mrfunex

@MNMJ, I might have a go at that! There’s a noticeable increase in noise above 3500rpm in sport mode, but a bit more V8 gurgle low down is always welcome!

Well, in anticipation of the creation of a giant 'F' section of the forum, and as a previous ISF owner; I thought I'd leave this here: I’ve gone and bought a GSF! I’d had my ISF for around two and a half years and after sorting out what was, in my opinion, a hilariously firm OEM suspension setup, it was smooth sailing all the way. I loved that car – great looks, biblical noise (thanks, H&S) and a real Jekyll and Hyde personality. The last bit was so important to me as the old ‘race car for the road’ adage gets pretty uncomfortable and wearing on a daily driver. I’d covered 12,000 miles, taken it to Le Mans, done a Silverstone track day and on one occasion discovered the speed limiter – yes, there is one and yes, it’s around 170mph… The trouble is, just after it was launched, my local Hedge End dealer had a black GSF in the showroom and ever since I’d sat in it – I’d wanted one. I’ll stop the preamble now with – I caved eventually; it’s around 16months old, it was previously owned by the area manager for Lexus, travelling the South West, and it has 17,500miles on the clock. What’s it like in the cabin? I’ll start with the seats – they are a vastly improved over the ISF, which weren’t bad at all! – they’re heated and ventilated. There’s a cornucopia of materials used all over the dashboard etc, which displeases some people. I like it. I love the alcantara topped dash, the bespoke clock and the carbon fibre detailing. There is a bewildering array of settings, both for the radio/sat nav and the dashboard hidden within menus and submenus, but thankfully the basic controls are simple and easy to use. The Mark Levinson stereo (is it still a stereo if it has a dozen speakers?) is excellent and Bluetooth integration is seamless. The screen is over a foot wide and makes the satnav look spectacular, where post code lookup is available! Driving? The engine sounds different to the ISF, despite being of very similar design and the noise in the cabin is a bit more aggressive on cold start. The rev limit is now 7300rpm and the gearbox seems identical to the ISF with slightly smoother shifts. There are 4 drive modes – eco, normal, sport and sport+. These progressively quicken gear changes, firm up the steering, sharpen throttle response and change the behaviour of the torque-vectoring differential (which I believe acts more like a traditional LSD than the e-diff on the early ISFs, which applied the brakes to the wheel struggling for grip). Sport and sport+ also introduce more engine noise to the cabin through first the rear speakers, then the fronts as well in sport+. The brakes are exceptional – grooved discs now rather than drilled. On the move, the ride is slightly softer but definitely more composed, and the car feels a lot more grown up over my local potholed roads. It’s bigger than the ISF (obviously) and more powerful, but I would guess the performance to be fairly similar. Initial journeys suggest it’s slightly more economical than the ISF too, perhaps 2/3mpg better on average. Other random musings… The boot is HUGE – utterly cavernous! I love the noise it makes – the over-flowery blips on the down change are still there! The headlights are the clearest/brightest I have ever seen. The carbon rear spoiler is extremely pretty. The carbon front splitter is a magnet for stone-chips. The steering wheel is pleasantly chunky. The high build quality is obvious immediately – it’s like the thing has been hewn out of granite. A head-up display makes me feel like a fighter pilot. The previous owner ought to be horrified that this car has lost £2/mile in depreciation alone. The amount of information you can display on the dashboard is enormous – amount of torque applied to each wheel – yup, G-force – of course, lap timer – no problem! So, there we have it. It might seem like I’ve only got positive things to say*, but I liked the ISF so much, and this is essentially a newer version with everything turned up to 120%. I’ve only had the car for a couple of days, but I shall keep this thread updated every once in a while. Happy to answer any questions…. *One negative. I had real trouble getting the headlights to switch to full beam. It turns out that there are TWO auto settings for the lights. One for switching them on automatically as it gets dark, and the other for auto full beam (switching back to dipped beam in the face of oncoming traffic and a few other parameters). Human Factors obviously has a day off when they put these two switches on opposite sides of the driving position! It’s all sorted now!

Great news!

Yup, everything the same. It happened before on a GS450h. Lexus’ quotation was 5-6 times most other quotes I’d had! They quoted me double what I’d been paying on a 550bhp modified 911 Turbo! The excuse? “You’re a younger male with a powerful, big engined car” Maybe it’s just me! I’m 33, have no endorsements, I live in a safe area etc. Literally *nothing at all* to stand out as a big risk, yet the quotations I receive are astronomical! As I say, all other companies offer resonable quotations!

So, in advance of picking up my new GSF, I got a quote from Lexus insurance, just out of curiosity. The best I’d seen so far through a comparison site was £264 for the year (benefits of living in a safe area, I guess!) Their quote? £2,168.77!!! Can anyone top that?

The black GSF at Hedge End isn’t, ahem, “available” any more. I pick it up on Saturday. It’s stunning. Immaculate. Can’t wait!!

Ahem... make that 3...

Yup, private sale too much hassle with people’s mentality at the moment. Too many “wud U take £5k, n a PS4. Dats all it’s wurf “ nonsense.

I’d love a PHEV RC450h, if one were to be made. Best of both worlds!

I’d love to attend a 10th anniversary meet - maybe a centrally located main dealer could host? They’d get a good bit of free PR with owners of their former flagship F car, we’d get some free biccies and nice cups of coffee with those little caramelised biscuits on the side? Unfortunately, through sheer coincidence, the 10th March is an anniversary of my own. Not sure if Mrs Funex would appreciate being dragged to a car meet on our special day.... I’ll ask though!

This sort of weather, on a Silverstone track day, I had the TCS flickering at 90-95mph at the top of 3rd on stock power! 625bhp will be, *ahem*, ‘lively’!!!

I have been waiting for this thread for ages! Good luck! Can’t wait for videos of the results!

Mine didn’t either, although my older ISF does? Accept it as one of those charming quirks, like the bl**dy clock not being able to show time in 24h!!

Having touched the limiter a few times abroad in my old mk3 GS450h, which appeared to be set just below 160mph indicated, the acceleration was certainly trailing off by then! I’d imagine the top speed to be 170, given a long enough road. For day to day driving, I’m pretty sure the GS450h was marginally quicker than my ISF, although certainly not once the IS has been wound up. Is the mk4 GS any quicker?

Mine’s an ‘08 and the centre console looks exactly like that.

As far as I’m aware, the LSD won’t make much of a difference, the suspension gets progressively softer year by year (although it’s still a hard riding car), the dials are only different on 2013 cars. What black surround are you referring to? Buy on condition.

The owners thing could be a bit of a put-off. The ISF is just on the cusp (imo) of being “that sort of car”, where a change of owner every year wouldn’t be an issue. Is it the one with 3 owners? If so, that’s not bad for a 8 year old car...?

The RCF is supposed to have 467bhp (or PS?). 460bhp isn’t a ‘huge’ difference at all, and works out to be 466PS. Either the wrong correcting factors have been entered for your ISF, or something isn’t working right. I’d get it looked at.

That’s not right. Something hasn’t been put back together correctly - modern engines won’t lose almost 15% power in 8 years unless they’re mega, mega high mileage, or broken. Or, as MartinF says, the measurement hasn’t been done correctly. What type of dyno did you use?

Had mine done today at Hedge End. No free petrol, but I didn’t exactly give them a chance - I’d filled up the day before - d’oh! Car looks exactly the same as it did before I dropped it off :-)

Careful, gents. The rate the GSF’s been selling, there won’t be enough to go round!!

Yes, it’s almost like an Easter egg within the software. Then you have to wait many minutes for the battery to warm up to the correct temperature for the maximum insane-mode acceleration. I think Chris Harris did a video of him drag racing against a 911R - it’ll be a available on YouTube, was quite interesting as he also reviewed what the Tesla was like road as well as the drag strip.

Lovely car in a great colour, but dear God the previous owner was a tool!

Arches: They’re more flared than the standard IS. Hopefully this pic captures the fronts and the rears.

I’ve tracked mine (a 2008 with the electronic diff, not the mechanical LSD) on a wet Silverstone and never once did it feel like I was missing out... 3rd gear will see roughly 100mph, with wheelspin north of 90mph if you hit any paint on the tarmac (again, on a wet track). It’s a lively car if you provoke it, but still gives the full Lexus experience if required. In the dry, there’s ample grip. In manual mode, the gearbox will hold a gear down to about 1500rpm, then change down to prevent stalling. It’ll also hold the gear up to the red line and sit banging off the limiter at the top end if you want. It’s as close to a manual as you can get with an auto. It’s really very good. I have my car serviced by the main dealer on a service plan (about £32/month via DD). I can’t find a specialist nearby on the South Coast, but I’ve been so happy with the main dealer, I’ve not bothered looking too hard.