Linas.P

It is enough to try IS300h which is much more common. It is the same engine as in GS, just lighter and faster car... so if IS300h feels sluggish - there are no reason to even bother trying GS which is slower. As you know GS450h is no longer a thing and that is exactly why I am making big fuss of Lexus discontinuing GS. This means we won't see any other car in the range with 450h - which was the only reasonable engine option in UK.

let's get this straight. IS250 0-62mhp is 8.2s, which is 0-60 ~8.0s and realistically ~7.6s (I did ODB2+GPS run in that time)... so kind of 0.4s. There were others who claimed it can do it in 7.0s, but I never was one of those - no it can't!

Yes but Prius got brand new engine, with brand new electric motor and upgraded batteries, whereas I believe ES300h just uses same engine as GS300h... I agree we probably should wait for official figures.

1 - you are right here, I just assumed GS price for some reason and it is incorrect. Still would not compare it with 5-Series, rather 4-Series Grand Coupe, Audi A5 saloon. 2 - I don't live it those "other markets" so for me that is "not even trying"... either way in fact - in one way, because they don't offer 350 in UK, second way because 300h is so slow. 3 - yes Lexus underrates acceleration by negligible margin.. say 0.2-0.4s, still they are in different ball park from competitors where the difference is in several whole seconds. 4 - you mean it "sucks less"... no why it is "better".

And overtaking times are equally unacceptable, maybe slightly better then 0-60 ones, but still nowhere near what competitors offers (say same 420i GC) or nowhere near sufficient. The reason 300h seems to be slow considering 215hp, is because it isn't 215hp - the engine makes ~170hp and that is exactly how the car feels, the electric motors mainly balanced for efficiency and it "doesn't feel" that they are helping acceleration, especially in higher speeds. So if you look at it as heavy car with underpowered and rather lazy engine - the 0-60 times starts to make sense. Yep... the only way to improve on both fronts are to make it PHEV, but for no reason Lexus refuses to do so....

Otherwise if you need to replace it with "RC-F" windscreen, I am afraid it might end-up as Cat-N.... 😄

Try IS220d... On a serious note, why would RC windscreen would be any different?

Even then it is unacceptably slow, BMW518d is not comparable car as it is half class above yet cheaper (cheapest of the type), but any car in similar price and range - say BMW 4-Series Grand coupe 420i will be faster. Finally, the point is not about 0-60, the point is about Lexus "not even trying"...

Did you actually red into those threads - both times the issue was faulty solenoid, not actual A960E having mechanical problem. Anyhow, the price quoted ($5100) is just american dealer quote - has no bearing to real life. Anything substantial will always cost thousands from dealer, take for example IS220d engine - £8000 to replace! Ar you actually telling me that there is a sane person on Earth who would be paying that money when entire car costs less then £2200 and engines are plentiful in scrappies for £250-400. Secondly, you undermine your own argument saying, that clutch in 100k miles is no issue for you because you will replace the car before that - can we not make same argument for AT then? Even if we assume it will explode after 140-160k? That is irrelevant right - because you would have changed the car well before 100k anyway....

After reviewing the details with TP insurance they have changed their mind now. Car is no longer Cat-N, the repair cost was reduced to £2025, so they will be repairing car starting from Monday. I am kind of lost what is going on... I guess £2855 and keeping the N-Cat car was much better proposition, but cannot complain either way.

If Merc is not customisable... What about Lexus then? I ran google search - "A960E transmission problems/ +faults/ +replacement/ +failure", scrolled trough first 5 pages didn't found any actual issue. There are topics like "what to look after", "how likely it is to fail", "how much would be replacement if it would fail" etc. Not as single person reporting the fault. Now I don't say that faulty transmissions don't exist - but I cannot find any case of that. Again if you have the link to those "several threads" I would be more then happy to read it. I can find you several threads in this forum (never mind google) about manual gearbox with DMF issue or needing clutch replacement (it is not even fault, it is more like when not if). No response for the cost? £5000.. no? Or do we agree the actual costs are like 10x smaller? smaller then even average clutch replacement? In which case it doesn't even matter if the gearbox "craps out" at 140k miles - still cheaper then clutch replacement...

1 - my IS250 has same gearbox and same engine as your GS250, I never ever heard of one failing ever. If you have the source please share it with us - everyone will benefit from it. My claims of manual gearboxes needing replacement clutch, DMF are well known and prices are well known, and by the way - if either of those things fails the bast way is to replace whole set, so it might even need doing more often then 100k miles. Secondly, you claim of £5000 replacement is sorry for language but total bull****! The entire IS250 doesn't cost that - maybe dealership going to quote that cost internally (as that is tax efficient), but that is not the cost of replacement. If we looking at values "like for like" for which is "used to used" - then the engine gearbox combo is £800, the gearbox alone ~£300-500, entire write-off IS250 is £500-1000 depending on the damage, so your £5000 gearbox charge is simple non-sense. What would be the cost of manual gearbox replacement quoting same dealer prices, I guess something like £3800? Apples and oranges comparison. 2. yes you are right, many people like many different things. I doubt it has anything to do with "premium brand" or "luxury car"... sounds more like negative thing for me in luxury car. IN performance/sports car different thing, but that is different topic. Finally, do you actual mean manual or dual-clutch auto counts, does sequential box counts, does "manual-ised" auto counts, does fast-auto counts (like AA80E)? - or you saing everyone in IS-F, RC-F, GS-F doesn't have proper control of the car, because of non-manual box? I mean I understand and agree, that being in control of the gears gives extra control, but you can have auto and be in control nowadays, it is not necessary to have clutch to do that anymore.

The whole MT vs. AT discussion is pretty pointless nowadays. In the past MTs had advantage for faster shift times, more reliable and cheaper to repair etc. Nowadays it is pretty much the difference between having clutch or not having one, ATs are fast enough (never mind PDK, DSG etc. which are much faster the any human can blink, never-mind change the gear). When it comes to maintenance AT boxes actually needs less maintenance and if they go wrong nobody fixes one, it is almost always cheaper to find used box and replace it. Historically ATs would have been much more expensive to replace, partially because they were much rarer - nowadays when it is almost standard I reckon it could be cheaper to get used AT, then MT for some cars. Now as @st4 mentioned "clutch" is £200, but AT box is "thousands" to repair - again nobody repairs gearboxes anymore, secondly say replacing clutch on IS250 is not that small of the job - you will needs springs, cylinders and whilst you under the car anyway DMF and pressure plate replacement are just no-brainer... all in all clutch replacement on IS250 will be say £700 all inclusive with labour. That is not far off the cost of entire IS250 write-off car and certainly about the same as entire AT gearbox costs. So now imagine your IS250 AT box explodes at 300k, you would have already saved 3 times the price of the whole car just merely in costs of replacement "clutches". MT are certainly more expensive to run and will cost more in lifetime, ATs are sealed units which needs no maintenance and by the time either box fails any work would exceed the value of the car anyway. There is no economical reasoning for MTs, mostly on modern cars there are no "control/speed" resoning and when it comes to premium car - it is no reasoning to have one with MT... Vintage,Historic cars, low-end race cars, weekend cars - yes MT makes sense there.

Cannot agree... over lifetime you probably will spend more money maintaining manual, then you do automatic. Maybe there are unreliable boxes, but taking for comparison IS250 MT vs AT, in 300k miles you most likely have no issues with AT, whereas you would be dealing with DMF and few clutches on MT... so I guess depends what specific box you are talking about. Certainly not the rule which you can apply broadly, at least for cars from last 20 years that isn't the case. I agree that you will understand what is premium car when you see it, equally you will know very well what isn't premium.

****!!! I don't qualify... what about IS220d drivers?

Very limited. I would have upgraded 2 years ago if I would have any choice... I was thinking BMW 640 2012+, BMW i8, RC-F, RC300h, M4, 430d/i... I want coupe in general, but don't want performance car, but it has to be RWD and faster then 7s 0-60, it would be great if it could be hybrid, but the only 2 I can think of are i8/RC300h... Work can offer me BMW 530e/330e, MB C350e/E350e, Volvo S90 T8 - but no Coupe and the pricing are not great. Hence I will continue complaining that Lexus has no RC350 or RC450h, or RC300h Plug-in which does 0-60 in 5.8s ... I guess

I was thinking to get IS220d or IS200t - two worst cars Lexus made and then moan here about them every day. It is Cat-N, which means I can simply continue driving it as it is....

Sorry, genuinely don't understand the question - too many possible interpretations 😄 Am I looking for new "wheels", you mean car? No, not at the moment - I guess I would take the money and get 4 wheels alignment for £60. Am I looking for new wheels - no, the current ones can be refurbished, they are not bent, nor cracked + I already have 2 more sets of 17inch wheels. You looking for new wheels? - was that questions if I am "parting-out" the car and wheels are for sale? That could be possibility.

So they would give category is Cat-N "non-structural damage", the repair costs of £3847 does not include ongoing courtesy car hire of ~500/week. That is crazy how quickly that gets expensive - I trending towards agreeing valuation, my only argument is that they put it as "average" condition on Glass valuation tool, whereas car is "very good/excellent" condition. Yes it is high miles, but FLSH, still has Lexus service plan with 1 prepaid service remaining, complete brakes overhaul in March, new battery less then a year ago, paint is perfect condition, no stone chips, no scratches etc. I know that all sounds sentimental, but call it "average" for year or mileage is inaccurate at best, I would not find the car in similar condition even for £5000 including ones with 100k miles less, they are generally worse condition then mine despite low miles. However, disputing the valuation at this stage adds no value for me, if they increase the value of the car from £3360, they will increase the residual value from £505, meaning that compensation I will get won't change much if at all... I reckon £3750 would be more realistic, but that means nothing - it would still remain Cat-N, I would still get same compensation... ok maybe £50 or £100 more, but it will prolong the process by few weeks, so it is not worth risking.

Yes you right it is 8 speed auto, not 7. But then it is incomparable with manual gearbox anyway - my point was that automatic gearbox have a choice of 8 gears to use and it tires to predict what you want, but never gets it right (that is the problem). On manual gearbox - you know exactly what you want and therefore you will shift to the gear you want, you are not predicting anything + I guess it was 5/6 gears manual so obviously you had much longer gears and wider power band in each gear to play with. Petrol turbo engine have wider power band then diesel ones, but still nowhere near as wide power band as NA engines. Furthermore, when you see power curve of the engine that is usually done on the engine without drive train (i.e. no gearbox connected) and only from say ~2500-3500rpm to rpm limiter e.g. on diesel engine you would get hp/Torque curve for 2500-5500rpm which disregards gearing etc. and it would look rather smooth (on top they will apply smoothing as well). The realistic power delivery will be much more spiky in entire rev range even within the single gear, never-mind throughout all gears.

I had IS200t for whole Saturday, drove around East, South-East England - Motorways, fast A/B roads and some city traffic in London ~600miles, same for RC300h... as for BMW - I have it now for 4 days, drive daily to work, been to East cost during weekend, did 750miles so far and will keep it for another 2-3 weeks, because my 12years old IS250 is sadly a write-off for now. V6 or V8 has nothing to do with being blokish or antiquated - first of all what is important is whenever engine is NA or forced induction. I prefer wide and late power band of NA engine and I prefer sound and smoothness of the engine and lineal power delivery. This smoothness is what you want in Premium car - not jerky small volume turbo engine which is rarely on power, but kicks you in the head and brakes your neck when it gets there.

Third Party Insurance

My car was deemed uneconomical repair... The cost of repairs is £3847, whereas estimated value of the vehicle is £3360 - they reckon "at its current condition" vehicle is worth £505 😄 I am trying to understand what this suppose to mean in real terms, but probably that means - they pay me the difference between remaining value and and what it is worth (£2855) and I would keep the car with salvage title, presumably Cat-C. I am trying to get my head around this now and calculate what is the best solution, still need to approve the valuation and claim....

I guess this is part of Pennzoil Trailer series, more can be seen here:

So you basically called my view outdated, just to rephrase my post and ultimately say the same thing? I know people who considers Golf as Luxury or Premium... so what? BTW I realised today what is wrong with IS200t gearbox - it is not gearbox problem at all, BMW320d does exactly the same thing (with it's 7 speed auto) - the problem is in tiny turbocharged engine which has narrow power band, meaning that you are never in the right gear to be on power and gearbox keeps trying to put-it in the right gear... but because power band is narrow, by the time gearbox sticks into say 4th, you already off the throttle and then by the time there is gap again in the traffic it already has it in 6th - never gets right.