Linas.P

But Luxury car should accelerate effortlessly and at least don't be threatened by £500 Clios. Acceleration on 300h is just not acceptable...

Welcome to the club, Whenever to go for SE or F-Sport it will depend on the features you need and your budget. To better help you to understand the differences between trims I would need to do a long write-up, but you may be able to find it in previous posts. For simplicity sake, range goes something like this: SE > SR > Sport > Advance > SE-i > F-Sport > SE-L As you can see SE will have least equipment, F-Sport is second best equipped car. It is quite difficult to compare some trims as some existed at different times in model life-cycle and some equipment was introduced into models during various facelifts. So for example SE-L is the top of the range, but the earliest SE-L overall may be worse equipped than latest F-Sport. Then there are subtle differences which may or may not be important to you, like F-Sport having only heated, but not cooled seats (like SE-L and many other trims), SE-L is the only trim with rear blind and wood trim. Regarding suspension - F-Sport generally has same suspension like all other trims in UK, there are some discussion whenever certain year models may have been 10mm lower, but all in all this should not impact your experience. IS250 was available with 16", 17" and 18" wheels. SE generally had 16-17", F-Sport had 18" - other trims had 17-18". I would say perfect compromise is 17" - provides both of best words, not too hard, but handles decently and does not look too bad. 16" - just does not provide necessary grip and handling. 18" - best for handling, but not as comfortable, fuel economy is not as good and tyres more expensive. I personally had 18" on mine, mostly because of the looks, but I appreciated better handling as well (although I had 245 tyre in rear not 255, which would be overkill). But as said, fuel economy was worse and car was slightly less comfortable, but not to the level where I think it was uncomfortable. Finally, What other criteria do you have? Colour, mileage? certain options? Because, I am sure there are more cars on the market to choose than just single SE and single F-Sport. I suggest not to rush and select the car which you would actually like to own long term (at least if that is your intent).

My economy in 300h was ~37mpg... not terrible not great. But to have RC with 300h is like a crime for me, the car looks fast whilst sitting still, yet it completely fails to deliver. The worst thing is that everyone thinks it is fast car and constantly eggs you to race them, just more insult because it loses even to £500 ****-box clio. Again - if the first car to appear on sale in right spec for right price would have been RC300h, I would have taken it. It just so happens RC200t was first to meet my criteria.

Colin/Tim - Probably your right, but again that is not the point I am making... I am just saying, I am ok to rev-out NA engine to the red line... sure if my sole purpose in live would be win race against Audi RS5, then large NA engine Lexus probably not going to be the best choice. But for luxury car, just having "enough" power to effortlessly accelerate and make some nice noise that is perfect option. As well, just for driving on the road, even fast driving on the road I never felt like 2UR-GSE was ever under-powered. Whole thing about "no power under 4000RPM"... I never experienced. Sure it comes alive somewhere there or there about... but it is not like it lacks power lower in the range. And I drove IS-F, RC-F and LC and all felt amazing... the only 2 performance Lexus I haven't driven are LFA and GS-F.. but I sat in both even revved the LFA 😁 But again even if there is no instant torque at 2000RPM... that is all the better, driving luxury car I don't want it to snap my neck exactly at the moment revs approaches 2000RPM, I want power to boost smoothly and linearly.

My experience with Lexus is that they last as long as they are maintained properly. So past the standard car condition checks, something I would assume everyone would do to any used car, the next thing to check is service history. If history is not present or services are missing on car like RC-F there is something fishy. If you give more details about the car e.g. mileage, then I am sure members around here can advise you what common wear items there are and what should have been changed according to service schedule. For sure there are "performance car" specific things, which may look minor but may cost dearly and should be considered in negotiation e.g. set of tyres and brake discs and pads alone can set you back £2000+ So if those are worn it would be good idea to consider them when agreeing the price. Other area for non-Lexus person is "optional" equipment, many sellers will try to amaze you with list of 200 features... except all that is standard. The only option were TVD, ACC/PCS and sunroof, you can count protection pack as well. For 2015 cars almost all had ML even thought it was technically optional. Apart of that everything else are standard. Not sure what else to add to begin with, but I am sure there will be RC-F owners who can give you more details, some may even know that particular car (as they are not exactly common).

That was just example... point I am trying to make - on NA engine most likely your optimal shift point is going to be as close to redline as possible, on FI engine that shift point maybe somewhere else. Perhaps not 4000RPM, but neither it is at redline. If we look specifically at 8AR-FTS, it has tiny turbo and reaches max torque at 4000RPM, it reaches top power at 4800RPM and just plateaus to 5600RPM. In short optimal shift is between 4000RPM and 4800RPM, past 4800RPM there is no point revving the engine higher as it does not produce any more power. Again, I am not trying to specifically discuss my engine, nor I imply that you have to shift all FI engines at 4000RPM, it is just example to highlight the point that unlike NA engines, FI engines may have optimal shift point well before redline.

It is simply subjective, so I don't think we need to agree about this - maybe I am enjoying "spanking" the cars and I don't like to shift just after 4000RPM to keep them in "optimal" boost. For me this seems to be the case of different people having different values and liking different things. I do not say NA cars are better, I am just saying that I find them more enjoyable to drive with more natural feeling response from engine. Or at least my definition of "enjoyable", "natural" and "response" 😁

It is either like a train, or nothing at all. And that train runs you over at 2000RPM, but stop pulling at 4000... Really just on/off throttle. Even if you stand them next to each other IS250 will be in front until 40, they would be equal ~50 and only at 60 RC would actually be in front. On top of that fuel economy is just horrendous. Admittedly, I do have heavy foot but driving both cars back to back, on the same route everyday in exactly the same manner it was 28MPG on IS250 and it is 22MPG in RC200t. IS250 could sound great, the original exhaust is little bit too conservative, in other hand - you either have quite standard exhaust and just nice engine note when you floor it, or you can fit SS which will sound good when revved, but then you will have to live with drone at motorway speeds and when simply cruising. That said again - IS250 at least likes to be revved-out... RC200t doesn't... well it can be revved, but there is no point as no power comes after 4000RPM and sound is just not good. You can check my impressions on RC200t here... after a year I have not changed my opinion much:

I cannot 100% confirm that, but I understand there is space and mounting points for speakers on rear deck. Based on what @Inazone said I assume the actual holes for the speakers are not cut in the metal partition. However if you have folding rear seats it will be easy to confirm this. Here is thread for US with some nice diagrams, just keep in mind that what's is called "standard" is equivalent to "premium" system in UK model. In your car you would have speakers fitted to only locations (2), (3) and (4): https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-3rd-gen-2014-present/875986-is350-speaker-sizes.html One other thing to note - I do not recommend fitting sub to rear deck. Yes it would look OEM, but Lexus did it because of compromise between space and cost. Any boxed sub (even relatively compact) will deliver far better quality and performance... at the cost of taking space of 3 milk jugs in the boot. Besides, you may struggle to find sub suitable for being mounted in ... basically open air. Most of standard sub-woofers are meant to be fitted into enclosures.

I am not sure if that is best comparison to make, but if Lexus idea of turbo charging the same same as going from e9X BMW V8 to G2x/8x L6T... than no thank you.. I rather have V8. This says nothing about how fast and great new M cars are and on paper they are indeed amazing, but pure speed does not translate into same experience as V8. Sure on track new M3 probably drives circles around old one, but roads are not tracks and once can have more fun in V8 car whilst still staying "close" to legal limits.

I used to have 2008 IS250 SE-L, got it ~122k miles, sold it ~193k miles... still goes strong with minimal service and as far as I am concerned drives better than my RC200t despite being nearly 10 years older. Sure modern conveniences are not the same, like adaptive suspension, LED lights, infotainment system and looks, but mk2 IS was more solidly built car and for it's time very well equipped.

Yes they would be black...

To be fair, that is first thing I checked and EBC nowadays only offers Yellowstuff on RCF, maybe at some point they were temporarily making Greenstuff for it...

Likely EBC Greenstuff... or somebody were very stylish and painted the brake pads 😄

Can you give little bit more detail of settings and conditions e.g. outside temp, what temperature you have set, is AC on, fresh air or recirculation? It may still be an issue with some sensor as it seems system is certainly not working correctly based on what you are describing.

It is not impossible and it does not require any really specialised tools. However, the amount of parts coming off is quite scary and it is important to keep track of all parts, where they go and how to put the thing back together. In a sense, this is just tedious job of keeping track of parts, but not otherwise difficult, complex or costly.

Corvettes and Camaros are cheap to begin with, they like cost of Golf GTI... so when they 10 years old they really make sense to import if you into such thing. Further, we don't really have much to compare against, so there is no positive or negative value proposition. Whereas in this case we kind of have very similar cars - RC-F is actually better (equipped) and 2 doors, and if somebody wants 4-doors then GS-F again is far better in any measurable way, and both will be cheaper after considering importing and tax.

... what a shame Lexus made it and sold it banking on their reliable brand recognition.... 😁

Another sad story of IS220d... what a shame!

Yep, sounds about right... cold 4 banger on the other end. It would be interesting to know if getting it up to temp smoothens the sound further. After watching first video I was amazed Lexus dealer fobbed you off, it was so clearly wrong... as well I never heard of procedure "emptied the water from exhaust". This is the new one!

As well interior is just simple IS, no bucket seats like GS-F or RC-F, no carbon inlays... On flip side - cheaper to maintain as well, standard pads, standard discs, standard panels (less the bonnet). Somewhat unrelated question - but what are the other differenced between AA81E and AA80E? I always have a feeling like AA80E shifts quicker as well and I feel final gear ration is shorter? That is like 100% guaranteed! They don't bring "cheap and cheerful" cars to UK...

Yes, but IS500 isn't really covering for GS-F, nor RC-F going... I guess you right - it is mild attempt to fill that gap. Again about LC-F we will see what happens, if the article to be believed then there is something else coming, but then definitely won't be IS-F ... and LC-F would be the only other alternative. I still doubt it...

I am not sure, if you can call it - "missed the point". Rather don't understand the logic behind it. I guess I can agree it seems they want to treat American buyers with something little bit more powerful, since dropping IS-F, GS-F and soon RC-F will leave big gap in terms of performance oriented vehicles. But still timing of this was weird. The TT V6 rumour was around before even LC was launch, must be floating since 2016 if not before that, so I don't buy into it at all. LC-F rumour was around since the day LC was just announced. Would Lexus really debut LC-F 4-5 years after model launch (unless you are saying LC-F launch is imminent)? What would be point of that? I am pretty sure LC convertible is the last thing we will get from LC. True IS4 is big question as well, the last thing I heard was that Lexus killing IS altogether, you right saying that new IS is not mk4, I personally call it mk3.5, but it is not facelift either. I would not place any bets, because nobody expected even this IS to debut, so maybe after all Lexus changed the mind about discontinuing IS. IS500 definitely won't cost $65-66k - that would make it more expensive/same price as RC-F (it sells for $65k). More likely $55k.# In the end of the day Lexus line-up and model choices around the world didn't make sense for last 8 years or so, and it is getting less sensible every year, especially where UK/EU is concerned. I guess US line-up was better.

Looking at it that way, I guess you right - in countries with undemocratic charges on co2 there is no business case, but not all countries are like that. As I always said - I don't mind recycling old tech, especially if it is as good as Lexus V8.. and I would choose V8 any day over some crappy 2l turbo, but the price has to be right...

well... the IS500 is basically an IS-F, looking at running gear spec. ... so I guess yes... My point was that current RC-F is last or penultimate year for the model. Meaning in 2023 there will be no RC or RC-F in range. But If Lexus continues with IS, maybe some day they will make convertible or coupe version of IS, as they did with mk2 IS250/350C... and because now they have 500, so maybe IS500C. Obviously, if rumours of "true" IS-F are true and if we as well assume that there will be RC mk2 (both are big assumptions), then in theory "future" RC500 will be similar spec as current RC-F, and RC-F will be something even more powerful.