Are Old Is's Getting Too Cheap?

[Raymond.]

Seems like prices are dropping by the day!

Look at these two.

Linky thing 1

Linky thing 2

No affiliation BTW

[wicked677]

These cars along with the Kia Magentis are the best kept secrets ;)

[noby76]

Lexus over engineeres thier cars and regardless of thier age they give the notion, they should be worth more than they are now due to thier build quality but like all cars, Lexus do depreciate with age aswell hence the ford KA prices they fetch today and as Andy said they are best kept secrets. I mean how many cars have been engineered to last a minimum of 20 years including paint work before they start rattling and squeaking?? my IS300 is 10 years old and I am still waiting to hear a rattle and squeak when driving and i recon i can get another 10 years trouble free miles if its maintained as Lexus intended and valeted often to keep paint job in good condition.

Like they say, always finance a premium German car and always buy a premium Japanese car second hand because the German car will cost an arm and leg to maintain after your warranty runs out and wont be fun to own anymore whereas the second hand premium Japanese wont drive any different at 100K miles compared to when new and will still keep going if one keeps these three things changed regularly

1. oil
   
2. coolant
   
3. spark plugs
   

thats it.

[Steve]

hell of a car for the money these days

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

You sure can get a lot of car for your money with these! I think their so cheap because not many people really know about the IS.

[Raymond.]

GS300 sub 1K

I'm looking to buy my misses a new shape Celica and 53-04 plates are all around 2K. Cheap as chips! Just finding the right one without leather is the hardest part.

[Dewfallsuk]

Every one is getting out of big cars and opting for efficient cheap to run motors.

The Lexus is a great and reliable car but at £270 Road Tax and sub 30 mpg @ 1.30 p/Lt, it just don't make sense to many on tight budgets.

Supply and demand dictates low prices we live in a market driven economy. I bought my 03 plate back last March for £2800 with 72,000 miles with full Lexus history, I would not have paid more than £3k for a 10 year old car of this type no matter what it's pedigree.

[wicked677]

For a family looking for a "cheap" run around, I think the IS is great value for money. Sure you can pay out £10k for a tiny car with good MPG. I mean your options for say a 2003 saloon car are the Ford Mondeo and Vectra, both of which will probably cost you money in maintenance. Whereas the IS so far "touch wood" has not cost me a penny, except £5.50 wiper blades.

Even with a diesel car of this age, unless you are doing a certain number of miles per year you won't get your money back. One of the sole reasons I have not purchased a new car at the moment is because there is no point. Why pay out £15k on a newer car that does 45MPG when I can keep my car which is valued at about 2.5k that does 30k. I don't work in finance but I am sure that the numbers are in my favour. Coupled with the fact I still have a lovely car that is a headturner.

Some of you may laugh when I say the Kia Magentis is another great car that has gone under the radar. Only the other day I saw an 07 automatic with about 50k on the clock marked up at 3k. Full leather interior, electric everything, V6 engine. It depends on what you want from a car, if you have got it in your head you want better MPG, pay more for the car and more on maintenance.

I think people are so fixated with MPG now as it is drilled home in such a way that the tax bands have changed, news on TV, prices going up. 30mpg is still excellent for a car of this age, considering it was probably on the drawing board at 1996/7

Dewfallsuk is absolutely right about people wanting smaller cars now, considering the roads are getting more and more smaller with allsorts of crap painted on them. Tesco reducing the size of their carpark spaces so you can just about fit a trolley in them. The big car is on it;s way out and has been for some years.

[sjrainsford]

GS300 sub 1K

I'm looking to buy my misses a new shape Celica and 53-04 plates are all around 2K. Cheap as chips! Just finding the right one without leather is the hardest part.

Just watch that 1.8 engine if going for the none valve lift one!

But yes, I feel I've had a great car for the money. Most people want small efficient cars now, so these cars seem to fetch more on average.

[Dewfallsuk]

Wicked, you are absolutely right but the general buyer might not consider maintenance at that time. In fact they might perceive the IS as expencive car " parts & labour" which as an owner I have found the opposite as the IS is at heart a basic design, which goes to confirm your best kept secret.

The tax thing may well change if we get a Tory government again as the tax returns from road tax is dropping faster than they expected. Car manufactures have been able to design cars with much lower CO2 than they expected. This will force the gov to a pay as you go model, although they will probably band this to CO or cost. What ever way they will look to protect the tax take, and I know one thing it never goes down?

[noby76]

GS300 sub 1K

I'm looking to buy my misses a new shape Celica and 53-04 plates are all around 2K. Cheap as chips! Just finding the right one without leather is the hardest part.

another underated sport coupe those Celicas mainly the VVTL-i 190 get one of those for the misses and i bet you would enjoy driving that more than the IS200 those are little screamer engines with enough acceleration to give most V8's a run for thier money from 0 all the way to 140mph :winky: but i suppose you wont be driving it that way..

[Raymond.]

Just watch that 1.8 engine if going for the none valve lift one!

Any problems with the 1ZZ engine?

[Raymond.]

another underated sport coupe those Celicas mainly the VVTL-i 190 get one of those for the misses and i bet you would enjoy driving that more than the IS200 those are little screamer engines with enough acceleration to give most V8's a run for thier money from 0 all the way to 140mph :winky: but i suppose you wont be driving it that way..

She's got a gen6 Celica atm and I can't say I like driving that! She loves it though. I wouldn't say I 'like' driving the IS that much neither.... Maybe I'm just getting old.. The IS is a very pretty looking car but there's not an awful lot of comfort..

Only other thing is the gen7 is not available in purple which is putting her off She said that she wouldn't mind having an IS when we picked it up last month, I said you can't have two IS's on the drive as that'll look weird and said you can have mine and I'll buy a GS. Not gone down well.....

[matt-c]

You sure can get a lot of car for your money with these! I think their so cheap because not many people really know about the IS.

Much more likely that the IS gives shocking MPG compared to many other cars of it's form and engine size, and other makes are cheaper to maintain/service.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

another underated sport coupe those Celicas mainly the VVTL-i 190 get one of those for the misses and i bet you would enjoy driving that more than the IS200 those are little screamer engines with enough acceleration to give most V8's a run for thier money from 0 all the way to 140mph :winky: but i suppose you wont be driving it that way..

She's got a gen6 Celica atm and I can't say I like driving that! She loves it though. I wouldn't say I 'like' driving the IS that much neither.... Maybe I'm just getting old.. The IS is a very pretty looking car but there's not an awful lot of comfort..

Only other thing is the gen7 is not available in purple which is putting her off She said that she wouldn't mind having an IS when we picked it up last month, I said you can't have two IS's on the drive as that'll look weird and said you can have mine and I'll buy a GS. Not gone down well.....

I can see why you think the IS isn't very comfy, coming from a 7series and a 5 series! My dad drives a Alfa 159 and compared to his my car is not luxurious at all!

Compared to my old Honda Accord tho the IS is pure luxury!

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

You sure can get a lot of car for your money with these! I think their so cheap because not many people really know about the IS.

Much more likely that the IS gives shocking MPG compared to many other cars of it's form and engine size, and other makes are cheaper to maintain/service.

Yeah never thought of that to be honest.

[Ian M]

Yup, so cheap I can't afford to sell mine - good job I love it and don't want to sell it!

[sprinter2012]

I think they seem to be getting cheaper because as has already been said, they just last so long that whereas another make of car would be on the scrap heap by now, the IS200 is still going strong so there are a lot of high mileage or just old models going for very cheap.

But the lower mileage ones don't seem too be doing too badly, although they are dropping too because they just aren't an economical car.

[petayV8]

People are way to obsessed with MPG these days, which is good for me because means i can pick up an amazing car for peanuts! not to say these cars are gas guzzlers, to me a V8 has bad MPG not a 2.0 that can do 35+ on the highway, but ppl go OTT with this stuff.

In the US these cars are well in excess of 7k, which is more like what there worth in my opinion. Its a shame tho because im emigrating there end of this year and dont think ill be able to afford one at first :(

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/3525656427.html

[Raymond.]

Is the rear bumper on the US models different? It looks longer/sticking out more on the back.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Pretty sure their exactly the same Ray.

[Exdee]

I would agree with Matt here. It's because of the MPG!!

Same reason an Audi A4 2.0 TDI usually fetches more than an Audi A4 2.7 TDI. People are anal over MPG these days and It's no secret that MPG on Lexus vehicles sucks.

The Hybrid IS due to be launched soon will probably hold its value much much better than the previous generations.

[noby76]

yep looks like mpg is what sells cars in UK/Europe these day. I mean someone will pay e.g £10,000 more on a new/newish car just because it returns 2 - 5mpg more than another car of the same level and spec. looks like most car buyers these days have drilled mpg figures into thier heads when looking at cars that they forget to do the maths and factor other aspects like running costs, reliability, servicing cost etc. I mean whats the point in buying a car which returns 50mpg but brekas down or throws engine management lights every now and again? even if its on warranty, the inconvenience of not being with a car for a couple of days every time alone will p***s one off compared to another car which does 25mpg cost £10,000 less to buy in the first place and never sees a mechanic until its due an Oil change.

Yes we all want to save money on fuel costs but I tend not to dwell on mpg figures alone and put other factors into consideration before buying a car. my IS300 is officially meant to return 26mpg on the combined cycle but I am getting 31mpg in real world combined motorway and town driving mainly 70% mway 30% town and I have read stories of owners whos cars are meant to return 50mpg but they actually get 35mpg so looks like am winning :)

[sprinter2012]

Is the rear bumper on the US models different? It looks longer/sticking out more on the back.

Yes the USDM version does have a deeper rear bumper, which is why if you ever buy an IS300 exhaust that has come from the states (like I did) then you will notice that it sticks out past the bumper about an inch.

You also have to be careful if you want to fit rear lips that have come from the states too.

[Stuart Aspey]

I don't think my reply is going to add anything, but I just wanted to agree with a couple of other replies. Yes the age of the vehicle will still cause a car to depreciation in value. T reg for under a grand, regardless of car, I wouldn't want to pay more, unless you're talking about a sports car.

People are looking at more economical cars, so the is' s are not going to be considered by many. They are left for those who like the look and don't care about petrol use, and we are definately in the few. I think that a number of 98-03 is' s could end up being scrapped because people can't afford to run them. £270.00 a year for tax as well!?!

Stuart