IS-F running costs - the truth

[Womble72]

2-1/2 years of ownership, money spent to date £0.......

[Mattmech]

Ten months for me, service and a set of tyres.

Toms panel filter, modification to the exhaust and usrs bushes to go on, all my choice to fit.

nothing else to report thankfully 😎

[Big Rat]

@Flytvr No probs be happy to do so working on something else 'F' related at the moment..........mind you a spread sheet for this topic matter will fit on here.................

Big Rat

 

[emjay82]

 

2 hours ago, Flytvr said:

Some truly amazingly low ownership costs there.

We need somebody to collate all this information into a spreadsheet.  Hmmmmm, who like that sort of thing....ummmmm....... Ratty ( @Big Rat)

He's just finished this one, give him a break.... 

[Warrington guy]

We all know the ISF are pretty much bullit proof. There’s got to be a time when things start to fail . With the marjority of ISF made in 08 /09 and coming up to be unable to get a warranty.. how will this affect the prices?. As we all know once they go wrong it’s very expensive 

[Northern isf]

8 minutes ago, Warrington guy said:

We all know the ISF are pretty much bullit proof. There’s got to be a time when things start to fail . With the marjority of ISF made in 08 /09 and coming up to be unable to get a warranty.. how will this affect the prices?. As we all know once they go wrong it’s very expensive 

I hope you were touching something wooden when you typed that🙂

[Flytvr]

10 minutes ago, Warrington guy said:

We all know the ISF are pretty much bullit proof. There’s got to be a time when things start to fail . With the marjority of ISF made in 08 /09 and coming up to be unable to get a warranty.. how will this affect the prices?. As we all know once they go wrong it’s very expensive 

As we’ve discussed before mate, I think the IS-F could become a very expensive beast to run. How long will this take, who knows. Let’s face it they are still going VERY strong! 😀

[Linas.P]

I am not so sure, what is so particularly expensive to replace on IS-F? I understand something like LFA where most of the parts are one-off, but IS-F has large list of pretty standard parts which you can almost salvage from something as worthless as IS220d. The list of expensive part pretty much starts and ends with engine and gearbox, few original body panels would only need changing in case of accident, so not exactly maintenance thing. I am certainly not sure why would it become expensive beast to run... The closest comparison I can find would be SC430, which as far as I know not very big issue even well past the "used by date" - obviously, the engine is much more common, but how often Lexus V8 goes wrong and furthermore beyond engine and gearbox SC was singular model i.e. there are no cheap donors for simple parts, whereas for IS-F there are.

[Bluethunder]

16 Months: Spent £59 to change 1 Xenon bulb at the dealer to pass MOT.

Under warranty, the sat nav was replaced/repaired. Very expensive apparently..

[Flytvr]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

I am not so sure, what is so particularly expensive to replace on IS-F? I understand something like LFA where most of the parts are one-off, but IS-F has large list of pretty standard parts which you can almost salvage from something as worthless as IS220d. The list of expensive part pretty much starts and ends with engine and gearbox, few original body panels would only need changing in case of accident, so not exactly maintenance thing. I am certainly not sure why would it become expensive beast to run... The closest comparison I can find would be SC430, which as far as I know not very big issue even well past the "used by date" - obviously, the engine is much more common, but how often Lexus V8 goes wrong and furthermore beyond engine and gearbox SC was singular model i.e. there are no cheap donors for simple parts, whereas for IS-F there are.

I think that’s an optimistic view. As an experiment Ask Lexus to quote you for a replacement radiator.

[Linas.P]

Yes... I am sure if you ask for any OE part directly from Lexus it will be arm and a leg thing or worse kidney, but back to the example... What can actually got wrong with radiator, what is your situations where you believe radiator would get damaged? Well, you can crash the car into something and damage it, but it is not maintenance thing. It is aluminum, so it won't rust... it is fairly well protected and thick, so it will need much more than just a stone to damage it. Finally, radiator is not moving part, it doesn't need to be precisely manufactured to some very specific tolerances as such I don't see any reason why compatible non-OE part would not be suitable.. and that is like £150.

You much more likely to damage something like A/C condenser, but as far as I am aware it is the same part as any other Lexus IS mk2.. so plenty of used and cheap parts. Whole electrical part, power windows, memory seats, sat-navs, amplifiers etc. etc. are all standard across the range. The instrument cluster is unique part - but it is not exactly known for failing either. I am really struggling come-up with the part which would be struggle or very expensive to replace - on IS-F they either common with the rest of the range or simply don't go wrong.

[peachy]

17 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Yes... I am sure if you ask for any OE part directly from Lexus it will be arm and a leg thing or worse kidney, but back to the example... What can actually got wrong with radiator, what is your situations where you believe radiator would get damaged? Well, you can crash the car into something and damage it, but it is not maintenance thing. It is aluminum, so it won't rust... it is fairly well protected and thick, so it will need much more than just a stone to damage it. Finally, radiator is not moving part, it doesn't need to be precisely manufactured to some very specific tolerances as such I don't see any reason why compatible non-OE part would not be suitable.. and that is like £150.

You much more likely to damage something like A/C condenser, but as far as I am aware it is the same part as any other Lexus IS mk2.. so plenty of used and cheap parts. Whole electrical part, power windows, memory seats, sat-navs, amplifiers etc. etc. are all standard across the range. The instrument cluster is unique part - but it is not exactly known for failing either. I am really struggling come-up with the part which would be struggle or very expensive to replace - on IS-F they either common with the rest of the range or simply don't go wrong.

Gearbox.

I recall reading on here a few weeks back an ISF member had a gearbox issue. 

Imagine the price of getting that replaced  🤤

[Linas.P]

Well.. so I said.. except of gearbox or engine I don't know what else can go wrong and cost fortune. I am almost certain that IS-F gearbox can probably do 500k if no a million miles in normal conditions and maintained. However, I don't really see reason to have 400hp car just to casually drive it.. once on the track or pushed obviously engine and gearbox can get faulty and be expensive to repair. If you abuse them they will eventually fail, but it is not like they going to blow-up themselves like many MB/BMW parts just by commuting. 

[Flytvr]

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Yes... I am sure if you ask for any OE part directly from Lexus it will be arm and a leg thing or worse kidney, but back to the example... What can actually got wrong with radiator, what is your situations where you believe radiator would get damaged? Well, you can crash the car into something and damage it, but it is not maintenance thing. It is aluminum, so it won't rust... it is fairly well protected and thick, so it will need much more than just a stone to damage it. Finally, radiator is not moving part, it doesn't need to be precisely manufactured to some very specific tolerances as such I don't see any reason why compatible non-OE part would not be suitable.. and that is like £150.

You much more likely to damage something like A/C condenser, but as far as I am aware it is the same part as any other Lexus IS mk2.. so plenty of used and cheap parts. Whole electrical part, power windows, memory seats, sat-navs, amplifiers etc. etc. are all standard across the range. The instrument cluster is unique part - but it is not exactly known for failing either. I am really struggling come-up with the part which would be struggle or very expensive to replace - on IS-F they either common with the rest of the range or simply don't go wrong.

Firstly, I'm probably the least technical person on this forum - by a mile, so all my views are based on my experiences during ownership and those of many other F drivers (who I meet on a regular basis).

With regards to the radiator, all I can say is that one member had his replaced - can't recall why, but Lexus Japan didn't even have any in stock. It had to be made!!!

I'd be careful assuming that parts for the IS-F are easily swappable with IS parts. As an example, my IS-F had a leak from the air conditioning system. Replacement pipe was IS-F specific. Time to fix, several months as the part had to be ordered from Japan. Who'd have thought the pipework wasn't just off an IS (or other Lexus)!!

In summary, unlike the world of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc, there simply isn't an abundance of independent garages with knowledge of the IS-F, so when things go wrong, most of us will have to resort back to using the main dealers. This will never be cheap. Of course there are those talented individuals that will engineer fixes, make their own radiators in their back shed, rob pipework from the washing machine to fix the air con etc etc, but whichever way you look at it, this is a pain.

[Dave400SE]

9 months so far and apart from intermediate service all I've had to do is replace one tyre (due to nail puncture) and the Battery (but it was the original so had lasted 8 years). Not bad so far but I've just bought the 2 year warranty for peace of mind re: 91k engine and gearbox and not knowing how the previous owners had treated the car.

[Warrington guy]

Linas a 400hp car is great fun to drive . Wasn’t you interested in the black one on autotrader 

[Mark G]

Saying the engine and gearbox are the only things unique to the IS-F model is at best plainly wrong, LSD, wheels, suspension parts, pumps and other ancillaries are model specific, yes a radiator is not a moving part but to say it cant "rust" is not completely true, alloys corrode and therefore can leak.

Nobody is saying an IS-F is a totally bespoke car, they are sayng how reliable it is.

[Guest]

It's not a radiator, it doesn't radiate anything.

It would be easy to have the isf main heat exchanger ;) copied at a manufacturers here in the uk as it's flat. I have curved ones made and they are a pain due to having to press the core into a curve without breaking it.

Just need an original one to copy. Same for aircon pipes.

The tricky things is stuff like media units, servo motors, pumps - anything with moving parts basically.

Anything that is just shaped metal is easy to replicate - the problem isn't doing it - the problem is the lack of demand.





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[Chuckie478]

1 hour ago, Flytvr said:

With regards to the radiator, all I can say is that one member had his replaced - can't recall why, but Lexus Japan didn't even have any in stock. It had to be made!!!

That was me.  When Lexus had the car in bits doing the fuel pump recall they spotted it was worn where it shouldn't have been and decided to replace it.  None in stock in the UK, Germany (where there's apparently a large Lexus parts bin) nor Japan.  They had make/assemble one for me.  I would have thought they would have made a batch but I don't know.  Took 2 weeks.  TBH if the car was out of warranty then there are some other ways of getting one (probably cheaper too) but that won't be the case for other parts.

[Warrington guy]

Colin . Apparently we can just rob the parts of a 220d

[Jgtcracer]

11 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I am not so sure, what is so particularly expensive to replace on IS-F? I understand something like LFA where most of the parts are one-off, but IS-F has large list of pretty standard parts which you can almost salvage from something as worthless as IS220d. The list of expensive part pretty much starts and ends with engine and gearbox, few original body panels would only need changing in case of accident, so not exactly maintenance thing. I am certainly not sure why would it become expensive beast to run... The closest comparison I can find would be SC430, which as far as I know not very big issue even well past the "used by date" - obviously, the engine is much more common, but how often Lexus V8 goes wrong and furthermore beyond engine and gearbox SC was singular model i.e. there are no cheap donors for simple parts, whereas for IS-F there are.

I can just imaging you sitting there thinking "what's the most controversial thing I can say to the ISF community??  I know I'll tell their car is practically a IS220!!"

[dutchie01]

Linas is making friends again......

[emjay82]

The ISF was derived from the IS250/220 etc, but there must be a considerable amount of parts which were uprated to deal with the extra power, performance  etc. You might get lucky and find a part that could be pinched from an IS but there are alot of parts which can't. 

[Linas.P]

@Jgtcracer and other.. It is funny you looked at it that way...

I never meant to say, that IS-F is basically the same thing as IS220d, my only point was that it is not 100% bespoke car and many parts it shares with other mk2 IS are abundant and cheap. Same is true for any other Performance saloon or coupe, be that BMW M4 or Audi RS5... even Lamborghini Huracan would have many parts to share with something like Golf or Audi A3. Engine and gearbox are obvious parts which would be expensive to fix if they would go wrong and at the same time are bespoke. Obviously, there will be several more parts which are just slightly different and would not fit from other IS models...

Other mentioned things like, piping etc. Surely they can be adapted from generic parts or even manufactured to order. I think what matter is how original you want to keep the car and how much time you want to spend finding suitable alternative - obviously safest and quickest ways is just to go and get it from Dealer. e.g. exhaust even for IS250 costs £3000+ from dealer, yet one can easily get system made to order for ~£700, I don't see it being different for IS-F.

I guess what matters is that there seems to be no "Achilles heel" parts in IS-F (as it is quite common with German performance cars) and therefore I see no reason to assume it would become real pain to maintain outside of warranty.

[Guest]

Part of the ownership "experience" of classic/rare bikes and cars is that some things are a challenge. 

A lot of owners enjoy this aspect; the search for the holy grail, the handing over of the cash for a shiny object, posting a photo on the forum to show you have achieved the impossible.

There isn't much joy walking into Halfords for a wiper blade is there?