DAW

I have always made a note of the mileage, but I now photograph it (inc the dealership) once I have arrived in the customer parking area at Woodford. The reason being, that when I had the fan recall work done, it happen to coincided with the arrival of the 1st RCF at the dealership. Their workshop is also a second site very close to the showroom so has to be driven too, but should only resulted in the car being returned with a maximum of 1 mile added. When I picked the car up it had a lot more than that. I spoke to the service department and they sent me photos of the mechanics log in sheet, which had been over written & was magically a mile lower than the mileage when I picked the car up!!. I think it was probably just too much of a temptation given the arrival of the RCF and was taken out for a comparison drive. Its a shame because I'd hoped Lexus dealers might be better than that. Trouble is I now can't help wonder how well the car is being looked after. The car is due its big 6 yr service in August but has only done 11.5k miles - will the plugs actually be replaced etc??

Love the 1sr poster lol - brilliant.

Welcome to the club and hope you enjoy the car.

Wecome to the club and I'm sure you will not be disappointed with the F

Funny this is one of the reviews I saw recently when the whole issue of finding unbiased reviews came up. It was a good review & in the blue as well!! Absolutely - fuel consumption is not a consideration when running a V8, but a pleasant surprise all the same!

Sorry didn't see you second post before I replied!!

I unfortunately only had the S4 not the RS4. My wife prefered an auto box, hence the tiptronic, which as you rightly pointed out was not available on the B7 RS4. So the S4 was the most powerful A4 available with the auto at that time. Always fancied a B7 RS4, as I still think its one of the best looking cars Audi has produced especially in the blue. But the issues with the S4 put pay to that!!. Also had friends with S6's & RS5's who had issues!!. Obviously there was a significant difference between my S4 and the ISF. The thing that really surprised me when I test drove a 2009 F though was the ride, because everything I read suggested it would rearrange my internal organs!! and it was fine. What I hadn't expected was for the S4's ride to feel harsher and unrefined in comparison when I drove it home afterwards. Another thing that will probably surprise you coming from the RS4 is the ISF's fuel consumption. I drove my car back from Leeds to Essex and still had a 1/4 of a tank left. Its not unusual to get 33mpg on a motorway journey and I couldn't get near that in my S4 with the smaller 4.2L V8. Obviously if you drive it on short journeys in sport/manual you will be in the teens but I average about 24-26mpg for mixed journeys. I have driven other more powerful cars such as an Audi V10 S6 and a Maserati Quattroporte GTS and I think the F is more than a match being lighter and more dynamic. It constantly surpises me how quickly the F covers ground and the speed climbs. I drove the current C63 CLS with some 600hp last year and was amazed at its agility for such a large car, but when I got back in the F afterwards it felt every bit as urgent. There is no substitute for Hp and of course it will ultimately out perform the ISF, but it would be interesting to see how close they are under normal road conditions where you can't use all the power available. I've seen a few comparisons between the B7 RS4 and the ISF, but would be interested to know how you think they compare?

Looks like a nice example & welcome to the club. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the car. Bought my F in 2014 and it hasn't missed a beat. I had a B7 V8 S4 before the ISF, which are not supposed to be quite as temperamental as the RS, but it still managed to need a new tiptronic gearbox (manufacturing fault) at £6.5k. Also had an issue with the mass air sensor which affected the gear changes on the new box, so for a while I thought I might need a 2nd - deep joy!!. Shame because I loved the car, but when it became clear that the V8 was also prone to the chain tension slider issue, which I had already experienced with my previous B7 V6 quattro (£4k), that was the final straw for me. At the time I thought I was probably just unlucky, but time has shown that these issues are all too common and the other German manufacturers are no better. Couldn't fault the way the Audi dealership handled the issues though, they were brilliant. I did a lot of research before buying the ISF and nothing then or since has changed my view that you won't find another car of this type and performance that is as reliable. Fingers crossed I haven't just ginxed myself

On the basis that a pro driver in an ISF Ring taxi in the clip below (thanks Stuart) from an earlier post stated that the M5 is half a minute slower than the F; I suspect it would be very difficult to exploit those numbers. Its difficult enough in the F. Apparently the M5's being a heavyweight cooks the tyres!! Enjoy if you haven't seen this already - still one of my favourite clips for showing how capable our car is

Just renewed my warranty before Xmas and it starts when the current warranty runs out in May. There seems to be no problem paying for it while the deal is available.

Hi Paul, Blimey their really coming out of the wood work now and I hadn't read this one either. What the hell was I doing with my life during that period!! Again many thanks for finding it. Will have to look and see if I've still got the copy of the article I mentioned. Pretty sure I kept it because it was after reading it that I decided the IS-F was a car I was interested in. At the time I was getting pretty tired of having issues with my BMW's together with the attitude of the bloody dealerships, so going back to a car as potentially reliable as my old Supra was really appealling.

Well done for finding it although this isn't the one I read funnily enough. The one I had was a road test comparison between the IS-F (in Mesa red) with an M3 & RS4 and if I remember correctly the IS-F came out on top. So that's at least 3 good reviews from EVO including the second hand buyers review that Peter was involved in around the time of the RCF's arrival. But thanks again for finding this article - nice to read one of these rare factual and unbiased reviews!!

Funnily enough the bosses car is a Honda Civic - is there a themed here!!

Hi Tom, The Ultrasonic blue with the black leather was my 1st choice as well. I watched the IS-F's coming up for sale from 2010 until I bought in 2014 and only 2 came up with that combination during that period - one of which I narrowly missed out on to another club member in early 2014. So they are certainly rare, with the ivory/blue being the most common available while I was looking.

Welcome to the club and you are lucky, those wheels are a rare site (very nice)

Absolutely. The Badge has never been the most important thing to me, it's the car that counts. I always find it interesting to compare the difference between the UK and the US reviews. The US always seem far more positive when comparing the F against the German rivals. I think EVO magazine were the only ones to see what a good car the F is. Not that it matters what anyone thinks to be honest. It's what's kept it such a rare car, and it still makes me smile to see people's reaction when you pull away from them like they are parked, because they haven't got a clue what a serious perfance car the F is.

It's interesting looking back at these car reviews. I remember watching the review of the E46 M3 v Audi B7 V8 S4. Clarkson & May said that the M3 was clearly good on a track, but the S4 was quicker in the real world and it would be the car they would prefer and drive every day. I owned & drove that series of S4 to my 1st test drive of a 2009 IS-F. I expected the ride to be harsh given what I'd read and wondered if the build quality would be on a par with the Audi, which were considered to have some of the best quality interiors at the time. After my test drive I drove my much loved low mileage S4 home and to my surprise it felt far less refined with a ride quality that was far harsher. Just goes to show how much notice we should take of these reviews. Top Gesr in particular had a bit of a thing at the time about cars developed on track having their ride quality ruined for the road. Yet the IS-F was far more refined than a previous generation of performance car that they rated - go figure!!

Would be good to come to a meet at some point as I've haven't been able to make to the last 2 Bluewater meets locally. Will hopefully manage it at some point & thanks for the friendly invite.

Great idea and should prove a really useful resource for all of us. Especially in relation to sensibly estimating an agreed value, given the pathetic insurance settlement one of the members received on having his IS-F stolen.

Would love to, although a bit of trek from Essex!! Might end up getting entangled with the camera vans on the way

Love the photos - look like they are straight out of a magazine shoot. Very nice work!! The roads and scenery look fantastic. Looks like a very nice part of the country to visit and a good excuse for blast!!.

Really sorry to hear about all of this, but not surprised with regard to the insurer's. It was bad enough having to go through the whole experience of being robbed, without getting stabbed in the back by the insurers as well. I'm sure it's not much consolation, but at least its made the rest of us realise that the usual insurance policies are not suitable for our cars. I have a three year GAP policy which came free with the car, which I will now be looking to renew or else an agreed value policy if its even an option. Hope you can both move on quickly from this sorry business. If you don't mind me asking, who did you get your GAP insurance through, and perhaps it would be a good idea if we start a new thread relating to GAP/Agreed value insurance info for all our benefit!!

I agree it sounds like the rev limiter and the upgraded ISF has the upshift beeps.

Ok so not a huge difference in cost compared with the painted refurbs I've had done in the past. Thats food for thought!!. Thanks for the info.

The independant garage my friend bought the car from had them refurbished, so the costs he incurred ended up being covered under warranty. Not sure how the coating ended up uneven but the brake specialist had not come across this issue before. Its sobering to note that had my friend left it to the local Maserati dealer they would have replaced the discs, which would have been very expensive and wouldn't have solved the issue. He also couldn't have claimed under the cars warranty because it doesn't cover consumables, so as you can imagine he is chuffed with the outcome on all fronts. He considers himself very lucky to have found someone with exactly the right skills for the job. How difficult would that have been in the days before the internet!! Out of interest, and if you don't mind me asking, are the costs significantly different from the more usual painted refurb?