wharfhouse

Attached is the IS 300h brochure from circa 2016. The SE did not have parking sensors as standard and it was quite basic in equipment levels (including no split folding rear seats as mentioned already and this could not be added as an option, and for some strange reason no tow bar can be fitted, which it can in other trim levels). There were a limited number of items that were optional, but many of the missing features over other trim levels could not be added, optional upgrades were: - upgrade to leather seats (manual operation still) - add navigation (standard not premium) - add parking pack, front and rear parking sensors Depending on your needs therefore, although all IS 300h have the same drive train and therefore performance, I would have a good think about whether the SE has the features you want in it and have a look at whether any of the above factory options were added. The SE does tend to be a reasonable amount cheaper than other trims due to the lack of features. There are quite a few IS 300h available in various (higher then SE) trim levels and of different age/mileage in the dealer network to choose from. Lexus IS.pdf

Your location is down as Sutherland (so I assume you are UK based) but you are looking at a car with 140,000 km on it? - if you are looking to take advantage of the Lexus Service Activated Warranty that can cover the car to 10 years old / 100,000 miles (whichever comes first) - as 140,000km is about 87,000 miles, did you actually mean to type km or miles - this could have a significant difference on price and future risk.

From what I've read over the years no-one to date seems to have identified a reason why the head units fail on changing the 12V battery. It does seem to be the premium audio, the 8 speaker setup, which are manufacturered by Pioneer rather than the 6 speaker setup, which is manufactured by Fujitsu Ten - but I don't think even that is absolute. The safest option is to have Lexus change the 12V battery - from what I understand they don't charge much for this over the cost of the battery (which is quite expensive anyway as it's an AGM one) as if the head unit then fails to start up it should be there responsibility to sort out a replacement. Whether they take any particular precautions who knows...

Is it possible to post a copy of that policy clause here? There is nothing in the T&Cs on the website that state that and as I say I only checked this back in November with them at length and had it confirmed it writing it was as per the website.

Sorry - yes just checked the website and realised this. When mine renewed I emailed the Lexus AA contact as the T&Cs on the website are contradicting in places and have in writing from them what is covered, which reflects the website - i.e. Myself and my wife driving any car.

What do you mean by personal cover?

Do make sure though that you get the services done at or just before the 12 months / 10K miles to keep the warranty intact without a gap - I don't think there is much flexibility if you go over the service interval and a problem covered by warranty then pops up just before or at the next service. BTW, if you haven't already, have a look at the Lexus Roadside Assistance (LRA) https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/roadside-assistance - it covers you and a nominated partner to drive any car in the UK (and your Lexus for European Travel) - not sure what your MB breakdown covered, but for example in my case (which may or may not apply for you), the LRA covers myself and my wife driving either my Lexus or her Toyota, so no need for her to pay for a separate breakdown cover for the Toyota.

If that's for 4x services (2x full and 2x intermediate) 4x MoTs and 4x years of Lexus Roadside Assistance then sounds a good price - I'm sure that paying indivually for those would total more and you have locked in the cost for the 4 years against any inflation too.

From feedback on this forum some dealers seem to be more diligent than others... I've heaed good feedback about Lexus Hull on here.

Then it's the face-lift model.

Looking at your pics think you have a face-lift model - or you Google pre and post face-lift and look at the headlights and air intakes either side of the grill you will see the differences. Also if you have square rather than round buttons on the steering wheel you have the face-lift model.

IIRC when I picked up my car in 2016 (though mine was a 2014 model) the pre face-lift Executive had front and rear parking sensors but no reversing camera but the Advance had front parking sensors with reversing camera and an option to add rear parking sensors. I could be wrong as it seems a long time ago now but something sticks in my mind about it. If it has rear sensors you would certainly see the four of them in the bumper.

Agreed - back in 2014 to about 2018 the service record on the Lexus online records (now Lexus Link) was actually quite good (at least for my car) with a reasonable amount of detail. After about 2018 the online entries went very downhill sometimes with missing records and that which is on there is very scant - often just one or two words. Although not infallible, I therefore make sure at least the service book is stamped correctly as the electronic records are clearly of little help...

The hybrid battery is covered until the car is 15 years old but for unlimited mileage so long as the hybrid health check is done on schedule by a Lexus dealer every 12 months / 10k miles (whichever comes first, could be during a service when it is free with the service or if you get it serviced at an indy by paying for the hybrid health check to be done by Lexus separately). At 140k miles though there will be no Relax (free) extended warranty at each service and also the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty can only be purchased until the car is 15 years / 150k miles old. However, if the car is purchased through a Lexus dealer then it should come with a comprehensive one year used car warranty which gives some peace of mind. However, unless it's been used as a taxi (which would probably be a lot of stop/start town driving), a 2019 car with 140k miles would probably have spent most of it's life up and down motorways being very unstressed. If it has a full Lexus service history then even at that high mileage the car probably has a lot of life left in it - possibly more than a similar car that has done half those miles but all around town for example. Lexus and Toyota cars (including many hybrid) still going strong after covering 200k/300k unstressed miles are not unusual. It's really a price vs risk calculation then.

Linas makes a very good point on the road tax (VED). IS 300h registered before the 31st March 2017 benefit from £10 per annum VED (I think this is due to go up to £20 per year soon as the alternative fuel car £10 discount is due to be dropped - in fact IIRC the SE version is zero rated as it was below 110g/km emissions and so in Band A due to smaller wheels - but there was something about this becoming Band B when they do some changes to the bands, but all other trims are in Band B 101 to 110g/km). An IS 300h that was registered after 1st April 2017 will have the flat rate VED of £170 per annum (classed as alternative fuel car) and this will be £180 per annum once the alternative fuel £10 discount goes. Also for cars registered after 1st April 2017, if their list price at time of purchase was over £40,000 you get stung with the "luxury" tax of an additional £380 per annum (due to rise to £390 when the alternative fuel £10 discount goes) for 5 years (from the second time the vehicle is taxed). I am not sure whether any IS 300h fell into this luxury" band (very late model Premier may have or fully spec'd F-Sport, certainly worth checking if you are looking at one of these late models). For the ES then the higher specs of the earlier cars did fall into the "luxury" tax and I think today no ES can be purchased for under £40K. For more details see: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables

We also have our disagreements on the forum but try to keep it reasonably-light hearted. The ES 300h is a bigger car than the IS and was brought to the UK to try and replace both the IS 300h and the GS line. It's a different proposition though, larger than an IS but not quite up to the luxury that was the GS, and the ES is front wheel drive (IS and GS rear wheel drive), whether that matters or not to you is up to you. The ES is a relaxed drive for long distance travel and yes, it has the next generation hybrid system over the IS and so although a bigger car can achieve as good or slightly better mpg compared to the IS. Driving experience of the IS and ES is different - there are a number of members on this forum that have gone IS to ES so a post in the ES group asking for their thoughts might be worthwhile if you are thinking about an ES. Or try and get a drive in both to help you compare in your own mind which better suits you.

In my experience that is low mpg for many drivers. Yes, if one is giving it the beans with a lot of hard acceleration then mpg will be in the 30s and I know others have reported similar for spirited driving. I've also seen the same. For good mpg hybrids benefit greatly from a smoother driving style, that doesn't mean slow but carrying speed rather than scrubbing it off through hard braking and then accelerating hard again. In that respect hybrids are more sensitive to driving style than petrol and especially diesel cars and one finds a different driving style if mpg matters as one lives with the car over months. I do a lot of motorway miles and at more than 65mph but also below a speed where I'd be triggering the motorway speed cameras (assuming these are set to the 10% +2 guidelines even when no restrictions apply). I use the GPS speed on Google maps to be accurate (the IS speedo overreads by about 8%). So you can work out roughly what that means. I generally use cruise control where I can and refrain from racing as fast as possible from one car to the next down the outside lane in busy traffic. I then consistently see over 50mpg in the summer and high 40s in the winter. Cruising at the speed limits on A/B roads will easily see 50s and if careful I've seen 60mpg. Stop start traffic is also mid 40s (sometimes higher) unless one is doing the traffic light grand prix starts all the time. Air temperature does have quite an impact however - best mpg is when the temperature is around 20C (so no need to heat the cabin from the engine running or have much air con working which I leave on all the time) and then drops away either side of this (engine on more in winter to keep it warm and air con more in hot summer months). A 10% difference in mpg between summer and winter is usual. I reset my car computer when I bought the car in 2016 - it was 2 years old with 40k miles and now has 134k miles on it. Over that 94k miles the car computer shows an overall fuel consumption of 48mpg. So that's through all seasons and all sorts of driving, which I estimate includes over 50% on motorways. I used to use the old 95 fuel (mostly supermarket) but when E10 came in I found that hit mpg quite hard so switched to Costco / supermarket E5 which is financially a better buy than E10. So in summary, driving style does impact mpg in a hybrid more than conventional petrol or diesel cars. With spirited driving the hybrid will not deliver much if any improvement over a petrol / diesel only car. But drive to the hybrid strengths (not slow but smooth) and the benefits come through.

The annual Relax warranty (under 100k or 10 years) is free by having the car serviced by a Lexus dealer (it's only available through a service with Lexus, can't be "bought" any other way) and lasts 12months/10k miles (whichever comes first and then you would get the car serviced again to activate for another 12months/10k miles) - see: https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance for info and links to various maintenance related items. Lexus does not give any expected lifetime of the hybrid battery other than they simply "expect" it to last the life of the car! However, by giving it a 15 year unlimited mileage warranty (if you get the hybrid health check done each 12 months/10k miles) I think they are backing that up probably the best that they can. It will fail of course at some point, but if you get to 15 years and perhaps 200k+ miles and they would still replace it for free probably can't ask for any more. If the hybrid battery has a problem you might be able to drive on (it will have a dash light warning lit) - if it dies completely then no you won't be able to drive the car as the hybrid battery is responsible for starting the internal combustion engine (spins it up using one of the electric motors) - there is no traditional starter motor. Very little is reported as going wrong to be fair. General maintenance parts (discs / pads / dampers etc.) all seem on par with any other luxury marques. Quite a few parts are shared with Toyota models and so the price of these is reasonable (in fact you can sometimes buy the part from Toyota cheaper) However, less common parts, particularly those unique to Lexus and/or the IS 300h are the ones that get expensive. However, there are quite a few IS 300h now in breakers yards (that were crashed) and so some used spares can be sourced from there and some members here have got parts from overseas a lot cheaper than buying in the UK. As far as I know, yes 17" wheels can be replaced with 16" wheels but not sure 18" wheels can be (though there was someone who replaced the 18" wheels on a Premier with 17" wheels for better ride comfort). However, the small gain in fuel economy is really not worth the effort and IMHO would spoil the look of the car (unless you were doing it to eg fit winter tyres). By the way, I see you live in Berkshire, same as me. I bought my car from Lexus Reading and have all my servicing/MOT/even tyres done there ever since and I've been happy with the service I've received. I have a service plan with them and I now pay for the Lexus 10 Years Plus Extended Warranty. I can only vouch for my own experience of course, others may disagree, though a few members on here seem to have been happy with Lexus Reading.

The hybrid battery requires no special maintenance or checks that you can do. However, if you have the car serviced at a Lexus dealer you get the following: - Free (Relax) extended (and reasonably comprehensive) warranty from the point of service for 12months / 10k miles whichever comes first (i.e. until the next service is due) - this applies each year until the car is 10years / 100k miles old (whichever come first) - Free Hybrid Health Check that warranties the battery for 12months/10k miles whichever comes first - this can be repeated at every service until the car is 15 years old with unlimited mileage. A Hybrid Health Check can also be done by a Lexus dealer independent of having it serviced there (should you want to service at an indy for example) and costs around £60. - Personally I would go for a car with a full Lexus service history, but each to their own on this. If you buy from a Lexus dealer I think you still get a 12 month used car warranty with them. - There is also an option for when the car is over 10years / 100k miles (when the Relax extended warranty does not apply any more) and this is the Lexus 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty (car does not have to be 10 years old if it has done 100k miles). This cover is very similar to the above free Relax extended warranty, so again reasonably comprehensive, especially compared to any 3rd party warranty. It costs about £500 per year (but includes Lexus Roadside Assistance, worth £155 of that cost) but also requires the car to still be serviced by Lexus. This can be renewed annually until the car is 15 years / 150k miles old (whichever comes first). Some Lexus dealers for some reason are not always aware of the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranty but a call to Lexus customer relations will sort it out. These cars are very reliable and go wrong very little so whether or not any of the above is of interest depends on your attitude to risk. However, when they do go wrong Lexus parts and repairs can be very expensive, depending on what has failed. Oh yes, expected lifetime of the hybrid battery - very long! There have only been a couple of reports of people having to change the hybrid battery on this forum to my knowledge, but in both cases the cars were at around 200K miles. The main part of the tech is basically the same as the Prius and they have been known to cover 200k - 300k miles without any issues with the hybrid part of the drivetrain - it's well tested and proven. Not that things can't go wrong, but a traditional engine blowing up is probably more likely within the same mileage. If the worst does happen with the battery and it's out of warranty it's not the end of the world to have it replaced and there are now places that can also just replace failed cells (it's rarely the whole battery that fails, just some cells).

All models had standard sound (6 speakers) except Premier (which had the Mark Levinson top system as standard) - as Paul says above the 6 speaker standard system is not IMHO all that bad unless you are into having a really good sound system in your car - personally I'm not and I am ok with the standard setup in mine and don't find it inferior to most other standard setups in other brands (BMW/MERC/Audi) that haven't got any added option of better sound. However, any model that has the Premium Nav option (that is the nav with the mouse type controller rather then the dial) fitted, which was an option on only the Luxury and F Sport (but not the Advance or Executive) got the premium sound 8 speaker system as part of that option. The Mark Levinson fitted to the Premier was only an option for the F Sport and no other trim levels.

That's where it's not quite so straightforward for example - Luxury had cloth / Tahara (synthetic leather) with manual adjustment and no heating as standard but with leather trim, power adjustable seats, heating/ventilated as an option. Advance has leather seats with power adjustment and heating/ventilation as standard. Executive has leather and manual adjustment with heating (but no ventilation) as standard but no option to upgrade like the Luxury has...!

Yes, it's not always as simple as the list Linas sent in the "middle ground" as trim levels didn't just build on each other by adding more features, as different trims actually substitute some features for others. Also there were some options (like leather, premium nav etc.) in that "middle ground" that would raise one trim over another if those options were specified, but those options were also not always available for all the trim levels either...! It may be more accurate to put the list as SE>Luxury/Executive/Advance>Premier (where Luxury/Executive/Advance have various features and options and what appeals to one person may not appeal to another) and separate the Sport (a more basic spec around the "middle ground" but with some wheel/bodywork add-ons) and the F-Sport which had it's own particular spec and bodywork parts, some of which were not available on any other trim level. It's worth stating again though that ALL trim levels have the exact same power train, so no difference whatsoever in performance, and only the F-Sport had the handling upgrades (dampers), the rest are again all the same regards handling (other then 18" wheel on the Premier and 16" on the SE). All a bit confusing! That's why you have to compare each car you see carefully - in fact many used car sales don't say any trim level anyway (I think Lexus may) but just list features (though they are not always accurate and so it needs a careful check of the car when viewing it). of adding more features. By the way I have an Executive trim - I chose this at the time (in 2016, when it was a two year old car with 40K miles on it) as it had the must-haves for me (though of course that was very personal for me) and is used for a mix of business and personal use. I still have the car and it's now done 134K miles and I intend to run it for many more miles. Hardly anything has gone wrong and it still drives as good as the day I bought it and the mpg is still the same (over 8 years of all sorts of driving, including a lot of motorway miles my overall average is 48 mpg on the car trip computer - I reset it in 2016 have have left it running since). Good luck in your hunt and feel free to fire off any more questions.

Oops yes, not sure why that didn't link the first time - it's attached to my original post now and also here Lexus IS.pdf

That aligns with difference I have seen over many thousands of miles now of like for like comparisons between E5 and E10. That's also a comparison using the same E5/E10 brand of fuel so takes away differences between brands. 8% is much more than just the E5/E10 ethanol content would suggest, here is the quote from the DoT "The Department for Transport says using E10 petrol can “slightly reduce” fuel economy, but it insists this is only by around 1% to 2%" - comparing to the old E5 that may of course have more merit, but compared to the only E5 available now which is also super-unleaded with higher octane rating (97-99 instead of 95 and maybe with other modifiers too) this slaps of somewhat pulling the wool over peoples eyes...

Lexus IS.pdf Here is the brochure from circa 2016 - however trim levels (like most cars) varied each year but it will give you some idea. Also, in 2017 the IS had a minor facelift and what was included in trim levels changes quite a bit (for the same trim name) too. Lexus decided not to bring the IS to the UK around 2019 and so there in the last year or so there were again some different trim levels for those final year cars. Difficult to compare trim levels over years, best guidance is decide what you must-have and then find cars at the right price/condition with the must-haves and compare the nice-to-haves. Regards mpg, then the biggest impact on mpg for the IS 300h (hybrid, so not the 250 or 200t) is the wheel size - so the SE model has 16" wheels and the best mpg, the mid-range models had 17" wheel and the F-Sport and Premier models 18" wheel and so they have the worst mpg - however between the best and worst isn't that far apart - maybe a few mpg at most.