08ISF

Hi Big Rat, The point I was making was that Brembo do not actually list front pads for the RCF/GSF in their online catalogue so where is your contact getting them from? Brembo apparently have factories all over the world including China, but China does a reputation for counterfeit products. Is your contact sure he's getting Brembo as opposed to a Chinese rip off. Link to Brembo catalogue page for pads: https://www.bremboparts.com/europe/en/catalogue/pad/P_83_164 Don't think there's much of an issue with the ISF brake parts, they seem to be plentiful but aftermarket non Lexus brake parts for our cars seem to be thin on the ground.

Great news for those of us who are reluctant to pay £300+ for 4 pieces of MS plate with some friction material glued on, BUT are these really genuine Brembo parts? I only ask because the Brembo online catalogue only lists rear pads for the RCF/GSF and notes these as being "under development". If this doesn't pan out I see EBC are now offering fronts for the RCF/GSF in varying grades for £76 - £110 according to grade with prices for rears on request, As far as Lexus fitting non- Lexus pads goes, my local dealer at Twickenham flatly refused. Anybody else had the same experience? Perhaps we should have a league table of cooperative dealers.............. Graham

Opinion seems to be divided about whether it is worth pursuing Lexus. I'll throw this in to the mix: Screen shot attached from www.oemlexusparts.com (US site ) which suggests that a spare wheel is available (item 7) for the RC-F although why 2 parts are shown at wildly different prices is a mystery. Shipping costs are likely to be high and there is no guarantee this info is correct.I would think that the GS-F item would be the same although the site lists nothing for the GSF. The fact that this is being offered indicates to me that a spare wheel does exist in planet Lexus. We just need Lexus UK to acknowledge its existence and ship a few over from Japan for us. As JonP said the lack of spare wheel might be a type approval issue but my cynical mind thinks the lack of spare wheel on UK cars might be something to do with : a) not having anywhere to put it now as the space is full of electronics b) additional cost and weight. c) revenue for Lexus dealers in periodically replacing the gunk as it probably has an expiry date. d) revenue for Lexus dealers in replacing tyre pressure sensors after the gunk has gummed them up when it is used. Note also on the US site the costs for pads and discs. Has anybody managed to source pads for an RCF at a reasonable price? Graham

And of course, no UK cars have had a spare wheel allocated. Utter BS. Which is why we collectively need to make a noise, to get them to change their stance. There is absolutely no technical reason why a spare wheel should not be available, so those owners who want one can purchase one.Other comments are invited.

Resurrecting this topic, I've seen a lot of correspondence about making other wheels fit with spacers etc, but why can Lexus not provide one? I asked soon after buying the car and was told there isn't one listed, but I'm sure they are available in other countries, those that require a spare to be carried. What I'm suggesting now is that all the RCF's and GSF's have to go in for the fuel pump recall soon, so when we're in the dealers,ask the question again. They will of course say no. We can then all (those that feel strongly enough) take the issue to Lexus Customer Services. If we all start making a noise they will have to start taking notice. As it happens I have their MD's email address so if we get nowhere with Customer Services it can be escalated. I know the spare won't fit in the GSF wheel well because it's full of TVD electronics but the boot is big enough that if you wanted to carry a spare in a bag the other luggage would still fit. What does everybody think? Graham

This is my old car and it hasn't been lowered. I had the alignment checked about half way through my ownership and they did it OK. I suspect the technician was so over awed by it he got confused...... I can't believe Lexus would go to the trouble of putting different springs etc on it as they seem mostly uninterested in F cars. I should go somewhere else. 08ISF

Just a thought, these engines are VVTi (variable cam timing). As I understand it there is some sort of actuator on each camshaft which varies the cam timing according to driving conditions. Has the possibility of this being worn out or broken been discounted? It might explain the " bag of bolts" noise. Bearing in mind how robust these engines are, to my mind, the actuator or a sensor fault is more likely than stretched timing chains/loose tensioners. If it is the actuator it won't be cheap because no doubt it is lovingly hand made from a very rare alloy, but it can't be £6K. As far as the quote is concerned IMO Lexus are taking the p***. I would take it to another Lexus dealer or an indy. Anybody in the North London/Herts area able to recommend one? Let us all know how this pans out.

My old IS F did this to me a couple of times. Once after leaving it for a week and once when trying to lock the car after driving it. On both occasions I changed the fob battery to no effect and then about 5 minutes later it started working again. I can only put it down to either failing batteries and the fob taking time to sort itself out after getting a new battery , or some kind of interference. I did see a report somewhere on the internet of IS owners having this issue and the cause being a complete mystery. Good idea to keep a spare battery in your wallet. As stevet said , if the battery's dead just hold the fob against the starter button and press the button to start the car.

I'm for this. The F models have more in common with one another due to their tech spec than they have with the IS/GS/RC groups and it would grow the forum if it includes the RC F and GS F.

Note to moderator- please leave this in the ISF forum, it’s more likely to be of interest to ISF owners than GS owners. After one year running a GSF, I thought you might be interested in my experiences compared to my previous early ISF. First thing to say is that running a high performance car like this makes no sense at all in the suburban environment that I live in. It drinks petrol in traffic, it’s big to park and you cannot use the power. However, I don’t care about all that, I love driving it, I love the noise and I’ll continue until the eco mentailists or the mayor makes it impossible. I’ve always loved muscle cars and this is definitely a muscle car. In summary I’d say it is an evolution of the ISF, it rides better than my 2008 ISF, it feels more planted and agile despite its size, and it has a slightly more bubbly exhaust note, but it still retains all the other ISF traits such as build quality that we are all familiar with. It is more relaxing to drive than the ISF due to the better ride. A couple of longish trips have been made with no driver fatigue whatsoever. It has of course been absolutely reliable, (but I haven’t yet done that many miles). Update after year 2. One glitch was a broken windscreen which took about 3 weeks to sort because Lexus couldn’t supply one right away. I hope this is not a flag that parts are going to be difficult because Lexus have only sold about 50 of these and their bean counters won’t be happy about stocking spares that might be slow moving. To be fair they did loan me a car for 2 of the 3 weeks. The much criticised mouse controller for the sat nav and audio is fine, it just takes getting used to and the sat nav now accepts full postcodes. The info display on the panel is a lot simpler than it looks, again just need to get used to it. Has a lot more information such as g forces, but it no longer has a battery voltage display! The car complains if the battery voltage is getting low though. The car has a lane departure warning system which can be set up to correct the steering if you wander out of lane. This has been turned off. The car is not driving, I am. It has speed limit detection which displays the speed limit on the dash and the HUD. The only thing is that some of the road signs near where I live confuse it and it displays “unusual” speed limits. Don’t think the magistrate would accept that the car told me the limit was 90, when it was really 40. The headlights are pretty good but possibly not quite as good as the ISF. The 4 driving modes can be summed up: Economy and normal – no perceptible difference in feel or fuel consumption between these, feels slightly softer than the ISF in normal driving. Gearbox sometimes reluctant to change down when you boot it. Sport – similar to the Sport mode on the ISF. Gearbox more responsive. Nicer to drive in this mode. Fuel consumption similar to Normal and possibly a bit better providing you can actually drive the car rather than sitting in queues. Sport + -Don’t select this in the wet, there’ll be a lot of traction control warnings at even quite modest throttle inputs. Hangs on to lower gears for some time after you’ve finished accelerating. Very entertaining in the dry though and much easier to get the engine into the 3500rpm+ range. This is the mode that reveals the true brute character of the car, (when you get a chance to use it). I can’t say what Sport+ does to fuel consumption as the opportunities to use it for any distance haven’t been there. Haven’t tried the diff setting options yet. The finish on the car is superb, people have commented that even when it is obviously dirty it still shines. My car was a demonstrator so it may have been coated. Costs – Service due next week, but for some reason Lexus think it’s OK to put a £100 premium on the servicing costs over the ISF. Insurance – you have to shop around. Most companies load the premium because of the value of the car. I managed to get cover for about the same as the old ISF but had to accept a £750 excess which I covered for another £60. Not so good points: No spare and you can’t buy one in this country even though the handbook mentions a space saver. I don’t like the idea of a can of goo which will render the tyre unrepairable and probably screw up the TPMS sensors. Does anyone have any ideas where a spare can be obtained? The boot is enormous but the rear seats still don’t fold. Why?? No passenger front seat lumbar adjustment – penny pinching on a £72K car! But the wife thinks the seats are OK! Possible costs of brake pads and discs – horrendous costs have been mentioned on the forum for RCF items and the GSF uses the same parts. Non-Lexus parts seem to be unobtainable in the UK at the moment. Not an immediate problem but one that needs to be kept under review. If anybody knows where to get RCF/GSF pads and discs from somewhere other than Lexus UK, please shout. Graham

Pads down to 2mm front and 3-4mm rear in 15K miles? Have you seen this for yourself or is this what Lexus told you? I only ask because Lexus told me the pads on my ISF were worn out and when my mechanic took them out to replace them (with non Lexus pads) they were only about half worn! Check this before you go any further as it might be just the local stealer trying to gouge you. Hard to get alternatives in this country as Brembo Europe do not seem to even list them for the front, but the US site from an earlier response indicates they are the same as LS 460/600h pads. I think this is worth checking out as that model has been around for a while. I'm certainly not going to be paying £1200 for a set of pads for my GSF when the time comes. It would almost be cheaper to fly to the US and buy some there.

No question it will be more expensive, but how much more will depend on the length and type of your daily commute. When I got my ISF, I used it for a daily round trip of about 45miles, with a mixture of motorway, A roads and queues. It averaged out at about 26 mpg against 35 for my previous 250. If your commute has heavy traffic you will get much less , probably around 16-17.A colleague of mine thought I ought to get a cheap small car for the commute and keep the F for weekends, but what's the point? You're still stuck with the cost of the car and the car tax/insurance for the banger. This adds up to several hundred pounds a year , which could go to meeting the extra cost of car tax, insurance and fuel for the F, and you're not getting to drive the F which still has to be taxed, insured and serviced regardless of whether you use it or not. If the man maths can be made to work out, I'd go for the F and drive it every day. These cars need to be used, they can take high miles and they don't go wrong that much. Personally, I would look for a car with full Lexus service history and get it covered by a Lexus warranty for piece of mind. As I said ,they don't go wrong much, but when they do the bill is huge as it will be for your 300h if it goes wrong out of warranty. By the way, if negotiating to buy an F, get the cost to change agreed before you drive it. If you don't you'll lose any leverage over price. Good luck. Graham

I hope you enjoy this car as much as I did. I'd have kept it for ever if I hadn't been seduced by a nearly new GSF! More of that in another post.

It certainly looks like it. If you want one go for it, they're all getting older and they don't seem to be getting much cheaper.

It's dark grey, Cadoxton Slate I think its called.

Hi all, I don't contribute often to this forum but I do read it every day. I've seen a few posts where members are asking about various cars in dealers. I traded my ISF in today against a GSF and the Lexus dealer told me it would be going to the auctions as it was too old for their stock, so it will be appearing in a dealers sometime soon. Don't know where but if GU08VSN turns up on a forecourt it was mine. I've had this car for 4 and a half years and enjoyed every minute of it. This is a good car and I would have kept it for ever if a chance to buy a nearly new GSF at a substantial discount hadn't turned up. 30,000 miles and all it cost me apart from servicing was 3 tyres and some brake pads and discs. Only 2 things went wrong, the idler pulley on the drive belt and a seized caliper, both paid for by Lexus' warranty. It has full Lexus SH and about 75K on the clock so if it turns up with less than this someone's been at it. It's also going to need new front discs fairly soon as the thickness is near the minimum. I do have the new discs as I intended to do them later this year, so I'll probably put them on eBay. Watch out for this car, it's been loved .

Hi All, I haven't contributed to this forum for some time, but this subject prompted me to find my password. When I first renewed my Lexus warranty a couple of years ago I asked the service manager specifically about the nav screen and he told me that he couldn't see any reason for it not to be covered (but he doesn't work there any more). Second point: If they ultimately refuse the repair, and it looks like they are moving in that direction you could try pointing out that if this came to court, the court would likely seek guidance as to the definition of "trim" from some learned text such as the Oxford English Dictionary which gives the following definition: "Decorative additions to a vehicle, typically the upholstery or interior lining of a car" Can't see anything there about nav screens! There is no way that a nav screen can be regarded as trim as it is not an inanimate component covering up the engineering bits. It actually has a function as an electronic switch to control elements of the car and if Lexus tries to argue that it is trim, shame on them. Lexus have made their name on reliability and customer service mostly, as the majority of their cars (ISF excluded) are pretty unremarkable and they should not be trying to wriggle out of what their warranty promises. The warranty is a legal contract between customer and Lexus and if they have drafted the wording in a way that doesn't suit them, that's their problem not ours. kieron1977 - if you have legal expenses cover on your home insurance it might be worth a chat with their advisors as to how to react if they turn you down, so as not to prejudice any legal action you might want to take. Also - £2500 for something that has slightly less functions than a £40 smartphone??? Rant over Keep us posted