Linas.P

The number they quote are little bit irrelevant, it is identical engine. No revision in any engine part 4GR-FSE is rated for 200-212hp and this number varies depending on the car it is in. 204hp is quoted on mk3 IS and mk2 sometimes is quoted as having 208hp, sometimes as 205hp. Even if there is 2hp difference which I doubt, then it may be to do with slightly different layout of air intake or exhaust, maybe exhaust manifolds are different etc. Sure, I remember looking at high miles GS450h at one point and considering the worst case scenario... like what if may engine blows-up and in IS250 that (or GS250) for that matter it is not a big deal, used engines are plentiful and cheap. But say GS450h battery, gearbox or battery fails (indeed unlikely, but worst case scenario) you looking at much higher bill and no way doing it on the cheap. I did read your post, but I am looking into this way - somebody asks whenever they should go for mk4 GS... and above is my opinion whenever you should or shouldn't. Overall, I consider GS mk4 to be the only worthy upgrade in Lexus line-up to IS250 mk2, especially considering this is the only way to have little bit more powerful Lexus than IS250, which I thought was right on the limit to be called sluggish. Now in mk4 GS you have 3 choices - 250, 300h and 450h as you know. All of them benefit from larger and better quality interior and are whole generation more modern. The difference is only engine power and 250 is slightly slower and less exciting because GS is bigger and heavier car, 300h is more economical, but it is significantly slower and not V6... 450h is as economical, much more powerful and it is V6. In the end of the day it is your money, so you will decide what to buy, but I would give you bad advice is I don't advise you to consider 450h, because it is better car in all possible ways. Don't forget that GS450h is better equipped even comparing F-sport to F-sport... it will be minor things, but GS450h has more of them. So for the price of GS450h you just getting more car and it is more desirable, cheaper to tax... so it will be easier to sell if you come to it. Finally, regarding the boot - sure GS250 has slightly bigger boot, but I would argue not more useful. When it comes to boot, the folding seats makes day an night difference if GS250 would have folding seats and GS450h didn't then I would say - yes that is massive (neither of them has it), but few extra mm here and there makes very little difference. Boot in both cars will be bigger than IS250.

I think it is little bit more nuanced than that... Not even sure I can explain that without writing 3 page long essay. Many things comes to it, my age, my work, my needs, car value, car age, the type of car it is etc. Generally, I am not planning to keep cars for longer than 3 years. My last IS250 was little bit of exception as I owned it for 5.5years (and it was my third one!). I would just say that on-paper value of the car is the value of the car, what it worth to you doesn't matter. If it is written of insurance won't care how much you love it, they simply pay what is worth. Whenever it is worth maintaining depends on many aspects again - whenever that increase the car value (some cars will cost the same regardless if maintained or not), whenever that increases the car utility to you (maybe car is not worth it, but £500 towards maintained means you get extra year of use... and you not in position to get another car yet) etc. The consideration on maintenance is more of a thing for the cars between 10 and 30 years old. Less than 10 usually worth maintaining, over 30 already classic, so again worth maintaining. Just to say - recently that is no longer my concern as the cars I own and the time period I own them for kind of means that I never need to do any maintenance bar warranty work and annual service... and they are worth enough that any maintenance would be easy to justify anyway.

Clearly we have different perspective on car ownership... and that is fine.

I like it too... I just realise there is point at which you have diminishing returns. Some machinery is keeps it's value as long as it is maintained... cars don't. You can have car in perfect order, it still depreciates... and at some point it is inevitable that strict "tip-top" order maintenance is going to cost you more than it is worth.

And probably it is better that way - at least no tax money was wasted on it. It just hurts me to see streets being fixed, you drive for few days on butter smooth tarmac and 2 weeks later I can see bas**** cutting that road up to install speed jumps. Why they fix it just to ruin it straight away?!

I have said that myself, in this thread. Regarding car value - yes if you planning to drive same car forever that is valid point. I don't... despite IS250 being excellent car which I really struggled to replace (and still prefer over my RC), but I recognise that it is getting old now... And once car value drops below the cost of maintenance that is when I stop caring. Or rather when increase in resale value is lower than the cost of carrying out maintenance. On my car that was the point when it was written-off, but arguable even before that I was spending way to much on service then the car was worth. And that is another good point - by the time you reach 200k miles it is probably more likely for the car to be written of in an accident than gearbox failing. Everyone will draw the line where they want the line to be, I know that IS250 auto is reliable and dependable car and gearbox not going to suddenly fail on you. As such I am happy to look past the mileage and only replace it when it shows the signs in needs it - early, late, harsh shifting or error codes. That is what I would do if I own one and that is what I recommend for everyone else. Besides biggest Lexus value is reliability, dependability and ability to do mega miles with minimal maintenance. Not to use this to the limit = not taking main advantage of brand. And I do not suggest to go silly, but Auto gearboxes are know to survive just fine well past 100k... although even I suggest fluid change ~100k or if there is reason for it.

I don't mind them on supermarket car parks and maybe in residential parking where speed limits is 5-10MPH, but what is amazing in UK that they put them on main streets with 30MPH speed limit... that is just criminal.

No... it is your opinion... no matter how correct or reliable (and I mean it), it is just an opinion. And by the way - I agree with you both! In ideal world where money is no object, or where IS250 is worth £30k I definitely don't see how fluid change could hurt. But it's not ideal world, the car is barely worth few £ nowadays and doing fluid change very 50k is neither warranted, nor economically viable. The fluid was dark brown after 193k miles as well ... and it would be dark brown after 23k miles. Probably not as dark, but certainly not pink/red fluid you put in. Besides my solenoid issue started after my second "eurotrip"... that is blasting through Europe at constant max speed for hours at the time. Now apparently, if you drive at more than 80% of max speed, then fluid service schedule is no longer "life-time". But most of British cars never seen even 90MPH, never mind cruising at 130MPH for 3-4 hours straight.

Fine... please show me what is statistically likely. And I don't mean it in demeaning way - if you have statistics which shows that 50k fluid change is necessary and prevents failure maybe at 100k, then this information would be of massive value to the community. BUT... I am not aware of such static. I can at least point you out to the car I know covered 193k miles without issues... and there are now loads used IS250 with well over 100k miles... where rest assured no fluid change was done. And that does not mean they are fine... they may be lazy to shift gears, or have hard shifts or whatever... and that would warrant the fluid change or at least refresh. BUT again - failures of this gearbox are not common and not well known.

As I said - no issues without fluid change until 193k, no issues after the change... oil pan was clean as well, no metal... back some dust which is normal. Alternative £1200 for fluid change alone... even if car would have required replacement transmission it could be easily done under £1200. What you comparing with is literally worst case scenario. Fine... please point me out to IS250 with failed transmission. How often that happens and at what mileage?

As I said above, I don't think £300 quote is wrong, what I am saying - doing it every 50k miles makes no economical sense, even if not doing it would require gearbox replacement at 200k... that would still be cheaper. The complete kit costs ~ £90-£140 depending on where you get it from. Filter certainly doesn't cost £92. Here is the full Aisin OEM kit £129 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/toyota-a960e-automatic-gearbox-oil-5L-aisin-type-iv-fluid-filter-gasket/264387179867 No - it was already discussed, £150 at Lexus buys you 1L "refresh refill", that is all you get.

I guess that depends on your luck, certainly there is chance for it to be broken... although usually they are supplied with some sort of warranty. As well, I don't mean to say £300 isn't normal. That is actually what I would expect from reputable show which does the job properly. But then doing it every 50k miles... somehow hard to justify the expense. Again just as example - my old IS250 covered 193k miles without fluid change. Thrown solenoid error, fluid was replaced and error is now gone. Compared that to your schedule - if I would have done fluid change every 50k miles for £300, that would have been £1200 just for fluid change. For some comparison that is half of the value of the car and price for gearbox to be replaced not once, but twice... how do you justify this cost?

@ £300 I would expect so, because £400 is the cost of used gearbox (obviously, by the time it is fitted you looking at £600-£700). But still we just talking about fluid change here.

I mean I looked into service manual a while back and procedure isn't difficult, it is just tedious and you have to follow all the steps (which is the purpose of having procedure). However, now give that to your standard garage mechanic with attention span of squirrel and it is not hard to imagine it failing. Especially, steps 6 and 7 where you need to get transmission up-to specific temp etc.

It certainly wasn't an accidental wording 😁

I had the same thing on most of my cars, but it not as excessive. Which leads me to believe alignment needs to be checked. The standard bushings on IS250 as well causes tow-out under braking and bushing being fairly worn on OP's car could contribute to that as well. In short I don't think the wear on the tyres are from the humps alone, but they are contributing factor. Overall, speedhumps are really really bad... for everything... I don't even want to get started on this, but it is enough to say they cause more deaths than they prevent and on top of that damages the cars, causes more pollution and are in all possible ways negative thing. It really seems like in 21st century we could have better solution than basically creating potholes on the road.

Yes, you get ~3.5-4L in the pan. Please show me where it states recommended schedule for Aisin A960E. I partially agree with you here, the problem is - Lexus UK outright refuses to do fluid change. If you insist they do 1L refresh at most. So your only option is either finding transmission specialists which not only difficult to find, but expensive as well... or trusting local garage who have little clue about correct procedures and don't have correct tools. This means in practice procedures are most likely not to be followed. Now it is all great if you are aircraft engineer yourself and can follow correct procedures and do change yourself, or if you live nearby gearbox specialist which you happen to know and who can do it for you at reasonable cost. Otherwise if gearbox causes no issues I would advise leaving it at that, certainly less risk than giving it to generic local garage and gambling on them refilling correct amount of fluid... mostly by accident.

GS250 Was only available ~2012-2014. F-sport does have additional support for legs (as illustrated by button on the top right), but I am not sure if this seat function is standard on F-Sport and Premier, or is it something like "premium 8/10 ways adjustable seat option". I would say choosing the car only because of that would be weak argument. GS250 isn't updated engine compared to IS250 - it is exactly the same. I would seriously consider getting GS450h if you looking into mk4 GS - it is both more powerful and fuel efficient and lower to tax, whereas it isn't that much more expensive to buy. Road tax on GS250 is £330 vs £155 on 450h.

Certainly... from what he mentioned brake lines are the only serious thing. Obviously, video is little bit grainy and I pointed out only what I can see, I am sure when you take it to another mechanic you can check every point from the list Lexus pointed out and confirm whenever their judgement is right or not. I think taking car for Lexus inspection is a good thing, but I never used them except of standard service work. They hourly rate is very high.

I just pointed out that the way it is shown on video is not the way to do it. What he did of camera I obviously don't know. I hope they do proper thread check and not what was shown. To be honest I have no reason to doubt the knowledge of Lexus tech and they they know how to do it properly, but whenever they do it is another question. I would point out that they quoted quite extensive job for brake lines, but that was not shown in the video. We can give tech benefit of doubt and just assume he forgotten to show. Quoting £2800 exhaust because of tiny hole on one hand funny, in other hand I guess that is what Lexus service manual calls for. So I cannot criticise them too much for it, but neither I would expect anyone to take their advise on this part.

Not sure how relevant that is but Normski's car is 2010 (meaning different mirrors with indicators and auto-folding function) and your one is 2007 (with neither of those functions). It would make sense that 2010 car would have different ecu/mirror controls.

It wasn't criticism, it just seems you doing a lot of stuff for what is quite standard and cheap fix, contacting Lexus dealership and all that... perhaps my definition of being "stressed-out" is different than yours. I do enjoy looking after my car as well, but it seems that the real solution here would be to take the wheel to refurb place and let them refurbish it - that is exactly what they do all day and every day. And they would do all the same prep you did included in the price. Finally, if me finding it little bit funny that you did "all that" whist waiting for response from Lexus is somehow offensive, then sorry I will leave this thread alone. I am sure I have already said everything there is to say... and any wheel refurb shop will sort it out in 30 minutes... and your car will looks as good as they day it rolled off the dealer lot at it's list price 🙂

Yeah... not sure how they diagnosed corroded brake lines, certainly not something you could see in this video. Your exhaust as expected looks completely normal - small hole in mid pipe near where shield was welded on (welds are common place of failure). But overall exhaust is in great shape - advising £2800 replacement for that one small hole is quite cheeky. I would say any exhaust place could weld it without even taking it off the car for £50 and you won't have issues for another 3-5 years (after which you probably going to have slightly bigger hole around the same area) Front bushings are little bit worn admittedly, but nothing for immediate concern, yes replacement would be advisory in future when you have more time - probably going solid poly-bushings would be good upgrade at the same time (really tidies-up front end). May help with tyre wear as well. Front tyre inner edges worn - so you definitely need to do alignment when you going to replace tyres, but the tyres themselves are fine ~5mm and are certainly healthy around 75% of thread. The way he measured the tyres is incorrect - should have done at very least 3 checks across each tyre and averaged, but the correct way is to rotate the tyre and take measurements 3 times on 3-4 different locations. Rear brakes looked like little bit crusty, especially discs from inside, so probably consider new discs when you do pads next time (they are very cheap... like £20-30). So overall looks like tidy car, from whatever little can be seen. Little bit of weld on Exhaust £50, Rear disks £20-30, Tyres are good for another 10k miles at very least (strange that one rear tyre was 3mm, when rest around 5), do 4 wheel alignment when changing tyres. Front bushings would be nice to have at best, if I am not mistaken aftermarket ones are £40 each and same for work, so £120 total. Definitely get second opinion on brake lines, but that is not something I could see in this video. At least that is my opinion anyways.

By the way my 193k miles fluid looked similar to what was posted in this thread - just kind of brown liquid. But I am sure it would look the same after 20k miles as well.

Corrosion would indicate low local miles, especially on the exhaust. Motorway cars tends to get warmer and just dry off the condensation, so less likely to be rusted. If you think you car was mostly driven on motorway I would doubt the health check results even more, Conti Premium Contact or Sport Contact would be ~ RT/Asymmetric 5 (what is considered UHP summer tyre). EcoContact are level below, so not exactly like for like tyres.