New Isf Owner

[lee789]

I thought I'd say hi to everyone on the forum. I've just P/EX my GS450H for a 2010 ISF. The car is in Ultra Blue with white/black interior, and has covered 10,000 miles. I think I got a good deal at £38950, with above book price paid for my GS, a years road tax, 3 year GAP insurance & 3 year tyre and wheel insurance thrown in. I've also negotiated 25% off the 3 year service plan, a set of ISF carpet mats, a set of rubber winter mats and a tank of fuel.

I didn't like to push my luck any further, although the Lexus salesman was unusually keen (for a car salesman that is) to do the deal. I know the car was just over £60k on the road last May, so I began to get a bit worried that all these added bonuses in the deal might indicate there was a problem with the car. I think that is highly unlikely though, and it's probably because they aren't the easiest of cars to sell at the moment with fuel prices at an all time high. I only drive a couple of thousand miles a year, so the increased costs aren't really a big issue. I'm picking the car up on 1st June, and can't wait!

[dandydons]

Sounds good deal to me . Especially when you see the struggle others have getting ridiculously low trade in prices for 450's

[lee789]

I think the trade in on most Lexus models is incredibly poor, but it seems to be the same story with most cars you want to trade. I'd never dream of buying a new Lexus, only to see it lose 40% of it's value in a year. I guess if you intend to keep the car for many years, a new one could still be a good investment. However, being able to pick up a 1 year old ISF for £38K, when equivalent M3's are still nearer £50K, is a better deal to me. I owned a Z4 Sdrive35is until recently, and the performance, quality & ride of the ISF are in a totally different league. I'm not a huge BMW fan to be honest, and I find their current designs boring, and the interiors generic. I've seen a lot of reviews that say the IS & ISF interiors aren't a patch on BMW, so I can only assume that these people like being surrounded by a sea of cheap black plastic, inferior equipment levels, and a pain in the backside idrive system.

[simranjit Jhita]

Congratulations! I only just bought mine just over a month ago too, best decision i made. Fuel cost isn't so bad if you only doing few thousand a year. But i agree the salesman was keen to do a deal, and gave me a good deal on a 58 model with low miles (18k). I dealt at £29900, he gave me more than what my trade-in car was worth (vauxhall astra), i also negotiated free road tax for the year, free supagaurd treatment, personalised registration transfer, ISF carpets. Pretty good deal i thought.

But enjoy, it will never fail to bring a smile to your face :) Rare car aswell, not many on the road.

[lee789]

Hi there,

I saw your post saying you were getting the ISF a couple of weeks ago, and I'm so glad you are pleased with it. You certainly got a good deal on your car too. That was quite a jump from Astra to ISF!!! Out of interest, did the invoice on your car give a higher trade in figure than the one you actually got, and a higher purchase price for the ISF?

[simranjit Jhita]

It is certainly a huge jump from the astra! But to be fair i have driven many other powerful cars, they just weren't mine :) None quite like this car though! Yeah the salesman did some numbers juggling declaring a higher trade in value than i actually got and higher purchase price, something to do with their books, to what end i don't quite know! Probably to do with their commission. It didn't affect me so i didn't protest, so long as i only pay the amount we agreed on.

The car only really get noticed by those that know what one is, which is exactly what i wanted, though i think it does look imposing. But that noise, just over 3700rpm! absolutely sublime!

[Parthiban]

Congratulations mate, lovely car in the best colour combo!

Yeah doubt there's anything sinister going on, they're just having trouble shifting these large engined cars at the moment and deals are being done to move on stock - was looking a few weeks ago at a 10 plate XFR with 10k miles for £43k (a car of £65k+ new I think) so it's happening everywhere! Have to admit though you've got a really good deal there, the car seems competitively priced to begin with and you've got a fair amount chucked in with it as well!

[lee789]

Thanks all. I now know why I got such a good deal on the car, and I'll reveal this when I have taken delivery. Nothing wrong with the car I hasten to add, but as with many used Lexus vehicles, it was owned by senior management. Can anyone guess why they might be keen to sell cheap and inflate figures on invoices??!!

[Parthiban]

Thanks all. I now know why I got such a good deal on the car, and I'll reveal this when I have taken delivery. Nothing wrong with the car I hasten to add, but as with many used Lexus vehicles, it was owned by senior management. Can anyone guess why they might be keen to sell cheap and inflate figures on invoices??!!

When you say senior management do you mean Lexus GB? If so that's part of the explanation, they offer quite a large commission when selling on those cars so there is a fair amount of room for the dealer to play around with the sales price.

Do you mean they put a higher price on the invoice than the actual sale price of the car? If so that's a little dodgy, never come across that before - it's quite normal for them to fiddle about with the discount and p/ex value but not to just inflate all the figures. The only reason for doing it would be to make the headline total sales figure look more impressive but that seems like a strange thing for dealerships to do.

[lee789]

Hi Parthiban,

Close, but not a Lexus GB car. I don't want to give too much away until after I pick the car up as I am a bit concerned that Lexus insiders might read these posts. I don't want to muddy the waters at this stage by making too many comments. I also looked at an XF and an XFR before deciding on another Lexus. The problem with XF's is that they seem to have mixed reliability reviews. I think they are superb looking cars, albeit a bit commonplace on the road now, but I was put off by the number of negative comments I read. Besides that, spec an XF to Lexus standards and you are going to pay a lot more. In the end I decided to stick with Lexus because of the question mark over long term reliability with the Jag, and the much lower spec of the car. Oh, and there was also the insulting offer they made me as a p/ex on my 450H!!

[Parthiban]

Hi Parthiban,

Close, but not a Lexus GB car. I don't want to give too much away until after I pick the car up as I am a bit concerned that Lexus insiders might read these posts. I don't want to muddy the waters at this stage by making too many comments. I also looked at an XF and an XFR before deciding on another Lexus. The problem with XF's is that they seem to have mixed reliability reviews. I think they are superb looking cars, albeit a bit commonplace on the road now, but I was put off by the number of negative comments I read. Besides that, spec an XF to Lexus standards and you are going to pay a lot more. In the end I decided to stick with Lexus because of the question mark over long term reliability with the Jag, and the much lower spec of the car. Oh, and there was also the insulting offer they made me as a p/ex on my 450H!!

No worries mate :)

Yep agree about the reliability question mark with the XF, on the whole I think they're ok but there are a few common faults - we'll have to see how it goes over the next few years!