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Cheers Chaps. Dropping the car off tomorrow with Lee at SRD to have the PPE headers, PPE mid-pipes with race spec hi-flow cat's, and suspension raised a tad! Lol. Once that lot is done, car will be treated to it's RR-Racing performance intake and further tune from the OBD 2 hand controller. That I believe is as far as I can go for now, as the only other real performance step left is the RR-Racing supercharger kit. That'll hopefully be next year if I can save up enough dosh! Matt is a master when it comes to lighting, angles, dramatic backdrops etc. So glad he was happy to sell me the photos he took. I'm going to get them printed off and framed at some stage to hang in the garage (wife won't let me have them up in the house! Lol).

Good morning all, Well I've been a member since 07 I think and I originally had a IS Sportcross which I loved. I always wanted an LS though and have been close to buying one on a few occasions and have made various posts on here. Anyway my mind was set and I just wanted a 430. So yesterday a put a deposit down on a 06 plate silver with black leather. The car has had two owners and the dealer sold it to the second owner in 08 and has bought it back from them, which i think is good sign. 81,000 miles with full Lexus history from Edgware Road. I rang the dealer went over the history and nothing unusual came to light, just it seems a well maintained car. Also I checked the MOT history and noted it's never failed one and had few advisory's. I did pay top end at £6995, but it's the car i want in the colour I want. Also a low mileage car. Lastly I was pleased it was registered January 06 so have avoided the car tax hike to £515. To say I'm excited is an understatement and I collect the car next Thursday. Will post some pics next weekend. I have always liked and enjoyed this forum and hope to be a more active member of it. Oh and can I connect my phone to blue tooth (does it have blue tooth even?) or will i need a Parrot? All the best for the day, Nick in Sheffield

At the end of the day it is a 14 year old car and buying it now, you have no idea how often its been washed or sealed underneath etc so there's bound to be rust somewhere or other! Having said that, if the body is fine thats awesome! Take a 14 year old Merc or BMW and you may find that the arches no longer exist!

At first glance this RX looks ready equipped to deal with the sky rats ! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-56-LEXUS-RX-400H-3-3-SE-CVT-5DR-/112345156147?hash=item1a284b0a33:g:S3gAAOSwB-1Y0~P5

Hope it gets sorted soon. I was up at Kemble today. When I pulled up, I thought you were there!

Yep, plus you can flash the card at the till in Halfords for 15% off.

Disappointing Lexus turn out (4) but not too bad for a school night. Fantastic venue... @peter174 @Chetz

Wow what a car ! I'm currently in Japan on holiday and went to the Toyota factory today on a tour then to their museum where they had a LC and a LFA plus various others. Took a few pictures, you could sit in the LC but not the LFA . Awesome car .

My dash lit up like a Christmas tree yesterday while on the motorway. Traction control was disabled, check VSC & CEL were on and I was understandably worried! There is a lot of info from lexus owners about the vsc light but nothing relating to the isf. Apparently it covers a range of issues from loose fuel cap to broken ecu's 😯. It seems like most issues aren't actually related to the engine or the traction control system! Got the car to my friendly mechanic for a diagnostic and it turns out it's the oxygen sensors for the cats. There was no voltage going to either of them so he suspects it's a broken wire rather than the sensors themselves. Going back on Wednesday to get it fixed. Not really a suprise as the bottom of the car was rubbing on the track so much 😳 This is purely down to how low and soft my coilovers are, shouldn't put anyone else of track days 🖒

Guys, after much searching I'm struggling to find a definitive answer regarding whether headers can be sought with Cats or are they all without. I'm looking to change exhaust system also and am leaning towards H+S as they are UK based and have chatted to them regarding my requirements. PPE and Sikky both state they remove the cat but also state cats can be fitted. No mention of how to source the headers though. Will I have to buy and get the TIG welder out to modify myself? I know H+S systems are used by a few on here, I've looked at Borla and JoeZ also, have missed any good ones? Appreciate that the search function is there but it's sometimes easy to get confused by some of the threads Marcus

I have altered the exhaust – have a bigger bore pipe from the centre resonator to the boxes and have twin boxes fitted (4 exit tailpipes) so I have improved the flow of gasses exiting the engine, albeit from the centre box. Before I done all this I fitted an oiled K&N panel filter (have done this to all the cars I have had as it does give some benefit in performance) so I have increased slightly the air into the engine also. I have not gone down the full route of converting the intake, just changed the filter to a lifetime one. If I was looking for a bigger power output (which I am not) my next step would be to have it tuned but it can’t be done on these engines anyway but I am not worried about that. The filter is expensive at first compared to replacing a normal one every year but it has been in the car that long now that its paid for itself. No noticeable difference in noise between the K&N| one to stock one. I clean it every year – it states its good for 100k before cleaning – can’t see how they can claim that as they don’t know the environment the car is being driven in. Once a year is no hassle as while the filter is drying out I put the original one back in if I know I am going to be driving it in the meantime. In doing this I can compare the differences between both filters and can say that there is a noticeable difference between them both – the K&N one makes the car more responsive and initial acceleration is better but after a while with the K&N one in you can’t tell the difference until the next time its cleaned and you can do the comparrison. Always wondered if the ECU compensates for the change immediately? I would recommend the filter – but I guess its personal preference really. As for the exhaust – I didn’t set out to make it a twin pipe but I found a set of boxes that fitted perfectly so went with them – what’s been about 6 months with it on – I have only had one issue with it in I noticed a weeping weld which I sorted. Still to put the diffuser on but have started to mod it so it can fit over the twin pipes (It was only for a single pipe exit both sides so have altered it to twin box exit on both sides) Will get it painted and placed on the car next along with a front splitter which will be painted at the same time. I must say how easy it was to do the exhaust and it worked out peanuts cost wise to an OEM or even a stainless one. Still got the stainless one which I need to clean up and may sell. I wont go down the route of stainless again as it seemed to drain a lot of the power from the can and make it uncomfortable to drive due to the drone. I can easily replace this with another mild steel one as I have the pattern for it so it wont take long and the hassle is gone from guessing what the angles are etc ...

40k service a few months back, got 15% off service and 25% off the parts used, so yes more than paid for itself in one hit 👍 Big Rat

i just smile at the Lady on the service desk and say if you don't give me 15% of ill buy a BMW that seems to work, have just paid £478 for the second year 20k service on my RC-F. should have been £545

I do run a second car, as a day to day car I have a Honda Civic 1.6 Sport , not quite sure where the Sport bit comes in, great car, cheap to run and super reliable keeping the ISF for weekends etc, but to answer your question I would consider one at the right money when I am ready to change.

ECP currently doing 30% off.. Pair of Brembp front discs and pads coming in at £214 with discount. Use code: Sale56

Hi Mark. No, no need for O2 conditioners as the tune can factor this in to avoid any CEL issues. Still need the sensors, so hoping SRD can get them off my OEM manifolds without damaging them! Fingers crossed!! Yes, special order from PPE themselves. They have to fabricate them specially for you being RHD.

Only just seen this question @Big Rat 2007 RX350 great car, colour was Champagne 2008 IS220d good but 6th gear was useless below 80mph, fuel consumption was rubbish as well. Colour was.........................................silver....................... 2010 IS250F Sport great car. looked the business, a bit underpowered, in Ultra Blue.................naturally............... As I said all 3 were used everyday and the RX and IS diesel had a lot of miles in a short space of time and not one penny had to be spent on them, not even a bulb needed replacing.

Dramatic photo's, Matt caught some good angles of your car. 👍

Well provided its green when you drive in the voltages will be up. The Jury in my brain is out as far as whether its a good thing battery wise or not - what's good in the short term isn't always good long term ? mmm leaning towards the probably ok view. I'm not schizophrenic -- are we???

I did love my GS 450h f-sport and its a car i could quite easily go back to.i only had it 4 years but did not have any issues at all, although i only covered around 12k.

You're not wrong, I wouldn't have sold it if I wasn't trying to be practical, but as being practical seems to have failed I'm back to being impractical! Drove it for the first time in nearly two weeks today, what a fine car, I think it'll have to stay after all!

Yep - a year too for me in my 2012 black ISF (have done about 3.5K miles in that time). Mind you with my previous 08 ISF I now have about five years time with the ISF and counting

@Peter P18 Got the mag tucked away, those are great pictures 👍 Big Rat

Here's a few more. Would highly recommend Matt to anyone looking to get some good photos taken.

Thanks to Matt Woods for these epic photos he took of my car for the Banzai feature back in October.

@Flytvr Davi that could not have been @Rusty Crobar Russ as what you would have seen as the driver walked off is this, as a result of his recent racetrack out, now he says on here a mate of his a mechanic is going to sort his grounded bottom for him, personally I think he needs a doctor, just my opinion of course 😂

Fingers crossed for a simple and cheap fix!

Oh I bet that's annoying and a potential £1100 bill makes it doubly so! I'm sure I've read about some kind of protection that can be applied to reduce the impact of stone chips so that might be worth investigating. I think I'd be inclined to see what the touch-up repair looks like and put the full respray on hold for the time being

Quote: its the enjoyment from driving the car and the presence of it on the road I could not agree more. A trip to Bristol in a noisy diesel at 42 mpg or in the LS400 at 30 mpg? - no contest..... but........ if I only got 20mpg ... might have to think again!

I kind of think that the mpg is irrelevant providing that its reasonable, its the enjoyment from driving the car and the presence of it on the road (like a needle in a haystack compared to some brands where you will pass 4 or 5 same models in a row!)

@Rusty Crobar Sorry to hear that matey an easy fix hopefully, be careful with grounding your bottom, nasty thing that gravel rash 👹 Big Rat

Kelly did you get this sorted? or atleast find out what was cauing your symptoms?

@Spacewagon52 Just seen this from you, in was my playground in the 60's happy days were had by us all, Dad used to do sand yachting there back in the days when that started out, great fun 👍 Big Rat

Not me

Hi Graham, Unfortunately not direct from Lexus but a company called Rykar in London. However it seems to all add up. I have sent a comprehensive email asking what to check before I get there and what I will be checking. Your's was a great price from Lexus, I note there's one 430 with Lexus at the mo. 06 with 70k i think and they want 11K! This dealer has been very helpful, polite and did me a good price. I wish i didn't get excited by cars......

.......... a while ago i was selling my 1932 Triumph tourer and a prospective purchaser sent me £1000 deposit, his wife went mad, refused to let him have yet another car and he cancelled the deal. No amount of persuasion could convince him to take a refund of the deposit from me so I kept it ! and the car too which is in fine fettle and can often be seen around the local roads in Newmarket at the weekends in fine weather Malc

Llantwit Major - Marcross Valley brings back happy memories of 1974!

Hey Stuart, I'll pop a new thread up soon to catch you guys up on the latest raft of modifications I've done. I actually have a tune already on my car right now. The current one factors in my H&S exhaust, and the RR-Racing intake pipe/TRD panel filter. Also moves the rev limiter to 7,200RPM from the 6,800 OEM limit. I've been doing a load of 4th gear pulls recently to get things bedded in. Butt dyno says it's more responsive than before, and pulls stronger especially in the mid-range. The beep for the rev limiter still goes off at 6,800, but the needle does keep going round to the 7,200 mark. Should be fun with these next bits done. Been waiting a while for this stage!

@Peter P18 stunning looking car, really like the little detail changes that people wouldn't notice at first like the steering wheel and carbon interior trim. Great photos too 🖒

Very doubtful you will have any hybrid battery issues till between 145,000 - 190,000 or till 2023 wouldn't worry about that, its got a 10 yr 100,000m warranty on battery anyway. Richard

Which thought.

Good post, it does seem the car stands up well to a good thrashing with little or no consequences, I had the pleasure of pushing mine very hard for around 120 miles last year on a road trip to Andorra, extremely hard braking from 3 figure speeds in and around the Pyrenees and as you say no fade and all temperatures remaining normal, great car.

I have the current GS (13 plate), but the 250 so I cant comment on the hybrid aspect. But I can say having owned the GS for 6 months now its a deeply satisfying car to own\drive\live with. Mine is the luxury spec with Mark Levinson sound and 12" screen. Its comfortable, roomy, feels very planted on the road, interior quality is excellent.

Naturally, everyone present at the circuit, to a man, approached me throughout the day and said, "We've all seen these in blues, reds, blacks and greys; but silver! Silver is the best colour to have an ISF in..."

Great job @mike m your car looks fantastic. Perfectly put.... "every drive feels like a big event" 👍

5 days in and loving it.

Yesterday, I drove my is220 from london to Aberdeen and back...the engine was not turned off for the whole 26hours drive and I'll tell you this, not a single whimper..I spent a good 10minuets doing 130mph on the A1(M) and it was more than happy. Tell a lie, a warning light did come up... service light came on...changed the fluids and filters not two hours ago, reset the service light and now I'm going to drive to work. The is220 is a very good car, don't get it twisted.

Must have been the day we had a strong easterly wind in South Wales !

@rayaans I think this pic adequately represents how most of us feel 😂

I have to throw my defence for the IS220, there will always be lemons in a fruit basket. My Lexus IS220 has so far never let me down, never missed a beat. If you treat a car properly it will return the favour, that's why my IS220 will happily do 35-40mpg when I want and it will go 140mph when I want (I laughed when it passed the apparent 135mph top speed.) If you do you research and are patient, you can find a good, reliable IS220 for around the 2000 pounds mark. Mine is a bog standard IS220 (no parking aid, no leathers, no screen) but it has cruise control and aux so I'm happy, I picked it up from a lovely couple in Wales for 1800 and drove it 250 miles back to London. You can't let bad luck put you off a really good car because it's better than any BMW, audi or merc for that price. And the keyless entry is just a cherry on the cake.