IS250 deleted

ChumpusRex · April 20, 2016

My IS250 has been sold and is going tomorrow.

It's been a cracking car, but I am slightly surprised at how difficult it was to sell, and also that it has turned out to be near worthless, despite all the toys like air conditioned seats, etc.

normski2 · April 20, 2016

Wow that was a scary title!

I'm a little surprised it was hard to move on. They are, relatively speaking, (undiscovered by the masses) little gems. Well in my opinion anyway.

What will you be moving to? Staying with Lex?

Be sorry to see you go if you do move on elsewhere.

steveledzep · April 20, 2016

3 minutes ago, normski2 said:

Wow that was a scary title!

I'm a little surprised it was hard to move on. They are, relatively speaking, (undiscovered by the masses) little gems. Well in my opinion anyway.

What will you be moving to? Staying with Lex?

Be sorry to see you go if you do move on elsewhere.

I have the same opinion as Normski.....little gems ! Perhaps it's as well that the masses haven't discovered them.

ChumpusRex · April 20, 2016

Oh it's a cracking car. I'm getting a big downgrade on the toy front with the new car (but a big upgrade on the turbocharger front - audi S3)

But I guess the lexus is not very well known. People see a big petrol engine, and a luxury marque and run away. It's got a couple of problems which to me at least, aren't worth fixing. It's also one of the oldest ISs in the country and has a very high mileage (160k). I suppose at that point, it's bangernomics, and maybe the people that buy a megamiles car want one with easy to obtain parts.

toffee_pie · April 20, 2016

I agree that the Lexus is250 is not well known, aside from the people who own them the general public dont know much about them. I sold mine for 6k and it was a SEL with only 64k miles, 2008. I reduced the price loads as I had a new car purchased. Its a terrific car though, a bit gutless but certainly very pleasant to drive and the toys in the SEL trim are excellent.

steveledzep · April 20, 2016

Probably would have got £8k if it had been an automatic.

toffee_pie · April 20, 2016

cant help shoving your nose in can you, doubt it would have got 8k private, I saw manuals for 8k from a lexus dealer and they were not even 2008.

People here really are deluded with manuals / autos, I hope the present owner pops on here to give his thoughts. From owners of is250 autos here you would think they had 400+ hp V8s, the performance is pretty identical to manuals, the best thing of the latter is that the driver can have control of the engine, not a ecu. Most people here prefer autos due to cheaper tax, loads of people who contacted me mentioned tax.

If someone complains about a few hundred quid a year on tax, how can they afford decent rear tyres.

steveledzep · April 20, 2016

1 hour ago, toffee_pie said:

cant help shoving your nose in can you,

I "shove my nose" as you put it, where I consider I have something relevant to contribute. You failed to mention that it was a manual you had to reduce the price on.

How's the Merc going ?

toffee_pie · April 20, 2016

not sure what relevance you had to add, the CL55 is an awesome car and will leave most cars for dust. Its not for people who are concerned on tax differences of ca. £200 a year however.

Linas.P · April 21, 2016

21 hours ago, ChumpusRex said:

My IS250 has been sold and is going tomorrow.

It's been a cracking car, but I am slightly surprised at how difficult it was to sell, and also that it has turned out to be near worthless, despite all the toys like air conditioned seats, etc.

I believe it is sad to see it going.

As for the selling difficulties and the price - I am completely not surprised. Lexus IS 250 is really good buy (and automatically bad sell), it is a lot of car for asking price as you said yourself it is "fully loaded". Your one was manual as well and they really cost next to nothing right now (I was always curious how you planing to selling it for reasonable rice). If I were you I would have probably kept it in the barn for another 50 years, because current prices are not reasonable. That is actually what I am planning to do with mine few years later. Maybe not to keep in the barn, but maybe just to give it to my sister or girlfriend - they are really no-brainer to sell.

jackcramerr · April 21, 2016

For uk and europe, stick to audi, bmw and merc. DIESEL not petrol. There will be buyers lined up.

Lexus is just not for europe. And to be honest, they really don't come close to Merc.

As for manual vs auto, anyone who has driven auto will never want to go to manual. ... Unless they are going on track. ... well maybe a few would but not all.

ahmedali44 · April 21, 2016

As soon ppl hear v6 2.5 petrol and 290 tax makes them run but don't realise the luxury ur getting, cars like merc,bmw,audi are so common but u don't get toys for same money.after my is220d was looking at audis, bmw petrol but basic for same money.now iav owned is250 best car ever driven

jackcramerr · April 21, 2016

true. but after driven german brand for a while I think is250 is right for its own price. its too noisey, gutless as compared. thats my view for it.

toffee_pie · April 21, 2016

People in England just don't know, or care about Lexus. Lexus themselves don't care as their main market is Asia and the USA. The UK is minuscule for sales. Second hand IS1250s are probably the best used cars you can get - pound for pound, do people know this? nope. The fact manuals can be got so cheap is even more ridiculous, £6k for my car was stupidly cheap, the guy who bought it couldn't stop smiling. I could have got near to £7k if I held out ( £6,800 one guy lost out on deposit as he could not get the rest of the funds) but I was travelling away on a business trip around the time I slashed the price, plus I had a new car to collect.

The used car market is swamped with vehicles in the UK, Hence prices so competitive. Mainland Europe is a different story entirely, this is why I could snap up a car like a CL55 in the first place. A similar car would cost over 20k Eu in mainland Europe.

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=221960786&isSearchRequest=true&scopeId=C&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&minFirstRegistrationDate=2003-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=2004-12-31&makeModelVariant1.makeId=17200&makeModelVariant1.modelId=41&pageNumber=1#

jackcramerr · April 21, 2016

in UK, average person changes car in 3 years. In 7 years in uk, every person has changed their car. I read this somehere and thats the reason second hand cars are everywhere in uk. Explains why they loose their value. Long time ago manuals were considered superior to auto because no one could fix it. Now cars are disposable. No one fixes anything and a 10 year old car is binned. In other countries one sees 20 year old car all rusted but going from a to b.

ahmedali44 · April 22, 2016

Last weekend done almost 500 miles from London to dewsbury then Manchester didn't see any lexus apart from 1 on a1 towards north is300h red old boy was driving it, merc,bmw like flies.

Shahpor · April 22, 2016

This is strange since I see them all the time when I am London.

In fact, there are 3 that live not more than a mile from my old place, all of them IS250's.

Linas.P · April 22, 2016

18 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

Second hand IS250s are probably the best used cars you can get - pound for pound, do people know this? nope.

I agree 100%.

It is easy to explain - How many people really cares what they are driving... 10% maybe, the rest buys any new car with low OTR price and change it every 3 years? How many people are aware about Lexus quality and luxury?... even less. Finally, how many people are looking for 6-10 years old luxury cars - hardly anyone.. Luxury car with Manual - nobody.

If I am honest I became fan of Lexus by accident.. almost all my cars before were BMW's and only, I were to choose company car for my father company I have gone for Lexus.. MB C250 was £5k more expensive, BMW E90 is generally ugly car (for company car I can't choose E92), so I gone for Lexus (happy I did).

I had 2 Lexus IS250's before the current one so I knew what I am after, but for average person car doesn't stand out on the paper and they look elsewhere. And especially IS250 Manual is not popular, tax and insurance more expensive for what you considering "less of the car". I could buy Manual IS250 for half price I have paid for my Automatic and probably in better condition...

toffee_pie · April 22, 2016

Most of the general motoring population want cars cheap to tax, insure and own. Lexus never were big sellers in the UK, As I already said. Just look at cars sold in UK through from the different marques through the years (2006 to 2014 for example), Lexus are minuscule compared to other brands.

Manual Lexus put people off due to the cost to tax them, circa £500 per annum. I am absolutely in no doubt this is the reason people are scared away buying them, I only need to refer to all the people making inquiries to my car I recently sold.

Then you get people who know what they are looking for and are not put off my trivial things such as Tax and appreciate the car for what it is, I certainly had a few people in this category who wanted my car but only 1 could come up with the money.

I moved into Lexus after a few years with a 2.4 Honda, getting a Lexus seemed logical. My current car is mental but life is short and you only live once. FWIW, Tax on my 500Hp CL55 AMG is less than £300 per annum.... no idea how they work these things out.

jackcramerr · April 22, 2016

I don't understand one thing... people go through the effort of getting a premium car and then end up with a diesel.... I read somewhere that diesel cars begin to return the investement after more than 5-7 yesr of owning it... but most people change their car by then...And if I think of it, dpf egr issues due to short run come more expensive under service expense... I understand in few years from now dpf egr issue will be no more as they will undergo a design change but... why do people end up with diesel... how do they give up on refinement... diesel is so noisey... Just want to understand why would I consider a luxury car with diesel instead of petrol or a banger with diesel engine which will be more economical. Anyway, most people I meet say 'oh when I saw the car I fell in love with it' so that answers my question I guess.

toffee_pie · April 22, 2016

I will never get a diesel car, ever. Lexus had the sense to stop making them at least.

Wisty · April 22, 2016

10 minutes ago, toffee_pie said:

I will never get a diesel car, ever. Lexus had the sense to stop making them at least.

In my motoring life (since 2005), I've owned one diesel engined car. It was an Alfa Romeo 156 sportwagon 1.9 JTD which I had for 25 months.

It was nice to sit in, but every time I started it, I cringed at the clatter coming from such a good looking Italian car.

I will never buy another diesel.

steveledzep · April 22, 2016

On 20/04/2016 at 0:07 AM, toffee_pie said:

Its not for people who are concerned on tax differences of ca. £200 a year however.

It's me "shoving my nose in" again !

I don't think there are many Lexus owners who are short of a couple of hundred pounds each year. You seem to imply that I (and other auto owners) bought an automatic because of the cheaper tax. If you look closely, you will see that I drive a 250C, a convertible. This model commands quite a substantial price premium over the saloons, hardly the purchasing behaviour of someone stuck for a couple of hundred a year.

3 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

Most of the general motoring population want cars cheap to tax, insure and own.

Manual Lexus put people off due to the cost to tax them, circa £500 per annum. I am absolutely in no doubt this is the reason people are scared away buying them, I only need to refer to all the people making inquiries to my car I recently sold.

There are a lot of motorists who are motivated by cheap ownership, but certainly not most in my opinion. I consider the majority of motorists will seek value for money balancing cost of ownership against quality, performance, fuel economy, practicality, comfort and prestige amongst other buying criteria.

£200 per annum additional tax costs has little to do with the undesirability of the IS250 manual. The automatic is better in every way. Using the steering mounted paddles, gear changes are both smoother and quicker than using a clutch and a stick. In automatic mode it is as smooth as silk. Best of both worlds !

I doubt that the number of people showing an interest in your Lexus is sufficiently large a sample to draw any meaningful conclusion from.

toffee_pie · April 22, 2016

16 minutes ago, steveledzep said:

It's me "shoving my nose in" again !

I don't think there are many Lexus owners who are short of a couple of hundred pounds each year. You seem to imply that I (and other auto owners) bought an automatic because of the cheaper tax. If you look closely, you will see that I drive a 250C, a convertible. This model commands quite a substantial price premium over the saloons, hardly the purchasing behaviour of someone stuck for a couple of hundred a year.

There are a lot of motorists who are motivated by cheap ownership, but certainly not most in my opinion. I consider the majority of motorists will seek value for money balancing cost of ownership against quality, performance, fuel economy, practicality, comfort and prestige amongst other buying criteria.

£200 per annum additional tax costs has little to do with the undesirability of the IS250 manual. The automatic is better in every way. Using the steering mounted paddles, gear changes are both smoother and quicker than using a clutch and a stick. In automatic mode it is as smooth as silk. Best of both worlds !

I doubt that the number of people showing an interest in your Lexus is sufficiently large a sample to draw any meaningful conclusion from.

Whatever you say, practically everyone who was interested in my car quoted tax, I had quite a few people who were serious and didn't car about tax. I had 3 of these guys drive it and they all said I want it. Only 1 of them had money to buy it, one guy lost £300 deposit for wasting my time due to not getting funds for it. When the car was sold, about 5 more people approached me on eBay saying is it still for sale.

People worry about tax, That's why diesel car sales have rocked over the last decade. Most people unfortunately put things like running costs and such above and beyond actually owning a car for pleasure and thrills, which is where I fall into., my CL55 takes about £90 to fill up and economy is a bit meh, but its a car that will always excite., I could buy a more modern petrol or diesel car for similar money but it would pale into significance of what I have now. . I think people are getting a bit carried away over the Auto box in the IS250, i am in no doubt its very good, but at the end of the day its basically the same car as the manual IS250., Its certainly not a rocket ship and the manual gear box is seriously underrated. I don't think many or any on this forum have manuals. Having control over gear changes is what some people like. Put a K&N Typhoon onto a Manual IS250 and it knocks the Auto for six.

Too bad I had the only such car on the forum.

toffee_pie · April 22, 2016

17 minutes ago, steveledzep said:

It's me "shoving my nose in" again !

I don't think there are many Lexus owners who are short of a couple of hundred pounds each year. You seem to imply that I (and other auto owners) bought an automatic because of the cheaper tax. If you look closely, you will see that I drive a 250C, a convertible. This model commands quite a substantial price premium over the saloons, hardly the purchasing behaviour of someone stuck for a couple of hundred a year.

There are a lot of motorists who are motivated by cheap ownership, but certainly not most in my opinion. I consider the majority of motorists will seek value for money balancing cost of ownership against quality, performance, fuel economy, practicality, comfort and prestige amongst other buying criteria.

£200 per annum additional tax costs has little to do with the undesirability of the IS250 manual. The automatic is better in every way. Using the steering mounted paddles, gear changes are both smoother and quicker than using a clutch and a stick. In automatic mode it is as smooth as silk. Best of both worlds !

I doubt that the number of people showing an interest in your Lexus is sufficiently large a sample to draw any meaningful conclusion from.

If gear changes are quicker why is it slower than the manual. 0-60 and top speed also.