Linas.P

Interesting ... I don't think this is widely known in this forum and for the price it is certainly worth trying.

Automatically folding mirrors were standard in FL mk2 IS S-EL, F-Sport and maybe SE-I if not mistaken - not exactly sure if it was together with introduction of indicator on the mirrors in 2009 or around 2011 with final FL with DLRs.

I remember Black interior was listen on eBay for £2000... for like 2.5 years. Not sure if anyone bought it or if they ended-up throwing it to the landfill. I guess not a bad upgrade for somebody with GS450h maybe.

Exactly... if it makes no difference why pay extra 😁 There is - not by car manufacturers, but by oil companies (not biased at all you know). And they take 2 brand new cars, put them on the rolling road, run them for 200k miles, whilst carrying out all the required service in right intervals and then compare. They do same for engine oils and for fuels, if I found video I will post, but I have certainly seen that just browsing YouTube. In the end of the day there is less carbon on the cars running premium fuel, but neither it eliminates all carbon, nor the test is realistic compared to real on road conditions, nor the engine running on regular fuel fails (just has a little bit more dirt). As I said in other thread - if we would keep our cars from new to 500k miles (that is like 50 years of ownership) then probably it would make a difference. Now I just quickly assume average 30MPG and difference between premium and standard of 10p... that works out at the cost of £3920 over 500k. Thing is - you can get 120k IS250 for that price, or if we look other way around - by the time IS250 has 300k miles it will be worth less than the price difference of the premium fuel which was put into it. Economically it just doesn't make sense, nor we drive so much. And further it is not like standard fuel hurts your engine either, difference between the two is very minor (if it exists at all). In short - is premium fuel better than standard... yes... but does it matter? No!

I actually experienced opposite in IS250... where MPG was lower on premium fuel. My theory is that car ECU adjust timing to premium fuel and uses more of it. But that is just a theory... I am not planning to prove either any time soon. Cleaning effect does not help much on DI engines... maybe injector and fuel likes at best, but for key issue of intake valves it doesn't help.

I am not discouraging you to try, all it costs.. few extra £ per tank. The only thing to be careful about is not to get into placebo e.g. I almost fell for it myself - put in premium fuel to see if your MPG increases and before you know you driving like a nun and MPG indeed increases. Not because the fuel is better, but because you uncourteously driving more carefully. So as it is not huge investment it is best to try it yourself and form your own opinion on this topic... I tried and I formed mine, but it only an opinion.

You literally creating "mega worms thread" where the worms are size of the dragons 😁 You have already picked-up 3 questions which are accidentally TOP3 in most controversial questions on this forum category. Tyre choice, oil choice and standard vs. premium fuel... what next!? It is good I already have drafted responses for most of these questions based on countless previous threads! To be fair I am not going to join strongly on this one, just say - when I bought my last IS250 (with 122k miles at the time) I used to alternate tanks of premium and standard. But later on just ended-up using standard. Car sold at 193k miles still running sweet (new owners opinion, not mine - but I agree)! I even ran it on E10 and E85 when Euro tripping. You can check some stats from my ownership here:

In very non-technical way I can just confirm that Castrol Magnatec A1/A5 5W30 is great oil and probably better oil than Lexus ever imagined when designing the engine in ~2003. Is it best oil - no, but it is plenty good enough. Could you get cheaper, still plenty good enough oil... yes you can... probably.

I would always advise to do alignment when fitting new tyres. If old tyres were unevenly worn etc that could affect the alignment and if you do it before changing the tyres it may still be slightly out when you put the new ones on. The oil you used is correct. I used Magnatec for most of my oil changes (A1/A5 is as well correct for petrol C2/C3 for diesel) and in my opinion it is already overkill for over 10 years old engine. There are better oils you can get... but we talking about diminishing returns here. Not finding any errors on Lexus - that is NORMAL! 😁

Yes, I wonder how they finding customers - not exactly massive market. Maybe outside of UK...

I thought that the only written off GS-F was the press car ~ 2018 and the parts where circulating various sites for over 3 years. Was there another one? Yes I would imagine when cars are so rare it is difficult to estimate value of replacement, with GS-F there may be not a single one for sale at all.

Probably later, especially after their chip-tuning their engines to "240hp" I am sure soot is plentiful not only behind the car but in the cabin as well.

Yes, you absolutely right - but there are still loads of DERV apologists who comes here from time to time and makes bold claims that IS220d is actually better than IS250...

Indeed that was quite quick decision, but I think it was good one. @Mr Vlad I agree with with you on many points as well (except of the tyre choice) - I cannot claim that RT2s are definitely factually indisputably best tyres, but I hope I was clear in my posts that tyres I recommended are based on my experience (and opinion) having different tyres for ~130k miles on 3 different IS250s alone, and probably closer to 210-220k miles total on various cars. I cannot specifically say that Infinity or Roadstone are specifically bad tyres, but with these brands you always gambling. I admit there may be "budget jewels", but equally there are "budget horrors"... I have certainly saved more money on consistent performance of Premium tyres (fitting them, never being worried and them lasting long time) than I would have ever saved gambling on hit and miss budget tyres. I still have the set of wheels I used to have on IS250 with RTs - they did over 30k miles (I need to go back and check, but it was like 37k or something), font ones still have 3.5mm, real ones are around 2mm (basically they due for replacement). They never missed the beat, quiet, fuel efficient, great dry and wet grip. No tramlining. I used to run them on higher PSI then recommended because I noticed that on IS250 standard tyre pressure results in wear on the outside of the tyre (indicating underinflation). RT2s are just upgrades over RTs and I have them on front of my RC, would fit them to the back too, but back had brand new Potenzas RE050s when I bought the car. If RT2s have any issue, even remotely then on cold winter days you may experience "crabbing" when turning the wheel on stationary car in the morning... this doesn't bother me the slightest and bear in mind RC has 235/40R19 on front. Besides turning the wheel on stationary car is bad practice anyway. I was told this is caused by XLs having harder sidewall, but that is necessary for handling and fuel efficiency (XLs are rated B on R19 and non-XLs are rated E). Finally, all premium tyres are good - Michelin, Continental, Goodyear and Dunlop... you cannot go wrong with any of them. But as mentioned - at under £80/tyre (I waited for them to be discounted to £72) RT2s represents better value. Michelin PS4 are still better handling more performance oriented tyre, but no only it compromises on fuel efficiency and comfort, but it costs a lot more as well. And that is why I cannot recommend them.

You are looking at generic tyre model page, there may be certain sizes and certain tyres which are runflats. The tyres I have linked and even that tyre size overall are not even available in runflats: https://www.dunlop.eu/en_gb/consumer/tires/sport_maxx_rt_2/225-45-17-94-Y-4038526036018.html

No they are not. They are XLs (extra load), but not runflats. I do not believe they make RT2 runflats, at least not in this size.

Here are sizes you need: https://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/goodyear/eagle-f1-asymmetric-5/225/45/R17/Y/94/f?tyre=38668105 https://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/dunlop/sp-sport-maxx-rt-2/225/45/R17/Y/94/f?tyre=34598312 You can shop around and they can come little bit cheaper... I generally get them closer to £72, as well blackcircles often 2 like £25 off if you buy 2, £40 off if you buy 4 for popular brands like Dunlop, Michelin, Goodyear etc. P.S. - I have not personally had Asymmetric 5, but I feel confident recommending them because I know it is the same company as RT2 and if anything Asymmetric 5 are generation newer than RT2s (RT2s ~= Asymmetric 3). So they should not be worse and likely better.

No and most definitely no! Runflats are more terrible versions of their "non-runfalt" brothers (and maybe sisters), awful ride quality and they WILL fail you when you need them most. Not so relevant for Lexus, but on BMW that is probably the first thing I would do - throw runflats away... just transforms the car. IS250 has spare wheel and it has saved me countless times. You budget is plenty for good tyres - RT2/Asymmetric 5 could be had just under £80, especially fronts. I would say it would be ideal to have same tyres on front and rear, but Hankook are good enough mid-range tyres. Keep them until they need replacing and replace them with same tyres you have fitted on the front when it comes to it. I have bad experience when it comes to low rolling resistance "eco" tyres like EfficientGrip. They are probably ok for small cars which don't have much power, but I would not fit them on IS250. They are too much of compromise - don't offer much better economy than same brand UHP tyres, are available in limited number of sizes (like 17/45/245 isn't very popular) are not as comfortable and not as good for handling.

You welcome! These are so called "can of worms threads". There has never been and will never be consensus on what tyres to put on and there will be as many opinions as there are members here. You will be the one to decide which is most convincing opinion and can follow that. Just to start with... I had few tyres on IS250: Brigestone Potenzas and Turanzas (OE fitment depending on model year) - awful, just not much more to say- loud, hard, not great on economy and even grip hit and miss. Nexen (not sure what exact model it was - maybe N1000) - I just could not use them, terrible exchanged them to Pirelli after less than 1000miles Pirelli P-Zero - very comfortable tyre, but that is about it, mediocre in all other aspects and expensive Dunlop SP SportMaxx 001 - kind of obsolete tyre, but still OE fitted by Lexus, probably the worst tyre Dunlop makes, but otherwise alright, just slightly better than Brigestones. I would not immanently throw them away if they are fitted to the car, but I would not recommend them. Dunlop SportMaxx RT and RT2 - both amazing tyres in my experience, quiet, fuel efficient, provide long long mileage and decent grip all the way to like 1C, wet grip excellent and price is decent. Obviously, if buying today you need to look for RT2 as RT is obsolete. Continental Sport Contact 5 - great tyre all around, not as good as RT2 (but there are Sport Contact 6 now). Michelin PS4 - probably best road performance tyre (PS4s would be overkill for IS250), excellent grip, good mileage, but you get compromise on comfort and fuel efficiency + very expensive. So what I would recommend and what I would avoid... Any non-premium or mid-range tyre - throw away immediately, they are just dangerous, unpredictable and nobody should trust their life to that crap. Mid-range tyres (that is your Avons, Falkens, Yokohamas, I consider Brigestone mid-range and long list of others) are generally compromise in some way, either fuel economy is bad, or mileage or some characteristic, but if they fitted on the car and still good I would keep them. The Premium tyres are the only ones to buy because they are the cheapest... let me explain - yes they cost double than chinese crap (don't mean to offend, as chinse makes a lot of great things, but tyres is not one of them), but they do at least double the mileage + they save fuel, are more comfortable, safer, quieter and provides better handling. So what particular tyre I would recommend form my experience - Dunlop RT2/Goodyear Asymmetric 5 (they are both the same company), I found that to be a perfect compromise. There are many other good tyres like Michelins or Continentals, but they are more expensive without delivering more value. On more powerful car and if one drives more aggressively I would put Michelin PS4s. The universal/all-season tyres - there is saying "something that does everything is not good at anything" (or something like that)! They are just compromise - they will never match true summer UHP tyre in grip, fuel economy or handling. Like the often recommended Michelin CC - it is great tyre, but it never reach say PS4, or Dunlop RT2 in normal driving conditions above 8C (and from my experience I would argue even below that). Where it would excel is temps between +0+3C and if you have some mud, slush, wet snow - but where I live in UK (London) we at most have 3 such days a year. So I would never compromise 362 days of driving, because of 3 days which may or may not happen once in 3 years. Finally, if you really short on money and don't want to "invest" in your safety, then there are alternatives - Sava/Debica UHP (owned by Goodyear/Dunlop and similar tyres to say RT, but not as good as RT2)... I would put Uniroyal Rainsport in this category (owned by Michelin), but recently Uniroyal is priced same as Dunlop RT2 and although great tyre otherwise it is not as great as RT2 or Asymmetric 5.

No - estate is already compromise on looks... you can like it or hate it. But it is possible to make identical car without changing anything or compromising anything i.e. where boot lifts together with rear window and instead of hard partition you only have fabric cover separating boot from interior + folding seats. Well I guess, maybe that partition makes rear end of the car more rigid?! But even then there could be like brace between 2 shock towers without taking much away from practicality.

I don't want to mislead you, but the dual display was Premium Sat-nav option (certainly mine does that in RC on 7"). But to be fair I didn't even know there were 2020 models with 7" screen... I thought they all 10.25" since ~2017?!

The boot will be bigger in all dimensions compared to IS250. However, in IS250 you can remove the tray and spare wheel to make it deeper, in GS450h you can't. When it comes to fitting bicycles I found that folding seats makes all the difference. For example I could not fit any bikes in IS250, but I can fit them in much smaller RC200t. GS does not have folding seats so I would not expect fitting much, but if your bike fits IS250 without removing tray/spare wheel, then it will fit GS450h. I am just wondering why Lexus never did hackbacks (like Kia Stinger, Mazda 6, Mondeo... even 4 door A5)... that would make loading/unloading and overall usability of the boot so much better without affecting car looks or anything else. I always thought that this is free usability, same as folding rear seats.

No worries, I understand that car purchase may be complex process and undoing it may be more painful than accepting few missing options. Enjoy your car 🙂

Them taking advert down has not impact to your rights. I understand it could be slightly embarrassing to turn around on deal like this, but consumer rights are there for a reason. And I would imagine Lexus and their franchise dealers should be interested in making their customer happy. If it is not more than 14 days, then this is you only chance in sorting the car to minimal cost to you. And I am not advising just to throw the car at them - maybe they have another car which would interest you and which would have rights equipment? Maybe you would need to pay little bi more for it, but for sure that "little bit more" will be a lot less than trying to rectify issues in any other way. Finally, you need to consider resale aspect of it - not many people will want completely basic car, even dealerships will put lower PX values knowing it is harder to shift. So you may have issues down the lines as well. As I said in beginning - I doubt you would use this option (considering you said you like the car), but nevertheless the time to think is now... if you get tired with that after 9 months it will be very costly to get it changed.

Technically... Renaults with Merc badge and Nissan engine... not that it makes it any better 😅