noby76

i do agree 100% with you.. and i did mention this a few years ago when i test drove the gen 1 IS250 when i still had my IS300 and thought only if lexus offered an IS350 thats one of the reasons i went for the GS for more power when its needed. the thing with Lexus is they do not offer any middle ground 'performace' cars which are on par with competitors like the BMW 335i, 335d, Audi S4, Merc C350 and the likes in other words compact saloons/Coupes within the 280-350 bhp mark. i consider these as the middle ground performance cars not too expensive to insure, and run when compared to overkill performance cars like the ISF's, BMW M's and Audi RS's but yet powerful enough.

Lexus compact saloon/coupe cars range either offers an over kill performance car which would be bought by a few or sensible sporty cars which will be purchased by most but nothing for the middle ground man and i think they might be missing a market there. i can understand the market for RC350/IS350 wont be a lot in Europe but the few sales they make will still generate some revenue for them?  or alternative just like they did with the gen1 IS200 supercharger, offer a turbo/ECU upgrade for the IS200t/rc200t or Battery pack upgrade for 300h buyers as a factory option which takes power to around 300-320 bhp so they grab the interest of both the sensible sporty car buyer and the middle ground performance car buyer.

I recon the RC200t will be more on par with the 430i there is almost 2 secs difference in 0-60 mph times between RC and the 430i but how often do we do 0-60? in gear accelerating will be more on par i recon. 

not sure why most are expecting wonders from lexus the rc300h is a 4 cylinder engine not 6 so it would sound 'awful' if one is used to 6 or 8 cylinder sounds on take off. i found my 2.4 4 cylinder accord sounds a bit rough on  low to mid cruising driving compared to my previous IS300 and my current GSV8. tends to quiet down after about 60mph +. any 4 cylinder engine would sound rough if you think the RC is bad try driving  a 4 pot diesel. i also drove the IS300h and found that to be the case. it wont sound smooth like an IS250

02 Plate with 100K on the clock sounds about right for £2100.... £3100 was way over pricied to start with. body work does look good from the pics but has he done the major things like cambelt change? how many prev owners and whats the service history like? you wont go wrong with an IS300

Stumbled across this 91 model very nice collectors edition.. not sure if the Celsior badge would make it less appealing but nice all the same.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510258152669/sort/default/usedcars/dealer/502812/dpp/7-star-car-sales-uk-ltd-slough-dpp-502812/page/1/advert-type/dealer-stock?logcode=dsp

sure will keep you posted..

buy some warranty to go with it...why a 240? the 280 seems to be better on fuel and more powerful.. or alternatively IS250C? 

On 19/11/2016 at 7:12 PM, rayaans said:

That's some fancy wood there ☺

They don't say "VTEC kicked in yo" for no reason now do they?!

Yeh interior looks better than my previous IS300 

16 hours ago, BarneyTT said:

Love the colour, and the car itself looks and sounds interesting. Would be interested to hear what the overall driving experience is like.

Enjoy anyway

Paint work still in good condition for age might do a pro valet once the sun comes out next year.  so far does drive nice gearbox changes not as as smooth as the Lexus's but not far off either does idle very quiet, build quality on par with the IS's solid with no dash board or interior rattles or noises.  what surprised me is how responsive the throttle and gearbox combination is when compared to my previous IS and GS unless you were driving in ECT power mode they were quite sluggish. motorway cruising is smooth all in all a well built car for its time.

16 hours ago, Malc1 said:

I thought the Acura marque is the Honda Legend ?

Btw, the g/fs Honda Legend is a bit darker body colour but same upholstery ( I'm told it's rare ) and as a V6 it's quite brilliant .......  but i do prefer my Ls400 

Malc

Yes the Honda Legend is sold as the Acura RLX, this model Accord was sold as the TSX with slightly more power and the GS equivalent is sold as RLX.. I did consider the Legend but currenty looking to cu down on my car running costs to sort a few things out. that might be my next upgrade once I am ready for a larger engined car.

but you and i know an equivalent combustion engine in the simialr price range, delivering similar power figures with drive by wire 1 to 1 ratio throttle link mapping and electronically controlled dual clutch gearbox in the right gear will response pretty much instantaneous to the right foot?

.....well the old saying 'don't knock it until you tried it' so i guess i might have to test drive it one day. to experience it i guess... 

Gang, i am struggling to understand what experience the Model X 90D gives or gave you besides the silent drive and falcon doors when compared to an equivalent SUV like an SRT Grand Cherokee.  am  comparing like for like performance of equivalent electric to an equivalent ICE since they will both hit 60 around the 4.8 - 5 sec mark regardless of whats powering them and do over 155mph delimited? but the difference is the V8 HEMI will have soul and character whilst at it..

so what experience is electric giving which an ICE of the same bhp performance figure does not?

But you see. instant Torque does not always translate as going fast. it just gets you going.. 

No nasty engine vibrations is nothing new. Toyota built a vibration free engine in 1989 which was fitted in LS400 remember the wine glass advert with the engine revved from  0 to almost 150 mph vibration free?  

power without affecting economy can be hit and miss if you  drive the Model X  using its full performance potential we know it will not achieve the nice mpg range figures stated i also heard range gets worse in winter cold conditions. and the batteries could over heat them selves with repeated spirited driving

 so to be fare the EV powertrain is not giving us anything new which has not been given to us by cars with combustion engines. 

3 hours ago, ganzoom said:

 but combustion cars were all getting so boring. 

 

Might have to disagree with you on that Gang ... Although i haven't had the privilege of driving a full EV car i have indeed driven the IS300h and although i quite liked when cruising in dead silence in EV mode i recon i would be bored of it after a while. i watched a review of one of the Tesla Models and the reviewer confirmed. although it was a quick fast car, it lacked something and felt like you in a roller coaster ride... nothing then suddenly a push at the back all happening instantly doesn't build up like a combustion engine would.

I have owned and driven V6, Straight 6, V8 and each of these engines had their unique character engine notes to go with when making progress on the roads. i also rode in a 5.8 Merc S Class V12 when i visited a mate in New York few years ago and he uses it for Chauffeuring work and that car had character once you floored the pedal.. and I now own an Accord 2.4 straight 4 engine and as you already know when it hits 6K rpm and above the i-VTEC engine note makes you feel like you driving a race car even with less than 200 bhp to it. its just something about combustion engines. 

Look at how car manufactures are now going as far as fitting speakers and vents to generate and create fake engine note sounds to give the notion to the driver the sound is being generated from the engine?  These Tesla's are fast but in my opinion they lack character of a Straight 6, V6, or V8 engine on song. 

If i was lucky enough and want to spend on a fast 4X4 SUV, it would have to be the 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT V8

Thanks BluesMan and Dave.. will get the calipers checked mines at 109K 1 owner from new for the last 13 years..Just couldn't resit it when i saw the colour interior and owner history.. I couldn't care less if it has a Honda badge but i recon honda should have marketed these under the Acura brand name just like in the US then maybe it will be noticed more as 'Premium' car. sure does drive well for a 13 year old and not that different from an IS250 auto gen 1 i drove at cruising speeds

Cheers Mark, yeh they well equipped cars and was surprised at how smooth they actually drive on the m'way.. and the engine note or VTEC sound as they call at 6K rpm to 7.5K rpm is quite addictive .. nice little rocket will eventually refurb all 4 alloys and light smoke tinted windows maybe some front wind deflectors. makes me wonder how the Legends will drive like as this feels more like a V6 than a 4 cylinder at cruising speeds

ok so almost 5 years of Lexus ownership both IS300 and GS430 time has come for me to part... picked up a nice 1 owner Accord 2.4 Executive Auto always liked these models its no GSV8 but its a nice place to be in and actually performs similar to the IS250 i test drove when my car went into dealers  for some work done years ago the engine/gearbox does perform well for a 4 cylinder. some pics of my ride.. still have the GS430 but will eventually sell it at some point.. 

Iam strugling a bit here Ganzoom, how is it working out cheaper to drive a model x compared to say a 2016 RX450h? the cheapest slowest model x has a £70000  price tag the cheapest RX450h cost around £50000 thats a 20k difference even if the government reimburses you £6k its still not enough to make the tesla a cheaper car to run over 3 or 5 year period compared to the RX. i see it like this, if i am lucky enough to be able to afford a £70000 car running costs will surely not bother me.. 

not sure why most think toyota are late in EV developments. they were developing EV's back in 90's with the relese of the 97RAV4 EV. this is almost 20 years ago when tesla was not even born  As i confirmed we are not there yet in terms of mass producing EV cars which might explain why Toyota have taken a back seat at the moment. 

@Slickk i can understand the novelty wearing off after a while and that's what makes us all human any reason why you opted for a Lexus IS300h in the first place? considering your budget could have purchased others cars which were more powerful? on paper a C250d is quicker has more top end speed (if you can use it) and gears instead of a CVT when compared to an IS300h. .

i personally think anything which can hit 60 mph in mid 6 secs and can do over 150 mph is quick which the C250d does...so to say it does not give good bang for its engine size and horsepower output is an understatement..i can understand ones performance gauge of a car is subject to cars which one has owned or driven in the past.

i had one as loan when my car went in for work done and although the 300h is not a quick car  its in gear acceleration is better due to the instant torque delivered from the hybrid batteries but it wont make you go WOW.. so for the price at which you bought the IS you could indeed have bought nearly new cars with warranty like IS-F,  EVO, STI, 330i, 330d, infinit G37, M3 BMW, older V10 M5 Audi S and RS's but you skipped all those and opted for the IS300h which is not a WOW car in terms of performance any reason why?

most keep forgetting the 300h's engine is still a 4 cylinder. 4 cylinder engine tends to be a bit more noisier than 6 or above cylinders when under load(acceleration). I dont read a lot of GS450h owners mentioning this drone noise due to the fact theirs is a 6 cylinder i guess.. 

On 16/10/2016 at 9:44 AM, Eire Lexus said:

Ganzoom, to be fair we all acknowledge Tesla technology is impressive and performance is unrivalled, but this is a Lexus forum and if your so unhappy with Lexus not doing an EV option then go and buy 2 Tesla and tell them in their forum how bad Lexus are for not going EV route. Not all of us actually want an EV and have to pay 70k.

Toyota are the biggest and most profitable car maker and to think they have nothing going on behind the scenes to me would be hard to believe. I'm not saying they are production ready but with their resources they could just buy the technology. The EV market is still too small for mass market and Toyota is a mass market maker. EV vehicles will for sure be part of the future but all those traditional car manufacturers and oil companies are not going to sit back and become obsolete by Tesla.

Had this discussion with Ganzoom on a similar thread by saying EV technology is great but its not for everyone well until car manufactures force it down our throats just like the way they are now doing with downsizing turbo charging instead of NA engines . oil companies with their trillion dollar revenue will not sit back and let EV technology take over without having an influence oil generates too much tax revenue for US government to allow EV technology to take over..

some people prefer to hear and smell the sound of an internal combustion engine and exhaust rather than dead silence when driving. and at this moment in time i recon Toyota/Lexus has got things right with the Hybrid technology as its a bit of both technologies combined into one which helps keep costs down. just been on the tesla's website and a Model S 60kw which gives just over 250 miles range on the full charge will set you back over £55,000 where as an IS300h starts at £30,000 so one can save £25,000 buy opting for the IS300h over the 60kw Model S.

IS300h takes 14.5 gallons to fill the tank or 66litres so if it returns say 50 mpg in lets say town (urban) driving this equates to 725 miles to a tank full.   Petrol is currently £113.9p where i live so it will cost around £75 to fill the tank. lets say one does exactly around 725 miles a month, the £25,000 saved from not buying a model S can go towards fuelling the IS300h so £25,000 / £75 = 333 . so based on this figure if one spends £75 a month to fuel an IS300h to drive 725 miles a month, £25,000 can fuel it for 333 months.   333 months in years is  333 / 12 = 27 years

if 0-60 is not of importance to one then going for the IS300h over the cheapest model S Tesla makes more sense as based on these example figures, it will take one 27 years to break even but your 0-60 will be about 3 secs slower compared to the model S60Kw even if it costs £5 to charge model S fully i still would have paid £25,000 more than an equivalent car like IS300h minus the 0-60 performance of course. 

I think most who can afford it  are now jumping onto buy Tesla because its the new Hype new Tech on the block and like any new thing it settles in and no one is interested any more. 

50bhp from an exhaust mod alone sounds a bit too much. as already confirm the RC-F is already highly tuned from the factory squeezing nearly 500bhp from the 5 litre engine its factory exhausts are not that restricted in terms of flow rate. 10-20bhp thats if you lucky but as already said without getting the before and after dyno figures you wouldn't really know.  why would you want more power any way? you are running at nearly 500 bhp!! use 97-99ron fuel and drive in sport/manual mode more often... I know sometimes the extra sound from a new exhaust gives the notion the car is now going faster than before but not 50 bhp more

bet that custom paint work alone set him back another £30K

for your budget, have you also considered a Citroen C5 or C6? heard they are one of the comfortable cars out there with a suspension technology which can raise the whole car a few millilitres automatically once it detects rough road surfaces..

you know what i was actually thinking about this 2 days ago when i saw a bloke pop open his C250 bluetec estate boot whilst i was filling up at the petrol sation and thought 'hang on a minute this boot is not that spacious as the outside makes you believe' i checked a few websites comparing cars and this was what i found

2015 Audi A4 Avant = 505 litres

2013 325d Touring = 495 litres

2015 C250d Merc Estate = 490 litres

2015 IS200t Saloon = 480 litres

i was surprised to know the largest boot space being the Audi could only accommodate an extra 20 litres of space whe compared to the Saloon Lexus IS which is not day and night in terms of space. i also compared some modern SUV 4X4's to the boot space of my GS and came to the same conclusion and actually wondered why most bother with estate or an SUV compared to a descent sized family Saloon. I am aware most of the back seats in estates can fold down but where will you put your kids? the estates also cost a fraction more than Saloon for not much of practicality. 

1 hour ago, ady_uaic said:

But, for the moment, I want something at least similar with my CU2, and if I can a bit sportive, that's even better; if not, IS300h was a nice feeling, and I saw that they are around 14-15k. 

something like the CU2 will be the Legend and thats even better as it has more power than CU2, 4 Wheel drive and a V6 engine which will sound good with a Mugen CAI. am quite surprised you dont like the Legends. what i like about them is they dont shout look at me. theroad tax and mpg is high but decent ones with respectable mileage could be picked up for half your budget and money saved could be used to run it and dare i say might drive better than an IS250/200T. 

have you also considered Infiniti G37/M37 ?? another understated Q luxury car which has been shunned by European car buyer but does very well stateside.

why not another CU2 Accord UK model? I heard they are nice cars to drive and quite bullet proof aswell. if you need the space then a CU2 Accord or the 3.5 V6 290 bhp legend as they have a large boot and more rear leg room.

IS250 V6 will pretty much drive the same as the CU2 in real life might handle better than CU2 if you go for the Fsport but acceleration might not feel any different. 

is200T will be much quicker than CU2 and 250 V6 and will be derivable i terms of lower speed acceleration due to having more torque low down the revs and has better mpg than IS250.

WRX STI is the quickest of them all but you pay more on road tax and fuel and can be tuned further since ecu can be hacked compared to the is200t.

so depending on other factors you look for in a car the CU2 uk model will be bigger in terms of space than a 250 and performance will be similar. Legend will be bigger and will out perform 250 and cu2 and will be similar to IS200T in terms of performance but fuel and road tax is high

WRX wont be cheap to fuel and tax either and will out perform all but wont be a 'luxury' drive.

if i were to choose i would spend about 10K for the luxury 290bhp Legend due to needing more space and use the other 10k saved to run it.  if i didn't need the space, i would get the WRX Sti for all out performance. and my partner can always drive it in economy mode using SI drive.