Sold my 2019 IS300h Sport

[paulrnx]

I just got fed up with drving around dodging potholes and being super sensitive about where I parked it. Over 18 months of ownership I had two bird strikes which amounted to £550 worth of damage - the car is very low at the front. Then a buckled alloy wheel costing £80 to repair - a soaking wet country road and a water filled pothole. Then a cracked windscreen - seems that an unseen chip developed into a crack instantaneously in very hot weather as the windscreen rapidly cooled after startup. Then, and this was the last straw, I drove over a raised manhole cover and caused £800 of damage to the underside. Didn't see the manhole and the front wheels went neatly either side of the cover which then smacked the underside of the car at the lowest point. A smashed in floor support and torn underfloor tray ensued. I loved the car but it had to go. I'll post up some photos of the underside of the car. It was in a new housing development but at least the housebuilder coughed up the money to have the damage repaired. Now back in an NX which is better suited to the roads around where I live. The IS is a very low car.

[mujib1]

13 hours ago, paulrnx said:

 The IS is a very low car.

Sorry to hear of your woes. Would that be true for all IS models or just he sport version? I have a 2014 non sport model and I was once told 'your front part' is a bit low and now very careful not to drive on to certain kerbs (rather reverse onto it or avoid totally)

[BigChange]

Have rubbed noses with too many motorway service area kerbs and now understand why so many cars reverse park. ! But I notice that some cars have even lower skirts (and sometimes also big exhausts!).  Must be a real problem considering the state of many A roads, never mind the Bs'

[200h]

only recently i realised how low the IS300h F sport is,  as of the 11/09/2020

i part ex'd the car for a GS300h my god i feel like i am in an suv as the seating

height feels so much higher than i have been used to.

[LordByronUK]

It is quite a low car, but here in Cambridge with my luxury model, I've never really had a problem, but you do need to be a bit more cautious than say with an NX.

[paulrnx]

I’ll post the photos of the underfloor damage later today. Loving the NX. I deliberately bought an older car for a few reasons - I didn’t want to pay any more to change + I wanted to try to be less bothered about where I parked + I’d had enough of worrying about every poor road (and there are many where I live). After years of parking at the very end of carparks miles away from the entrances my wife now thinks I’ve had some form of brain transplant and it’s no longer me 😀

 

 

[paulrnx]

[paulrnx]

A raised manhole 16cm above the road surface at its highest point was enough to trash the underside of the car. It felt like the rear axle had fallen off. Going very slowly, luckily. Can't believe I hadn't seen it but there were cars parked on the side of the road further up and I was more concerned about looking for kiddies playing in the road and people crossing. I think I was just unlucky that the nearside wheels passed between the two bits of raised tarmac. A few inches either side of this and I'd have been ok.

[paulrnx]

On 9/17/2020 at 8:49 AM, mujib1 said:

Sorry to hear of your woes. Would that be true for all IS models or just he sport version? I have a 2014 non sport model and I was once told 'your front part' is a bit low and now very careful not to drive on to certain kerbs (rather reverse onto it or avoid totally)

It impacted the underside of the car and I wouldn't think there was much difference between models to be honest. Mine was a Sport with 18" wheels but lower profile tyres than one with 17" wheels. An F-Sport may be even lower on account of its sports suspension. The Sport has standard suspension.

[paulrnx]

On 9/17/2020 at 10:12 AM, BigChange said:

Have rubbed noses with too many motorway service area kerbs and now understand why so many cars reverse park. ! But I notice that some cars have even lower skirts (and sometimes also big exhausts!).  Must be a real problem considering the state of many A roads, never mind the Bs'

As above, it impacted the underside of the car, the front bumper went over ok but I suspect this may have more to do with the angle that I crossed over it.

[paulrnx]

This was the impact point on the cover. Bit of an immovable object I think!