Linas.P

Apples vs. Oranges - we are talking about how Premium car "feels", reliability has nothing to do whit it. Yes I admit - it is nice bonus, but reliability is not what makes premium cars as otherwise Toyota Corolla would be most premium car ever... Yes IS200t blows 320d..320i never been on the same league as IS200t - it was like £8000 cheaper! that is because equivalent BMW is 330i. From new BMW 330i was about the same price as IS200t, but offered more options which are not even available on Lexus - so in the end you could get 330i for more then IS200t, but equally it would have had more options "on paper". In reality I agree new BMW 3-Series feels very cheap inside and Lexus mk3 feels more Premium, BUT if we started making such "Apples vs. Oranges" comparisons - mk2 IS feels more Premium then both, not even considering it is much older model. And equally, try getting any IS mk3 for £4000!

It's performance nowhere near major opposition - poverty line BMW320d does 0-60 in 7.3s. The equivalent to IS200t is BMW 330i (2.0t) and it is much faster - if my memory doesn't lie it is 5.6s, not 7.5s. So sorry for shattering your illusion, but IS200t is not even in the same ballpark. We established as well that it is 8 years newer design and 5 times more expensive, and for that only less then 1s 0-60MPH faster, slightly more fuel efficient ~5-8MPG mixed cycle... "quieter" is that your way of saying "sounds crap"? The interior build and material quality is not as good in mk3. It does not find right gear if you flour it from stand still, and sometimes even if you floor it from the go - it just doesn't seam to choose the best gear for the circumstances. Being fair and balanced - I would say that if you manually select the gear before overtaking it will have more mid range torque and will be faster for overtaking then IS250 and manual gear changes are overall much quicker. However, if you just leave it to do it's own thing either from stand still or whilst overtaking - then my comment stays as is - "it never finds right gear". It is smooth if you just cruising around, don't push it at all - yes it is smooth.. not as smooth as IS250 thought. All in all, if mk3 IS200t and mk2 IS250 would have been both released back in 2006 and both would cost £4000 now - it would be able to argue that IS200t is better car, trade from refinement, to little bit more power, quality to little bit more toys... but that is not the case - IS200t value proposition is very poor. To keep it relevant to "premium car/make" discussion - in my opinion IS200t is the 3rd least premium Lexus ever just after CT200h and IS220d

My insurance does not allow to choose the garage, as for claims management company - yes I can get quote from anywhere I like, if I choose to get it form Lexus I can get it from Lexus. I am insured with eSure, but I don't think their service is any different from any other insurance company, previously I was insured with Bell (part of Admiral) and they are exactly the same - it is corrupted industry - there are no worse or better insurance companies - they are all bad. It might sound surprising, but I don't want to inflate the bill for 3rd party above what I consider reasonable cost of repairs and Lexus price would certainly be above reasonable. I had dent on the same panel in the past and asked Lexus estimate - they wanted ~£1200 just to fix that one panel, so damage like this would make it beyond reasonable repair/write-off. As for wheels that is not entirely true, my insurance can refuse to pay for the wheels if they are not standard and were not declared as modification, but that is only true if I would claim the costs from my insurance. In this instance - I am not claiming any costs from my insurance, my insurance has nothing to do with the case at all - they been notified, I did what I have to do under contract and I told them to keep it "notification only". My claim management company will do estimate and just post it for third party insurance to pay without even asking what they think - the only question here is to prove it was not my fault, which was quite obvious from dash-cam footage. Secondly, third party insurance would be under pressure to agree the price and pay ASAP, because rental car costs are ticking every day - the longer it takes for them to agree, the more it will cost for them. + I will not be asking for wheel replacement, only refurbishment (~£500) so really it makes no difference - any 18" wheels would cos the same to refurbish.

Actually if tyres are all sealed properly etc. I would not expect to loose any pressure whilst driving even for 2500miles or more, I would expect to loose pressure whilst car is parked for prolonged periods of time.

There are no IS350 in Europe - US, Middle east or perhaps Japan... but then I am not mental fanboy of Lexus to pay twice the price just to have reasonable car with wheel in the wrong side, and then have no warranty service and pay 5 times the insurance because it is "grey import". This is not like importing '67 Mustang - not comparable cars. IS200t sound like dropping bunch of bolts into the can, the gearbox never find the right gear and they are so rare that any reasonable spec. costs fortune. Furthermore it not that much faster, neither it is fuel efficient... I know same old same old.... 😄 IS300h doesn't look good neither on paper nor whilst sitting inside... It is just unbearably slow car. Again it's competitor BMW330e does 0-60 in 5.9s - still sounds crap, but you cannot argue with performance. Oh and it cost much less to tax, you get government grant to buy it and you can get it on salary sacrifice via work and offset you higher rate tax - Lexus you can't.

Any decent calipers place would replace pins, rubbers, bolts etc. even decent rebuilt kits have all those parts - the only part which stays is the caliper body, sometimes cylinders as well.

Agree - in IS is not as much of an issue it is l4, but more that it is under-powered. I would still take V6 any day, but if Lexus would make IS300h to go to 60MPH in 6.5s I would not complain as much.

Clearly that is because the former make more sense for them financially, so that they can charge extra and then rebuilt your very own calipers and sell them to other customer...

+ @Britprius - hard to tell if it is safe or not. The only people who can tell you are the ones in MOT centre after doing brake test i.e. brake force distribution and power. Generally, when calipers starts sticking your car still brakes, but not as good, because only one pad is braking and obviously you get unequal wear. What is worse is when caliper stuck closed and your pad is touching whilst driving - you could get car on fire! Anyway, I would not play with brakes and would get them fixed as soon as reasonably possible.

No different to AMG63,43 ect. Which doesn't follow MB standard model designation, or BMW M1, M3, M5, Lexus RC-F, IS-F (instead of IS500) so on and so forth. Polestar is Performance car division - that is all it is. Stand alone models, hell yeah - MB AMG GT? Yes all 300h are l4 - and that is very reason I don't like them, they sound meh... very efficient indeed, but that is not exactly what makes car to feel "premium" for me - roaring V8, yes! smooth V6, yes! High MPG - well that is a bonus, but same as reliability not part of Luxury or Premium car.

I would get calipers rebuilt instead of buying "new" calipers, you see the problem is that most of the calipers which states they they are "new" actually means they are "re-manufactured", so what is the point to get re-manufactured calipers if you can get it done yourself for less and probably to better quality. As for brake pads - you only need one set for front and for rear as mentioned, Brembos are softer pads and much dustier, Pagid I guess more similar to Lexus OE pads. Very important make sure you keep anti-squeal shims (or get set of new), because otherwise they will squeal. The way to tell between vented and non-vented - look to the brake disk, if it has gap betwen side with vents it is vented, if it is single plate then solid. on IS250 the switch happened somewhere around 10/2006, but that doesn't help much because some cars were pre-registered, some were registered later. Thought that only applies to rear disks - front ones are always vented. When they say your disks are "lipped" what you need to check if they are below or above minimum thickness - lip mean nothing, you can technically have lip after only 1000miles on new disks - so what, do you need to replace them? The only time you actually need to change disks are when they go below minimum thickness. See here (my calipers re-manufactured) - I have chosen premium paint hence it was bit pricey, but it can be done much cheaper ~ £90 per caliper:

Wheel aliment car transform handling of the car - I remember getting my current car first time and it was kind of "ok" handling, did alignment and it was like different car, planted, predictable and wear on the tyres was unbelievably even - Dunlop Sportmaxx RT's lasted nearly 40k miles. As such every time I get new tyres alignment is in must have list. On old tyres however is less beneficial, doesn't stay aligned for long. BTW I am now fooling around in this: If you ask me to honestly tell what I prefer, not considering the price - would prefer my old IS250 over this thing any day! On other hand - what I am complaining about?! what was my other choice? It was Micra!

Volvo Polestar is more like AMG/M-Division, it is not entirely separate brand (although AMG was at some point separate brand - remember Mitsubishi Galant AMG?). Volvo itself doesn't lack "Premium'ness" and they don't really need separate brand to look like Premium. That is mostly to do with 90's safest car image and just simply being distinct and much more expensive then mid-tier Mondeos, Passats and even A6's, but just little cheaper then 5 Series, E-Class. I guess brand image was dented a little bit in late 90's and early 00's with Ford ownership with increased number of small and cheap cars... surprisingly now owned by Chinese Geely Volvo seems tha have refocused on premium cars, because they price are certainly not low and not middle-tier.

Yes - been there, simply trying to sell previous reg models or trade-ins before getting new batch of cars. No special deals, same prices as you would be able to "negotiate" at any other time. On the plus side, you can get yourself free coffee, biscuits and sit around in any Lexus you like without being bothered and put on the spot in otherwise empty dealership. During these events they usually throw-in something like service packages, protections packages lower finance without much hassle e.g. on normal day they would negotiate these things with you and add them as added bonus as part of the finance deal, but during sell off event they add them more like standard which might potentially allow to negotiate better price on car. However, they plan is that people will get competitive on more attractive and interesting models and would almost bid or rush to pay whatever the price is asked before other people can grab them. So they make-up their margins on better equipped more popular models and then they can probably agree lower prices on leftovers nobody wanted in the first place i.e. if you after white f-sport NX you will be worse of, but maybe you looking for red Luxury GS you get real bargain.

Yes.. that is how they roll - I am sick about insurance here, total scam, government protected fraud. Going trough that myself at the moment and decided to go via private "claims management company", because I could not put-up with crap my insurance was telling me - basically using fraudsters against fraudsters now!

No "top quality", but it could be considered Luxury/Premium - same as Jag - for long time they were one of the least reliable cars in existence - still "Premium". Quality and Reliability has nothing to do with perceived Luxury. I am sure that any Toyota or Honda is 10 times more reliable then Bentley or Royce-Royce, mid-90s, to mid-00s Mercs were notoriously unreliable cars - visualise CL600 most of which had massive defects whilst waiting on the dealers forecourts for potential buyers - are they not Premium then? In other hand I can objectively compare my current courtesy car (2018 BMW 3-series with 700miles) to my old Lexus IS250 - and it is day and night, BMW feels cheap inside, all knobs, handles, covers, vents are similar quality and feel to some rental Toyota Auris I drove abroad recently. However, that is same feeling when I get into any courtesy car from Lexus dealer e.g. CT/IS/RC - they feel cheap compared to previous generation Lexus'es - not "Dacia cheap", but probably "Toyota cheap", wheres older Lexus feels whole class above any other cars in the segment. Hmmm so what I am trying to say here - currently Lexus feels more Premium then say equivalent BMW, but not as Premium as it used to be. @Ben01 - interesting points about Japanese culture and I tend to agree with you on the culture, but I tend to disagree with you on this culture being applied for Lexus. First of all Lexus is not that Japanese - the brand is more American (not European certainly), main markets are US/Middle east (not EU or Japan) so I tend to believe "master culture" is limited on Lexus. Secondly as for JIT - most car makers are JIT now, see Brexit dialog about how important is timing for car production Nissan, BMW minis and 1/2-Series built in UK... still Mini's have one of the most customisation of most cars - that is called "mass customisation" (MC) in production terms and in mass customisation JIT becomes even more important. I don't believe Lexus/Toyota cannot scale their JIT to enable MC - I tend to believe they are just getting lazy and profit driven. As for parts on shelf - they do have them and it has nothing to do with JIT or culture e.g. US delivered RC/IS has much more interior colours, wheels selection, optional extras etc. How to explain that?

Yes detailing the new cars are now very common practice, I said to myself that if I would buy a new car I would put protective film at very least on front bumper and bonnet, but maybe even entire car, because stone chips will ruin it very quickly. As for good vaxes etc. I think you need to decide for yourself - either you are planning to detail your car yourself and you get all the tools, vaxes, polishes etc. or you don't and you leave it to professional detailers once or twice a year. Half-a*** approach of slapping some cheap supermarket wax after £6 romanian hand wash adds nothing except of "love marks".

German options list is thing of the legends and not in a good way - I think I mentioned that E9x M3 had optional dimming and folding mirrors and for me that is unimaginable to buy modern premium performance car for £60k and have 80's style knob on rear view mirror and getting out and manually folding mirrors with hand. That is bad and stupid - certainly there are things which are universal accepted as norm and therefore they should be standard - period. In some way I like Lexus simplistic trim levels - my point was that there should be balance e.g. RC has like 9 exterior colours and 4 interior, but Dark rose is not available on most Premium trim (Premier) for no reason what so ever, and that is not illusion of choice, they are identical seats in identical car but Lexus would not let you have Premier with Rose seats, equally they won't let you have ACC/PCS (until 2018) in F-sport - so if you want car with red seats and dynamic cruise you are basically stuffed. The options I am talking about which I believe should be offered would be: "Digital Pack" - (I think that is the way Lexus call in US) which would include things like wi-fi hot spot, phone integration, wireless charging and maybe F-Sport instrument cluster "Convenience Pack" - say soft closing doors, gesture opening boot, 360 camera, ACC/PCS and HUD "Protection Pack" - is self explanatory and already exists As you see that is not 100 options, that is 2-3 self explanatory packs and maybe 10-15 individual features which are common place nowadays * items in the red does not exist for RC, but otherwise are present in other Lexus models so why restrict it? Again I understand that if you want to add something completely different in single model it requires a lot of testing and cost a lot just to sell for 2 customers, but Lexus have all these components on the shelf, already working on certain models so why not to all customer to spend few more kazylion coins. On top of that restriction of certain colour seats, or wooden inserts in doors or certain style of the wheels is just unnecessary - maybe certain people like or dislike specific thing e.g. some might hate or lower back or red interior, some might hate wood or CF, some might not like Premier style or F-Sport style wheels ans these are just so simple things to change around.. even if that is dealer who has to do final customisation on things like swapping wheels. Certainly this level of customisation is the least I would expect from "luxury" car.

More like "gimmie +100HP" - "look-a-like"... I really like RC, looks sporty and fast even whilst standing still, get inside and you will be disappointed, not only performance but some bits in interior as well, Lexus sat-nav requires whole different story. @dutchie01 - I though Lexus F-sport "hybrid-mechanical/digital" classifies as type of "digital cockpit"? That is one part which I actually like in Lexus, for example BMW and MB digital dashboard are simple screens with "toy-like" graphics and makes you feel like playing on computer rather then sitting behind the wheel - not fan of those. But Lexus sat-nav/entertainment system control are arguably one of the most awkward on the market. Volvo indeed is exactly the type of Lexus competitor - interesting, different, non-german and more exclusive and recently started making cracking cars in Lexus grassroots market - hybrids! I would be worried if I would be Lexus exec. From my self I would add that Lexus lacks options and in Premium segment individual options are very important e.g. with BMW or similar you can choose from 10 different wheels designs, many more interior/exterior colours + individual range, more advanced toys like 360 view camera, panoramic sunroofs, digital packs with wi-fi hot-spots etc. This is however both Lexus strong and weak point - Lexus is better equipped standard, but then looses the game on best toys when ti comes to options. My biggest issue is that Lexus generally has all those toys in house RX has 360 cameras, NX has panoramic roof and sometimes even same model has option in specific trim e.g. RC-pre 2018 had ACC/PCS and wood trim in Premier, but there were not options on F-sport, F-sport had dark rose leather seats, but they were not available on Premier! Why? Even the wheels, why not have default wheels as they are, but let Luxury, Premier and F-sport trims to order different design for extra price - why just lock each trim with specific colours and styles?! Makes no sense..

Don't get me wrong LS400 reliability was "something else".. however, based on Lexus track record and later models (most of which had a lot of electrical systems) I don't see any reason why LC500 wouldn't be just as good 20 years later as is LS400 nowadays. It might be right or might be wrong prediction, but there is nothing to suggest there are any issues with "lasting ability" and that is true for all cars made by Lexus to the day (less IS220d).

I personally cannot complain about either LS500 or LC500, or F-cars, RX is quite nice car, GS450h was great. However, that is very niche - most of the cars sold are NX, CT, IS (I believe in this order as well) and more basic trim levels are not that "Premium". Adjusted for the times we are living in now, you probably right LS400 was unrivalled luxury back then. @Ben01 what exactly makes Mercedes A-Class worse then CT? At least you can get A45 which is actually quite serious performance car, or from new shape model A250 and A250-4matic are certainly well above CT league. I guess my only issue with Mercedes or any German car is that everything is optional and the difference between basic model and fully loaded one is literally like different car, day and night from completely basic box to completely luxury car. BTW - when we say Germans "mass produce cars", Lexus mass produce cars as well - it is just UK where Lexus is niche - in states they sell more then BMW or MB, significantly more then Audi. So it is not like Lexus is hand built or something...

Agree.... however I think Lexus following very same path like Mercedes. In 1989 LS400 was epitome of luxury, quality and examples to this days shows exactly that. However several Lexus models and design decisions nowadays are ... well... just "MEEHHH" - sort of clear indicator Lexus is simply rolling on the past brand image and monetising it. Luckily there are still cars which represents Lexus as Premium brand, but majority of mainstream models in my opinion are on the trend of just using the brand image and selling Toyotas under Lexus badge.

Just thought it is my chance to dig dig dig... just in case any 300h owners has forgotten! 😄

It is how I would define it and I agree with you, but that is subjective. That is where my disappointment with RC/IS300h came from, it is still well built and reliable, but performance is just a joke when compared to other premium cars, as well 6-Speakers poverty system does not below in any Lexus car. However, that is not how many 300h owners sees it.. and I have caused quite a backlash for pointing that out. As such I tend to think, that nowadays Premium(or Luxury) cars are more about brand image (as described by @Ben01) then it is about actual features you are getting e.g. well spec'ed Golf will be objectively way more luxury then CT, yet WV is not premium and Lexus is?! I can go more into subjective features which makes modern car more or less premium for me ... sort of red tapes where car is not premium if it doesn't have it - the car must be RWD with longitudinally mounted engine, I do not consider any car with inline-4 or FWD layout to be Premium (many would disagree - I heard it is something to do with how FWD cars "pushes from the back"). Other things - has to have leather seats and other premium materials (Alcantra doesn't count) e.g. if it has wood, then it must be real wood, if it has CF then it has to be real CF etc., has to have all adjustment electric, has to be faster then average compact car to 60... probably more.

And that is where IS220d spare pats comes handy regardless of some IS-F owners infatuation for me pointing this out! Those steering wheels were very affordable at some point, but later become madly expensive - I personally think they look great in IS-F. Good work!