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Well as a precaution I fitted a new Koyo radiator today. I must say the original looked in very good condition. The thing is, you just don't know what's going on inside with those four rubber o rings, so is it worth the risk? Still, at least it gave me the opportunity to replace the rubber transmission hoses, and discover the fluid is a nice bright cherry red. Not too much skin removed from my right arm either! £114 for the radiator, £26 for Toyota red coolant and £10 for the hoses.

So here we are exactly a year on from this post and I picked up my GSF this morning. Black with black interior, 2016 demo + 1 owner car. Quite taken by it. First impressions are very good, similar in so many ways to the ISF, built like a bank vault, great driving position but in terms of the driver interface and tech. It’s chalk and cheese, it’s amazing how much has changed in a few years. I’ve only driven it 15 or so miles and have the run from Stranraer to Newcastle later to get to know the car a lot better, but the most notable point on the car is the seats. Possibly the best of any car I’ve had, awesome, hold you well, and extremely comfortable. not sure if it’s as quick as the ISF though.... no doubt will get the opportunity to find out later if the weather behaves. As it’s seems with Lexus dealers across the UK - they’ve been easy and a pleasure to deal with, even though they’re part of the lookers group.... and they’ll no doubt have a well loved ISF up for sale in the next week or so. Looking forward to the drive home, just hope it dries up a bit!

My missus really isn't into the whole car thing. She doesn't even drive.... she doesn't really like speed, I can smell her fear when I take her out in the hot rod for a blast.... but, she does appreciate a nice luxury car and I know that, deep down, she will love the IS and feel the bees knees being chauffeured around in it. To be fair, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have it, we've both saved hard to get exactly the right car.... if I was a single man I know I'd be riding a stolen push bike and spunking my cash on crack whores and coke!!! Hahaha! She does have to put up with a lot with me being a total petrol head..... gawd bless her 😍

Finest 1, you are quite right owning, an F car or similar makes no sense at all in today's world but they are among the last of the naturally aspirated V8's and the decision to buy one is usually made with heart not head. However ,the running costs of an ISF are not as bad as you think. I had an IS 250 and changed to an ISF intending to keep for a couple of years until I got fed up with the running costs. I ended up keeping it for 4.5 years. OK the car tax is expensive and more fuel will be used, but insurance was surprisingly cheap if you shop around. An 09 car could still be warrantied with Lexus for £795 for 2 years, exactly the same as for an IS250 and the prices do seem to be bottoming out as people realise that they are more affordable and reliable than the German equivalents. Tyres and brakes are more expensive than an IS250 but not that much more , ditto servicing. You need to drive one to "get it". My current GSF was purchased with heart not head ( and a little man maths related to a 30% discount on an 8 month old car with 300 miles on it) and I regularly ask myself why I am running a car like this where you cannot even use a fraction of the power and the local council wants to impose a blanket 20mph limit. But, it is a rare car, I have never seen another one on the road ,and every time I drive it, it makes me smile. The noise and the pull when you can open it up is worth every penny of the extra running costs. Might be your last chance to drive a dinosaur, the powers that be will have us all driving eco friendly electric pods before much longer, if they even allow us to drive. By the way an Aston will cost far, far more to run, and will spend more time in the workshop.

I would give it a go, but like I said my insurance isn't actually due yet. As John says, they are backed by a large company even though Hedgehog itself only started recently. They claims to be using a new computer algorithm that will help certain demographics get cheaper insurance. If they are still the cheapest when my renewal time comes around then I can't see why I wouldn't go with them, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced this discrepancy in prices.

I've had mine three years and I still admire it through the window when I am washing up. It's a great car. Enjoy.

Hedgehog is backed by Berkshire Hathaway not insignificant organisation. Google it and you will find that they have identified a gap in the marketplace!!

or, more likely a road hog ?

I think they only pay out if the accident is caused by a hedgehog!

Yes, it has already gone from Europe.

Well, in anticipation of the creation of a giant 'F' section of the forum, and as a previous ISF owner; I thought I'd leave this here: I’ve gone and bought a GSF! I’d had my ISF for around two and a half years and after sorting out what was, in my opinion, a hilariously firm OEM suspension setup, it was smooth sailing all the way. I loved that car – great looks, biblical noise (thanks, H&S) and a real Jekyll and Hyde personality. The last bit was so important to me as the old ‘race car for the road’ adage gets pretty uncomfortable and wearing on a daily driver. I’d covered 12,000 miles, taken it to Le Mans, done a Silverstone track day and on one occasion discovered the speed limiter – yes, there is one and yes, it’s around 170mph… The trouble is, just after it was launched, my local Hedge End dealer had a black GSF in the showroom and ever since I’d sat in it – I’d wanted one. I’ll stop the preamble now with – I caved eventually; it’s around 16months old, it was previously owned by the area manager for Lexus, travelling the South West, and it has 17,500miles on the clock. What’s it like in the cabin? I’ll start with the seats – they are a vastly improved over the ISF, which weren’t bad at all! – they’re heated and ventilated. There’s a cornucopia of materials used all over the dashboard etc, which displeases some people. I like it. I love the alcantara topped dash, the bespoke clock and the carbon fibre detailing. There is a bewildering array of settings, both for the radio/sat nav and the dashboard hidden within menus and submenus, but thankfully the basic controls are simple and easy to use. The Mark Levinson stereo (is it still a stereo if it has a dozen speakers?) is excellent and Bluetooth integration is seamless. The screen is over a foot wide and makes the satnav look spectacular, where post code lookup is available! Driving? The engine sounds different to the ISF, despite being of very similar design and the noise in the cabin is a bit more aggressive on cold start. The rev limit is now 7300rpm and the gearbox seems identical to the ISF with slightly smoother shifts. There are 4 drive modes – eco, normal, sport and sport+. These progressively quicken gear changes, firm up the steering, sharpen throttle response and change the behaviour of the torque-vectoring differential (which I believe acts more like a traditional LSD than the e-diff on the early ISFs, which applied the brakes to the wheel struggling for grip). Sport and sport+ also introduce more engine noise to the cabin through first the rear speakers, then the fronts as well in sport+. The brakes are exceptional – grooved discs now rather than drilled. On the move, the ride is slightly softer but definitely more composed, and the car feels a lot more grown up over my local potholed roads. It’s bigger than the ISF (obviously) and more powerful, but I would guess the performance to be fairly similar. Initial journeys suggest it’s slightly more economical than the ISF too, perhaps 2/3mpg better on average. Other random musings… The boot is HUGE – utterly cavernous! I love the noise it makes – the over-flowery blips on the down change are still there! The headlights are the clearest/brightest I have ever seen. The carbon rear spoiler is extremely pretty. The carbon front splitter is a magnet for stone-chips. The steering wheel is pleasantly chunky. The high build quality is obvious immediately – it’s like the thing has been hewn out of granite. A head-up display makes me feel like a fighter pilot. The previous owner ought to be horrified that this car has lost £2/mile in depreciation alone. The amount of information you can display on the dashboard is enormous – amount of torque applied to each wheel – yup, G-force – of course, lap timer – no problem! So, there we have it. It might seem like I’ve only got positive things to say*, but I liked the ISF so much, and this is essentially a newer version with everything turned up to 120%. I’ve only had the car for a couple of days, but I shall keep this thread updated every once in a while. Happy to answer any questions…. *One negative. I had real trouble getting the headlights to switch to full beam. It turns out that there are TWO auto settings for the lights. One for switching them on automatically as it gets dark, and the other for auto full beam (switching back to dipped beam in the face of oncoming traffic and a few other parameters). Human Factors obviously has a day off when they put these two switches on opposite sides of the driving position! It’s all sorted now!

LPG does not do any damage to a modern engine with hardened valves and valve seats. I have run my cars in excess of 16 years and not one of them was in anyway engine damaged by not having flashlube. These days it's just another way of fleecing you of even more money.

It was... new. A Lexus part.

For what Flashlube costs it just isn't worth the risk - have it done. As to the filler point, no, it doesn't comply with the UK regs but I've seen loads of cars that have them like that, so how they are getting round it I don't know. May be worth talking to a couple of installers to get their thoughts on that.

If you've had this work done yourself then the first port of call is whoever has done this work. The Lexus diagnosis is ominous. All 4 shocks gone. I'd really want to know why? 102k isn't that much. Maybe a rust issue? As for next steps I think you should investigate the non air option. Too much wrong with the current one. But please do check with a couple of local suspension specialists and Lexus/Toyota specialists for a second opinion. As our cars get older there are more people looking for a coils conversion. Have only read about ad hoc solutions thus far but hopefully standard options out there too.

I’m no expert on lpg however I’ve seen it mentioned here more than once that the ls430 has hardened valves therefore does not require flash lube- might be a idea to ring around a few installers and get their perspective hope this helps

Check the settings. The unit in my GS450 is different to yours, but there is an option for it to switch away from certain display pages back to either the economy bar chart or the map, depending on what you were viewing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was a decent ride back to get the feel of it. I had a 90 mile journey home when we picked our IS300h up, the long way on the sat nav.... great drive. Seems a bit silly, but next morning I couldn’t help but gawp out the window at our new wheels. My wife asked what I was doing and I just said admiring our new styling wheels. 😂. “You’re daft” she said, but then also had a peek too and said “Yes it is rather posh isn’t it”😂 i never get tired of looking at it or driving it, it’s a magic car 👍

... and remember your statutory rights as a consumer!

Perhaps you should be more concerned about dazzling oncoming drivers? These MoT rules aren't just thrown in for devilment....

i like leaving my iPod on 'Shuffleplay' for the surprise element. Forget I had things on there. 9200+ songs. 27 DAYS of my own music! As to self driving. I guess it might get rid of the brainless drivers/ We'll be long gone before THAT happens!

Don't do it. It's an MOT failure if the bulb doesn't match the housing. In other words, if the housing unit is designed for a halogen bulb then nothing other than a halogen bulb will pass the MOT. This is taken from the MOT Inspection Manual here https://www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/class3457/

I was very sceptical reading about the ride quality of an F-Sport being hard. Well the people who think that must have based their judgement on wallowing american sedans. I find my F-Sport's ride quality BETTER than my last car, which was a Range Rover Autobiography Sport and their ride is second to none, apart from a Lexus, of course. Do not believe everything you read that sounds negative about these vehicles. 🙂

Hi Eame64 - Although I'm new to the world of Lexus I know what you mean. On my first day of driving the RX I had the linked mobile tell me a message had come in and do I want to read it!! Amazing, having not know of a vehicle's ICE capable of doing that. Only thing I was disappointed with was the single CD/DVD capabilty, having been use to a multi loading HDD. Now however, rather than a USB stick I've resurrected my iPod which works a treat with far more capacity than any multi CD?DVD player.

Make sure it’s a breathable car cover, otherwise it’ll trap moisture and does more bad than good. Mine stays in the garage when not in use and on a CTek trickle charger over winter without a cover to allow air circulation. As it’s indoor out of the element dust is minimum, longest I’ve stored a car this way is 6 months and never had a any issue.

Stuart, yes this was me, I did put the car up for sale on ebay and it has now sold-for £700. I have had the problem on the car for about 2 months now and I could no longer trust its' reliability. I did contact a few ecu specialists (including the one in Devon) and was quoted from £60 to test ecu and maybe £150 to repair it. With the cost of paying to remove/re install and then postage both ways I could be looking close on £300 on "a guess" which probably wouldn't solve my problem. I was not prepared to go chasing repairs by repairing/replacing several items in the hope of finding the problem. Looking on the USA forum many people have replaced the ecu and then several more components and still not solved the problem. My car had done 100000 miles and I am aware that sooner or later the starter motor will go as it is still the original (big job), the water pump etc are all original (big job) and also possibly the power steering pump will leak and take out the alternator, so I didn't really want to pump potentially a large amount of money into the car. I've had it for 11 years and it has been brilliant and very very reliable but is now time to move on. I had a good response on ebay and very quickly (did I price it too cheap, not sure). The bloke who bought it has got another LS400 exactly same year as mine and he seems confident that his mechanic will plug it into the computer and find the problem easily (not sure about that ), but I know it has gone to a good home. Interestingly I had a message from "lexuslegend" on ebay saying he was interested in buying it- I wonder how he would have tried to screw me over had I met him and answered his message? I bought a Rover 75 about a year ago as a runaround incase the lexus had problems so at the moment that is my only car ( and it is a totally horrible car) so now have to decide what to buy next as my main car??

If you go to https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ and put in your reg number it will show you the MOT history and also if there are any outstanding recalls. If this issue shows up I'd print it out or take a screen shot to show the dealer. If the above doesn't produce any results then you should perhaps contact the Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards for help.

I have just bought a 65 plate Fsport and i love it, i am 58 years old and suffer a bit with back ache but i find the seats are super comfortable and the ride is perfectly acceptable. I am sure you won't be dissapointed. I bought mine from Lexus Cardiff without even seeing it as they supplied it from Lexus Canterbury, i had a short drive in another fsport they had in stock and just thought i have to have it. I had to wait a week for them to deliver the car from Canterbury but it was worth the wait.

My 2013 RX450h doesn't behave like that so I'd say that something is wrong, but I have no idea what.

i have a 17 plate F Sport i would say the ride is firm but comfortable, i snapped the ligaments in my lower back many years ago so i had to have a proper test drive to make sure i felt comfortable in the car before i purchased it 9 months later and no regrets.

What spec have you gone with? Did you add the pack which has Adaptive Variable Suspension? If so, in Normal mode it rides more or less the same as the other trims. In Sport +, it firms up the ride and you feel every ripple, ridge and cats eye. I very rarely use Sport+. If not it will ride slightly stiffer, but a lot of it is down to the low profile and wider tyres and bigger alloys. In my opinion, it is still way better than any non-premium car, secondary ride quality is far better and for Motorway use it is perfectly fine. The seats are also extremely comfortable. Did you test drive at all??

If you are young and have a good back you should be okay. I drive around 500 miles a week and found my back was a bit sore. I then went to a GS300h luxury which was much better but my 2015 RX450h leaves them both in the shade for comfort. The FSport looks great as you say. The seat foam is developed from the supercar and is much firmer than other models. Dash dials are great fun 😀

I have a few friends with Aston Martins (one is for sale at Lexus Hedge End) and I have tried two so far when I'm in the market for my annual change of car. Every time I have chosen something else in the price range because in my opinion they all fall well short of expectations. The last one I tried a drop dead gorgeous pair metallic green soft top V8 S I drove back after 15 minutes because the paddle shift system was truly dreadful. I'm perhaps more Brooke Bond than James Bond I guess, but the running costs if serviced properly will make a grown man cry. I thought my V12 twin turbo AMG was expensive but I can't imagine what the V12 Aston Martin would be. It sounds like from your location the powers to be don't like cars in any form and you will without doubt get screwed by whatever hue of Government runs the Authority. Much better out here in the sticks where V8's can at least clear the cobwebs. I'm very impressed with the servicing costs of my V8 Lexus and consider the extended warranty costs considering it's a proper manufacturers warranty as cheap as chips. In time I think V8's and V12's will only be in very expensive exotica way beyond sensible money.

We dont need V8's, takeaways, Sky TV, foreign holidays etc. Make a decision based on how much you want the experience of driving and owning a V8. In my opinion, the cost of ownership isn't obscene and only represents a little indulgence in return for a wonderful thrill.

It may have been a good i dear to have one and test it out for 24 hours before buying one. Personally a hard/firm ride is relative to what you expect or have come from, I went from a GS 450h which had a comfortable ride to a RC-F which was a firm ride, until I went in a M4 which was a bone shaker.

Thank you for the detailed posts about what you did. Good for future reference especially with details like part numbers. I can understand. The LS is not a great A road blaster. I use my Soarer for that.😎

Shirish, you will be welcome back. Let us know how you get on with the Jag.

Lovely car, would love one myself, saw one of these when buying my sons first car, was nearly tempted to test drive, but ran out of time. Wifes Jag at 12 years now getting the dreaded Jag sill-rot, shame as rest of the car is great, and handles well, so in 2 MOTs time expect it to be scrapped (which will be a shame) Jag engines are really nice free running beasts, so 400bhp sounds like fun in such a light car.