Damien7579

Yep. http://www.audi.co.uk/new-cars/a6/a6-saloon/specifications/pricing.html Wow didn't realise how expensive the A6 hybrid is and how worse off it is for emissions etc. Might as well go for the BE 3.0 TDI!

Oh... just checked and you're right... well I guess that makes sense. Horrible things runflats ... more pricey, more firm, less choice & generally can't be repaired on puncture so they might as well have used normal tyres with the goo as same difference - both destroy tyre on puncture!! Another compromise to make. Their only benefit is perhaps better handling / feedback due to stiffer walls etc but that's not really a big thing for a non-sports car.

So does the IS300h come with the evil compressor and goo for punctures that destroys the tyre? Looking at that doc linked by Roger is seems so :( how disappointing and cheap. Is there even an option of getting a proper space saver like there is for the CT200h?

Hi CT owners, I'm debating selling the recently removed OEM lexus 17" wheels from wifes CT on ebay and wonder if I should do a no reserve and risk them selling for not much or hold out and do a buy it now ... They're in good condition with only 1 requiring some refurb on scuffs around edge. Is there much interest in second hand alloys and what's a sensible value as I can't find any similar items on ebay or just new ones? BTW I hope this isn't breaking any rules. I'm not trying to sell them here; just looking for advice on how to proposition them on ebay for best sale value. I would advertise them on the buy/sale section here but can't quite justify £40 gold membership as I wouldn't get any further benefit as I live in the republic of ireland so it would be wasted sadly :(

Agree regrading journalism. i much prefer in car video reviews -- more authentic :) Any whine heard during breaking is the regenerative breaking battery charger; and usually engine switches off. happens both at breaking and downhill coasting. Again another function of the hybrid system. The ct makes a fair bit as it stops but again no worse than normal engine noise and its the sound of Eco friendly battery boost ;) can't see how any of this detracts from the actual car or what it achieves and it's picking at straws to use it to discredit it. By all accounts from folks on here it sounds like a cracking motor and I look forward to a play in it.

Thanks for link. But not much in there we don't know other than acknowledging keen pricing in Ireland. I think the drone must refer to the engine noise when you overtake / hard accel... the only hybrid I've driven much (3 years) is the RX350h and the only time you heard any real noise was flooring it to overtake. But that was usually the v6 revving up and sometimes you also heard the whine of the electric motors too. I do think they miss-report the noise. Gearboxes themselves surely shouldn't make much noise unless it's the mechanical cogs but those are missing in the CVT?? Even with a proper gearbox, once shifted to a lower gear under hard acceleration, the engine revs still have to go up and the electric motor bhp assist will also be combined so any noise for the CVT is drowned surely by these? Perhaps hybrids are still much of a mystery to most reporters and they have to label it somewhere. Also thinking more about it, the refinement of the car means cabin noise is one of the quietest around so perhaps that influences what noises are heard during driving that normally are ignored over more louder engine noises.... TBF the v6 in the IS250 is can whine like a muffled sewing machine when hard pressed :) And again drone is relative .. what about the clatter your hear in a 220D Merc blue motion or whatever it's called. Was in one the other day and even just cruising around it sounds unbelievably loud and bangy. Yet between the bmw 320d and that they get such amazing reviews for refinement ...

Great report, hope she is proud :) pretty impressive for 5 y/o performance car with a V8. Another reason to go lexus :) I noticed my car has similar warranty claim on seat and also had 4 exhaust tips purchased over 2 years. wtf? Mine is similar age and 44k miles and I've owned coming up for 1 year. No consumables yet just one minor service but as with you rears coming to end in next 5k. No issues what so ever. Do you track your fuel / mpg for a laugh? I do; 5,774 miles, 2,223€ on fuel, 19.8 mpg average. Works out at 0.369€ per mile or 0.404 after expenses lol. MPG rate has steadily declined since ownership and more and more fun journeys out :)

They give the same treatment to the GS450h F-Sport; http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/lexus/gs-saloon/450h-f-sport-4dr/summary/64940 The previous GS got 4 stars and the new one which is highly rated in the US for providing the best handling and best implementation of a CVT on a lexus etc and WC gives it 2. I now try to only read US reviews of cars as they seem far more liberal and unattached to the dominate marques!

@Roger Bill: Thanks for the feedback. As with you reliability and min ownership hassle are top priorities for me too, especially when owning a V8 and having looked at many options the rare and Q like ISF hit the bill and touch wood has been a stress free ownership. TBH it's the hidden gem of owning Japanese high performance cars as this is my second. But as you, I'm a bit of a Lexus fan having also owned a CT and RX but was thinking perhaps my glasses were too tinted hence the comparison to BMW. Also, let's not forget (in the UK at least), Lexus dealerships are second to none. I've had the displeasure of being at the mercy of BMW dealership courtesy a number of times at two different locations and it was abysmal! They treat non-sales customers as scum. My father-in-law owned two merc's from new since 2000 and his ownership woes have put me off for life (the C63 AMG was out). He constantly had issues and when the car went out of warranty it cost a bomb to replace simple parts. In the end he got fed up and went Hyundai. Regarding refinement of the BMW diesel, this surprised me as they're supposed to be the best in class and technology wise they seem to be able to deliver the best performance vs co2 emissions and economy. Which tbh was the only reason I was even considering. BTW I have no interest in manuals; not after having double clutch gearboxes and the IS-F one. Couldn't bear to go back. One thing I do miss from my old RX was the hybrid when in town and traffic. I loved the engine just switching off and the car was quiet. It really did act as sort of calming effect. Sitting in traffic with a humming V8 is fine but not sure a diesel would be as enjoyable :) That's the thing about the options where Lexus does well (or did ... they seem to be offering more and more options now and more levels)...When choosing the ISF second hand all I had to worry about was mileage and colour as I knew everything else would be standard on the car. I like my toys :)

@Silver Arrow: Yeah the BMW 8 speed ZF box gets amazing reviews. And it's used many many other luxury cars so it's been well proven too. Agree on the rest of the sentiments. TBH the 8 speed in the IS-F is pretty trick and almost magical and could have been used on it's IS brethren :/ tho saying that it seems a 7 speed sport version is available in the US on the IS350 non-f-sport. Why do they not give us such nice toys here .... :(

Yep, here in the republic, every optional extra you tick is charged at the cars VRT import rate.. so 16-18% depending on co2 of base model. The eco model is crap in terms of what you get but gets the lowest co2 and looks cheap. Interesting about the fuel econ .. most people should then find good savings on fuel if they do commuting/traffic/kids drop off miles. Long trips for me = 24-28mpg, tootling around town and drop-offs... *cough* 12-18 *cough* I find this site useful in getting real-term MPGs over many miles for cars; http://www.fuelly.com/car/lexus/ct200h <- here you can see the CT does pretty well over the long run with no one recording long term mpgs under 40 ... not a totally fair comparison as different car: http://www.fuelly.com/car/bmw/320d/2013 Hmm the seats are that good??? might be worth a test drive in the near future to see about these seats. It's such a shame they didn't bother doing a BTO for the IS350 like they do with the IS-F... very odd as I'm sure it would have more sales than the IS-F ever did: 219! http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/lexus_is_f_auto

50-55mpg for short journey's is actually very good and respectable as that's the time the car is the most inefficient. Show me any modern diesel or petrol saloon that has good econ in sport / heavy boot mode! Hmm will have to double check the keyless entry. Knowing how the Irish market works here I bet it's optional. 90% of all CT's sold her have no sat-nav and any extras. But I'll do what I did last time and import 2 better spec'd UK Lexus models. Yeah for lexus fans it's been a pain in the ***** reading some of the european reviews as they're painfully obviously biased. Imagine impact on normal readers of the reviews who would be suckered into believing what they read. Journalistic integrity down the pan pandering to their big advertisers and supports no doubt. US reviews seem much better and upbeat. I guess it's natural to compare to BMW but I wish Lexus had stood their ground and not done the whole sport thing as on the IS it's not going to come close to a M sport BMW in any variant! Glad you find steering is greatly improved. It's pretty bland on IS-F but once you get used to it; it's fine on demanding track use so it can't be that bad! Two areas which they seem to have really picked up the ball is the seats and steering adjustment which are both the weakest points for me in the 2IS. You could never find that perfect seating position :/

Is the keyless entry system optional on non-premium versions? I *love* it on my IS-F but don't see the point it getting the premium and can't find much info on lexus.ie. It seems to me the F-Sport version is full of gimmicks like the IFA inspired TFT speedo gauge replacement. Are there any features in it that are worth it as obviously you don't get any real performance benefits other than perhaps tweaked handling... I do like the look of the seats :) As an aside did anyone look at the BMW 320D or similar models in comparison to the new IS? I note that the price of the IS premium is cheaper than a base spec M Sport 320D here in ireland which surprised me. Adding any of the options available on the IS Premium pushes the 320 over 50k! Ian it would be interesting for you to post follows up of long term fuel economy as some annoying reviews (i.e. the telecraph suggested a 300mile average of 33mpg!) suggest very poor econ. I'm hoping for > 50mpg over long term. My wifes CT (2011 launch model) is getting over 55mpg over 30k miles.

Or wait a year and import a IS300h if there's decent prices on year old ones in UK... So next time you think about complaining on UK car costs... spare a thought for us poor irish petrol heads..

@Chris: I know! I'm from the UK myself and imported my ISF when I moved here. It gets worse however.... I had to pay 34% VRT import duty based on current open market price of car. check out the road tax here http://vrt.ie/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1593 Even the new IS300h would cost 180euros per year in road tax & unlike UK they have no free tier even for 0 co2 emission cars. The base price is near 40k euros for new IS300h and the new price of the ISF is over 120 euros. It's just another Irish government money grab sadly :( Sadly the folks here just seem to roll over here on road tax charges and so on.. no riots or noise.. just silent acceptance. Most Irish cars sold here come with very low spec too as each tick box on the option list has extra duty costs! Once I sell the ISF I will buy something boring like the 320d for Ireland and something sporty which I'll keep in the uk and bring over for a few months at a time but keep reg. and insured in uk.

Makes sense these days... nowt wrong with a twin turbo v6 if done right (see nissan GT-R; a cracking engine... personally loved the v6 engine and turbo whine). Plus toyota have previous experience of such things. Hmm interesting. Did they say timeframe? guessing 2015. I would guess it would be a high revving LFA type engine... a v6 the size of a v4 etc. Yeah Irish road tax is insane. I opted for 2008 model purely because it comes under an older CC based tax system and no co2. Otherwise it would be 2400euros! It's not a performance/pertrol head country at all compared to uk sadly. Damo on here will attest to Irish car running costs ....

Not too bad at all given performance etc. It does scrub up well in the flesh. Tar is an issue here so that's usually invisible :) I would have preferred the silver or blue too actually but beggars etc.

MrW, if they're taking deposits for the 'fast' one, are they giving any details for what your handing your money over for as I've heard zip about a proper new IS-F replacement... any digging you can do? Has anyone considered / looked at or compared the new(ish) 320d efficient dynamics over the IS300h? I doubt the claimed MPG is even remotely doable...it will be like the CT, claim 68mpg and get 50mpg. As I live in Rep. of Ireland, I can't keep the IS-F for ever (road tax is 1803Euros per year!)... so already long term thinking of it's replacement which is no easy task....

Look forward to hearing your feedback in due course. At that price tho, it's a bit of a bargain so hope they hold up. My last pagids I bought did great but cost £400+vat for pair of fronts for slightly bigger discs (380mm) on diff. car... hmm 10x the price! the ISF is turning out to be pretty reasonable on consumables so far!! I see we have matching IS-F's ; '08 in Cadoxton Slate Grey :)

Was just doing some research for pads and dics and see europarts are offering front pagid pads for £38 inc delivery at the mo! http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Lexus_IS_5.0_2008/p/car-parts/brakes/brake-friction/brake-pad/?101821018&1&9fe7d9cf479ab01b79a8aaa165f69277cdae6503&000036 MrW are you running the pagids yet -- if so any good?

@noby76 thanks! It defo is a sleeper car. If you are into bond movies, the IS-F is also like a 'Q' car in many ways - looks good but not too outrageous/sporty but packs lots of secret weapons under the hood so to speak :) To give them credit as you say, Nissan did an absolute fab job with the GT-R without question - it really is a marvel of engineering and technology - if they ever do a Irish friendly one I'm there :) I'd say the GT-R is a real thorn in the side of Veyron owners - for 20k or so you can tune a GTR to 1000bhp+and then really the only thing the veyron can do is reach a higher top speed if the road is long enough. Of course the GTR is also a lengend to kids because of gran turismo games.... certainly in the UK/Ireland. The other thing I love about the IS-F strangely is the fuel econ - I'm getting 26-29mpg on some trips (and < 18 on others hehe). That's quite impressive when you think about it for a 5l v8 beast. I'd be happy with long term of 22mpg so anything higher is a bonus.

I've recently moved to Ireland (hi Damo!) and a few weeks ago I picked up a 2008 cadoxton slate grey IS-F from Lexus Nottingham and a few days later brought/imported it to Rep. of Ireland - it's likely the 4th or 5th IS-F in Ireland now. The upshot is they're now even rarer in the UK :D The IS-F was a replacement for my 2009 GTR (R35) that I recently sold before moving here as it just wasn't suitable for Ireland with the extortionate import duty (VRT) and 2.2k road tax per annum (sure the IS-F wasn't much better but it's a far cheaper car to buy, own and run) and I've always hankered after a V8 and what better V8 than a reliable Lexus one with a trick gearbox?? The IS-F is such a jackal and hyde car - easy to live with and pootle around picking up kids and driving in town but press the sport button, stick it in manual and bang! different beast. The V8 sound track is truly marvellous and makes me smile every time I hit 3.7k RPM! Plus being an IS looking car it gets little attention from the unwashed masses who are car clueless unlike the GT-R which sometimes would get surrounded at every petrol station and school parking area - it was getting very annoying when 7 year olds kids where saying 'cool car mister, how much was it?'. Saying that, the GT-R is in a different league and is sorely missed :) The biggest benenfit of the IS-F is it's LACK of modding ability as it was almost too easy to mod the GT-R with an accessport - when I sold it it had a stage 2 tune with 590bhp with only a ECU mod, updated exhaust and a few other small bits. If anyone Irish member is looking to do the same, shout and I'll be happy to help/advise. The attached pics aren't very good - iphone on a cloudy day but there you go.

Hi, First post and recent RX400h owner! So far loving the Lexus experience and now I want to fit headrest screens + dvd player for the kids for long journeys and so on. Can anyone recommend a fitter in Midlands (Coventry area)? So far I have been quoted around £900 inc vat for all kit and fitting for 2x6.5" screens, dvd player (sd/usb ports) etc Is this reasonable? (TFTs are NecVox and dvd player is from Veba) Any feedback welcome and any recommendations on kit itself would be useful as finding any decent sites on this area is proving challenging! Has anyone fitted their own inc Thanks! Damien