Is 350

skelly · April 11, 2013

Hello

I have just joined having recently bought a 2007 IS 250 automatic. A great car and fully lives up to its reputation. However, as always, there is that yearning for just a little bit more power. I have been pondering on the possibility of buying an IS 350, which alas is not officially important to the UK.

Has anyone any experience of importing one of these cars or buying them on the grey market here ?

Any advice would be very welcome.

noby76 · April 11, 2013

I feel your pain skelly. IS350 was next in line for me if i decided to upgrade my IS300 but shamely isnt available here in UK but ISF and LFA were..WTF? so for more power, looks like you might need to upgrade to the 2005 onwards GS300 or GS430. both have enough grunt for day to day driving more so with the GS430 V8. most claim this car actually makes 300bhp when dyno'ed compared to the 279bhp stated by Lexus and can do 5.5 secs to 62mph in real life. and it will be close to the IS350's performance and still work out cheaper to buy here in UK than if you go through the importing process. infact I have just had a look and you can pick up 05/06 plate GS430's for around £5-£6K on gumtree , eBay and autotrader. but i know.. the IS350 will be more agile and handle better than a GS430 but what you need to ask yourself is, is the agilness and handling which would be used occasionally really worth the extra cost of importing the IS350?

I have also taken a liking to the Infiniti G37 which is a very rare car on UK roads which i like, has pretty much the same dimensions as the Lexus IS350 and will by all means handle as good as a BM or Lexus and makes 320bhp..so worth a look..

skelly · April 11, 2013

Yes, what you say is perfectly logical and correct. In the real world a GS 430 would be more than adequate in performance terms and you would soon come to live with the less precise steering and less agile handling. And at 6K a real bargain. And from my own investigations into importing IS 350s they are not cheap. A good second-hand example would probably set you back at least 17 - 18k, when all the import costs and duties are added. I had actually considered the Infinity and might look at it again when it's time to change.

Meantime, to be honest, the 250 is a joy to drive alone, fast and agile, and very economical. I'm averaging 36 mpg.

As they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

noby76 · April 11, 2013

oh if you were looking to spend 17 -18k on importing the IS350 then might aswell get the ISF tbh. ISF's are now going for around 18 - 22K mark, returns same mpg as GS430 and can get to 62mph a second quicker, sounds better when floored, will do 170mph on a legal road and will have similar handling capabilities of the IS350 F Sport. but watch out for the insurance tho.. decision is yours mate.

HoodRich · April 11, 2013

You could move to South Africa and buy a is350 ;-)

skelly · April 11, 2013

Yes, it had occurred to me to go straight to an IS F. Unfortunately they seem to be holding their value extremely well. Even 2008 examples are fetching upwards of £22,000. But then they did cost around £50,000 to buy. Unlike the IS 350 which had a retail value in Japan of around £24,000 when new. The problem seems to be the import duties and agents fees.

Actually, I had to do a 30 mile round trip this afternoon involving both motorway and country B roads. And I rediscovered how really fast the 250 is, with excellent roadholding, effortless motorway cruising and very impressive acceleration with the transmission in manual, the power button on and maximum revs used. The only disappointing aspect is the lifeless steering, but you can make allowances for that.

noby76 · April 11, 2013

yeh the ISF's are around the 22-25K mark now thats a huge fall from 50K price tag back in 2008 but then again M5's , AMG's and Audi RS's are also in the same price bracket. thing is most big engined high performance cars depreciate more... the IS250 is not a slow car per say. yes compared to a V8 or a high performance Turbo charged car it will fall under the slow bracket but compared to most day to day cars you see on the road, that's when you realize it a good performer with ECT-PWR and M mode activated..i found out where mine shines more is not the 0-60mph launch but from the rolling acceleration and i suppose the IS250 would be the same.

I also enjoyed a blast in PWR M mode on my way back home from work .. maybe the steering on the gen 1 IS's are not over boosted compared to the gen 2's.