MNMJ

More Than wanted an admin charge too so I dodn't waste any more time on it. I'll just sign on the dotted line and let Lexus Chester's insurance cover it. Now I have the excitement of wondering what they'll give me. I think last time I had one it was a CT, which was nice and smooth, easy to drive... and that is all I can remember. I quite fancy a go in an NX or LS this time.

Another hypothesis: I've noticed the reviews for the RC-F seem to be accompanied by references to the IS-F. So, not only is it back in the spotlight, but many of the memories of the IS-F expressed in print seem to be fond ones compared to generally neutral ones for the RC-F. And of course EVO raved about it as a used buy a few months back. So warm memories and greater attention = higher prices. I like this game; talking up the value of my car...

Alan S; Its Lexus Chester. They have been on the whole great over the 4+ years I've been with them, though there was the time they offered to fit tyres that were not the right performance rating (see a thread from ages ago). I'm not the sort of person to keep going back somewhere if service is substandard. Chester do nice things too, like letting my son sit in an LFA an rev the nuts off it inside the showroom. And letting me take away an IS-F for a 2 day test drive. If it had just been a normal test I wouldn't have bought one as I initially didn't get on with the gearbox. It took a trip to North Wales for me to really bond. Thanks for all the other replies about your different experiences. Its fascinating how £12, (which is less than the cost of fuel to get there and back if I go the fun route) causes an emotional reaction far in excess of the rational consequences. If they really need the cash, I'd much prefer they hide it in the overall price, but I guess that is harder with a pre-paid service package. Anyway, I'm looking forward to going and having a good catch up chat with some of the service guys who have petrol on their veins.

I've just booked my 5 year service at a main dealer. Its on a service plan so I paid 2 years ago and is the same place I've always taken the car. As it will take 3 hours, I asked for a loan car and for the first time was asked to pay: "If your insurance covers you to drive a loan vehicle fully comprehensively there will be no charge. If not you can be placed on our insurance for an adminstration fee of £12." Has anyone else ever paid a fee for a loan car? My wife has a Yeti from the Skoda dealer owned by the same group on the same site and didn't pay for a loaner last month. Its only £12 so I'm not going to kick up a fuss, but it was a bit of a surprise.

I also wonder if we'll see a few more arriving at dealers as people trade them in for an RC-F. I can't imagine it would be more than a handful, but when there are typically only 3-6 in the network at any one time, even that small extra extra supply may have an impact. I can imagine dealers trying to shift them now at a higher price before the 'flood' comes. When I finally bought mine in Nov 2010 there had typically been about a dozen in the network at any moment over the preceding 18 months and dealers had been playing with prices all the time to shift them. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens later this year when they all want to shift their unsold demo RC-Fs at about the same time

I bought a 2 year plan from Lexus Chester covering 40 and 50k in March 2013. It cost me £742.66, which I recall calculating was a worthwhile amount cheaper than the buying two separately. It also included an MOT. The invoice for my 40k service in Mar 2014 showed a price of £379.42, but showed zero VAT. I infer that the full price would therefore have been £455.30

Whilst I don't agree with Number 86, he (or she) is probably more representative of the general public and their perceptions of the IS-F than us lot who own them. So thank you for sharing those views. I imagine that is why so few IS-F sold in the UK. Part of the reason I didn't even bother testing an M3 or RS4 is that they are the obvious choice and so very common here in Cheshire. Most people will happily lap up the great M3 and RS4 reviews and consequently aspire to them as they trundle round in their company A4s and 3 series. I'm not sure many of us moved up from an IS250 or 220d, but we do leap on positive F write ups or videos Of course because I tried and seriously considered a C63 I shall use typical Internet double standards to justify that it is not all all like the M3 and RS4, but is in fact a spiritual cousin of the IS-F.

PS. I remember reading somewhere that having tyres that do not conform to the manufacturer's load and speed ratings can make your insurance invalid. Even if that is just an internet rumour, I certainly wouldn't fancy driving an IS-F fitted with Slovakian Ditchfinders

There is a March 2010 on a 10 plate at Lexus Hedge End for £25k, with only 37,000 miles on the clock. It is also the best colour (mesa red of course) and has black seats. That would seem a much better bet and I'd be amazed if they wouldn't take £23,500 as its been there a couple of months. It is a 09MY rather than the blue one which is 10MY, and there are a few minor differences but nothing significant unless your are the sort of driver who can tell the difference between different types of differential (or care about the difference).

Despite being disappointed by the reviews, I'm still waiting for a test drive to make my own mind up. A salesman at Stockport told me a couple of weeks back that most of them were in the country but they were waiting to release them all to dealers at the same time in late Feb. Has anyone else got a specific date? I think a carbon bonnet makes a car look like its been attacked by Japanese tuners. Is that standard on the carbon edition?

Their pricing will come from the data they have collected over the years and they will factor in the probability of breakage and the cost of dealing with it. I would imagine that the 200 odd IS-Fs in the UK are well looked after, whilst many of the normal ISFs will be less cherished company cars, so it is not a surprise that the financial risk to Lexus is the same.

I can on my 09 MY system. If you enter a second destination before driving to the fist it gives you the choice to replace or add the new destination. I did it once a while ago so there may have been a few steps. But it seemed easy to figure out.

Mine flashes briefly when it drops to 3C. After a short while it stops flashing. I think it is designed to warn you of the fall in temp

I seem to recall I just cleaned it, but it was a long while back so I may have forgotten a stage. I did follow the instructions exactly though as they seemed comprehensive.

I got a free one with the car. It was easy to use, having a colour and clear pot. The repairs, whilst visible, are holding up well. The dealers should be able to get you one.

V Power only for me, though I did stick 10 litres of the cheapo stuff in once in Lincolnshire when the only local Shell station was closed. That is not a county to run out of petrol in when its getting dark... I don't know what its like on 95RON, but since I'm budgeting £500 a month for depreciation, an extra £15 a month on nice fuel is a pittance.

Mine too. It has 4 seats, but the V5 says 5

I'm quiet on modification threads. I prefer to leave things as they are and save my pennies for my next car. But, as a reader of Hot Car and Custom Car in the late 70s / early 80s (Anyone else remember them?) its good to read what other people like to do. So do keep the stuff coming

No idea why it wasn't covered. Maybe the dealer being cheeky. Luckily mine is OK; no pink gunk visible. I will ask them to check properly at the next service.

My wife's IS220d needed a new water pump. It wasn't covered by warranty. If mine is ropey I shall be a little more insistent about it. In fact I'll go and check now.

If you're going to go for the ejector seat option, you'd need a car with a sunroof. I believe they are very hard to find.

I'd like the sport button (or whatever it is called) on the steering wheel rather than hidden away on the lower dash. I think MY11 onwards cars have that? A rotating number plate like on James Bond's DB5 to help out when one 'inadvertently drifts above the speed limit' and finds a camera van parked down the road

I'll keep it until something better comes along. Even if the RC-F is great, I'll still want to wait a year or so until the ex-demo prices come down. So it wouldn't surprise me if I still had it for a 5th anniversary. I also really should keep it until it becomes the car I've owned the longest. Currently that honour is held by a 1992 Metro 1.1 at 4 years, 3 months. I'd hate to get to petrolhead heaven and discover they issue you with the car you had for longest while alive and then spend eternity pootling around in a white ex-British School of Motoring snotbox.

Yesterday was our 4th Anniversary; I picked the car up on 20 Nov 2010. Has anyone owned theirs longer? So far there's been zero faults and its been remarkably cheap to run over 30,600 miles. Average on the clock is 25.1mpg since first registered in Mar 2010. I've changed tyres once, and they current ones will probably last 2 more years. The original brakes and pads are still strong. A remarkable car.