Trying to get into the Lexus family with an IS250 but am a bit concerned.

[scudney]

here's mine with the staggered wheels,as far as I am aware all the face lifted f sports (2010-12 with day time running lights) came with these wheels and staggered set up 

[H3XME]

2 hours ago, scudney said:

here's mine with the staggered wheels, as far as I am aware all the face lifted f sports (2010-12 with day time running lights) came with these wheels and staggered set up 

You're correct

[Lex_utor]

6 hours ago, H3XME said:

These are all the specs. 

Thanks! That's very helpful.

[Lex_utor]

3 hours ago, scudney said:

here's mine with the staggered wheels,as far as I am aware all the face lifted f sports (2010-12 with day time running lights) came with these wheels and staggered set up 

Thanks.

 

Ok, so that must be it then. The different wheels for F-sport are probably facelift and pre-facelift. So in the photo I posted, the black one, which looks like yours, is facelift and the silver one must be pre-facelift.

Difficult to find this info. So thanks for shedding some light here. 🙂

Same thing with the bumpers. There seems to be at least 4 styles. 2005-2010 standard, 2005-2010 F-sport, 2010-2013 standard and 2010-2012 F-sport. I guess the F-sport was only available till 2012.

Then there is the IS-F which seems to have the same front bumper throughout.

In 2008 there was supposed to have been a facelift too. But it seems the front bumper didn't change as far as I can tell. But even between 2005 and 2010 bumper styles, they are very similar. I'm trying to locate a bumper to buy and it's quite difficult to tell what's what.  🙂

[J Henderson]

23 hours ago, Lex_utor said:

Thanks. So it is a straight swap?  Is the grill and other bits hard to find or expensive?

Not sure if it's a straight swap to be honest, or whether some minor modification is needed. I just know the swap was quite popular in the US at one point as it allowed the F-Sport grille to be fitted.

Here's a handy 50/50 image that shows the exterior differences of the 09 face-lift.

Pretty subtle and hard to spot to the untrained eye.

Regarding those silver split-spoke wheels. They're not F-sport. They were available long before the F-Sport model was introduced.

2010 F-Sport cars had 15-spoke wheels. I have them on my car.

[scudney]

The f sport wheel above was just prior to the daytime running light facelift if u am not mistaken 

[Lex_utor]

16 hours ago, J Henderson said:

Not sure if it's a straight swap to be honest, or whether some minor modification is needed. I just know the swap was quite popular in the US at one point as it allowed the F-Sport grille to be fitted.

Here's a handy 50/50 image that shows the exterior differences of the 09 face-lift.

Pretty subtle and hard to spot to the untrained eye.

Regarding those silver split-spoke wheels. They're not F-sport. They were available long before the F-Sport model was introduced.

2010 F-Sport cars had 15-spoke wheels. I have them on my car.

That 50/50 image is fantastic.  Thanks for that. 🙂

[Lex_utor]

12 hours ago, scudney said:

The f sport wheel above was just prior to the daytime running light facelift if u am not mistaken 

Great to know. Thanks.

[Lex_utor]

So tomorrow I'm driving to see the car. Wish me luck. 🙂

[scudney]

Good luck and all the best tomorrow Lex, hope all goes well 👍 

[DF-300 Sport]

Bet you drive it home after all your anxiety.....all the best😎👍

[Lex_utor]

On 8/20/2021 at 5:11 PM, scudney said:

Good luck and all the best tomorrow Lex, hope all goes well 👍 

Thank you very much! 🙂

[Lex_utor]

On 8/20/2021 at 7:35 PM, DF-300 Sport said:

Bet you drive it home after all your anxiety.....all the best😎👍

Indeed. 😉

I will make a thread about it as soon as I get the chance. 🙂

Thanks all of you for being so kind and helpful in this thread. I'm not sure I would have bought it if it wasn't for the help of this community.

[toffee_pie]

I had a IS250, in a manual and my 2C

Its a very poor box and had I known I would have got something else.

so this begs the question, what is a poor manual? well for me its sluggish and unresponsive gear changes.. the car itself was fine... actually too fine as I found it too sedate and sold it after about a year and a half or so for a Merc CL55 AMG, I wanted something a bit exciting and the Merc delivered, for about a month and I found it a money pit so the dealer arrived on my work place and gave my cash back and having been sick of German cars I got a rather unusual car that I actually eyed up before I purchased the Lexus, a 3 litre Subaru SpecB with a manual, but its a different kettle of fish to the Lexus, both the car and the gearbox - it has the same 6 speed box as the STi and it a more driver oriented car - I approve, the wife not so much

So, to answer your question as no 2 people are alike - the Lexus i250 manual works, but its not a great drive, for me anyway.

The car itself is fine, just check the service - its the same with any car, I had zero issues with my car, Its a Lexus after all

[Lex_utor]

8 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

I had a IS250, in a manual and my 2C

Its a very poor box and had I known I would have got something else.

so this begs the question, what is a poor manual? well for me its sluggish and unresponsive gear changes.. the car itself was fine... actually too fine as I found it too sedate and sold it after about a year and a half or so for a Merc CL55 AMG, I wanted something a bit exciting and the Merc delivered, for about a month and I found it a money pit so the dealer arrived on my work place and gave my cash back and having been sick of German cars I got a rather unusual car that I actually eyed up before I purchased the Lexus, a 3 litre Subaru SpecB with a manual, but its a different kettle of fish to the Lexus, both the car and the gearbox - it has the same 6 speed box as the STi and it a more driver oriented car - I approve, the wife not so much

So, to answer your question as no 2 people are alike - the Lexus i250 manual works, but its not a great drive, for me anyway.

The car itself is fine, just check the service - its the same with any car, I had zero issues with my car, Its a Lexus after all

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

All I can say is, I have the car for almost a week now and am loving it. 

I bought it exactly for the gearbox. It has a few small cosmetic things to take care of but nothing that sours the deal.  The next manual was 550 miles away and in another country.

 

No regrets so far. But I didn't buy it expecting a sports car. 🙂

 

But I'm curious what you mean by unresponsive.  With an automatic this normally means it's slow to shift. But here it responds as quickly as you can move. Or maybe you meant the throws are too long?

For me the gearbox is fine. 🙂

[toffee_pie]

55 minutes ago, Lex_utor said:

Thanks for the feedback. 

 

All I can say is, I have the car for almost a week now and am loving it. 

I bought it exactly for the gearbox. It has a few small cosmetic things to take care of but nothing that sours the deal.  The next manual was 550 miles away and in another country.

 

No regrets so far. But I didn't buy it expecting a sports car. 🙂

 

But I'm curious what you mean by unresponsive.  With an automatic this normally means it's slow to shift. But here it responds as quickly as you can move. Or maybe you meant the throws are too long?

For me the gearbox is fine. 🙂

Yes, but I said no two people are alike - I said it works, the manual but I have driven probably more cars in my history than you - the Subaru has a close ratio gear box, 2nd hand ones will cost four figures and its a totally different style of transmission but I am glad you like your new car.

I should point out the close ratio style used in the Subaru is not for everyone, I know of someone who bought one and hated and ended up with an auto