Lexus IS300h or BMW 3 Series Saloon?

[Hadrian]

I've only just come across this thread too. When looking for a replacement for our Civic Hybrid I didn't even consider a BMW,

as I love the CVT gearbox.

When spending a lot of money on a car I prefer to buy from a main dealer. Within walking distance we have a Toyota dealer

and an Audi dealer. Talking to a chap in the Toyota dealership last year, he said he could get any Lexus brought there for a test drive.

I did consider an Audi, but their automatics aren't particularly reliable. Yes I know you can pay through the nose at a main dealer,

but I feel they have a reputation to maintain, and give a good service.

Another deciding factor was that we also have a Lexus service centre a five minute walk away.  I don't believe in spending a great

deal of money on a car then getting it serviced in some back street garage.

[Ian J. Parsley]

If you're going second hand there's no harm resurrecting a thread!

You wouldn't regret blue, but note there are different shades (varying from trim to trim and no doubt also year to year) so be sure what you are getting.

If you're going used, then you'd be better with Lexus for reliability alone. It's also more distinctive. 

[Jules PF]

Hi,

Just read this thread with great interest. Have driven an Alfa GT for the last 10 years. Beautiful looking car and great performance but now need a change. Unfortunately, my budget restricts me to about 17k, and I'm based in ireland and as a result of government tax strategy, the only three/four year old cars to buy here are all diesels, and I'd like petrol/hybrid, so am looking to import one from the UK. Like Dave I was edging between the IS300 and a BMW 330e. This thread is really nudging me towards the Lexus. I really love the look of the F series and think the blue is striking.  Has anyone any recommendations of web sites to monitor and also would I be crazy to consider something like this Cat C on Autotrader.

Thanks,

Barns.

PS. Just saw thread was 2years old, apologies for the resurrection.

 

I beat you to that one.

Considering the cat c the condition is first class. Full dealer history too.

[Mr Vlad]

Jules your only choice with 17k is the lexis. 330e's are in their 20k plus price bracket. Anyway the lexis is better and overall cheaper to run.

[route66]

On 4/26/2018 at 11:29 PM, BarnsEire said:

Hi,

Just read this thread with great interest. Have driven an Alfa GT for the last 10 years. Beautiful looking car and great performance but now need a change. Unfortunately, my budget restricts me to about 17k, and I'm based in ireland and as a result of government tax strategy, the only three/four year old cars to buy here are all diesels, and I'd like petrol/hybrid, so am looking to import one from the UK. Like Dave I was edging between the IS300 and a BMW 330e. This thread is really nudging me towards the Lexus. I really love the look of the F series and think the blue is striking.  Has anyone any recommendations of web sites to monitor and also would I be crazy to consider something like this Cat C on Autotrader.

Thanks,

Barns.

PS. Just saw thread was 2years old, apologies for the resurrection.

The CAT C car is no longer listed.

I considered a CAT D car before I bought my 300H. I did some research on insuring CAT C or D cars and that put me off. Some insurance companies won't touch it, other require an engineer's report before they will consider it and a few will only consider it if you are already a customer. It really doesn't mater how bad the car was or how well it was repaired, the phrase "Category C/D write off" is enough to put the insurance companies off. And that's just insuring it. When the time comes to sell, the history will make it impossible to move on - unless you sell to the trade and that will be for buttons. The cars I looked at didn't even offer a big discount - £3-4K at most - on an unmolested one.

I'd say if you have contacts in the insurance business and intend to hold on to the car until it dies, then you could consider these, otherwise, forget it.

Like you, I'm also based in Ireland and drove an Alfa (156) for 10 years. The choice between the 330E and the IS300H will come down to the usual - and often subjective - thoughts. The 330E might be closer to the Alfa in terms of sportiness but for me, the IS300H was a no-brainer.

My 1 owner, August 2014 IS300H Executive with 68K miles recorded cost me about £13.5K which translated into €17.5 precisely once VRT (Irish import tax), flights, ferry, currency charges, fuel - even food - were taken into account. I've no regrets at all and am delighted with the car - most especially when a x-colleague sent me a picture of his 18-month old 330E up on a trailer. A drivetrain error came up directly after he heard "an almighty rattle under the car". Another 530E colleague has also had the car back to BMW with other - albeit, less alarming - drivetrain issues. You can't beat Lexus reliability!

[Jules PF]

Its no longer listed because I bought it.

I have had many cat c and d cars, never had a single problem insuring them, across at least 4/5 insurers. Problem is always selling,  needs to be cheap, but you bought it cheap remember. Key for me is to absolutely avoid anything with multiple owners ( 1 or 2 max) and no service history. HPI check is mandatory, no silly text checks.

If purchased correctly, they provide outstanding value. This one I negotiated to a tad over £10k.  Its 2014 MY IS300H,  69k, full Lexus dealer history to 61k, one previous owner,  F sport spec in that beautiful blue with sat nav, camera. Only fault currently is washer fluid reminder notice when its full. Everything else works perfectly. Needs new boots, already ordered Uniroyal Rainsport 3.  I do intend to keep her for a while, so the saving of 4-5k is fantastic. 

The thing that people forget is many cars have accidents and are not recorded at all, as the insurance company repair them, or they repair them themselves. These cars are not recorded anywhere, and command an 'unblemished' price premium. At least with a cat c or d (now n and s) car you are aware and can judge and price accordingly,  rough guide -25%.

Very happy with it, damage was to the rear and appears to be a flawless repair. Boot floor, rear quarters, batteries, no problems.

[route66]

6 hours ago, Jules PF said:

Its no longer listed because I bought it.

I have had many cat c and d cars, never had a single problem insuring them, across at least 4/5 insurers. Problem is always selling,  needs to be cheap, but you bought it cheap remember. Key for me is to absolutely avoid anything with multiple owners ( 1 or 2 max) and no service history. HPI check is mandatory, no silly text checks.

If purchased correctly, they provide outstanding value. This one I negotiated to a tad over £10k.  Its 2014 MY IS300H,  69k, full Lexus dealer history to 61k, one previous owner,  F sport spec in that beautiful blue with sat nav, camera. Only fault currently is washer fluid reminder notice when its full. Everything else works perfectly. Needs new boots, already ordered Uniroyal Rainsport 3.  I do intend to keep her for a while, so the saving of 4-5k is fantastic. 

The thing that people forget is many cars have accidents and are not recorded at all, as the insurance company repair them, or they repair them themselves. These cars are not recorded anywhere, and command an 'unblemished' price premium. At least with a cat c or d (now n and s) car you are aware and can judge and price accordingly,  rough guide -25%.

Very happy with it, damage was to the rear and appears to be a flawless repair. Boot floor, rear quarters, batteries, no problems.

When I checked this out in Ireland, the story sounded much different to yours: from my research, Irish Insurance companies tended to not want to know anything about "Written Off" cars. And yes, of course, some of these can be repaired back to 100% of their original state ...

In my own case, the car I looked at was a CAT D. I got photos of the damage and it didn't look bad. It had 20K less miles than mine but against that was a private sale, had marked wheels and missed a complete service (i.e. no service over a 25K miles period). It was for sale for £13K and the guy said he'd only go as low as £12.8K. The list price on mine was £13.3K including fees (I also had to pay currency charges but they would apply to any car). For me, I'd want to be saving about what you stated £4-5K before I'd consider one; £500 is not enough.

[BarnsEire]

6 hours ago, Jules PF said:

Its no longer listed because I bought it.

I have had many cat c and d cars, never had a single problem insuring them, across at least 4/5 insurers. Problem is always selling,  needs to be cheap, but you bought it cheap remember. Key for me is to absolutely avoid anything with multiple owners ( 1 or 2 max) and no service history. HPI check is mandatory, no silly text checks.

If purchased correctly, they provide outstanding value. This one I negotiated to a tad over £10k.  Its 2014 MY IS300H,  69k, full Lexus dealer history to 61k, one previous owner,  F sport spec in that beautiful blue with sat nav, camera. Only fault currently is washer fluid reminder notice when its full. Everything else works perfectly. Needs new boots, already ordered Uniroyal Rainsport 3.  I do intend to keep her for a while, so the saving of 4-5k is fantastic. 

The thing that people forget is many cars have accidents and are not recorded at all, as the insurance company repair them, or they repair them themselves. These cars are not recorded anywhere, and command an 'unblemished' price premium. At least with a cat c or d (now n and s) car you are aware and can judge and price accordingly,  rough guide -25%.

Very happy with it, damage was to the rear and appears to be a flawless repair. Boot floor, rear quarters, batteries, no problems.

Well done and happy motoring.  I had asked the seller for details and got no response, but that was obviously you were on the case.  Enjoy the car, it's a beauty.

[BarnsEire]

14 minutes ago, route66 said:

When I checked this out in Ireland, the story sounded much different to yours: from my research, Irish Insurance companies tended to not want to know anything about "Written Off" cars. And yes, of course, some of these can be repaired back to 100% of their original state ...

In my own case, the car I looked at was a CAT D. I got photos of the damage and it didn't look bad. It had 20K less miles than mine but against that was a private sale, had marked wheels and missed a complete service (i.e. no service over a 25K miles period). It was for sale for £13K and the guy said he'd only go as low as £12.8K. The list price on mine was £13.3K including fees (I also had to pay currency charges but they would apply to any car). For me, I'd want to be saving about what you stated £4-5K before I'd consider one; £500 is not enough.

That's very interesting and may be a big deciding factor.  I must check with my own insurance company to see if they would accommodate CAT C or CAT D cars.

[route66]

36 minutes ago, BarnsEire said:

That's very interesting and may be a big deciding factor.  I must check with my own insurance company to see if they would accommodate CAT C or CAT D cars.

Check out this from the RSA/123 website (link):

 

Quote

 

I want to insure a previously written off vehicle?

For Car Insurance Customers

For new customers, we do not insure vehicles that have been previously written off. However, if you are currently insured with us and want to transfer your insurance, we may review this depending on the category of write off.

Some cars are classed as being beyond economic repair after an accident. This simply means that it would cost more to repair the damage than it would to replace the entire car. If your car was previously classed as beyond economic repair but has since been repaired to a roadworthy condition and has passed the NCT, please contact us so we can see if we can put the car on cover. In some cases, we may also require an engineer’s report form detailing the repairs carried out. We will require sight of any requested documents before cover is provided.

If your vehicle has been classed as end of life then we cannot insure it, even if it has been repaired.

 

You can do a search in autotrader for CAT C/D/etc cars only - I'm not seeing enough of a saving here

[Jules PF]

You do get some extremely unrealistic sellers, £12.8k is way too much, you can get a 'straight' one for that! Think you made the right decision. The seller (in my case) said he was inundated with people offering silly money (£8-9k) and a few scammers so was a bit skeptical and unresponsive to potentially genuine buyers. 

I would look at a minimum of 25% of an undamaged example. If not simply walk away. 

Thanks barnsEire, fingers crossed its a good one. Love it at the moment, 51mpg on a motorway run, very good solid feel. Don't understand the many comments from journalists about the drone of the cvt, not getting that at all.  Bit spooky when it starts on electric motor, 2 people have walked out in front of me so far, due to lack of noise!