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Does this forum have any moderators? If so, can one of them explain why this god damn thread hasn't been locked yet?

Driveway envy #sigh

Definitely agree on the sound front. The induction noise is addictive, just needs more from the rear. She's booked in tomorrow for her inspection for the warranty so hopefully all is hunky-dory. I did, it was absolutely mental! My dream is to get an old GT Junior from the 60/70's and put a Busso in it. So here she is home. Just needs a clean and I'll get some more picks taken over the weekend.

Found this very informative article regarding the updates the isF had to its steering and suspension for 2011 onwards. It was far more detailed than I realised with many changes and revisions made, lots of pictures explaining it all in detail. https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/track-tests/2011-lexus-is-f-suspension-walkaround.html Big Rat

Lifting the pictures straight from the SC section, here we have just about the only means to improve the performance of an SC without using forced induction. More aggressive cams would be nice but where would you find some? PPE make a set of short pipe 4-1 headers to replace the inefficient exhaust manifolds. Dyno test results show a 20 whp gain when combined with a 3rd cat delete and a free flowing exhaust. The problem is they are expensive to make and ship to the UK and they are only designed to fit the US spec left hand drive SC430. I was reluctant to try this at first but in the end I just had to have a go. After a lot of research I emailed PPE who confirmed what I already knew, that the original near side header is a direct fit for the rhd car but the offside header would need to be modified to avoid the steering shaft knuckle. PPE said it would be difficult to do, they had been looking for 3D CAD drawings of the rhd model in order to design the solution but none were available. I asked if anyone else had done it using their headers and they replied confirming no one else in Europe had to their knowledge even tried, the only one they knew of was a chap in Australia using a GS430. So I did a bit more research and took the plunge. I must say PPE were very helpful and shipped one complete nearside header and all of the components to make up a custom offside header at reasonable cost, I had to pay the import duty. I approached MIJ in Walsall as they built the exhaust system. They make headers from scratch and thought with 2 technicians working on it the job could be done in a day but might take an extra day if problems arose. Here are some pictures of the headers and the components sent. Here is the car on the ramp It took four long days to get both headers done as they were having issues with other customers' cars at the same time. I hired a car to get home on the first day, dropped it back on the third day and stayed overnight in a local hotel. On the fourth day, I was the last customer in the garage at 6 p.m. and by 7.00 p.m. was under the ramp helping out get it back together but with a lot of effort, late into the evening of that fourth day I drove it off the ramp and headed for the M40. Very little room to work in here, difficult even to take a clear pic of the header. The exhaust wrap is very necessary to restrict the heat. Because of the extent of the works carried out, I was a very long way into the journey home before feeling confident about opening it up but when I did, what a difference! There was a subtle change in the exhaust note higher in the rev range but the car suddenly had overtaking power that it didn't have before. Hats off to the young engineer Sean for completing it, he did receive a nice tip. It had been an epic adventure and the final result appeared to be very good I did have one regret and that was simply the fact that despite the feeling of extra power it still sounded very tame.

Yeah neither were easy jobs but excavating the driveway by hand was a killer

I know! and the IS compliments it so well don't you think? lol

Oh I see what you did there@bobmc, Robb's block paving is fancy [emoji41]

What a fantastic looking car, congrats! I like the optional alloys on your car too, I haven't seen many for sale with those. Would love to see more photos if you are up to posting them

So a few might remember but I've been on the hunt for an IS-F for a little while and finally put a deposit down on one yesterday and will be collecting tomorrow! I'm literally like a child waiting for Christmas! If anyone is around the Sussex/Kent area and wants to go out drive sometime, do let me know. The Lewes tunnel is always fun!

That sounds like an epic job on the header. Thank gawd work wasn't needed on both sides! I doff my hat to the chaps that worked in that tight space.

That's great news, I always enjoy following what you're doing and I do love the IS in that colour #DrivewayEnvy

I thought I should update this thread. I now drive a grey Lexus CT200h F-Sport :-) Glad I upgraded to Lexus, coming from a Toyota Yaris which I kept for 14 years! But this time I took a PCP so it won't be that many years probably.

It's what I term 'The Lexus Paradox'. People are attracted to the brand in no small part by the legendary reliability and then spend hundreds of pounds per year on Lexus extended warranties because they're worried about the reliability I know this thread is about breakdown cover rather than warranty but personally, it's a must for me. My LPG tank lives where the spare wheel should go so for small punctures I carry a can of goo and a small compressor but if anything were to wreck the tyre such as a puncture in the side wall or a blowout, then it would be a call to the breakdown people.

All images should be back up and running hosted on the forum itself so providing the forum doesn't go down neither will the images! Updates to follow when I get more time and money!

OK, a million thanks to Lee Riley and katabrontes and others who have recommended www.keytrader.co.uk They have just cut a new key for my Lexus RX400h (2009 model) after the plastic key shell totally disintigrated. I'd tried to order a replacement on eBay but the blank blade comes permanently attached to the plastic key shell, and my blade worked perfectly it was just the plastic bit I was after. Keytrader cut the key from a photo (how does that work!?) that I emailed them, and as soon as I inserted my remote control module into the new key shell I was able to open up car and start up the car. Took 2 days, and all for a tenner including postage. Now what would a Lexus garage have charged for that! What a wonderful thing this Forum is.

Breakdown cover for a Lexus? Nonsense!

Cool. Yeah, they weren't so bad once the diff was fitted. I know what you mean about fuel consumption though. I had a 156 V6 with a supercharger back in the day and 15mpg is about the best I got. Like you say though, the sound more than made up for it Did you ever see the 3.7 GTA that Autodelta did?

So the delivery of my car was delayed by a few days and rather than being delivered on the 17th, I'm now picking up the car tomorrow morning Will be getting to the dealership early doors as they've got the LC coupes in the showroom as part of the nationwide launch that they are doing.

Q2 diff and had the later 330 brakes. It handled surprisingly well! Just couldn't believe the fuel consumption could be so bad on something with 250HP. I got 180 miles out of a £85 fill up! But then I would drive through the Dartford crossing and everything was forgiven Thanks, fingers crossed I get the same happy motoring! Cheers for clearing that up.

@Flytvr Don't take any notice of him Dav got a picture of @emjay82 late again for an appointment taking a short cut through his local camp site, remerber he likes tents and stuff 😁 Big Rat

I know people who are fanatical about driving slowly and accelerating slowly to save fuel. The same people have 3 or 4 takeaways and eat out on a regular basis each month too. I'd much rather cut down on the takeaways and drive normally to be honest.

So before buying my daily car which is a second-hand 2003 1 owner Accord 2.4 Executive, I toyed with the idea of actually financing a nearly new or new Lexus. But after some further investigation researching online and few videos I decided to go with a well looked after second hand car which based on my knowledge packed pretty much anything in terms of toys/gadgets one could find in a 2017 car apart from Bluetooth connectivity, lane keeping assist and reversing camera which truth be told are gadgets I can live without. Majority of my music are still on CD’s so I don’t stream music from my phone. Having owned about 9 cars in total the youngest car I have owned was 5 years old. And I am the sort that tends to change my cars every 2.5 to 3 years so didn’t want to be locked in or keep driving the same car for the next 4 - 5 years which tends to be the average years car finance/hire contract runs for. I also couldn’t justify making monthly payments on something which is depreciating faster compared to a 5 year or older second-hand which has done most of its depreciation so not a lot to loose when reselling. Advance in auto technology has improved mpg figures and emissions which keeps road tax down on newer cars but my maths concluded the savings made on mpg and road tax will be wiped out by monthly payments towards driving the car compared to a less fuel efficient but decent older car bought outright with no monthly payments being made on it. Also came across this US article which in a way persuaded me more in my decision not to bother with financing a new/ nearly new car. http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/heres-four-reasons-why-you-should-never-ever-finance-a-1638384343 So for those who prefer new cars what’s your reason for making this decision and would you go back to an older car in future or keep financing new and for those who prefer to buy and drive second hand cars would you buy another older car or finance new and what will be your reason?

@Farqui Me to and I lay the bloody things, you should see mine........... maybe not on second thoughts 😂 Big Rat

@Rusty Crobar Russ in all honesty it would probably be cheaper having regard the costs of parts and labour, simply to change the car for a later one, a diff alone - even if you could find one - sold on the Aussie site a while back for nearly 2K. Anyway yours has still got at least another 100k in it before a suspension refresh 😂 🐀

That was a good read and written by someone who knows his stuff. It begs the question though when buying in the UK, how do we know we are buying a later car that has the optimised suspension/steering. It seems the MY is not a clear guide to the updates you can see, letalone those you cannot.

lol #DrivewayEnvy

Didn't understand all of it but interesting read. Would like to know exactly how to change my car to later spec, especially at the rear 🤔

I'll check this for you. Can you get any more photos like where it is coming from exactly?

Oh I totally agree I was a maniac but at least I had 4 full tyres touching the road surface

Looks very in keeping with the location! Enjoy every second of Lexus ISF ownership!

Congratulations. Lovely colour , great cars. Hope to see you at a few meets

@Shahpor I'm fortunate enough to have a family member who works for Lexus and is allowed 2 vehicles on a friends and family car scheme and has kindly allowed me to get my car on this scheme. It's a great scheme whereby I have to order a new car every 4 months as I'm only allowed to keep a vehicle for 6 months. I've got my eye on the RX F-sport or RC for the next car

In the RC (and every other car I've had with auto-dim) the sensors for the auto-dim function are located front and back of the rearv-view mirror. The system operates on a difference in the relative light intensities hitting the sensors. More light falling on the rear facing sensor (something not normally the case as it's facing into the cabin) as in from the following car's headlamps, triggers the dim To test if the system is working correctly carefully cover the forward facing sensor, the mirrors should dim. Shining a bright lamp into the rear facing sensor sometimes works but it's more difficult to see the effect.

I'm glad they are going T. Hopefully in the long run it will hopefully make NA more special

Oh, just to add, leaking water pump issues only seemed to be an issue on the earlier cars (2008 and 2009), I think the updated design pump may have been used by the time yours was built.

Paul / @Big Rat, black gold eh, good shout/stout

@Rusty Crobar Russ I can just picture you driving your future GSF twin turbo in my minds eye with me whooping for joy in the passenger seat............ or should that be pooping in the passenger seat 🐀 And here we are 😂 Big Rat

Honestly, I hate these type of debates simply because its so difficult to tell. Some cars get closer to their MPG than other cars, every driver drives differently and heck, the wind speed changes day to day! You say you don't drive with a heavy foot but again, one man's lead foot is another mans feather. Only one way to find out, take one for an extended test drive and found out yourself. Additionally, with the cost of depreciation being so high, how much does it really matter if the car even did 70mpg - I don't think very much, but it sure is a good way of getting customers to justify getting a new car. "I bought a new car and its getting 2MPG more than my last one, sorry forgot to mention that the depreciation is £3k higher per year!"

It's fixed as I phoned around and all quoted the same £445, I ended up going to Milton Keynes. I agree, I think it's a lot, the 10k service intervals also too short, I'll end up doing 18k this year, more than normal so will be almost two services in a year, most other manufacturers would only require one which be way cheaper. Only downside of ownership though, everything else is good.

The IS handles better than the civic to be honest but because of this and how calm and composed it is kind of takes the "fun" out of going out for some "fun", the IS250 doesn't have enough power to loose its composure really its a very calm and relax experience even when giving it some

I find GS is much more pleasant to drive and handles suprisingly well for a big old barge. The double wishbone front/multilink rear works really well. You'd be hard pressed to tell it has 18" alloys too. The Civic was too firm for me really on coilovers, tho we did eventually get it almost bearable. Long trips to Belgium were easy but the GS covers the miles in style. Cobbled roads aren't avoided anymore. I know what you mean about fun tho, I had some great fast drives over the Peaks in the Honda. The Accord Type R brakes were epic on the smaller car.

there sure is a feel good factor in having a brand new car, I do know, having had company cars and early on in life buying my own brand new too ...... a Hillman Imp BUT that feel good factor soon vanishes, coz the car isn't new after a few months................ and the need for a manufacturer's warranty with a brand new car just tells me that the buyer maybe NEEDS that .......... so much to go wrong these days ...... that's why one can buy an extended warranty to protect oneself against the inevitability of something serious going wrong ............... and they can charge the earth for that, didn't someone pay £1495 for another years warranty on a new'ish Ls recently on these forums and the warranty costs suffered by Lexus were in excess of £15,000 ? My Ls400 cost me £1400 some 6 years ago and since then I've done 70k miles in her at relatively tiny repair and servicing costs......................... no depreciation there to worry about Malc

I agree. Interestingly I get more of a kick out of buying cheaper cars - the expectations are low - and when you find out how good they are you get a very warm feeling. I bought a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee for £500, it was in such good condition and everything worked, I was more excited than when I bought my new car - never again new for me.

I agree with this, investments cars are NOT, even Classics can be costly to maintain especially, and you're lucky if they appreciate more than they cost " all-up " property portfolios, well, unless you're a professional with a suitable sized portfolio I would question the rewards ( after tax ) outweighing the grief ( from poor tenants etc ) other " investments " well ... buyer beware, values do go up AND down too. NEW CARS a crap way to invest imho ............. good and well considered used cars can be brilliant to run, rarely in the garage for repairs, less technology to go " pop " and can be minimal cost to purchase, often from spare cash that's earning zero interest anyway ! Amongst other jobs/ careers I was a used car dealer for 10 years following being a let property owner and a career City banker. I have by choice NOT bought myself ( with cash ) a new Lexus or any other marque, nor would I. I couldn't be arsed having to spend so much time in the garage/main dealer getting things " fixed " I'm retired, started a new business ( 2 years now ) and happily running my brilliant used cars ............ brand new cars are for companies with tax sparing capacity and personally, the thought of using monthly payments that just cover depreciation, blimey, why would you want to just throw away all that depreciation in your hard earned cash. Hope I'm not too " off the ball " here ... maybe I'm just "old" with different life values eh Malc

I think running a vehicle for people on here is a lot more than getting from A to B. Income / money is the BIG factor for all of us. Given a choice, I am sure we would all like to easily afford a new Lexus. Imagine you could buy a new Lexus today for £1,000. ( I appreciate this is very hypothetica but bear with me!) Someone could give an excellent financial argument for NOT buying a new one, as the second-hand ones only cost £250! At that sort of money it would be a no brainer, of course we would all buy the new one - I hope! Owning a car, to me, is more than just practicality. It is more emotional and personal for me. There is also the number plate snob angle for the neighbours for some people. As Rayaans said, he has bought two new cars and when you work out the depreciation, it makes most repairs look insignificant, Rayaaans £6200 for ONE year could buy a lot of repairs, even at a Lexus dealers, so I appreciate why he would think twice before buying new again. On a side issue, I used AutoTrader to give me a quote for a Trade-in on my 2009 Mitsubishi Grandis diesel with 74,000 miles - they suggested £2400 - If I had the opportunity to buy car like that for £2400 I would jump at it! Whenever you get a trade-in price, turn it around and ask yourself, Would I buy this car at that price? Food for financial thought - not the heart!

well, you just pay the depreciation every month while you can invest the cash money in other investments. For instance lets say the Lexus CT+ that did not even have the 0% 2K up front and 299 a month. for a new car that costed 25000 with 23000 deposit I buy a 90K BTL three bed that gives me 570 monthy rent -200 interest, gives 370 pounds profit per month. Covers the PCP and leaves something for the petrol

I think in the last three posts the case for used is pretty well set out. -Buy quality. -Buy the lowest mileage/serviced to budget. -Buy when depreciation has sucked up VAT and forecourt drive off price. -Maintain properly either privately or dealer/warranty to best possible standard. - it's an individual decision how far you are prepared to stretch the equation. No lightening bolts really. Interesting to hear the reasons for new purchasing..... emotive and practical. Sent from my iPhone using Lexus OC

As a private cash buyer I've graduated to older low mileage higher spec petrol cars as preference. The price of new cars is tremendous nowadays and I believe some of that absolute increase is because no-one buys new cars any more; so the headline retail figure is not really the issue.....it's the monthly figure / balloon payment / guaranteed future value that folks concentrate on..... it's a different mindset to can I afford that £10/20/30k car? VAT is a whopper in the depreciation also and the new 'new car' additional payments. The wife like a new car only and changes it every couple of years and has recently signed up for BMW Mini scheme after always being a cash buyer.....she likes the thought of not taking as much of the depreciation burden with her own hard earnt cash ....but finds not actually owning it outright a bit disconcerting......like I said I think it's a mind set. For me I think the value is in older better marques which have already taken the price hit......there's plenty of them about nowadays....plus I own it. I'm not anti finance in any way..... quite the opposite I'm a clever finance fan if you can get somebody else's money to work for you even with poor savings rates.....then do it if you can afford it. I'm low mileage and change about every 5 years...so that's an influencing factor. My local Lexus dealer sent me an email the other month on "0%" finance on any CT model........something is not seen before with Lexus. Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC