic to run...oh no, wait....

Ah! Here's a tip... If you buy a 3 tonne van and a 4 litre Jeep then the Lexus will automatically become almost Prius like and you will no longer worry about economy

[sprinter2012]

Ah! Here's a tip... If you buy a 3 tonne van and a 4 litre Jeep then the Lexus will automatically become almost Prius like and you will no longer worry about economy

haha, all things are relative...

[kenfoxy]

Provided it has been maintained and you understand the 25 mpg in town and you put good wet weather tyres on it, then the IS200 is a lovely reliable small luxury car.

[darkoracle]

I was looking for refinement at a good price.

I've had Mercs in the past, but the level of fitment within is not up to the Lexus, or at least you would have to pay for it as extras.

They are also not as well known (generally by the public) as Mercs and BMWs and I like that anonimity.

This is my first Lexus (IS250 Advance, now had it two months) - Would I buy another? Too early to say, but I make the following observations.

Electric everything:-

This always seems good at the time, but when you have set the seats once and you are the only driver, those motors will never get used again until the next owner. Electric windows are nearly standard in many mid-range cars.

Voice activation:-

Again seems great at the time until you realise it doesn't always work well and you end up just pressing the buttons.

Sat Nav:-

Brilliant, but again becoming standard in many mid-range cars.

Leather:-

Yes, definitely worth it.

Heated front seats:-

Yes (from my wife), but I already have these in my Freelander.

Comfort:-

Quite impressive, though I don't like the firmer ride - much prefer the gliding feel of the Merc (E class).

Sound system:-

Excellent - and love the USB slot which holds as many tracks as you are likely to want.

Engine/Auto box:-

Smooth and enough power and torque for me. (Beats the Merc's straight four).

- alhough the top gear in the auto range is never engaged - so not sure what's going on there.

Security:-

Brilliant - though would have liked the auto-locking mechanism, when the car is left unattended for n minutes.

General Build quality:-

So far seems excellent.

Economy:-

Well we don't buy these cars to do 80mpg do we?

Cost of upkeep:-

Same applies really. If you buy any top lane car you have to expect higher costs.

Dealership care:-

Not too impressed (my experience so far), though I've read many heart warming tales on LOC forums.

The advertised spec. for mine was inaccurate and I found many inconsistencies.

Once they had my money, it was difficult to get anyone to take an interest in my follow-up points.

[matt-c]

Had a string of boy racer cars (XR3i's, RS Turbo's etc) when younger, then a string of cheap "normal runner" cars (1.6L Orion, 1.8 Si Escort, and most recently a 1.4 Rover 200!) before getting my IS last month

I'd always quite liked the IS from when it first came out (which was only a year after I got my license!) but forgot about it when I got into the boy racer cars. Then a couple years ago (when I had the Escort Si) I randomly started thinking about the IS again (I think I must have done a screen on one at work or something to jog my memory on them). I'd been thinking about changing for a better car for a while, and wanted something a bit more refined, comfortable, and newer than the Escort or Rover - I'd looked at Astra's and Focus', but realised they are just newer, but more or less the same as what I'd had, so decided to look up market a little more; VW (Golf), Audi (A4), BMW (E46), or Merc (C180 Kompressor)

Merc quickly fell off the list as I realised I'm 30, not 60! Golf's were looking good for the budget and spec, but a friend has had 2, so decided to look at something different. The A4's were great, but out of my price range for what I wanted (I'd want at least the 1.8T S Line, but preferably a Quattro), and while the Beemer's seem like great cars, and are probably better than the IS at more or less everything (drive, fuel economy, power, etc), and were cheaper, they just didn't wow me, and I'd have ended up paying more to get a nicer spec'd one (interior, bodykit, bigger rims, etc)

So I started looking at IS' again. Drove a couple, and whilst I was sorely tempted to go for a lazy-boy auto for my next car, I just decided that the 4 speed auto in the SE wasn't what I was after (although the 5 speed auto in the 300 with tiptronic is more my thing) and everyone says the 6sp manual is so good, I decided to go for a Sport as it seemed to tick most of the boxes; drives really nice, sure footed and handles nicely; not the quickest (actually underpowered) but pulls nicely enough, like the looks, outside and in, comfortable, quiet, smooth, loaded with leccy stuff - apart from it being a bit slow and not great on fuel it seemed like the clear winner - so I bought one!

And I really like it. There's a few things I'd like to change on it. It definitely needs more power; the 200 should have had the power of the 300 from the start. It ABSOLUTELY needs the front armrest, and a few little tweaks here and there like the auto mirror mod and a more up to date dash light colour scheme. And ideally a set of TTE front and rear bumpers and 6 spoke 18's ;) Or maybe a TRD kit...

The other thing is that most places you read and most owners you speak to (and luckily in that respect, my job is in the car world, so I get to speak to people about their cars everyday) all say they are really happy with the IS and say it incredibly reliable and virtually bullet proof if looked after

Only thing really is I'm not looking forward to the snow in it...!

[sjrainsford]

I've always fancied an IS200 since they came out. I've recently gone from running a Toyota Prius which was a great car. But it was on finance due to having it for a previous job. After the change of job it became financially unviable to run a car that saved me money, but was negated by the finance payments. I decided to opt for budget sub £2k motoring as it makes running a less efficient car much more viable. The IS200 is now firmly in that territory so my chance came!

Apart from that, I personally really like Toyota/ Lexus cars and have had quite a few now. All with very few faults, but those that had them were quite easily sorted. I'm also a fan of this and the Toyota owners club forums. I've not found many others to match this.

All of tha above make up for happy motoring!