Linas.P

yeah - I guess if I am right on where Vlad is leading... IS250 gearbox is generally smooth, so maybe you need to look into why it get's jerky in the first place. Although, what one considers jerky, the other could consider smooth. As well, I appreciate that if slow down very shortly and then accelerate exactly at the time when gearbox is changing from 2nd to 1st, then it could be jerky i.e. you asking gearbox to change 2nd to 1st and back to 2nd again in very quick succession and it may not be as smooth as normal, just kind of inevitable I guess.

Definitely, as well I can confirm IS mk3 and RC has same thing: why would they change it just for 2011-13?

Agree, + they still use double sided tape anyway to seal the holes off. But you need to ask this question Lexus engineers, not me.

and the later non-f-sport (predictably) looks like this:

nope... because those looks like this:

I can just say - good luck! Paint on callipers are already experiencing harsh conditions and even heat resistant paint tends to fail. Not sure what is the purpose to perfectly match the colour knowing that normal paint will simply discolorate from heat.

Are you sure you can get either of colour in heat resistant paint? That would be far more relevant question for me than perfect colour match with colour which can only be compared on internet forum.

Whereas I don't see the difference, the colour is not the same - car is metallic almost perl, callipers are simple gloss.

I am sure that there are some standard two sided tape holding them (like any badges) on top of there being holes for placement.

The orange on Lexus callipers aren't even very fancy, looks like simple gloss colour. Further you will have limitations on what is available from heat resistant paint types. Nowadays there are more choice than basic 5 colours, but still trying to match exact colour may not be technically possible without compromising with paint type.

I am just wondering whenever precise colours matter for something like callipers. After less than 200 miles nobody will be able to tell if it is precisely OEM colour or any other shade orange. I think any bright orange colour would do.

the picture tells many words 🙂

Not listed on mainstream sites maybe? Although now it certainly is on AT. Other guess - buying such car without test drive would be strange and those were recently not available. Second thing with all F cars - they are niche, so yes there are very few of them, but very few buyers as well, so it could be matter of being in right place at the right time.

Yes you absolutely right, I only said bi-xenon because I quoted from the document without thinking much about it, but indeed Bi-Xenon were never available on IS mk2. Whenever that is good or bad I am not sure, there are great bi-Xenon implementations and there are terrible ones.

Just to be clear I was not angry they were missing, but because I didn't sport it. If I would have spotted it before buying that would be more thing for Lexus to sort out before sale, because I consider that to be standard equipment which dealer should sort out before selling... and I would insist not any black caps, but specifically those fancy £40 F-Sport ones.

As well, it hard to say what is a "reasonable" price on cars which at any given time has at most 3 for sale and I would not worry about mileage - there are total of 60 cars in UK, so you not exactly have a choice.

I wish... if I would then I wouldn't be driving trashy RC200t 😞

It looks like tidy GS300, but in my opinion overpriced - if I would be given an option between two I would choose GS450h which costs about the same: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103109999434 for GS300 I would expect the price to be under £3000 and I would take advantage of higher mileage.

I agree with your points, but I want to point out that there are things which are required by law, then there are things which are government guidance and finally things which are common sense / personal judgement. Insurance and driving licences are required by law - you must not give car for a person who does not have either, because otherwise you will be liable for allowing somebody without license/insurance to drive. Asking about endorsements is kind of pointless, neither you have right to check it, nor buyer has to answer it and it may create unnecessary friction. Likewise with the keys - if they want to steal your car they will do it as you said yourself, if they don't then they don't even without you taking their keys - which again just another needless conflict. I simply would not allow them to go test drive on their own. As far as government guidance goes - there is none for private car sale. It may be under general rules that people should not go out unless "necessary", but as shown by court of law "necessary" could mean anything. If one consider buying/selling car "necessary" then it is - every single covid fine which went to court was dismissed. As well there are no rules to say people from different household cannot be in the same car - otherwise public transport, taxis etc could not work. And finally when it comes to common sense / personal judgement - as I said myself, if person looks ill - not only I would not want to be in car with them, but I would not even let them in the car at all. And it is not about covid - be it simple flu... I just feel it is poor judgement to go out testing cars when you sick... lay in the bed until you feel better! As such if such buyer would come by I would just ask them politely to came back later "when they feel better". They can still inspect the car from outside if the want 😁 Other thing to consider are you in the vulnerable category yourself? If yes and you genuinely afraid of covid, then maybe it is wrong time to sell the car.

If I would go GS, then I would want to get GS450h. There are savings to be made on road tax straight away and it is more powerful, better equipped car and more fuel efficient. However, what you don't want to do with GS450h is to cheap-out on it, being better equipped it has a lot more toys and more toys means more to go wrong. It does not mean it is not reliable, GS450h overall is still very very reliable, but if you get the cheapest one on the market then the things may be broken on it... and it is not cheap to fix - in the end of the day it was like £60k car when it was new. GS300 on the other hand is more basic, but there is literally nothing to go wrong with it. No hybrid battery to worry about, no electronically adjustable dampers, no variable speed steering wheel. With £5000 you just about get GS450h under 100k miles, which may be good option. I would avoid car listed for £3200 with 206k miles, not that there is something specifically wrong with it, but at that mileage there is a lot of risk. At the same time you can get 200k miles GS300 with almost complete piece of mind, bar general condition being acceptable and proof of some sort of service being done regularly. Overall, there is not much to go wrong on GS300 and they are not cars which require a lot of care overall, just a minimal reasonable service.

Yes, but assuming you need to keep some extra money when buying any used car, for nice 450h you looking at at least double your original budget. So the the first question here is what your budget really is, because it changes quite a lot if it is £3000, £4500 or £6000 +20% just in case.

I would look in GS300 then, it would be difficult to get GS450h in reasonable condition for that budget despite it being a better car IMHO. You can get very old RX for that budget, but then it would not be that cheap to run either. Further considering the budget why not IS250 (although granted GS300 would be more comfortable compared like for like)?

Any rationale for any of those cars, what is your budget and as above what are your needs?

Yeah it was kind of "final limited edition", by ~2011 IS mk2 sales tanked as it was already 6 years old model and Advance was nicely wrapped SE for a good discount. I doubt Lexus sold many SE-i or SE-L for last 2 years. So really two main choices were F-Sport because of the looks and Advance, because it was priced close to SE, but didn't missed much compared to SE-i.