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Hi folks. I have been looking for a performance family car for some time now and having recently moved the time has come to buy one!

I was initially looking at a Porsche cayenne then moved to Audi S6 and BMW M5 and was set on one of those until someone mentioned the ISF. Never owned a lexus before but have been doing a lot of digging and the car looks superb!

Only thing that seems to put people off is the hard ride but that is the same with the S6 so not an issue for me.

I look forward to reading the forum and learning more about the car as I continue my research for a 2008 model.

Any hints or tips would be appreciated. Only questions I have are:

1. is there an approved dealer in or near Chelmsford for servicing?

2. Can you turn of the beep on the shifting?

Stu

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Good choice! You won't regret it one bit. They are a fantastic performance car and very exclusive.

I don't know about any dealers in Chelmsford but they are easy to maintain and nothing in particular to look out for. Many in the States are well over 100k miles without issues.

If you mean the rev limiter beep don't worry I've never heard it once while I've had my car. Just certain journalists looking to pick faults because they can't find anything else!

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Welcome Stuart. I was recently in the same position and did lots of research on this and the US forum (both are great BTW). What I couldn't believe was that, after wading through pages and pages of forum posts, it was clear that the ISF was unbelievably reliable.

There have been the odd water pump leakage but aside from that, nothing. Have a look through M3 or C63 forums and I guarantee you won't have to look far until you read about some issue or other.

I subsequently managed to land an ultra low mileage 58 plate from a main dealer and have never been happier with any car I have owned; I absolutely adore it. Yes the ride is bumpy compared to the 450h I had before; however, it is well damped and in no way like a hot hatch or road rally car. On decent roads it's a pleasure and on motorways I find it very comfortable.

As well as shattering performance and unrivalled reliability, I have managed to get 36mpg out of it on a steady motorway run (70mph). I understand that the M3 is quicker around a track and the C63 is also meant to be better, but truthfully, neither hold a candle to the F in terms of the complete package (and I genuinely think the F looks the best of the three). Given the car's rarity and reliability, I personally think they will hold their value pretty well once enough people who are in this kind of market realise that old and leggy M3s are just going to be money-pits.

The last thing I will mention is the dealers. Every Lexus dealership I have been in have treated me like royalty and I have yet to go into any other that even comes close.

Good luck finding one and I promise you that you won't regret it once you do.

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Thanks for the reply. This is now the car I am looking for in earnest and have already seen a nice one Birmingham. Will wait and be sure before pulling the trigger.

What do you think a reasonable price is from a dealer?

Stu

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Thanks for the reply. This is now the car I am looking for in earnest and have already seen a nice one Birmingham. Will wait and be sure before pulling the trigger.

What do you think a reasonable price is from a dealer?

Stu

Depends on its condition. Reasonable mileage and good condition will be circa 21k from Lexus, maybe more. Independent dealer might be 20 or just under but with so few about it can be a toss of coin in some regards. Very low mileage seems to attract higher prices but that is of course the norm for any car.

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One I like is up for 19k. Was going to ask for 17 and go from there if i go and look at it.

Seems an incredible car! All the extras I was looking for on the s6 are stock on this car such as memory seats, iPod connection, phone prep, cd changer, rear camera...

It also looks a lot nicer than the audi and the BMW IMO. Can't believe I only found out about it yesterday!!

Reminds me of the Mazda 3 mps aero I used to own. Amazing hot hatch at time of launch but no one knew anything about them for years.

Stu

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I read this forum for about 16 months before buying mine. It was incredibly useful and gave a consistent picture of quality, reliability and performance.

It took 16 months as I was in no rush; I'd only bought my previous car (WRX Sti) a year before deciding the IS-F was next for me. For 6 months before buying I checked the Lexus used website several times a week to get an idea of pricing. The dealers would adjust prices up and down by several thousand pounds between weeks as they tried to move stock. If you can wait a few months, it is really interseting to carefully track prices and see which cars are hanging around. Mine had been at Wolverhampton for 8 months before I booked to go and see it. Despite driving 60 miles for the appointment, they juniour sales girl refused me a test drive and offered me an offensively low trade in price, so I walked out. I called back a couple of weeks later and spoke to someone sensible. After some pleasant haggling I got what I wanted, and we did the deal by phone. Apart from my first visit, the dealership was brilliant.

I can endorse Keith's point; the dealerships at Stoke, Chester and Stockport are also outstanding

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post a link to any car you are considering as we may know it. For example i walked away from a black one earlier this year due to accident damage, picked up by a full rac inspection. My 08 has, well had, 44k miles and is very tidy other than more stone chips on the bonnet than ideal, still under Lexus (extended) warranty. Paid just over 20k from targaflorio cars on the south coast. Very happy with it, although I'm still gutted keith-w found one with, i think, 18000 miles on an 08 plate!

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post a link to any car you are considering as we may know it. For example i walked away from a black one earlier this year due to accident damage, picked up by a full rac inspection. My 08 has, well had, 44k miles and is very tidy other than more stone chips on the bonnet than ideal, still under Lexus (extended) warranty. Paid just over 20k from targaflorio cars on the south coast. Very happy with it, although I'm still gutted keith-w found one with, i think, 18000 miles on an 08 plate!

Mines got more miles than yours mate lol , 20 k more lol , miles are nowt man if the car gas history who cares lol

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post a link to any car you are considering as we may know it. For example i walked away from a black one earlier this year due to accident damage, picked up by a full rac inspection. My 08 has, well had, 44k miles and is very tidy other than more stone chips on the bonnet than ideal, still under Lexus (extended) warranty. Paid just over 20k from targaflorio cars on the south coast. Very happy with it, although I'm still gutted keith-w found one with, i think, 18000 miles on an 08 plate!

Lol. Sorry mate but mine had just 14k miles when I bought it and it's on a 58 plate. Yes I agree, I was lucky!

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