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Hi All, Can I get some opinions on tyres to put on my IS300h. I currently have Dunlop Maxx RT on all corners as I did not like the firm ride from the original Bridgestone's. They're not bad, but I find they wear a little quicker than other tyres I have had and they suffer from crawing (I think its called when it slides on the edge of the tyre when you full lock). I'm currently considering: - Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 6 - Bridgestone Turanza T005 (which I believe are new and softer than the previous Turanza's I had) Any feedback/opinions, would be great. Also, my car is an F-Sport. Front wheel tyres are 225/40/R18 rears are 225/35/R18 and are much more limited in choice and more expensive than fronts. Does anybody know if you can use 225/40/R18 on the back as well or it will cause issues? Lastly, I need to change a TPMS sensor. Lexus have quoted me £86 for the one ands my mechanic can program for another £40. Has anybody used a non Lexus sensor and did it work ok? Or should I not risk it? I find their parts are exceptionally expensive. It's £210 per sensor supplied and fit at my local Lexus dealership. Cheers, Ken

Hi, and welcome to the story so far of my IS250. I figured since I have started to change a few things, and with some more mods & upgrades planned, I should probably keep tabs on my progress and try and document as much as possible. I enjoy reading this kind of thing about other people's cars, so hopefully you will too. If nothing else, it'll be something useful for the next owner to have a gander at when I eventually part company with it. So, the car then. It's an Argento Ice (1G1) 2011 F-Sport with optional Navigation unit, and it's an automatic of course. I traveled just under 200mls by train, to Darlington, to buy it from a thoroughly nice chap and fellow LOC member in late August 2016. This is my third Lexus IS and my second IS250 F-Sport in a relative short space of time. The previous one being a 2010 model in the rare Sable Metallic (4T5) but this was sadly written-off inside a year with only 27K on the clock. Finding another low-miles F-Sport to replace it proved to be quite difficult and after a couple of months of fruitless searching I was starting to give serious consideration to buying something else. Then one day, someone on the forum announced that they were selling-up... Being honest, silver was not my 1st-choice when looking for a replacement. In fact it was probably near the bottom of the pile in terms of desirability, but the price was just too good to ignore and it sounded like a great car - one owner (a LOC member, no less), 36K miles, FSH & it had been kept in a garage since new. At this point I was thoroughly fed-up of having to borrow other people's cars to get around so I was prepared to compromise and a deal was quickly struck. On the day I arrived to see the car in the flesh for the first time, any misgivings I had about the colour disappeared the minute I pulled-up to the seller's house in a taxi. It was a gloriously sunny day and the IS looked absolutely amazing, sitting there, spotlessly-clean on the driveway. I knew right then and there that I would be going home in it. I quickly told the driver to keep the change because I couldn't wait to exit the taxi and have a closer look. After chatting with the seller over a cuppa and pouring over the car's history and piles of receipts, it was evident that the car had been well looked-after since the day it was purchased from Lexus Nottingham in April 2011. The test drive was pretty short. Just a mere formality really as I was already very familiar with how an IS250 behaves on the road and there was nothing to be concerned about, so the deal was finalised over another cuppa and then the car was mine. There was a generous amount of fuel still left in the tank at the point of sale, but I brimmed the car at Scotch Corner services and planned the journey home on the sat-nav. The obvious choice would've been to head up the A1, but I wasn't in a hurry so instead I headed west on a relaxed cruise along the A66 towards Penrith where I would join the M6, and then subsequently the M74 as I crossed the border before eventually turning off at Abington services in the Clyde Valley to join one of my favourite driving roads, the A702. This is a road that I'm very familiar with and it has it all; great scenery, sweeping fast corners, dips, rises, a few sleepy towns & villages to cruise through, twisty technical sections and plenty of long straights and clear sightlines for overtaking opportunities. Best of all, there's no speed cameras so you can really explore the limits of whatever you're driving. Taking in this road whilst getting to know my new car truly was the icing on the cake. (forgive my lengthy into and waffling but I really did enjoy the whole buying experience of acquiring this car, so I thought I would share it...) Anyway, here's a couple of pics from the sales ad showing how the car looked before I bought it. My first six months or so with the car were fairly uneventful. It had just been serviced, MOT'd and kitted-out with a new set of tyres shortly before it went up for sale, so all I had to do was get it taxed and enjoy it. My first modification (if you can call it that), was in November when I prepped the car for the miserable Scottish winter weather - by swapping out the OEM floor mats for the set of genuine Lexus rubber mats that were included with the car, and by switching to winter tyres. The winter setup was a carry-over from my previous IS250 consisting of 18" 3rd-gen F-Sport wheels shod with 225/40F / 245/40R Pirelli Sottozero 3 tyres, so this was something that didn't cost anything, and arguably looked better than stock so I was happy for my car to wear these for the next 4 or 5 months. The 2016/17 winter weather was particularly awful. Not to the extent that winter tyres were required, but it just seemed to be constantly raining and/or very windy, especially on the occasions when I actually had some free time! So during the dark winter months I just planned what I was going to do next and armed myself with some knowledge, and also picked up a few parts. Fast-forward to the spring and it was time to switch back to summer tyres. A successful PPI claim had given me some funds to play with so I wanted to upgrade to a set of staggered 19" wheels. Sure, the stock 18's look good on a 2nd-gen IS, but 19's look even better!. My initial plan was to save up for a set of graphite OZ Superturismo LMs, but these are pretty expensive and rarely show up on the used market, so I mulled this over for a number of weeks before deciding on my alternative choice of wheel - the OEM "blade" wheels off an IS-F. Produced for Lexus by BBS Japan, these forged and relatively lightweight wheels were hardly a booby prize and were actually a good choice for what I want to achieve. My overall goal for the car could be described as "OEM Plus". To try and make some tasteful improvements to how it looks and performs without ruining it, and to add a bit more of a sporting flavour without it looking out of place. At the end of the day this is my daily driver and I still want it to feel like a Lexus so I'll be using high quality aftermarket or genuine parts from within the Lexus family where possible. In this regard the IS-F wheels are ideal, so when a newly-refurbished set showed up on eBay, I snapped them up. Once the wheels arrived (from Latvia!), my next point of deliberation was tyre choice. I had narrowed the short-list of candidates down to three - Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 or Michelin Pilot Super Sports. In the end I stumped-up for the more expensive Michelins as they've been proven quality for years and are still featuring as an OEM application on various performance cars. Whilst, on the other hand, the other two are quite new on the market with less known about them. Regarding sizes, I took the safe option and went with stock widths as I didn't want to run into problems when I lower the car a touch. I didn't weigh them but just by handling them during fitting and removal and moving the various wheels in and out of storage a few times, the new wheel & tyre combo certainly felt lighter than the OEM F-Sport alloys, despite them being larger. What isn't in question though, is just how much sharper and more precise the steering feels with them, plus grip is superb. Refinement suffered a little of course, but I would say only a little as the car still rides extremely well. On my initial impressions, I was more concerned about the increased road noise and thought I had made a huge mistake, because, boy were these things loud! Thankfully they got a lot quieter after putting a few miles on them but they're still probably louder than a lot of other tyres on the market. I would happily buy them again though. Around this time I also gave the car it's first proper detail during my ownership, and it was badly-needed. After months of being caked with dirt and rock salt, the sides of the car felt like sandpaper, There were literally hundreds of tar spots, so an extensive decontamination and clay bar session paved the way for a course of Super Resin Polish and a coat of Soft99 Fusso Coat. This restored some much-needed shine and lustre to the paintwork, and for the first time in ages, it was actually protected from the elements. (Obligatory snow foam pics) April saw the car pay a visit to Lexus Edinburgh to be serviced and MOT'd and it sailed through with no advisories. In fact, the service manager commented on how clean it was, and how he had to double-check whether they had washed it or not. Next up, was to install a dash-cam. In my previous car I had the relatively cheap, but excellent A118c. And I was in the market for a new one because I carelessly forgot to remove it from the wreck before it was taken away. Anyhow, suitably impressed with how it had performed, I was all set to buy another one when I noticed that there was now an A119 on the market. This promised to be even better and could be installed just as discreetly as the older camera, so I ponied-up an extra few quid to grab one, along with the optional GPS module and a CPL filter. This time, I wanted to make use of the parking mode so that meant hard-wiring it into an "always-on" circuit, so I tapped into the keyless entry system. I was a little worried that this would drain the battery and leave the car unable to start, but so far so good. I've left the car parked-up for 3 or 4 days at a time without any trouble. This is especially impressive, since, after reviewing some footage that was captured whilst parked, it would appear that the motion sensor is pretty sensitive and will trigger the camera into recording an "event" quite easily, So, at times (like when it's raining) the camera can effectively be recording 24/7, yet it doesn't seem to be too much of a burden on the battery. This is something I'm mindful of though, so I'm keeping an eye on it. For the past couple of months, I've just been concentrating on keeping the car clean, but a couple of days ago I done my first "performance" mod when I swapped-out the standard air intake for the official F-Sport one (PTR03-53100). I'd had one of these in my eBay watch list for about 2 years, just waiting for a deal nice enough for me to pull the trigger on. Well, such a deal showed up a couple of weeks ago so I jumped on it. Some pics I took during fitting. Installation was a breeze, very straightforward and quick. I took my time however and cleaned my MAF sensor at the same time, and also cleaned-up some parts of the engine bay that were dusty & dirty before putting everything back together. As for the intake, it's a nice piece of kit. Being an OEM upgrade, you would expect the quality to be very good and the fitment to be perfect, and it is. The general consensus seems to be that this will free up around 3-5 bhp, but that's not something that can be felt. What is noticeable though is the induction sound. There's very little difference, if any, during normal driving but when you push the revs above 3K you're greeted with a fantastic throaty roar. My next move will probably be to lower the car another 10mm or so via a set of H&R springs that I bought ages ago, but until then here's a few pics of how the car looked with the 19" IS-F wheels. Quick Links: F-Sport Gear knob Winter Wheels prep & installation Interior LED upgrade New & current wheel setup IS350 Brake upgrade

This is currently taking pride of place outside Lexus Edinburgh. Yay or nay?

I've had my 2014 IS300h F-Sport which I bought on 37k miles for 2 years. From 3 weeks into ownership I noticed a squealing/squeaking at low speeds and when braking. Its quite noticeable even when windows are up. As the car was in warranty I took it to my local Lexus dealership. They said that it needed new pads and discs (almost £600). these were changed at the cost of the Lexus I bought the car from as my local dealership said it wouldn't pass MOT as it was. Not long after (within a week) heard the noise again. I too the car back again when my service was due and mentioned it was still happening. They checked at service and said nothing visually wrong so couldn't do anything about it but it had been checked. Plus they said they couldn't hear anything. The noise persisted and I took it back again. This time the guy who deals with me said he'd see if there was anywhere they could grease (as someone had suggested this to me when I posted the issue in here). Again they couldn't hear anything. They gave the car back but again the noise re-appeared. Gradually it feel like the noise was getting worse. Louder and more persistent (as sometimes you don't hear it). It also seems to be more apparent after a left turn and when coming to a full stop but not immediately after starting to drive, but after 10-15 minutes when things warm up. Also seems worse in summer. I contacted Toyota customer services as I am really at my wits end with this after almost 2 years of loud squealing/squeaking EVERY time the car is driven. As it was during our last lockdown they said as soon as able take it back to the dealership and they will have a look at it. I took it in this week as my service was also due and as I drove into the car park there it was loud and clear. Unluckily for me there was nobody there to hear it. I then asked the rep I was seeing to stand in the car park and listen. Moved the car back and forth no sound. Applied the brake no sound. So I asked him to wait while I went around the block to 'warm it up'. When I returned the sound was there again but he had gone inside as they were busy! I got him back out and asked him to go around with me - masks on windows wide open. We drove around the block in perfect silence - no noise AT ALL! I was so frustrated until we finally turned into the car park and there it was loud as ever before I even applied the brake and squealing even more as it came to a stop. He said "ooh that doesn't sound right". Finally! I told him I've had to put up with that for 2 years, every day. Even my wife is irritated by it and she doesn't get irritated, she married me! They had the car from Monday to Friday and changed the passenger side caliper. But apparently, this reduced the noise only so they changed the other one too. I paid for the extended warranty so this went through that. My wife picked up the car on Friday as I was unwell and they said to her the problem should be solved. After having it back 3 times and suffering the disappointment of it coming back I didn't hold my breath. Lo and behold, my wife took the kids out this morning and there was the noise again! I don't know what to do anymore and I am seriously contemplating cutting my losses and trading the car in somewhere which will lose me a good chunk of the £17k I paid for it. I will of course contact Lexus again but don't know how much more they will do (they quoted the caliper change at £500 each). If anybody has any advice or has had the same issue and solved it somehow please let me know. I'm not mechanically minded so can't take off and clean anything - and to be honest I shouldn't have to as I have had far cheaper cars with no issues whatsoever. I thought I was trading up! Any help would ne appreciated! Cheers

Can anyone share where they have bought their F Sport Intake kit from? Also, is the part number PTR03-53100 ? I've seen a few sellers on ebay in the US, but I'll be looking at around £400 odd after import charges and delivery. Thanks in advance.

Can anyone help me please. Id like to have red callipers and red rim protectors on my IS300H F-Sport. its not a dealer option, so can anyone suggest anything please?

Hi, I've had my IS300h f-sport for around 6 months and the Active Sound Control has started to make a horrible noise. It sounds like the speaker in the centre of the dash is blown so I just get a hideous crackling noise from it but when I'm playing music the speaker sounds great... So I was wondering has anyone experienced this? Is the ASC played through a different speaker? And does anyone know how to get to the speaker? Thanks

Gents, is there a method of adjusting the headlight beam on the Lexus F-models or do we need a stick-on converter? I have heard that the LED and HID headlamps do not need to be converted for travel on the continent. The set up of the headlamp is such that the light shines in a horizontal flat beam which has no kick up and as such is not dazzling to drivers of oncoming cars.

I have spotted this "used approved" (no - it is not, probably demo) FL car already available to buy. It doesn't say F-Sport, but "premier pack" seems to indicate it is RC300h F-Sport (now included Safety +) + premier pack (sunroof + ML). Car is as well on 18 plate: https://usedcars.lexus.co.uk/en/used-lexus/Lexus/RC-300h/25-F-SPORT-2-dr-Coupe-r1bmaug Sadly no pictures... so one would need to get to Sidcup.

My NX300h Sport has been with Lexus Swindon for the past three months so that they could fix what they - and Lexus UK - thought was a very minor issue until they investigated further. Glad to say it is all fixed now and Lexus has provided me with 'goodwill' of a free set of alloys (for my Winter tyres) and free side-steps as an apology. I've had Lexus courtesy cars for the duration, mostly a 2017 NX300h F-Sport, and I thought it might be useful to compare that with my own Sport as the differences were far greater than I expected. I should say that for the first two weeks - bear in mind originally my car was expected to be at the dealer for less than 24 hours (!) - I had an IS300h Advance. I liked it to drive, but it was no good for me as I have mobility issues and I also struggled with the foot operated parking brake, so Lexus provided me with a new NX F-Sport to use instead. It was interesting to have it for a while though. Based on my experience, God alone knows why I don't see more of them on the road and fewer Audi A4/BMW 3-Series... Anyway, the rest of the time I had the NX F-Sport. I'll start with the positives. First, it is far more 'focussed' to drive, and the handling is in a different league. I know manufacturers talk about the differences between different models, but until I had the chance to drive both for an extended period 'back to back' I wouldn't have believed the difference could be that noticeable. The normal Sport model feels a bit 'wobbly' in comparison. 1-0 to the F-Sport. Second, some of the extra goodies that the F-Sport comes with are useful. The headlights are especially good far, FAR, better than those on my Sport and they look groovy too. I like the fact that it comes with front fog lights as standard, and the way they light up the kerb automatically when cornering which I found surprisingly useful. A couple of other nice touches missing from the Sport model, both of which I thought to be gimmicks until I had them. The lights under the door handles are really useful, as is the way the (electrically adjustable) steering wheel moves out of the way when getting in or out of the car. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure! There were some things I didn't like about the F-Sport though. First, the ride. I've said above that the handling is much better, but at the expense of comfort. It isn't uncomfortable as such, but again I'm surprised at the level of the difference. The ride quality in the Sport suits me far better personally. Secondly, the seats. I couldn't really get comfortable with the seats in the F-Sport, mainly because they were harder, deeper and the bolsters too high. Now, I do have mobility issues around my hips and legs so this is a big thing for me that others may not notice. Even so, getting back into the soft 'armchair' seats in the Sport was a relief and I find them much more comfortable as well as easier to get in and out of. I'd say that if you are considering an NX try both the standard and F-Sport seats if it is likely to make a difference in your circumstances. The biggest difference though, is the amount of noise in the car at pretty much all speeds. I can't work this out at all. In comparison with the Sport, the F-Sport had so much more road noise. The difference is so stark that I've found myself wondering whether there was something wrong with the F-Sport I've been using, although I guess it could be partly down to tyre fitment? I'd be really interested in views on this and whether others have noticed the same. One other odd thing. Colleagues of mine - mainly not 'into' cars I should add - thought that the basic Sport was actually the model higher in the NX range. I'm sure a lot of that was down to colour, as the F-Sport I had was white which I personally don't think suits it as well as some colours, but even so. Weird, right? I thought the F-Sport looked obviously 'superior' because of the grille and wheels, but there you go, just shows what I know! My summary? Keener drivers will prefer the F-Sport, of that I have little doubt. That isn't me though, as I prefer to waft about. I didn't test-drive an F-Sport before I bought my Sport, but having had the chance for this comparison over an extended period I'm happy that I made the correct decision for me, especially given the extra cost (from new) involved.

Hi everyone After all the helpful comments, I've decided to test drive an F-sport (and hope that we can accept the rougher ride) and found 3 similar F sport models. Option 1 £20,000 May 2014 21k mileage Option 2 £20,250 Nov 2014 13k mileage Option 3 (same but red seats) £20,000 Nov 2013 46k mileage To me option 2 seems the best but what do you think? And are these priced high and therefore with room for negotiation? I appreciate we will need to see the condition of the car, seats, floor, exterior condition etc but thought I'd see your views. Many thanks

Hi everyone, I'm currently looking to buy a used Lexus IS 300H and have discovered this forum recently. I would be driving only at the weekends for a couple of 50 minute drives so really we'd do only around 5k miles per year. I've read most of the relevant threads which are amazingly helpful but still have a few questions. Wondered if anyone could share thoughts on the below? 1. Currently my eyes are on a 2013 300H F-sport with 22k mileage. For the same price I could get a 2015 executive with 7k mileage but no reversing camera or electronic seats. The F-sport looks great but would it be a more sensible decision to go with the newer car? 2. I've read many reviews about the F-sport being much rougher than the other models. Is this very noticeable? I couldn't tell from the brief test drive. If so, perhaps again makes more sense to go for a non F sport? 3. Realistically, for a 2013 F sport that's done 22k mileage, how much incidental repairs and expenses would I likely have to prepare for? Just wary of astronomical costs if the battery goes wrong or the sat nav goes odd etc. 4. Damages in car parks - I would take care of it so well but it's inevitable that I'll have to park it in a supermarket car park every weekend. With people parking so close (no spaces without people around), do you find that realistically, all your cars get scratched doors and mirrors? I would absolutely hate that... Hopefully I've provided enough info but let me know if anything else I can clarify. Thanks so much for your thoughts in advance - really excited to get a 300h but want to make sure I get the right one! Thanks

Just finished my 24h RC300h F-Sport test drive and though I share my opinion. If you want to try it yourself it seems Lexus giving that options over the phone, but not officially in their booking page as per my previous post: Thanks for Lexus Woodford for allowing me to take it for a spin (I wish their service department would be as nice as the sales ..) Talking about particular example I got - it was lovely black F-Sport (graphite grey (223)- which is black metallic rather than standard non-metallic black velvet (212)), with dark rose leather - in my opinion the best colour combo - understated, luxury looks. The rest were all standard - F-sport rims, no sunroof (Lexus no longer calls it moonroof) or any other extras. I must admit I had some expectation from the car as I have previously tried IS300h and CT200 F-Sports as a loaners during the previous services and therefore I kind of knew what will be the pros and cons. However, this time I had car not for journey home and back, but for 24 hours, so I could get used to it and understand it a bit more. Below is my experience over the course of the drive, all below is my opinion and therefore I hope I am not going to hurt anyone's feelings. As no surprise RC300h has stunning looks, what I didn't expect is that how many affections the car gets. I guess the relative rarity adds to already amazing looking car. I don't think looks needs any discussion and it is subjective, but in my opinion it is amazing and blows almost any competitor out of waters. The only negative point I found was rather cheap looking plastic inserts in dashboard and door panels - I don't understand what Lexus tried to achieve with them, because they are neither brushed aluminum, nor carbon fiber looks. It is small detail, but sadly Lexus doesn't give any options to change these inserts to anything else on F-Sport (Luxury, Premium and RC-F has different options). Other element which which adds some "ricer" looks are the tiny brakes behind those massive 19" wheels, but I guess hybrid badges all around explains it. It is not a secret RC300h is heavy car, nor is that it is slightly underpowered. 220hp for something weighting 1800kg isn't much and translates in sluggish 8.6s to 60MPH, however that tells only half of the story - in fact 223hp is combined power, whilst 2.5l straight 4 turbo engine only makes 181hp. The additional power comes from electric motor and a least in my opinion when accelerating from stand still system is not well integrated... it does judder around and feels like electric motors doesn't add much. Overall, I just re-confirmed my previous experience in IS300h - it is not sports car, hesitant to accelerate, not inspiring confidence when overtaking. The best thing to do is to leave poor 2.5l fella in it's comfort zone quietly moving in traffic at posted speed limits. It is a bit sad, because there is nothing under that massive bonnet to match the striking looks of the car. I will come back to positive side of this set-up later. So far the things just gets worse (before becoming better), the engine sound is just awful.. I am sorry to say that, but it sounds trashy, has no nice note under acceleration neither from the engine, nor from exhaust. You can hear things happening, like turbo spooling up and electric motor engaging, but whole sounds just adds to a noise similar of something like vacuum cleaner pulling some bolts from under the sofa. My only thoughts were like - "I don't really want to hear this.. it isn't pleasant". Added to sluggish acceleration described above it just makes me feel like sitting in supercar which is broken. The looks insideout shouts of sportiness, but when you kick the pedal nothing comes out. Now this brings us to another and almost last problem. The car had standard (as stated in brochure "6-speakers Panasonic") Lexus audio system. I have mentioned that many times elsewhere, it is equivalent of what you would get in Ford Fiesta or WV Polo, because Golf and Focus has better systems - this system is not worth being anywhere near Lexus. After playing with some settings I managed to set it in a way so it didn't hurt as much, but Mark Levinson system is MUST with this car. I kind of understand Lexus in this case - they made mistake putting too good system in Mk2 IS and there were no reason to upgrade to ML, so what they did with Mk3.. they made standard system so crap that there were no way around upgrading it to ML, finally this is not huge issue and does have option - spend £3000 for optional ML pack (ML costs £1000, but comes as package with Lexus Premium Sat-Nav for a £1995). I just think Lexus is premium brand and should have better standard audio system or at least allow standalone upgrades without Sat-Nav. Standard sat-nav is not great, but it is not Lexus specific issue, but rather any in car navigation in any brand is far worse than simple free app on smartphone.. that is just a reality. Waze or even build in google maps can run circles around in-car navigation, quicker, more accurate, much better user interface, better routes and so on. I doubt upgrade to Premium navigation would improve anything. If I have an option I would specify them to take entire thing away and I would rather put £5 dock and £150 tablet there, which will be 10 times better. Now to positive and rather unexpected experience. As mentioned I has tried Lexus CVT before and was not impressed, it was just another comfortable automatic transmission.. full stop. However, I took RC300h to short trip to Eastbourne (from London) which had mixture of the roads - motorways and twisty A and B roads. Turn Sport+ mode, Gear leaver to S... and wow car become alive. Whilst there are no gears as such, rates changes almost instantly and gives great control over power delivery in bends. This nearly instantaneous changes gives great sporty feel and makes both up and down shifts pleasant experience... you can actually brake with gears on a hybrid. This applies to paddle-shifters as well, they are no longer gimmicks and feels just great when you downshift in tight bend. Next-up firm F-Sport suspension was doing great job in cornering and was not overly harsh or crashing on poor B roads, there were no unpleasant sounds from it and wide and grippy tires together with well balanced suspension allowed to pull some tight corners and actually enjoy them. Steering wheel was a bit light and detached from the road, but overall didn't ruin fun in corners. Great driving positions, fully adjustable steering wheel and seats gave a lot of support and made driving very comfortable. Overall good quality materials, sound isolation. That is probably not correct, but sitting position seems to be lower in RC compared to IS.. that might be just impression because of the slightly different design of the cabin. I really liked LFA style tachometer and the whole design and graphics are very impressive (makes me wonder why they cannot adapt some of that logics for Sat-Nav design). I didn't have a chance to discover all the settings, but it seems "infotainment" does the job it suppose to do, except already mentioned speakers and navigation. I do not understand purpose of Standard and Sport Driving modes, I mean if you not generally in a rush, you set it to eco and when you want to drive faster you use Sport+. For me having 4 modes is just unnecessary clutter and steps changing between them... it is not overly annoying, but just seems unnecessary. Now finally it comes the positive side of sluggish performance. I did total of 570miles yesterday, spent half day in London traffic, then spent whole afternoon trashing car in twisty A/B roads and seeding on few motorways. Considering all odds that would be ~27 MPG on my IS250 whilst RC300h managed 42.7 MPG. Some can argue that it is almost best of both worlds great fuel economy and comfort in urban commute and actually quite a lot of fun in country side. I partially see this point, but cannot fully agree - it is great car, but I believe Lexus had enough know how to make at least sound right, while I would not expect to brake any speed records 6.5s to 60 would be standard for luxury sport coupe. I can see quite few comments coming up now .. saying you know there is such a thing as RC-F... that is right.. if not Lexus selling RC350 in US - 3,5l, V6, 306hp, 8 speed direct shift transmission and 0-60 in 5.6s.. and starting from £36,700 .. ouch. Sadly in UK we have no such option, no ground in between boring compliance vehicle and mad RC-F. So here is kind of unexpected twist - I cannot blame Lexus for not developing right car, I can only blame UK government and market for not wanting it around here. To summarise RC300h F-Sport is a looker, both inside and outside, build quality is great with only few small details for improvement. However, the experience was kind of unexpected for me. It has been the best where I have expected it least, it was comfortable and economical in city traffic, but greatly disappointed with sluggish performance and trashy engine when the rare opportunity came around to go past the traffic. It was not great on motorway either, too light and uninformative steering didn't inspire confidence and required concentration and frequent adjustments, neither it was economical (at my standard 90mph pace). Very surprisingly it was most enjoyable on the twisty A/B roads and CVT transmission proven to be great addition. Overall, car delivered great fuel efficiency and it is cheap to maintain. It is kind of too sensible and not enjoyable enough for a coupe. If somebody looking for a practical car why not IS300h? and is the looks worth ton of extra money ... that is sadly two questions I am trying to answer myself. Now the last remaining question ... Do I like it, would I buy one? I certainly like it, but at twice the price (looking to the used ones) than IS300h it is hard decision, as well I have to come over my hearing or at least find the car with ML, I need to convince myself I am sensible person and rare mad moment overtaking is not worth investing in car made only for that, whilst I will spend 95% of time complying with the slow moving traffic (at what this car is great). Obviously, in ideal world I would buy RC-F and NX300h or live in Trumperica and buy RC350, but we do not live in ideal world and neither are the options. I would give only 3/5 for the car, -1.5 being for the sluggish engine and sound and -0.5 for audio system, but I would still get it over BMW 420d/MB C220d coupe/Audi A5 2.0t... so in the UK car market it does make sense. I hope you going to find this interesting and let me know what you thing or what you ave experience yourself.

Hi everyone. I'm new in the forum and I wonder if anyone might be able to help. I have a late 2012 RX 450h here in France, that's the equivalent of a 'Premier' in the UK (they have different names all over, as you probably all know, and here, it's called 'President'). I totally love the F-Sport grill look and would like to change both bits, upper and lower. Is it fairly straight-forward to do this or have it done by a much more qualified mate here? If so, where might I be able to source the two meshy-grill sections at a reasonable price, and would that be all that's needed? If going straight to Lexus for the parts is the only option, any ideas of the cost, approximate? Many thanks to you all and best wishes, Danny

Have seen some Genuine Lexus IS250 F-Sport UK Xenon Headlights (L+R) on eBay these are genuine OEM ones. are these a straight swap onto a 2008 IS220d? Here red is the item ref 182082856050

Hi All I've decided to post another Mod for under £10. After getting my alloys back from being refinished in Shadow Chrome the silver Wheel caps didn't quite look right on the car. I have seen that the IS-F has back centers with the graphite wheels which I think looks pretty good, So I started to look around the internet to buy some of these and the only place I could get them was from the USA for £100 for a set! So here's the cheap fix! You will need: Can of Gloss Black spray paint Drill and 6mm Drill bit Scotch-bright pad cleaning spirit news paper or painting paper Super glue 1. Removing the silver Lexus badge. place the badge upside down on a covered surface to avoid any damage to the badge. carefully drill out the tabs holding the badge in place, don't drill too far the plastic is quite thin, just remove the heads. Once the heads have been drilled off you should be able to push the silver badge out of the center cap. 2. Prep for paint. Using the Scotch pad key up the surface and edges of the center caps until you can see that there are tiny scratches across the entire surface. In a clean area put paper and mark out you painting area, If you are working in a dusty environment use a hoover or air compressor to clean the area before hand to avoid getting any dirt in your paint. With cleaning spirit and a cloth or tissue wipe the surfaces of the center caps clean and place them in the painting area. 3. Painting. Ensure you shake your can of paint well before use, to ensure a even and good coverage dust the paint over the center caps gradually. If you hit the caps too heavy with the paint you will end up with paint running and an uneven paint job. Once you are done painting leave the paint to dry. 4. Reassembly. once the paint has totally dried flip the center caps and apply a small dab of glue into the back of the holes where the silver logo studs sit. Place the logos back into the caps and allow the glue to dry. Once everything has dried add the center caps back to your car :) Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful. Let me know what you think. If you would like to see what else i'm doing with my car please follow me on Instagram @gtownsman.

Hi, I waited 6 months for my IS 300h F Sport and it was worth the wait. It's exciting every time I sit in it..... But I have one small issue. When drving along listening to a libray of approx 22,000 songs on my iPod Classic 160gb the device constantly freezes and I have to pull out the USB connection and reset the device. I have tried reducing the number of songs stored gradually and it's now down at 7000 and it is still happening. It happens at least twice or three times a day. Anyone got any suggestions or solutions? Thanks Mark

Hi, I've just bought a 2010 - IS220d F-Sport, the car came with the full manual but whilst the audio system is covered fully the bluetooth handsfree integrated system is not. My car has the normal audio system - i.e. not the multi media / satnav system. I've paired the phone fine but I would just like the correct manual to explain all the features available & how they work. If anyone has a pdf of the manual I would appreciate it. Cheers, Devonboy.