noby76

Which brings the question; given the in frequency of our cars suffering a sudden break down are we flushing money down the toilet by signing up to break down services or as i mentioned wait until car breaks down and you need them before calling for their services. they do offer ridiculous low rates for 1st time joiners anyway... I have always had break down service but not at the moment...

Yeh noticed the sneaky hike in my direct debit and canceled mine last week. still debating if it's worth having one or wiat untill if and when i break down before calling and signing up to one there and then.

We had my first when i still had my IS300 ans we managed by mrs sitting at the back behind me and passenger seat moved a bit forward to accomodate baby benefits of having her at the back aswell was to keep an eye on baby and also feeding whilst on the go then got the GS when second one came which didnt require adjustments as the rear leg room was like a football field lol and as they a bit older and using normal seats i now have the Accord.

I quite fancy Robb's IS to be honest.. and would have bought it off him but have other financial commitments at the moment maybe a GS300 when I am ready

you might have a point regarding the padding.. just noticed the IS actually has more front room space than the Tiguan.

this is a screen shot for the rear leg room dimensions for 250 and the Tiguan and difference between them is 133mm or 13.3 cm so as you can see not a lot in them. most assume SUV's have a lot more room than larger saloons but in reality not a lot in them same applies to boot spaces as well.

not sure how tall you and mrs is but I am 5'10 and my mrs is 5'6 and no issues in the both cars.

i have two kids 4 and 2.5 years and both my prevoius GS430 and current Accord serves us well.. most always feel the need for an SUV once kids comes in the picture when a large saloon with a big boot does the job perfectly without any discomfort.

I think you need to ask your self what might really go wrong within two years of ownership? the 250's engine and gearbox are known to be bulletproof and i would rather pay to have the water pump and auto gearbox fluid changed for peace of mind and use the money saved to carry out a complete service engine oil, brake fluid and spark plugs service will work out cheaper than both warranty cost's and will also be a preventative maintenance as you are already capable of doing your own servicing.

Good choice.. had exact one in Silver 02 plate sold it for the GS430 fun car to own and drive def a future classic..enjoy

Sure an IS250 manual/auto will fit this bill? depending on how long you looking to keep the vehicle, spend around £4-£5K on one and use the rest saved for fuel will def work out cheaper in fuel bills alone over 3.5 years than buying an £8k diesel returning 50 mpg and running it over the same period.?

Thats why I'm a petrol head

Just get a 93 1.9 TTiD?

some fare points there.. but i also think it boils down to how a car has been engineered.. i think from what i have seen so far Japanese cars like Lexus, Toyota and Honda tends to have major engine and gearbox and exhaust parts designed to last at least 100 k miles. all my cars have been 2nd hand the the only time i suffered an unexpected break down was in my Ford Cougar V6's alternator and Rover 45 head gasket but was still driveable which were both understood to be a design problem for those manufactures bedsides that i tend to do the preventative parts change every time i get a car like spark plugs auto gearbox oil change, cam belt change if its belt driven, basically anything related to oil or cooling i change them and by following this principal has mainly not left me stranded 9 out of 10 times in a second hand car. 'touch wood' That's not saying 2nd hand Lemons don't exist but there are some decent cars with 50-100k miles on them that will do another 100K without encountering an unexpected break down and will still have performance and drive like it just rolled off factory if of course taken care of which wont cost an arm and leg either to maintain.

With 15K budget, you can buy decent cars for £10K and spend £5K on warranty that's if warranties cost that much these days.. thing is most confuse buying new as being reliable which is not always the case..

To be fair, not everyone runs off to by a new model the moment one gets released. some owners by choice prefer to keep their cars longer than others do. I tend to change mine every 2-3 years as i get bored quickly but that's me.. where as my work colleague keeps his cars for 10 years. I also personally think financing a new car is flushing money down the toilet so makes me a cash buyer again that's me. Others might have also driven a newer model but might not have found it to be a 'major' improvement compared to theirs so cant really justify paying more for less gain/benefit in their case. Others prefer to tinker with thier cars and buying new does not give one the freedom to do this without some form of consequence from the dealer come the time to return the car back after the contract ending. So in some cases its down to personal choice and mentality and not necessarily not being in the position to..

gee you selling the merc well to me lol.. i think you made a good choice for CLS AMG as they are very rare i see lots of C63's not the CLS's... enjoy

I am guessing you would find such people in europe/UK? if Mel Gibson whose net worth is over £400 Million can afford any car on the face of this earth but chooses to drive Lexus that should tell us Lexus GB might be missing a chance here. https://www.clublexus.com/articles/9-celebrities-drive-lexus/

Me neither... actually Gen 3 might be my next Lexus.

you mean like this. how you finding the Merc Tiger??

not everyone who got £80-£100k to blow wants to be seen in a Range Vogue or X6 so i suppose there might be some sales being lost but hey Lexus knows better than me i guess..

I've always thought gen 1 and gen 2 GS's are the best looking 3rd and 4th gen looks boring imo ... makes me miss mine now ...

what will be the drawback or disadvantage to the Lexus brand if they offered all models available in US into Europe i.e GX, LX, ES, and larger engine variants of the GS and IS? for sure there are some sales to be made in Europe/UK if these models are made available rather than not at all? not everyone is bothered about VED tax band and running cost in terms of fuel.... I think Lexus is missing out on potential sales revenue for not making these models available.. They Just need to accompany the models with some good marketing/advertising. make it the best thing since sliced bread

3 IS250's jee who buys the same car 3 times

Finally a word from an IS200t owner who drives his everyday not a test drive to appreciate its values.. what Europe/UK needs is the 3.5 hybrid engine from the GS450h in two spec's. Model 1 can be badged IS350h with a detuned power of 265BHP and model 2 IS400h with a detuned power of 320bhp. so wont tread on GS450h toes in terms of power output..