2011 IS250 F Sport

[ryan14421]

Hi guys, i'm looking in to buying my first Lexus. I have seen an IS250 F Sport 2011 for sale with 124k on the clock. Is there anything I need to look out for when checking the car? Its for sale for £6500 is this a decent price? Is the mileage ok, can I expect to get plenty of life out of it, I've read they are super reliable and given the running costs of the car not wanting much in terms of maintenance other than the essentials.  The other car I was looking at was a 5 series 520D, but i'm leaning more towards the Lexus.  Thanks in advance for your help.

[McShmoopy]

2 hours ago, ryan14421 said:

Hi guys, i'm looking in to buying my first Lexus. I have seen an IS250 F Sport 2011 for sale with 124k on the clock. Is there anything I need to look out for when checking the car? Its for sale for £6500 is this a decent price? Is the mileage ok, can I expect to get plenty of life out of it, I've read they are super reliable and given the running costs of the car not wanting much in terms of maintenance other than the essentials.  The other car I was looking at was a 5 series 520D, but i'm leaning more towards the Lexus.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi mate I’ve got a 2010 F Sport and they’re fantastic cars but a few things to keep in mind. I picked up my 136k miler for around £4500 last year Christmas so see if there is room to haggle! These cars are best to be grabbed as high milers as they are over engineered for reliability so as long as the car wasn’t abused and had regular maintenance they’ll go on easily beyond 200k miles. 
 

Check the service records, 60k is the usual time to get the spark plugs changed but these are sometimes done every 100k miles. Could be a good way to get the price down if it hasn’t been done or is due. Generally as long as the car has been serviced every year you shouldn’t run into any problems, the car is also very easy to work on yourself so that can help with keeping maintenance costs down.

The pre facelift/2009 versions had an issue with carbon buildup but this was addressed addressed with the first facelift so you should have a bulletproof engine 2009 onwards. Car should run fine on 95 octane fuel as well as the new E10 also if it’s facelifed. You can tell a car is facelifted by the presence of wing mirror indicators and a few styling queue.

I love my F Sport but the ride is quite a bit firmer and the exhaust and engine noises are louder than a non f sport variant. It’s worth checking also the specs as the 2009-2010 facelifts and 2011 onwards facelifts are different. Certain things such as the memory settings for passenger and driver were oddly deleted in 2011+ vehicles but my 2010 still has this. Easiest way to tell is by the presence of the blue f sport badge or the white one on the side of the car, white will be the newer facelift and that has deleted a few options. If you can live without memory seats it’s still a fantastic car and overall I like the new wheels and f sport badging personally.

the car will come with Bluetooth and Iphone / USB connectivity so you should be good to go with it infotainment wise. There is now an option to retrofit a GROM vline2 into these newer IS250s to get wireless apple carplay / android auto  so that is an option too if you want to modernise the infotainment!

[Marleez]

I bought a 2010 fsport I paid 5.5k with 130k miles on it. Apart from normal services. Make sure that is done.

My car drives mint. But when I bought mine. I did a few things to it to make sure it was up to scratch 

[J Henderson]

As mentioned, these cars are extremely reliable if well-maintained. I've had mine for over 5 years now, and besides brakes and tyres, has needed nothing outside of scheduled servicing.

Also, during that time its apparently only lost a few hundred quid per year in depreciation, so it's hard to tell what a fair price is these days. But, given the state of the used market and knowing what these cars are like, I'd probably be comfortable paying that kind of price for a well-maintained example in really nice condition.

 

A few things to look out for;

 

If you can hear the car get started from cold, listen out for a rattle as the VVT actuators are known to make a rattling sound over time, especially if oil changes aren't observed, or poor quality oil has been used.

The problem isn't actually that serious and can even be reversed by flushing the engine and making more frequent oil changes.

Besides that, the engine should be really quiet, smooth and free-revving. A faint "ticking" sound will be audible but this is normal due to the nature of it's fuel delivery process (direct injection).

As mentioned, the spark plugs ought to have been changed at least once, and actually twice if going by Lexus guidelines (every 60K, or 6 years), so use that as a bargaining chip if there's no evidence (receipts etc) to suggest they've been done.

The plugs can be bought for around £60-70 and the change itself is not terrible to DIY, but involves disassembling the intake manifold with a few awkward to access bolts, so it can be quite costly if done by a garage.

 

The gearbox is also known to be a strong unit and once up to temperature, should be silky smooth with gearchanges being barely noticeable.

Apart from that, the IS is an extremely quiet experience inside the cabin, so any noises present should definitely be questioned.

[Mr Vlad]

What makes me wonder about the two cars you're considering is so like choosing between chalk and cheese.

There are quite a few threads on here that'll answer every question you can think of about the is250. 

That 6k asking price is a tad high but as stated in other threads the price of our cars have risen not fallen and probably that seller is taking advantage of that.

[true blue]

Hi as Mr Vlad posted ,as far as I am concerned the 520D is a different animal ,the only advantage I would see is in the fuel consumption for the BMW which would help you save some money towards the higher maintenance costs .Having had my IS250 7 years,I would go with this ,checking the MOT history on line will give you some clue as to how the car has been maintained and have as long a test drive to ensure everything works and gets up to temperature if you are not happy there are quite a few out there ,do not be phased by 100k + if well maintained . Good luck

Dave

[chr15gb]

I came to Lexus from owning a BMW 530D.
BMW are simply money pits. Not just mechanical issues but a silly electrical system which simply does not forgive anything not being perfect.

I used to post pictorial guides of my encounters, heres a couple of example (https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/threads/2004-e60-530d-glowplug-controller-replaced.121246/

https://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/threads/2004-e60-530d-ulf-bluetooth-module-goosed-frozen-idrive.118221/#post-1008083

In fact, I did so many the site above made me a Moderator on the site (I'm not anymore as I no longer visit).

I have many friends with BMW and they all have issues which I help them with. I still have all the tools and software etc to code modules.
Currently head scratching a 2012 X3 with Wipers which turn on whenever they like. Next weekend a 1 series with an occupancy sensor problem.

My IS250 has had rear caliper woes but aside from that, I almost hate the fact I have a garage full of tools yet a car with absolutely nothing to do on it.
I changed spark plugs but the old ones looked good, throttle body was still shiny and hardly worth cleaning.

In fact, the only thing I need to look at is the drivers side washer jet isn't as powerful as the passengers side. That's all I got!
I invested in detailing kit (DA Polisher etc) just to give myself something to do on it.

[Thelongterm]

On 11/27/2021 at 12:46 AM, McShmoopy said:

Hi mate I’ve got a 2010 F Sport and they’re fantastic cars but a few things to keep in mind. I picked up my 136k miler for around £4500 last year Christmas so see if there is room to haggle! These cars are best to be grabbed as high milers as they are over engineered for reliability so as long as the car wasn’t abused and had regular maintenance they’ll go on easily beyond 200k miles. 
 

Check the service records, 60k is the usual time to get the spark plugs changed but these are sometimes done every 100k miles. Could be a good way to get the price down if it hasn’t been done or is due. Generally as long as the car has been serviced every year you shouldn’t run into any problems, the car is also very easy to work on yourself so that can help with keeping maintenance costs down.

The pre facelift/2009 versions had an issue with carbon buildup but this was addressed addressed with the first facelift so you should have a bulletproof engine 2009 onwards. Car should run fine on 95 octane fuel as well as the new E10 also if it’s facelifed. You can tell a car is facelifted by the presence of wing mirror indicators and a few styling queue.

I love my F Sport but the ride is quite a bit firmer and the exhaust and engine noises are louder than a non f sport variant. It’s worth checking also the specs as the 2009-2010 facelifts and 2011 onwards facelifts are different. Certain things such as the memory settings for passenger and driver were oddly deleted in 2011+ vehicles but my 2010 still has this. Easiest way to tell is by the presence of the blue f sport badge or the white one on the side of the car, white will be the newer facelift and that has deleted a few options. If you can live without memory seats it’s still a fantastic car and overall I like the new wheels and f sport badging personally.

the car will come with Bluetooth and iPhone / USB connectivity so you should be good to go with it infotainment wise. There is now an option to retrofit a GROM vline2 into these newer IS250s to get wireless apple carplay / android auto  so that is an option too if you want to modernise the infotainment!

Was the carbon build up a problem on European sold cars?

[scudney]

No mainly in America 

[Mr Vlad]

Blimey Chris, excellently put. Funny you mention driver side washer jet not as powerful as passenger side. Mines the same however not a MOT failure point but a kind of pain in the derriere. 

[McShmoopy]

6 hours ago, Thelongterm said:

Was the carbon build up a problem on European sold cars?

It was more an issue with American cars but thats down to them not using premium fuel I believe as well as their octane ratings being different, the IS350 didnt suffer from that as it had both direct injectors and port injectors I believe.