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Get the warranty, as said above it includes the recovery. If it was me, and I know this is harsh, but I would book it in with Lexus for the inspection straight away. Then, if Lexus find lots of faults (unlikely) you can then reject the car under the 30 day rules.

Warranty is an absolute must IMO. Sure they are very robust and reliable but.... When something goes wrong the bill will be big. ISF extended warranty is currently £795 for two years which includes the top AA cover. I recently had my brakes fail, new master cylinder and servo, bill would've been £1,800 😲. AA cover recovered the car straight to Lexus.. Don't let this put you off, these cars are amazing but for the equivalent of £30 a month, why take this risk.... All IMO 😉

Two up those are pretty impressive figures for a standard car. Big Rat

Welcome aboard Nick, great cars, my first one was under warranty and needed the waterpump doing, the second one I had was not under warranty and had no need for it. You pays your money and you take your choice etc. They can be expensive if things go wrong but things rarely do. Even when I'm enjoying the 911 roof off on a sunny day I still think about the ISF and that lovely V8. Enjoy.

Hi Nick, Welcome to the forum. I bought mine last year and haven't regretted it one bit. I got mine privately and the day after, bought the warranty and service package. You usually get a bit of a discount if you buy both at the same time (Inc doing monthly payments). Most of these cars have been look after by enthusiasts (due to them being an unknown to anyone bar them). I'd just checked that it has a full service history and you should be set. Make sure to post some pictures when you've got it!!

Afternoon NIck, had a few Audi's and a lot of other German stuff myself but these cars are in another league when it comes down to reliability compared to the aforementioned the problem will be what you do with the money you save not fixing things every two minutes ☺

This topic reminded me that I have not checked my brakes for nearly a year. So having some spare time yesterday I decided to check them out as the brakes had started to squeal in reverse. There were no problems with the fronts or rear NS, but the OS lower slide pin was seized to the extent that it took considerable force to hinge the caliper on the pin. After much work freeing off the caliper pin I cleaned everything up, and re greased the pins. While I was at the brakes I descided to paint the calipers, and disc centres adding "Lexus" logo's to the front calipers. Unfortunately I ran out of paint for the front disc centres. paint used was Aldi silver metallic a very close match to the wheel colour, and only £1-95 a can. The results are shown below, and the squeal has gone.

Welcome Nick, Cant imagine you will have much bother with this one 😉

Welcome Nick, don’t think you’d go far wrong buying one, especially a forum members car. As the others have said the warranty is a fair price and gives piece of mind if the unexpected were to happen. the health check is pretty simple. I’ve got a few non standard bits on mine and the warranty was still offered.

Nice choice. Sure you should get 3 months minimum anyway. If it needs a service the check can be done at the same time. It is good value in that it's only £995 for 2 years but very little to go wrong anyway on these cars. Worth it for peace of mind and the AA cover.

If you belive it really costs £462.48 to replace a sensor I also have some magic beans you might be interested it :).

But don't forget the whole topic is biased as hell, by our worst enemy - by time flow. Here is the forum of one of the most reliable and best cars in the world, but a bit expensive, so full of old richs grumpy guys 😄 and we name "worst cars" from crapcars we used as poor youngsters mostly. Don't forget somewhere in the darkness of internet at the very moment there are forums full of young or/and poor drivers with VW diesels in dull skodas, french cars with very funny electronics, cheapest fiats/chryslers/hyundais or unholly GMs products, etc. In two-three decades they could be rich enough to jump into more expensive, bigger and better cars. And they will talk the same as we now - "the worst was car X (I got when I was young and poor), the best one is audi/lexus/tesla/kia 😉 I have now". BTW the same bias we find if we step back in time - I bet Morris Marina was technicaly OK for people who got driver licence in 1930, same as my crappy '80 Fiat 126p, but Italian, metal and four-stroke, was modern and elegant compact car in the eyes of users of Eastern Germany two-stroke plastic Trabant from 1960. Etc. etc.

Hi folks, I've currently got a deposit on a nice blue ISF. Its sitting at a localish dealer (non Lexus) until i get time for a test drive next week. The salesman is keen and offered me a good price my 1.5yr old Audi S3. The car looks good, has low miles but it only comes with a 2 month warranty. Always having had manufacturer's warranties with my cars I feel a little exposed. Speaking to Lexus in Edinburgh, they would re-warranty it but it needs to under go through a check first. I don't know how severe this is or if they will refuse do to the use of any non-Lexus parts (brake discs etc). Can anyone give me a steer regarding this warranty check or the value of the Lexus extended warranty? I'm coming from a background in Audis and BMW Ms where you were playing with fire without these in place. Cheers, Nick

There have been quite a few discussions about extended warranty and of course there are different personal situations that will come into play as to its value. I took the 2 years extended warranty on my IS 300h when the original 3 year warranty expired as I planned on servicing the car at Lexus (has to be Lexus serviced for the extended warranty to be valid) and was happy with the comprehensive breakdown cover also included - and I'm not very good at putting money aside for the "just in case" scenarios! Earlier this year I stopped getting the indication on the dashboard that my washer bottle was nearly empty. First time was in all the snow and cold weather so just in case it was linked to that left it to the warmer weather but it was still not working. At the service I asked them to have a look and they reported that the sensor on the washer bottle had failed - the cost to replace - £462.48... Of course it's not a critical item and so without the extended warranty I would probably have left it, but asked Lexus if this was covered by my extended warranty and they checked and confirmed it was so just had it replaced under the warranty. One of the reasons I took the extended warranty was simply peace of mind - I know Lexus cars have a better reliability record than many makes (all?) and this was one of the factors in my choice of car, but all cars can develop faults regardless and I also know that Lexus parts can be expensive, probably more than some other makes. I was pleased to find that the extended warranty covered this.

About 4 yrs ago after very hard winter my reversing camera stopped working properly. Replacing it meant around £1000. So decided to do without. My Indy ( Japex ) found that there was evidence of water ingress. After this hot & dry summer, guess what, camera has started to work. Joy. All I have to do now is to have leak source found and fixed.

I wasn't sure before, but now I am positive there is something not quite right if you believe this to be true.... The thing sounds like a bloody tractor from the outside The only saving grace is that it isn't too bad when you're in it, but it still doesn't sound like anything other than a diesel.

£600 for a sensor, what was it made of pure gold??? DSC/TC system errors are usually due to faulty ABS sensors, ABS sensors sub £50 items, nearly all are simply clip in/out design, and access is usually about as hard as jacking up the car and taking a wheel off - 30 min job max. These kind of mad inflated repair/warranty claim costs is exactly why I hate main dealers, they are essentially robbing people blind. If I did my job the way some of these car dealers operate I would be up in court in no time and facing charges of either incompetence or fraud - probably both, but because 'they all do it' car dealers just get away with it........ I honestly don't understand why people just bend over and take it, BMW/Honda/Nissan/Lexus they are all at it, this also happens in other industries but for some reason its look upon in far worse light than car dealers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel You just have to look at the profit margins of a group like Sytner, this is after running costs of lavish show rooms, schools of sales staff etc. Finding a breakdown of how much of the profit comes from the service/repair department seems impossible, but I would guess they probably generate at least 50% of their profit from aftersales department. https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/midlands/record-revenue-and-profits-for-sytner-group

Thanks for the welcome chaps, it'll be great to be part of an enthusiast's forum with this car. Lucky I came across you guys, with these cars being so rare I wasn't sure there'd be much of a following. Good to know everyones comments regarding the warranty and check. I'll def go down this route if it all works out. Mike M has kindly filled me in on the car's background, its got a full Lexus SH and I'm confident it's been looked after nicely 😎. In fact everything is lining up so well it's really Arnold Clark's sale to lose. I'm also keen to experience the much famed Lexus reliability. Having had an M5 and M3 before and an RS6 and Evo8 briefly, I'm no stranger to unplanned big bills and costly maintenance. Looking at the costs of brake components and aftermarket HKS exhausts ill need the reliabilty to help me save pennies. I'm also a massive V8 fan, having had several so far. The S3 came along as a slight protest at fuel prices after running a V8 S5. Big mistake, although the S3 has good allweather ability and was rather point and squirt, it was/is totally soulless. I'd given up on looking for another V8 solution (F10 M5s can't put their power down) and so I'd settled on an F80 M3 competition. I suddenly remembered the ISF and well here we are. Will see how next week goes, quite looking forward to it. Keep you posted. n

Isn't there is little lever just below the door latch in the door edge? Lever up de-activates the child lock function.

I've got both mine spare hanging in the garage theve been coated black though don't know if that's any good for you?

You know it makes sense! I've now had 4 LS's of varying ages and although I agree the MK400 is as bomb proof as it gets, the 430 is in my opinion a much better drive.

Thanks for the comments guys, very helpfull. Being used to expensive extended warranties in the past, I'm thinking £795 for two years incl breakdown recovery is actually pretty good. Especially as i can pay it monthly. Tpf, interesting point. Think I'll keep that in my back pocket. I've actually reached out to the previous owner, a member here, to see if there may be any big bills on the horizon. I'll understand if he'd rather not get involved, but I'm completely new to Lexus and the ISF, so any help would be advantageous. Looks like a really good community here, hopefully the test drive goes well and ill get to hang around 😃 n

BTW remember me old story with carbon and cluelessness - potential buyer discusses fake bmw M-series with proud owner, and many many obvious doubts, "Is this real composite carbon bonnet??" - "ARE YOU KIDDIN ME, it is not [censored] plastic, it's high quality carbon foil!"

Was there a single Metal, Carbon or other RC-F ever delivered in UK without ML and thus with Pioneer Stereo?! I know ML is technically an option, but I am under impression all RC-F had ML fitted in UK. Finally, it is not like it is hard to see ML logos all over the place.. I like how clueless Lexus dealers makes it like a selling point for clueless buyers 😄

Thank you both for advice - ATS fine for a simple regas (especially as good price with Groupon!) but yes, anything more in-depth and they're sadly out of their depth. Have emailed Kevin Green as they're local to me - thanks for that - and about 40mins drive away. Will await reply and see what happens.

Glad you're enjoying it. I had an LS with black leather and I have to say it was the easiest colour to care for, plus I really grew to like it.

It’s a great colour combo. My second favourite after the white carbon.

The worst car I had was Renault Laguna (1999-reg), so many electrical issues, from immobiliser and engine management to headlights not working, the problems were intermittent so the garage could not find a fault, was so glad to see the car go! It was my 1st car I bought in UK, about 11-12 years ago! The best so far was BMW e60 525d (2009-reg), I had the car before the GS for 3.5 years and it was one of the most reliable cars I had, nice to drive, comfy, looked good but it was a diesel and rust started appearing on rear arches and it was the moment when I realised the car must go, was a sad day! I think (hope) I can say nice words about the GS, so far I love it, it is quitter, comfier, quicker, better specced than my BMW was, great car! The time will tell! 🙂

Worst car - 1976 Austin Allegro 1300. bought new ,at 700 miles the cylinder head gasket blew -from there it just went downhill, paint falling off, seats coming unstitched . failed its first MOT as the metalstick bushes holding the rear radius arms on were 'coming unstuck'. total disaster and was replaced with a 1979 ford escort Mark 2 which according to DVLA is still SORN. Oh i forgot 1990 Vauxhall Cavalier SRi. loved the car but it had to be re-shelled back at the factory when 7 months old because of serious rust. apparently there had been a problem in the paint shop and some bodyshells had been exposed ot moisture before painting. Perhaps then the Ziebart rustproofing worked. Best cars 1. 1983 Golf GTI 'Campaign' in Llasa Green. one of only a 1000 runout GTI mk 1's in a range of colours -Llasa being probably the best.(Now being copied by unscrupulous people I believe). 2. 1992 Mercedes Benz 300CE. Bought 10 years old with only 10,000 miles and never previously driven in the rain. 3. 1999 BMW Z3 'Orinoco' run out modle of the early body shape but fitted with the later twin vanos 2.8 engine. beautiful looking but a beast to drive. 4. 1990 Honda Civic Vtec (Breadvan shape) One of 400 cars imported to meet homologation rules for racing. The only downside was they had deleted the power steering fitted ot the rest of the range and parking was a nightmare, but acceleration was breathtaking. 5. 1990 Mercedes Benz 190E -an all time great. bought after i read an article entitled 'running a Mercedes for the price of an Escort'. My 3 Lexus that I have owned in the last 2 years have to be at the top of the pile for reliability.

It all depends on the type of sensor. Some have the aperture open to the ultrasonic sensor, some have a memberane to stop water ingress. The front sensors especially should have a membrane. The open type is more common on the cheaper reversing sensors. The ones with the membrane are usually on more expensive sensors and especially need to be on front-facing ones to wether-proof them. Under normal circumstances the membrane is transparent to untrasonic frequencies, but if it is coated with paint, it changes the properties of the membrane and it may lose that transparency and affect operation of the sensor. A decent paint shop should remove the sensors before respraying or if they can't be removed and don't need spraying, can be covered with a masking disc. If they need the sensor to be painted then you normally use masking rings to fill the gap and stop paint covering the membrane or getting into an open sensor. They can be hard plastic rings or pre-cut tape rings. If you do a Google search for parking sensor masking ring you'll see what I'm on about. A decent paint shop should not waft paint over a bumper with sensors in situ without the sensor being masked in some way to avoid problems like this because you never know how a sensor will react when it comes into contact with paint.

If no one can suggest a good garage, have a look at your local Trading Standards website. Up here we have Lancashire Safe Traders, which is run by our local Trading Standards and allows people to give feedback on various traders, so that you know you can choose someone with a good reputation.

Hi everyone, I picked up my 1st Lexus today and drove it from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I love it! Honestly, so far I like everything about the car! Here are a few pictures guys, I hope you like it too. I am still discovering all the toys he has and how to use them! I like this forum as well, very easy to navigate (almost identical to BMW forum) and very very interesting to read!

Why not use lexusofficialstore seller on ebay, I know that it will be a lot more, but I think with brakes etc, always best to get OEM rather than try and save few quid. The LS seems to be a real problem with vibration when not using OEM pads/discs. I recently changed to Pagid pads (got fed up with blueprints - too much vibration about 4 months after fitting), but even the Pagids vibrate and squeak. I suspect my discs are not OEM (not fitted by me), so time to dig a bit deeper and get it done right, and then sit back and not worry about the brakes for a long time.