What To Replace An Is-f With.... Decisions Decisions :/

Damien7579 · August 1, 2015

When I got my IS-F I always planned to keep it for around 3 years as I live in Ireland road tax is insanely high for car's like this (tax is calculated on engine cc size!). Sadly.

Anyways, the dilemma I now face is what to replace this epic and lovely car with...? I think my high performance car days are over as now road tax in Ireland is CO2 based and anything over 170g/km starts at 600euros/year and over 225 is nearly 2,400euros/year!

I had a Lexus IS 300h luxury as a courtesy car for 2 days last week when mine was in for a service and I have to say I really struggled to like it & justify it... I feel the ISF (engine and performance aside to be clear) has set a high bar... the car I had was 44.5k euros!!

Issues: horrible seats which caused my right leg to get numb no matter how I adjusted it (I know the luxury spec has the base seats but still), less cushioning that previous IS (the ISF leather has really held up well), cheaper feel to some of the plastics, fussy dashboard, slow as molasses info system.. why the animations and chugginess in this day and age and the screen has a lower res than my 7 year old IS! The boot hinges are exposed meaning if you have a full boot it often catches stuff when being closed. The prev gen has the hinges nicely sealed off for this exact reason. All part of the cost cutting I'm sure :( Anyways, I left the car back being genuinely disappointed with the latest and greatest from Lexus. I did sit in a IS-300h f-sport with partial leather seats but again wasn't really impressed.

I did enjoy the rest of the driving experience tho, it wasn't all negative: quite refined drive mostly, decent handling and light steering.

Womble72 · August 1, 2015

Not sure what to recommend, BUT my F was first reg in the Channel Islands, it's a UK car but NOT mainland, there are no emissions on the car, road tax here is £505 for the F, mine is £230 a yr, as a legal doc can't be changed surely this would apply to you too. It maybe worth looking into, you maybe able to get an island car and not pay the exstorsionate tax your paying now. Being on my 4th Lexus, I'm in the same boat as you, didn't think much of the new IS, but I don't plan on changing mine anytime soon either, IF ever. I use an old banger for my daily commute, so I can't see me changing mine, only thing I fancy tho is an Aston.

Good luck with your mammoth task.

Damien7579 · August 1, 2015

Thanks Womble.

Sadly the road tax/car import process works totally different here in republic of Ireland :( no workarounds. I've looked hard!

I really don't want to change and like you would love to run it for ages more but the financial reality is that at 1800 euros a year, it's just not justifiable. saying that I may keep her for a further year as the cost of changing to something else may be more economical in a year's time if ISF prices dont go down much more... Arghh see I'm trying to talk myself out of this already :) The truth be told the IS-F is a tough tough act to follow and I've owned a R35 GTR, driven an M3 and M4, 996 turbo and other performance cars.

I even thought of just switching to a IS 250!

ColinBarber · August 1, 2015

GS450h. I guess that would still be too expensive?

royoftherovers · August 1, 2015

How about a TESLA , sh one t of a shovel and it does not have an engine !!

Regards

John

Damien7579 · August 1, 2015

I did look at the GS 450h as the road tax is onl 290e here for the latest gen but the purchase price is still high.. might wait another year and see :)

As for a Tesla... would love love one but again availability. They have no duty costs on import and 120e road tax but can't get em for decent price right now... Model x might be interesting in a few years tho.

Stuno1 · August 1, 2015

I'll be changing mine for a sports car so can't help I'm afraid! Will be tough moving backwards for you in many ways :(

toffee_pie · August 1, 2015

please dont get a diesel......!

i think there is only 2 ISFs in Ireland, 1 in Dublin also afaik.

Damien7579 · August 2, 2015

toffie_pie: no fear of that! Diesel is not on the table.

AFAIK there are four IS-F's in Ireland including mine. Damo N on here had a silver one, I test drove a black one in Dublin and there's a white one now owned by a technician at Lexus Galway.

Stu: yup step backwards I think :( What are you replacing the IS-F with?

toffee_pie · August 2, 2015

I dont have one, want to replace my 250 with one ;p

toffee_pie · August 2, 2015

oh I think Stu wants a Lotus Exige S or something..

whatever they are called. :eerrrmm: :eerrrmm: :outforcount:

Stuno1 · August 2, 2015

oh I think Stu wants a Lotus Exige S or something..

whatever they are called. :eerrrmm: :eerrrmm: :outforcount:

Haha! Close. Lotus evora s :)

Cargav · August 23, 2015

Damien, I feel your pain on the tax. I have a 2009 Black ISF in Dublin since last October and facing into next bill of 1300 for 6 months tax. Despite that I absolutely love it - pussy cat when you are cruising with family on board and hot rod when circumstances allow....

Hard to know what to replace that with given that the only other cars that give that kind of ability (C63 / RS4) are also a fortune to tax. What about the likes of a Golf R - not quite the same ballistic performance but a bit more palatable on the tax ?

As a complete alternative, I could sell you a B5 RS4 with 380bhp that I picked up a few months ago - but about the same as the ISF on tax.

Good luck with the change though ....

Hopefully the ISF might stay this side of the water ?

Gavan

Ace8800 · August 23, 2015

Interesting choice

Ace8800 · August 23, 2015

If ur worried about tax.. put the RS4, C63 and M3 to sleep.. anything with decent performance and decent on tax i think would be Audi S3/Golf R/Focus RS (i love them), you have the likes of A45 AMG or even the M135i.

Like u mentioned nothing as blistering like the ISF but i guess you have to sacrifice that powerplant for a modest 300bhp car for the tax reason.

Would be interesting to see what u end up with lol

Zotto · August 24, 2015

I had a similar experience as insane taxation is also here in Italy, and I drove a GS450h like Colin suggested. At the end of meditation I traded it for a Premier GS 300h, and even if I sometimes miss the power of my former 2008 450h, I am satisfied of new GS, for sure more tax-friendly.

Terry Barr · August 24, 2015

The guy I bought the ISF off is replacing it with a GTR. He has a Nissan Stagea at 300 bhp for shopping.

rayaans · August 24, 2015

M135i or perhaps M235i would be the only option being RWD. A45 is OK but benz customer service is absolutely shocking! They just dont care after the sales are complete.

MNMJ · August 24, 2015

I drove the jaguar XES last week; It was lovely and the interior was a big step up in look and feel over the RC-F. Its 194g/km if that helps, which isn't bad for a 3.0 lite supercharged V6. I've found the Jaguar dealers to be up to Lexus standards too.

It handles well and sounds nice. In British Racing Green with black pack and black wheels it looks amazing.

I'll not be going for it as they really should offer the 380 PS engine as an option rather than just the 340 PS. One has been rather spoiled by the IS-F. I suspect they'll be bringing out the XER in 2016 or 2017 which will have a 470-500 PS s/c V8 to compete with M3, RS4, C63 and, if they bother making one, the new IS-F

rayaans · August 24, 2015

I drove the jaguar XES last week; It was lovely and the interior was a big step up in look and feel over the RC-F. Its 194g/km if that helps, which isn't bad for a 3.0 lite supercharged V6. I've found the Jaguar dealers to be up to Lexus standards too.

It handles well and sounds nice. In British Racing Green with black pack and black wheels it looks amazing.

I'll not be going for it as they really should offer the 380 PS engine as an option rather than just the 340 PS. One has been rather spoiled by the IS-F. I suspect they'll be bringing out the XER in 2016 or 2017 which will have a 470-500 PS s/c V8 to compete with M3, RS4, C63 and, if they bother making one, the new IS-F

Really? Must have been loaded to the gills with options then.

The XE I had had literally no padding in the armrests - felt like leather had just been put straight on top of plastic. It doesnt sound like a big issue until you drive the car for more than half an hour at which point it becomes frustrating. I also found the A-pillar very restrictive and the back seat were useless, not in space but the amount of foot space you get. My kids were complaining in the back (my kid has size 11 feet and is 6 ft 1) and thats not a good sign. He fits fine in the IS though.

Ill be honest, I wasn't that astounded by the handling - OK its good but then so is everything else in the segment.

Not a fan of the rear either - been designed by another person from the one that did the front.

MNMJ · August 27, 2015

Infiniti Q50 Hybrid?

Stuno1 · August 27, 2015

I like Infiniti but having heard only infinite can service them and not even Nissan can that was it for me. Barely any Infiniti dealers in the country.