DAW

Hi Lee, Nice car and welcome to the club. I'm sure time will only improve your view of the car. Had my F for nearly 2 years now and it still surprises me. Enjoy!! Pete, looking forward to the video and hearing your revised H&S exhaust!!.

Hi Mike, Car looks sharpe and the blue is a great colour. I'm sure you will find the car just gets better & better!!. Enjoy

Good choice & welcome to the club!!

My previous two cars were Audi A4(B7) Quattros, a V6 then a V8 S4. Both great cars, especially the S4 which I loved, and my local dealer was one of the best garages I have ever used. Unfortunately I got to know them a little too well with over £10k+ worth of bills between both of the cars over a 2 year period, due to a design flaw and a manufacturing fault. The first was the timing chain tension slider issue with the V6, an engine out job, which I subsequently found out is also an issue for the V8 (S4/RS4). The second was for a replacement Tiptronic gearbox whose inbuilt cooling system sprang a leak inside the box into the gearbox oil. Audi were great and I wouldnt have been so quick to sell the S4 if there hadn't been the possibilty of the chain tension slider issue occuring with the V8. So as Im sure you can appreciate the pretty bomb proof nature of the ISF appealed, together with its rarity and the fact that most people haven't got a clue what its capable of. I would test drive one without a doubt. It would be interesting to here how you think they compare. I loved the confidence the quattro gave but understandably I found there was less feel through the steering than RWD ISF provides. My S4 however had a 50/50 split in the 4 wheel drive not the 40/60 split you have in the RS4. The 8 speed auto makes the ISF a real Jekyl & Hyde car. A relaxing and relatively frugal (for a V8) cruiser when you want and a sharp responsive weapon when you drive it in sport. I think its a brilliant car!!. If you love a manual box I'm not sure any paddle shift gearbox will give the same satisfaction as a manual. Paddles however are definately quicker - being able to make snap decisions when the opportunity arrises which would be missed in the time it takes you to move your arm!. Its horses for courses!! Let us know what you think/decide either way. Fun times ahead!!

It looks like a 2010 model with the LSD looking at dash with the blue panel steering wheel and the equal sized speedo/rev counter. They are definately Lexus wheels which were available for the ISF, but are just not very common.

HI Peter CF looks great. Really like the finish!!. Will be keeping a close eye on how the exhaust progresses with H&S.

Hi David thanks for the info and as you suggest I will give them a ring.

Sounds spot on!!. Be handy to know exactly what they did - sorry if you have already described this in detail elsewhere!! I would love to do the same at some point and like you I don't want it too loud. Like most owners on here I just want to hear more of the V8 than the standard exhaust permits. The cost of the relately flimsy replacement exhaust tip panels alone makes a revised exhaust system a sensible move. I have been following the exhaust related posts since I became a member and I live very close to H&S, so it would probably be sensible to get them to revise my exhaust. I had therefore pretty much decided that at some point I would have the H&S system fitted. I appreciate that the sound/loudness of an exhaust is a purely subjective thing, especially without hearing the various setups in person, but some of the recent posts seem to suggest that the H&S setup may be a little on the loud side. I will be following the various exhaust threads progress with interest and hopefully at some point get to hear some of them in person.

Sounds brilliant!!

Hi Stevie, I'm on my first and I think its a great car. Infact I currently can't think of anything else I would replace it with other than a complete change to a sports car in the future, when practicality is not a consideration. I usually change my cars every 2 to 3 years but i'm going to keep the ISF until I go down the sports car route, which is some way off at present. I watched the ISF market for about 4 years until the time was right and bought my car with only 5500 miles on it, so I know what you mean. The good ones generally cost more!! Can't help much on the mods front but there are some very knowledgable members on here who are happy to help, as i'm sure you have already seen. David

Welcome to the club. I would imagine that you must be one of a very small group of people (outside of Lexus) who have owned that many ISF's given there rarity!!

Does the 2011's configuration differ from the 2012's onwards?

Hi All, actually my late 2011 is the final model (LED's/sport button on sterring wheel / Large rev counter & small speedo etc...) and there is another club member who has an earlier 2011 registered car. I thought the final models started in 2012 as well until I came across my car.

Welcome to the club & i'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy the car. As you've already experienced they do cover ground remarkably quickly without realising, even when you are not particularly trying. It still surprises me!!. Its already been mentioned that there are a few of us who would be interested in the exhaust system you mentioned so keep us posted!!

A friend had the previous gen Golf R and in his opinion it was not much better than his other front wheel drive Golf GT in winter. If its winter grip you are after there is no substitute for permanent 4 wheel drive. Nothing seemed to phase my Audi S4.

I test drove a 2008 and own a late 2011 (DRLs model) and both are more refined than my previous Audi S4, which to my knowledge, has never been criticised for being overly firm. The car was developed on a track and has a firm but responsive ride, but is still refined enough to have a relaxed cruise in. When I first test drove the 2008 ISF I thought the suspension would rearrange my vitals given everything I had read and was genuinely surprised. I was expecting a ride as hard as say an early Civic Type R and when I drove home from the test in my S4 it seemed unrefined in comparison. Ride comfort is a very subjective thing so as the guys have said take a test drive. I think you might be surprised!.

Hi Stuart - very nice!!. I think the white/black colour combination looks brilliant (unsurprisingly!!). I'm a big fan of red leather as well having had it before myself; makes getting into a car an event in itself. Is it living up to expectations?

Hi Gareth I don't think there is a bad colour for the ISF to be honest. The colours available seem to have been quite limited and well choicen by Lexus. All the colours I have seen in the flesh have always looked great and all were very flattering. Personally I would wait for the right car to come up as I think you will be happy with the colour when you see a car you are really interested in. The ISF is a great car and you won't find another car with this level of performance, quality, rarity and reliability combined. Good luck with which ever of the two cars you choose. Both will be exciting to drive and have a lot of character. Fun times ahead!!

That was a good move and really nice car. I had been watching the price drop and your timing was spot on because the ISF's started to go up in value thereafter. I have been keeping a regular eye on the Lexus ISF's since 2010 and the blue with black leather rarely came up (usually having the white leather) so good move all round!!. Was sad to have missed out but every cloud as a silver lining as they say and my car came up less than two months later. I didn't want to spend the £40k required at the time to buy the final model variant (all being 2012/2013 cars). So I was really surprised to find one registered in 2011 and especially with the bonus of only having 5500 miles on the clock. Its the only car I have ever put a deposit on from pictures only. Needed to ensure it hadn't gone before I could get up to Leeds to see it and glad I did. The drive home was brilliant and all on 3/4s of a tank (33mpg) - amazing!!

Just to clarify my car is the final model variant with the DRL's, single large rev counter, blue panel and the sport button on the steering wheel and was registered at the end of August on a early 2011 plate (being only a week off the late 2011 September plate). I was surprised about this as I had thought the same as Andy; probably from the magazine reviews I had read. But as I said I have also seen one other for sale with Lexus this year (while I was keeping an eye on values) which was registered in March or April 2011. The pictures showed it had DRL's/large rev counter etc - although its always possible the year was a typo on the Lexus website. Andy if you don't mind me asking did you buy your car from Hedge End in Jan/Feb 2014?. My original preference was for a ISF in blue with black leather and I had my eye on one at Hedge end, which had literally just been sold when I called to organise a test drive.

I originally thought the final model variant with the DRL's and large central rev counter was from 2012 onwards. But my car is this model, bought from Lexus and was registered at the end of August 2011. I thought it may have been one of the earliest of this model to be registered, but I saw an early 2011 for sale at a Lexus dealer over the summer so clearly not. I was originally looking for the updated model with the mechanical slip diff/blue panel in the steering wheel etc which I understood came in after April 2010. But having watched the ISF market for a while later registered cars were coming up without this so I can only presume that it depends on when the cars are imported and then registered!!

I would seriously consider letting Lexus UK know about this debacle and perhaps their customer service department could get things moving. When I have had issues with Dealerships in the past, I found that involving the manufacturer's UK Headquarters has ensured things were dealt with seriously from the outset. I'm not sure you have anything to loose and I would be very surprised if they didn't get involved given your experience to date!! You must be questioning whether this dealer can be trusted to ever complete this or any other work!!

Hi Mark, welcome and I'm sure the grins will keep coming!!.

Wow what a farce!! If they don't deliver on the 11th I think I would consider finding out the dealer principals name and dropping him a line to explain what's been happening and copying it to Lexus UK. Fingers crossed its all sorted on the 11th.

The similarities with the recalls/parts issue is strange or a hell of a coincidence. Its almost like they are deliberately not telling the customers. Do they have some underlying issue with the supply chain?