ronaldo

Yeah - at the start of the year, there was a premium of about £4,000 for a 2015 M4 over an RC-F.

If we exclude the private sale M4 on AT, that premium has closed to £1,750. Prices seem to be firming up.

Just out of curiosity, what type of camera is that? I'm looking into potentially setting up a few cameras around the house but they'd be mounted a little further away from the car than yours are - so I'd likely need a little higher quality image.

Was any damage done to the car? Locally, we have an element that occasionally go door to door checking car doors. Their intention is not to steal cars but to steal handbags and other valuables from cars where the owner has forgot to lock up - basically, the easy targets.

Seller has confirmed on Pistonheads that "the vehicle originally came from the UK in Surrey, so the car is VAT qualified." 

That Jersey one does indeed look good in the photos. However, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm pretty sure VAT would be payable on import to the UK.

Best of luck in your search. I suspect that you'll need to compromise somewhere given the rarity of the car - but you never know :)

Lexus Croydon one now down to £34k (2015  with 25,801 miles)

I see a fully optioned 2015 blue RC-F with grey interior up for sale through a dealer at £34,975 now. I wonder is this the start of the sales for people upgrading to an LC500.

With a dealer asking £34,975, it'll probably end up going for a little over £33,000. As mentioned before, I suspect we'll see some vehicles on the private market very soon that could be picked up for the £30,000 target that some see as a psychological barrier :)

57 minutes ago, Greenfield said:

Might make it difficult to sell in say 3 years as the second owner will (I assume) have to pay the £310 for years 4 and 5.    Strangely the 200T Premier  comes  out just  less than £40K,  so much for taxation to suit the lower emissions of the hybrid - but then add the desirable sunroof option and it goes over £40K -  what a stupid system our government has put in place.

I think it's a better system than in the past. Those that can afford the >£40,000 car new pay the higher tax. Those that can only afford the older, less efficient, cars aren't forced to pay the higher rate of tax.

It shouldn't make it difficult to sell in 3 years time. In general, a £40,000 car will cost £20,000 in 3 years - an extra £620 tax over 2 years is insignificant compared to depreciation. Those for which £620 is an issue won't be on the market for a £20,000 car.

That's the on the road price which includes first registration fee (£55) and first years VED (£130).

Actual list price with metallic is £40,300 (£39,690 + £610) - so it's actually slightly worse than you think as it's only £300 over.

The problem is, these prices were effective April and prices tend to increase every year - in particular with the pound in the doldrums. If anything, they're likely to increase the price by a few thousand rather than drop by a few hundred.

Going back over this thread, it appears that November of last year was when we'd our first sub £40k RC-F listed.

Now, 6 months later, we have our first 2016 model at sub £40k (and with TVD/MARK LEVINSON).

First UK deliveries of the LC500 and LC500H are 3 months away which may put some further downward pressure on the RC-F.

That's what the head is telling me. An RC-F is the wrong choice and a Tesla Model 3 would be the better option. I'm not yet sold on the looks but, of course, we haven't yet seen them in the flesh.

That being said, I'm sure the Lexus V8 engine is significantly more bulletproof than a lot of the alternatives, such as the E92 M3 and the last generation C63 - so I'm not sure whether I'm overthinking it.

As some may be aware, I'm potentially looking at an IS-F or RC-F as my next car later this year or early next. 

As is the case with a lot of us, I keep changing my mind back and forth - both to the hybrid Lexus models and to other models altogether.

The latest issues I'm reading about is short commutes causing potential problems - I have a 5 mile each way daily commute with longer runs of 20-30 miles on some weekends. How long does the 5.0 V8 engine take to get to operating temperature and do you see a 5 mile commute as an issue?

I know for a fact that diesel is a no-go for my commute - although plenty do it. I can't help but think that reading online forums blows potential issues out of proportion and that a 5.0 litre V8 will be no worse than a 2 litre diesel for such a commute - yet it's what the majority of the country are doing.

A small petrol or an electric car seems to be the best choice for my usage but I can't get excited about a small petrol car and the currently available electric cars don't float my boat from a looks perspective. Perhaps it's time to put a booking deposit on a Tesla Model 3 

The one in Lexus Croydon has dropped to £35k.

They seem to have a lot of bother shifting these. I wonder is it:

1. People having a test drive and not being impressed;
2. Lack of knowledge of the existence of the car - a catch-22 with there being so few on the roads compared to M4's and C63's;
3. The negative press - my impression is that most of the negativity is slanted towards it's capabilities on the track as opposed to the road;

On another note, the lowest asking price for the GS-F is now £45k. :)

I believe this is the first time ever that someone with a £15k budget has their choice from a selection of five cars from AutoTrader alone.

Was expecting to see a few comments along the lines of:

Colour: 100%

Down to 9 listings on Autotrader now and I believe a forum member has a deposit on the one at Border Cars.

I noticed that earlier. They must have some sort of algorithm that picks out the chepest for each year within certain mileage bands. Would work well for Golfs and the likes but not for such a rare car where its the cheapest of that year and mileage because its the only sample of that year and mileage :)

I'm shocked that they are holding that asking price steady for so long. I wouldnt even bite at £33k if I had the money and was in the market.

Sounds a great deal to me too. You'll get the sceptical people that, and rightly so in most cases, believe that insurance companies work on ridiculous margins and should be avoided if you can afford the covering the risk yourself without insurance. 

The IS-F may be just as reliable as it appears going forward meaning Lexus are making a big margin here too. However, Lexus may be operating this at little to no profit. From their perspective, there's about 200 IS-F on the road followed by a 2 year gap to the next F model.

Even if they were making no profit, extending the ability to cover an IS-F up to 15 years would unlikely be a big loser from their point of view and would also bode well for sales of other F models. 

I just have a quick question regarding warranty - is the 10 year limitation based on the date you purchase the warranty? Basically, if you own a 2008 car and purchase the warranty today, does it run out on 30/3/2019 or does it run out when the car is 10 years old at some point next year?

2 minutes ago, Big Rat said:

@Mark G I think it's worth considering matey with yours being a later one you have the opportunity of comfortably enjoying her for longer without the nagging doubts of @Flytvr sized bills 🤔

Big Rat

That makes sense. The warranty doesn't differ in price whether your vehicle is 3 years old or 10 but one would think that, statistically speaking, it represents much better value during those final years in which it's offered.

The point I was trying to make earlier with regards to a potential buyer is that, given the choice next year between a £15000 2008 that you cannot purchase a warranty for or an £18000 2009 that you can, you could not dismiss someone as crazy for choosing the 2008 and putting £3000 (plus the £895 cost of the warranty) aside as a sinking fund for potential repairs - to which you could add your further £895 every 2 years.

My thoughts are that, if a potential purchaser sees a Lexus warranty as a must-have for their IS-F, then they should seriously consider looking elsewhere unless they expect their ownership period for a 2010 model not to exceed 3 years, a 2011 model not to exceed 4 years and so on.

On another note, that 2009 model with 45,000 miles seems a good bargain at £17,990. It was up at £21,995, dropped to £19,995 and now to its current price.

4 minutes ago, emjay82 said:

A couple of owners have now told me that they have the warranty ending after the ten year birthday, @Chuckie478 was one of them. So, could be possible to add the warranty for another 2 years to Feb 2020 for me. If not, might make me sell or upgrade to a newer ISF. Warranty Wise is expensive,  £800+ per year, last time I looked. 

I'm still debating what car to go for but, were I to go for the IS-F, I've been trying to decide between a newer model that I can put a warranty on or an older, cheaper, model.

My conclusion, perhaps incorrectly, is that even with the budget for a newer model and the money for the two year warranty from lexus, I'm best going for the older model and setting the difference aside for issues, should they arise.

If warranty is your main reason for upgrading, would similar logic apply - or are you looking for the others perks, such as slightly softer suspension, too?

32 minutes ago, MNMJ said:

I would love to get back in an IS-F to see if my memory is playing tricks on me. Now I've really fallen for the RC-F, there is a risk all sorts of biases have taken over. I've even decided not to swap it for an Alfa Quadrofoglio for at least another 2 years; it si that good. 

The Quadrofoglio is another car I've been looking at lately. There's absolutely no chance I'd be able to buy it for at least 2 years but, in my opinion, that's a good thing. In addition to significant depreciation, I'd like to see some reviews after 1-2 years regarding the reliability and teething problems encountered, if any.

Living in Northern Ireland, we have no access to Super Unleaded. I've being doing some research into the usual performance car suspects with regards to their ability to run on RON95 fuel.

In looking at one of the other forums, I've seen a photo from the user manual of a Merc C63 stating that RON 98 should always be used except for emergencies - when RON95 could be used but gives the following warning:

Quote

This may reduce engine performance and increase fuel consumption. You must avoid driving at full throttle.

Even if RON95 runs fine (anyone running a C63 in Ireland must be running on it), I'd be uncomfortable using it given the above warnings.

I've seen reference on this forum about a lot of IS-F owners using RON95 without issue - and believe that may be what's asked for in the user manual for that car anyway.

What do you RC-F owners use and, if you don't mind, could you have a look at either what the manual asks for or whether the inside of the fuel cap specifies such information? Thanks in advance :)

As some of you are aware, Lexus currently have an approved 2013 IS-F on sale for £37,975 and an approved 2015 RC-F on sale for £35,750.

A lot of people here are talking about the possibility of the IS-F starting to rise a little or, at least, level off from a depreciation perspective.

I guess that would lead us to believe that there'll soon come a point where a well cared for, reasonably low miles, 2008 IS-F will cost the same as the equivelant 2015 RC-F.

It doesn't seem logical - but, then again, neither does paying more for a car that's 2 years older at this stage of it's life, i.e. both less than 4 years old (where both started off at a similar price).

What are your thoughts?