Linas.P

GS450h is great car, but it is much more complicated than IS250/GS300 e.g. if Battery fails on GS450h then it cost as much as whole GS300 to fix. I am not saying they are unreliable, or that they do fail often, but when they do they are much more complicated and more expensive to fix. Also the cars are now getting to 18 years old, so it is kind of inevitable to have some sort of issues and all those issues on GS450h will be more complicated to fix than absolutelly basic GS300. 

2005-2011 GS450h has many great things about it, but cheap to maintain and fix is not one of them, so you just need to pray nothing goes wrong. 2012+ GS450h seems to be slightly more reliable than older model (again I am not saying old model is unreliable car by any means), perhaps because it is not as old yet.

4 hours ago, H3XME said:

That will sit in the dealers lot with a £3000 sticker. 

I am surprised they even taking it, when I asked Lexus what they would give for mine when buying RC... they said "sorry sir we don't want to offend you with the offer... so we won't make it". 

Point is - yeah PX on 10+ years old car will be tragical and not worth considering.

Not sure what you mean by GS300/3.5. In UK we only got GS300 which is 3L. We did not get GS350, which would be better choice of the two. Do you mean GS450h (which is 3.5L)?

I have extensive knowledge of both GS300 and IS250, actually own both at the moment.

GS300 is more comfortable and larger of two cars, but it does feel much older inside and drives more like old car, although extra 50hp does make it feel much better in terms of performance. My main issue with IS250 was that it always felt to me like it is little bit low on power, it is okey, but it is borderline slow. That is not an issue with GS300 - it has plenty of torque and plenty of power, but it is more of a "boat". That said GS300 comfortably seats 4 adults for long journey. That said 3L v6 in GS300 sort of caps out at 36-38MPG and you can expect maybe 24MPG average.

IS250 feels much more modern car, it is sportier, handles better, is sharper, but it is slightly lower to the ground, harder, less comfortable and rear seats are a bit of compromise. They are decent, I have been on long trips with 4 adults in IS250 as well and it was okey, but if in GS300 nobody cars if they sit in front or in the back, then I am quite sure people would prefer to sit in front in IS250 and I also had to sometimes move my seat as a driver little bit forward. IS250 in this case is much more economical, the best I have seen was 44MPG, average over thousands of miles was ~28MPG.

Now the key for this choice is the price, GS300 is just much better value for money... I had 2x GS300 I paid £750 for one (turned out to be for scrap really, but I really bought it for parts and it is still on the road to my surprise) and I paid £1000 for second car which was 80k miles, had few small issues, but generally solid car. So GS300 is unique in this way that you can find real bargains if you spend some time looking, no other Lexus model is so undervalued. So £2000-3000 should easily buy you decent GS300. IS250 automatic - you looking at £1000-£1500 more, so £3000-4500 I would say. Considering they are equally as reliable and good cars GS being more comfortable boaty and slightly less economical and IS being more sportier, more economical and less comfortable... I would say GS is better VALUE. That said I am looking at fixing my IS250 and maybe engine swapping it for 3L or 3.5L as I personally prefer driving IS... but I just can deny amazing value that can be found in GS.

£8000 budget is way too much for these cars in my opinion. For £8000 I would really be looking at GS450h from 2012 (I know they are more like £11,000-£12,000 at the moment, but I would be monitoring if any come in for cheaper). Also you could probably get GS250 for £8000, which would be better car than both GS300/IS250 even if it is little bit underpowered. Basically what I am saying - value in Lexus is getting higher mile, cheaper ones with service history. Buying lower miles later year models is really diminishing returns, cheaper cars will be 99% as good, as long they were maintained. I definitely would not pay £5,700 for GS300, £3500 tops.

That was the best decade not even from Japanese car perspective, but arguably overall in terms of quality of live. 

Sadly, I have not really lived in the time to benefit from it.... 😞 

13 hours ago, Thelongterm said:

Ok, I think I will get my cordless drill out.

Can you point out the most effective point to make these drain holes on the IS250 stock boxes?

Also, what diameter will these holes need to be? when you use a rubber bung in the MOT will the box not going to be hot enough to melt these?

You need to find the lowest point on the pipe, I assume that is going to be just under the rear axle. Anything after secondary cats should be fine.

No that rubber melts at ~200-280C, so it is very unlikely that any part of exhaust get's that hot after catalytic converter. 

What I have personally seen is the hole in the back silencer, however I am not sure how the internal layout on IS250 looks, so it is hard to say if hole in the box would achieve anything. Based on some comments above (water pouring out of the back box) it sound like it may work, but I am not 100% sure.

As for diameter - buy the rubber plugs first, measure their diameter and drill hole ~10% smaller than the plug e.g. say 6.5mm hole for 7mm plug.

19 minutes ago, H3XME said:

Wasn't every UK model with sat-nav also M&L though? (2005-2013) I know that not all 3rd Gen and JDM (2nd Gen) cars had M&L even if they had a touch screen, but I've never seen one in the UK without M&L. I think 98% of the time it's safe to assume all touch-screen/sat-nav cars in the UK also have M&L. 

No... ML was optional extra for all trims, same as sunroof or DCC. Yes often the cars with sat-nav have ML, but not always.

Also I thought all RC-Fs pre-face lift had ML (despite theoretically it being optional), because it is hard to find one without it, but I have now seen 1 single example without ML. My point - sometimes even some optional things are always fitted, but it is definitely not the case for ML in IS with sat-nav, I would say only ~60% of cars with sat-nav also have ML.

14 hours ago, J Henderson said:

What kit did you use? I'm guessing that its maybe too cold for the product to have cured properly.

Yeah it will be just too cold for it to cure. 

Rule of thumb with sealants - 20C+ and ideally dry place for application, then 24h no exposure to water. 

I remember making same mistake with ceramic coating applying it in cold garage in February... took 2 days to cure and then was kind of hazy requiring machine polishing entire car again.

2 hours ago, H3XME said:

A sunroof would make it special, otherwise it sounds like your regular SE-L. 

Or DCC...

MM can be sat-nav, no ML. Although it is small loss considering standard audio is very decent in mk2 anyway. 

16 hours ago, Thelongterm said:

Drain halls sound like a sensible idea for my new back boxes. So is it just a matter of plugging the hole with, say, a screw when you go down the MOT and then taking them out until the next year?

That is exactly what I have seen done. It wasn't a screw, but more like small rubber plug. Ad as far as I understand it was factory job on some cars.

Also when I lost back box on my IS250 (at ~120k miles and 8 years old), it wasn't rusted, it just sheared off, looked like stress fracture. Got it welded back and it lasted another 70k+ miles after that (it never failed again, but car got stolen, so don't know how long it would have lasted). Also thinking about it - my old IS250 had it's all original exhaust by 200k miles, it looked rather horrible and rusty from outside, but there were no holes or any other issues apart of one backbox falling as mentioned. But I consider that car a little bit of outlier, high mileage and generally exhaust don't last that long.

On 2/12/2024 at 9:05 AM, H3XME said:

I don't wanna be that guy, but you really need to buy an IS250 instead. Engine swap with all the work etc we're talking 1000-2000 quid.. You can buy a 250 for 2k. There's currently a silver one on marketplace for £995 with a slipping clutch (£600 fix and you're good to go). 130k miles manual 250 on a '55 plate so lower tax bracket. Like @Linas.P already said, it's definitely possible to swap it, but the amount of hours needed to undergo this project is what's making it expensive... unless you can do all the work yourself 🙂

Also, there is a reconditioned 220d engine on eBay - £1600 supply & fit. Finding the newer, FTV engine is a bit tricky too because there wasn't that many diesels after 2010 and those are generally okay. It's the early cars that have been affected the worst and therefore lots available.

Well I guess one can get whole crashed 2010+ IS200d for £1000, but you correct on both parts.

1. getting FTV engine already outside of the car will cost as much as whole IS220d in running condition.

2. once everything is done and engine fitted... you may as well have yourself IS250 both manual or even automatic. 

I guess it made sense to fix IS220d's when they were still around £3000-4000, but now that they are trending ~£1500 I just can't see any way to do it economically. 

I don't believe I know anyone who have done it, main reason - it is likely uneconomical repair i.e. your car is worth less than the cost of buying and fitting the new engine.

Now theoretically - could it be done? Yes, 100% - it is direct fit, take old one out, put new one in, they are identical engines, just one has slightly stronger head gasket. The only caveat - you will also need new ECU (engine computer) if you really want improved reliability. This is because never engine (engine model - 2AD-FTV) is slightly detuned (making 150hp instead of 179hp) compared to old engine (2AD-FHV). So yes - new engine has slightly updated head-gasket which is stronger, but key difference which makes it more reliable is that it makes less power and that is ECU that makes this difference. Also it is slightly more economical on fuel. 

You can make a compromise, little bit of "Frankenstein", and use 2AD-FTV with ECU from 2AD-FHV. This should give you stronger headgasket, but without reduction of power and without improvement of fuel economy. Here you would be trading little bit of improved reliability for keeping little bit more of power.

Again - this is all hypothetical, because I don't believe repairing IS220d is economical to begin with and it is not like newer engine is that much more reliable, it is slightly more reliable and chances are it will last you as long as you keep the car, but it still inherently has same issues as older engine.

In short - yes it could be done, yes it is direct fit and basically identical engine, yes it will work in place of old engine without problems, but if you really want improved reliability then you as well need ECU... BUT - it is likely uneconomical repair.

I have seen holes drilled into the bottom of backbox. In theory anything after emissions equipment is legal, however it would throw the emissions measuring probe off and likely cause MOT failure on emissions.

Not sure why would you consider scrapping it? 

Scrap money would be £400 if you lucky (probably less if they come to pick it up). Selling it even with faults would be 2-3 times that. If you would spend little bit of money to "recommission the car", fitting new Battery, fixing puncture in the tyre, taking it to local car wash to do mini-valet, you may get even more. £2000 for running GS300 is really cheap and that is already 5 times what you would get scrapping it.

How to do it - facebook market place or eBay probably would be easiest for cars with problems. Autotrader would get more attention, but people there would expect car to be driving and good shape. Also you can just put your details into selling section on this forum.

Really depends on how much and what kind of driving you are doing. If you doing a lot of miles and long trips, then your exhaust will be fine, if car sits for long times undriven and then does a short trip, then it will rot very quickly.

I would say - worst case scenario ~8 years, but some probably last 12 years or more.

On 2/4/2024 at 7:15 PM, Littorio said:

An audible and visual change;

Power Flex custom axle back, there is now noise when ever the engine is running and the restriction that is in the OEM pipe has been removed. The engine now rev's more freely and it feels like it has released a few horses!

No horrid drone and still fairly quite when at idle but boot it and all hell lets loose.   

It got cleaned after I took the photo

Video with sound before and after is mandatory with these sort of posts! 😄 

Hierarchy... Luxury is most basic spec. Then F-Sport/Premier are kind of same level. Premier is considered top spec. but for example it does not get digital dash, which for me would be deal breaker. After face lift Premier was replaced by Takumi, so the hierarchy became Luxury>F-Sport>F-Sport + Takumi Pack > Takumi. Again F-Sport + Takumi being kind of the same as Takumi, but Takumi lacking digital dash, instead having some wood trim and little bit better base equitpment.

As for what Luxury lacks - I would need to find the the option list, but basically all the options that are standard on F-Sport/Premier would be either optional or not available on Luxury.  Luxury for example does not get Leather and by default has vinyl seats, smaller wheels etc.

Is there any immobiliser related fault? Basically the question I have - why do you think it is immobiliser? 

Immobiliser fault should look something like this - engine should start and stall immediately, engine could also crank after that but won't start. Based on your description engine does not seem to crank? 

4 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

I don't have a credit card linked to my apple ID and I can download free apps on my iPhone.

Can't remember how I did it. I think it was either by selecting "none" when it asked for a payment method, or by adding a voucher to my iTunes account on my PC, and then setting my Itunes balance as the payment method. Something like that, anyway.

Interesting - I may try to do it next time. Previous when I tried I could not find the way to avoid it. 

OP probably can clarify when the car was serviced and where - one of the big reasons to use Lexus service is to get Relax warranty on vehicles that qualify. It would be madness not to service premium car of such age at the dealership, but I guess everyone to their own. Lexus cars are reliable, but not invincible either and RC is not cheap car to fix outside of warranty, after all it was £40,000+ new, so parts won't be cheap (I know myself considering my £4,200 bill for seat, which in my case was fixed by warranty). 

All that said... something doesn't add-up. There is no reason why Lexus technicians would be scratching their head or why would they advise to replace the engine. Engine failure is really binary thing - it either has failed or it has not failed, I cannot believe 2AR-FSE which is used in all 300h models of the time would fail at just 54,000 miles, even if car was not serviced for 2 years these engine can take such abuse and run for a while (it does not help wear and tear, but they will run). So unless rod exited the block in quite open fashion, then I don't understand why engine would even be a question or speculated. Somebody just talks complete BS here, maybe priming customer for huge bill.... "ohhh it is £5,000 for inverter, at least it is not £28,000 for engine". No sorry, engine does not fit in this equation at all.

Can hybrid system fail - yes it could and it could cause the symtoms noted. Initial symptoms sounded like 12V Battery, and for that it would be just about time to pack-up. What is strange is that car died when running, which is not usual for 12V Battery related faults, so it may be further issues with electrical side of hybrid system. The hybrid system check results would help here... when was that done?

Was car rarely driven by any chance? That would explain a lot and also it probably would be resolved with new 12V Battery and good trip for 500 miles. But then I am still puzzled why Lexus technicians are scratching their heads? This should not be difficult issue to diagnose?! Could it be jump start related? AA is generally good, but car service quality is in decline across the board, so I would not be surprised if AA guy shorted and fried something (which could indeed be headscratcher for whomever tires to unpick that).

In short I am kind of puzzled myself - described speculation from Lexus does not fit description of the issue, also description of the issue does not sound like something experienced technicians would struggle to troubleshoot, also also considering age an mileage of the car I am struggling to understand why this isn't warranty job (yes it isn't under factory 60k/3 years cover anymore, but I would expect it to be under relax, am I right to think hybrid side has longer warranty 10 years/100k as long as hybrid health check is done?). Seems to me like some parts of the story are missing or omitted. 

7 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

There's a saying "you get what you pay for". Personally speaking I find anyone spending over a grand for a mobile phone either needs their head testing or have more money than sence or are fashion conscious. 

Chinese phones. OMG have you seen what you can get on Temu? Blatant copies of Samsung phones.

These modern phones have more computing power that what they had to send the first rocket into space. 

My current phone is the Samsung S22 Ultra. Did I buy new or is it on a plan? No. I bought reconditioned. To be honest I'm disappointed with it. My previous phone the superb Samsung S10 Lite, bought reconditioned years ago, developed a niggle which bugged the sheitte out of me. Later found out I'd messed up the ZoneAlarm Internet security settings. But what got me, I was under the impression the S22 Ultra was a Bigger phone. Not ruddy likely. They're the same size. However the camera wires the floor with the S10 Lite. 

I use to be a Nokia man till one day I learned that my phone dialled 999 50 times whilst in my pocket. Straight to Samsung after that and I've had them ever since and that's over 30 years. 

As for longevity of phones. The phone before the S10 Lite was the Note 4. Got that very very soon after they came out, Gid knows when that was, but just last month I stripped it to pieces and off the the phone palace in the sky. That phone just became so slow it was painful. It was my backup phone. 

As for how a phone feels in one's hand. All phones feel plastic. However I've been using Spigen phone cases and the phone feels like a piece of quality. Nevermind titanium this and diamond encrusted that. That's just posh nonsense. 

I used to be able to justify it when the phones were very innovative, but as of late I can't see much of said innovation. Well I guess it needs to be defined, back in the days of say Galaxy S2, to S3, or S3 to S4, or S4 to S5, there was genuine step in specs screen resolution 20% higher, screen size 10% higher, Battery size/life 30% higher, camera +50% megapixels, S5 added water resistance, S6 added metal frame and curved screen and the price was going up slowly almost with inflation. By like £50, sometimes maybe £100. But by the time we got to S10 to S20, there was honestly very little between them, S20 lost 3.5mm jack and that was pretty much it, for the rest you need to look at the spec. sheet with magnification. Then Samsung also switched to "tick tock" release cycle like apple... S20 was pretty much S10, just some features, cut, charger removed from the box, the camera cut out moved from corner to middle. S22 was pretty much same as S21, even externally identical, perhaps 1mm here and there, S23 and S24 again - I struggle to see why do I have to spend £1000 on phone one year and next year to replace it with nearly identical phone. 

Also as mentioned Samsung followed apple in egregiously overpricing their flagships. Galaxy S used to be flagship at the price of ~600-£700 + inflation, but then they introduced Ultra. So whereas logic says S10 should have been replaced by S20, that is not true, S10 was replaced by S20 Ultra and S20 was basically a step down in quality from S10. That is why when I replaced my S10 with S22 I felt like going a segment down, S22 despite being obviously much more technologically advanced device (because it is 4 years newer) is a solid upper-midrange phone and not flagship. Honestly my S10 is snappier and nicer to handle than S22. S22 Ultra a different story, but it was £1179...

Now sure - Samsung does appreciate loyalty, so if you upgrading EVERY YEAR, then they will knock down £400-£600 trade-in. So if you got S23 Ultra in same fashion (trading your previous S22 Ultra), then with trade-in it worked out probably less than £799, then before launch you could pick-up S24 Ultra for £1299-£600 trade in for Z-Fold 5 or £500 for S23Ultra + 512GB free memory upgrade for pre-order + Galaxy Gear watch (worth ~£299), so reasonably speaking your S24 Ultra will cost you £1299-£500=£799 + free memory upgrade that is worth £100 + free smar****ch that is worth £299, so you paying in ballpark (or even less than £600) if you upgrade every year. It was the same when I pre-ordered S22, I got £200 discount for ANY Samsung phone in ANY condition and I just had dead A52 in the draw + Galaxy Buds Pro 2 (which were probably £249 to buy and they are honestly the best wireless earphones I have every tried (they are very loud, very clear, very deep base, good Battery life, good microphone, good active noise cancellation, excellent active noise filtering boost - feels a bit like superhuman as you can snoop on conversations across the train it is a little be eerie...). So I paid £799 for the phone + very very viable free earphones that are worth their price. 

In short - you can always have latest and greatest Samsung phone for ~£600 a year + a lot of various freebies depending on what they have on offer that year, sometimes it is honestly crap and useless, but sometimes it is something you may want to buy yourself, so it could be quite sweet deal. But even then I am struggling to justify £600 a year, as the phones are simply not different enough, or not better enough to upgrade. So I rather pay ~£800 every 3/4 years, to get 6 month old "flagship" and that works out for me as £200 to stay somewhat with the trends.

I also still have Note 4 - still works well, but it is unbelievably slow, borderline unusable, I can't believe what updates did to it (it was very snappy and smooth phone at launch). Was considering to even put a custom rom on it with some clean vanilla Android 8 or something, but it would be obsolete either way. 

Finally - Samsung did innovate with foldable and they did set the new big trend, defined the next step in the smartphone development for sure. However, there is difference between practical innovation and public technology testing. Galaxy Fold was a public technology testing, the device was very rough and fragile at the start and I just can't see how it is worth to pay £1999 to be a test subject (or was it even over £2000?!), I hoped such prototype phones will trickle down into mainstream, but it has barely happen, only about to happen now. So it just shows how much it has changed. I remember they launched original Galaxy Edge, just around the time Note 5 came out, it was probably around £1000, when Note 5 was £600 and Galaxy S5 was £489. It was that sort of prototype - technology showpiece for few fans etc. But next year there was S6 and S6 edge, with the price difference of only £50 and both under £600. So it took Samsung 6 months to bring "future showcase device" into mainstream for affordable price. Fold was launched 5 years ago and Fold Z 5 was still well over £1000... £1649 if I noted correctly... so it is still way way into public prototype testing realm and well too expensive for mainstream and even then S23 Ultra was a better phone overall. So it is a difference between overpriced gimmick and true innovation. I consider that until device is not available at reasonable price for mainstream - it is a gimmick. I think foldables just about to break into mainstream, I bought Z4 Flip as a gift, but again only because it kind of worked out around £650 with discounts for me. Now I guess why it took so long for Samsung to do it ? It is because competition drives innovation, Samsung was way above the curve and there was no real competition in folding screens space, so Samsung could afford to keep the prices high. Hence my hope that Z Fold 6 will be sub-£800 phone once all the rebates, trade-ins and gifts are included and I could finally upgrade.

7 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

You do't have to have a credit card with Apple. I once had issues with my iTunes account being hacked, so I deleted my credit card details and just use Itunes vouchers now.

Years ago I used to be a big gadget fan, and was lucky enough to work in the mobile industry, so always got the lastest phones for free. Now that the novelty's worn off (and I have to spend my own money) I find that pretty much any phone does what I need. I still use an iPhone as my main phone, but usually buy used for under £100 (current one I've had for 3 or 4 years) and only upgrade when apps won't work on whatever highest level of OS it will take. My backup phone is a used Moto G, that was only £50, which frankly works as well as any iPhone I've ever had.

I still like gadgets, but tend to be more interested in those that do things I couldn't previously do, rather than ones that might do the same things a little better.

 

On iTunes maybe, but to use App Store you must link credit card to it, so basically it is ID check as well... because you can't be just Mr. Joe Blobs with e-mail ihatecrapple@gmail.com. 

You can indeed create alt-account with all made-up information, log-into App Store, but you can't download any apps, because as soon as you try to do it it will ask for payment method (even for free apps), and obviously once you add credit (or debit card) they know EXACTLY who you are. I had this comical moment with apple support, because I had issue validating my credit card, because obviously all the info on my account was made-up and when they ask me for my account e-mail address it was something like applesucks8345@mailinator.com. At that point they advised me that "perhaps credit card is not validating because I had made-up info on the account", even thought for credit card I obviously had to enter my real details. 

So basically there is no escaping all knowing apple spy network... if you want to use their ecosystem.

14 minutes ago, Newbie777 said:

In terms of not trusting Chinese, that is something that our media and government have decided to blow out of propertion, it is a personal choice.

It is personal choice here, but it could be life and death choice in china. I also know that some chinese who have left china had been harassed based on information china was able to collect on them abroad, in fact I know one person myself who had bought Iphone in china (they have segregated icloud etc.) and they were still harassed based on information crapple shared with china. Only once they got Iphone in UK they managed to lose the tail (still weird choice to go back to the company that sold you out).

For google I just create account for each new device and only use that account with that device. I mean I am sure google can still figure out based on IPs and what not that it is same user using multiple accounts, but at least from targeted marketing algorithm it seems to work. Still (this may be paranoia) but if you speak out loud about your holiday plans in the room, few hours later you get adverts for package holiday to the destination you discussed... well it is still better than be re-educated in one of the china's camps. 

Ironically - you can hide from targeted advertising by using chinese phones, because their google services do not connect to main google servers, or at least it is not so obvious. So in some sense if CCP can't reach you and hurt you, then as foreign national you may get more privacy using chinese phones.

As for crapple - I can just confirm they are horrible, from developer perspective they are horrible to deal with, from user perspective they are horrible to deal with, they basically IDs you personally, because you must give them your credit card details to download even free apps... so you can't be semi-anonymous with them like you can on android and their control freaks as well. 

1 hour ago, ALAW said:

I think you have summed up the marketing perfectly there Linas. I think I'm erring to the Samsung phones and android. Saying that my lad and a new colleague at work swears by iPhone. I still cant decide to be honest maybe if your right and Samsung reduce prices i might go there. I at one time was considering that S22 very expensive do i need that ?. I'm also thinking like you do i need the latest and greatest as well. One thing i think should be considered is how long will you get updates for i think the latest Samsung they are saying 7 years don't quote me it might be the Honor. To receive the latest updates i think is a plus. This phone i have now one plus 6 it has done exactly what you say and something starts getting a glitch most notable on mine was the camera i cant tell you how annoying that was, where i work i have many occasions to take instant snaps of wildlife etc. and I've forgot how many times its failed and the chance has gone. I bought a carbon fibre protector and its served me well and the phone is like new if i take it off. The battery is going a bit now but a quick charge gets up very quick. The malware thing there's not a lot they can get from me either but you know i think Google Samsung android etc. are all stepping up for security. Regarding pricing one plus started off cheap and are now in the expensive bracket in the UK. Its not called Rip off Britain for no reason. Yeah Samsung or iphone ithink. Not decided the wife nothing but a Samsung.

My colleagues are also all on iphones, generally in UK iphones are very popular, certainly way more popular than Globally or in rest of Europe. Not really sure why they are so popular.

I personally never liked iphones, just my preference. Bu they also been quite dodgy recently with removing features rather than adding them, also with introduction of Pro... basically if you don't get Pro then you getting "mid-range" phone, for the price that used to be "high-end". Also I just don't like how restricted everything is, basically you buy the phone, but apple still owns it and dictates you what you can and can't do. Just can't live with that. 

In my experience Samsung provides 3-4 years of updates for operating system, but they continue with security updates for quite a while. I am not sure what they promise, but certainly more than 5 years. At least that is true for their "flagship" devices, so Galaxy S, Galaxy Fold all getting at least 5 years of updates. I guess depends on where one draws the line, but 5 years in my experience were plenty, longer than that and phone becomes really obsolete anyway. 

As for Chinese phones - they simply can't be trusted, some models may get updates, some may not get-updates... simply the number of different devices they spit out each year means that it would be very hard to stay on top of their all updates for many years. I think 2-3 years if you lucky. The Oppo Find X that I got in 2018 only got 1 update after like 18 months and that was it, over time apps started glitching and crashing on it and by ~2021 it became almost useless. To befair nothing major has failed on it, Battery got to maybe 6 hours, also it had sliding camera and it developed the fault where sometimes you would slide camera cover and it would not turn on, but then usually if you close and open it, then it would turn on, not sure if that was software or hardware issue. I guess with time it would have stopped working completely, but had not done so in time I was still using it.

I know you didn't, I am just saying I had constant problems with them.

It is unobtanium guys...

Particularly in UK these were never sold and never fitted to the cars, if any exist then they would be imported from US. In US they were available as optional extra and very few were sold. Don't know the numbers, but it will be "high-hundreds or low thousands", meaning miniscule number. Most likely they were fitted to IS350s and they highly sought after items even in US.

So if you looking for one - eBay.com or maybe ask around in US Lexus forums like IS.my