H3XME

Yeah but like I said, online you are just a number or a bunch of data. Might be a different conversation over the phone.

AF, Keith Michaels etc are modified/import specialit. They won't really help you.. Try calling these: https://www.nfumutual.co.uk/motor-insurance/ www.sterling-insurance.co.uk/ https://www.marshmallow.com/insurance-for-expats https://www.insurancefactory.co.uk/car-insurance

Gotta get over it. Insurance makes 0 sense here. In terms of how they generate the prices, but you need a specialist rather than online website. They just look at data. I checked again earlier just out of curiosity. Online comparison websites still quote me £900-1000 for my IS250 (that's with saying the car is not modified). Yet in reality I pay £480/year.. Online quotes are really bad because you don't have that human interaction that can often drive the price down. Online, you're just numbers, not a human. Have a look on Google if there is a specialist insurance that works with people from Europe/Other countries.

Call esure & aviva to see if they can do a better price over the phone. It costs them money by being on the comparison sites so companies are often cheaper over the phone.

If you want to get angry, watch this video..😂 ridiculous. He goes through insurance profits in the past years and struggles to see how they can justify such big premiums.

Will your current insurance not let you put the IS250 on your cover? I never buy a new policy when changing cars. I just change the car on the policy and pay their admin fee..

You'll know when you hear it. It's like a chain rattle for 1s. It doesn't sound healthy at all but doesn't actually cause any issues.. it's just a good haggling tool really. Yeah, you'll never know until some time later about the oil, but basically check for blue smoke as soon as you start the car.

I think that for £3500 you're not getting a bad deal there. The service book looks okay. I can see the bumpers have scratches etc but 90% of them do. Dash could be a bit better, unfortunately it's a bit damaged & cracked around the top vents as you can see. The headliner is a bit dirty, but otherwise seems ok from the pics. If it doesn't rattle on a cold or hot start and if it doesn't burn oil, it should be fine 🙂 That's all I can say from just looking at the ad. MOT history is not awful but it seems like it's been ran on a budget.. brakes have been flagged up multiple times etc. Minor stuff though.. Realistically, for £3500 it's a good car. Exhaust actually looks fine. Doesn't look to be sagging too much. It's normally that one side sags more than the other but these look pretty even actually. See what you can haggle on, but it's a dealer and it's a 17 years old car, so good luck. EDIT: Just noticed that the "cup holder" inside the arm rest is missing and there is 3 kinds of wheel nuts on the pic of the front wheel..

I think you’re getting some of the cars mixed up. For the 2IS IS250, the SE wasn’t the base spec car. It came with leather, heated & air con’d seats, heated mirrors and 17s as standard. The base spec car didn’t even have a proper trim level name. It was just “is250” or “v6”.. cloth interior, 16” wheels, manual seats etc. SE-L & Sport are the “best” equipped cars. Both have auto dimming mirrors, electric memory seats, electric steering column that moves away when you turn the car off, both had xenon’s with headlight washers. Sunroof and Sat nav (ML) was an option on both. The difference is that Sport came with microsuede seats (not the same as Cloth in base or SR model) and aluminium pedals which SE-L doesn’t have. SE-L had the rear shade that was unique to the SE-L trim. As for radar CC that almost doesn’t matter because there was like 10 cars that had it in the uk. all I’m saying is, with a limited budget and not wanting to catch a train outside of the midlands, looking for a black on black SE-L will be a difficult and long process for minimal benefits in the real world. I’d be shopping for something I will use rather than something that’s just “nice to have”, but again, with a tight budget and high expectations you need to compromise somewhere. Retro fitting most stuff isn’t hard nor expensive.

Insurance doesn’t make much sense, but online quotes go off set criteria so if an only quote comes out 1k more for a newer car it’s because it should in theory be a higher value. Look for other models? SE-L isn’t really much of an upgrade in real life usability.. you won’t even know about the headlight washers and I’ve not come across anyone who’d be actively using the rear shade. Touch screen/camera was an option on all trims so if you just want leather look for SE? and as for the interior colour.: that’s minor. I converted my cream interior to black one for less than £300. Interior is cheap.

Have you gone in the settings (password protected menu) and selected the correct vehicle so the HVAC UI is working? I've had funny issues until I did that.

Oh that's some cool details! Didn't know that. Thanks

Ah, didn't know about the airbox being standard. Yeah, Matt with IS350 was/is selling his as well. They're not even that light given the spec of them. Heavier than my Supra wheels that are wider.

UK Spec F Sport differed in the following: Boot spoiler 18" Enkei alloys Half leather half alcantara seats ~10mm Lowering springs Aluminium pedals Mesh grille Black headliner There was a good few optional extras available, just not sure if they were available in the UK. JDM F Sports could have an optional lip kit, exhaust, airbox, 15mm lowering springs, 19" wheels etc.

I know, yeah. I've never had to do the FPS recall on any of my 3 previous IS250s 😂 Airbag I did 3x and now the 4th time. I do take pics of the dash in case. It's spotless, so they better keep it that way. My car has not been driven from 2019 until 2023 at all. Got it in February with 79k miles. Not sure where it was kept but like I said, i've never seen such a good dash on these. Although, I never had any issues, the green one was the only 250 with a couple of small 10mm sticky spots and 2 hairline cracks near the centre vents.

Yeah that's better. That being said I did have 2G 32 in my previous one and it was absolutely fine for my use. I only used the carplay feature. I don’t know what it would be like if you were to play Netflix or something on it. Nope, mine doesn't have the M&L & camera, but you can put the aftermarket camera in place of the original one as it's gonna have a way better resolution. The only trouble is that some head units weren't compatible with M&L cars, you can easily check with them before ordering but I think the main issue were facelift cars. So 2008 should be compatible just fine. Like I said, worth messaging the seller prior to purchasing.

2G 32GB is a pretty weak spec for the price tag.. I've ordered a 4G 32GB unit for £160 from aliexpress. Same as the one you're looking at. Works fine, no issues. It's not my first AliExpress head unit, always happy with it to be honest. I really don't see the benefit of ordering through resellers that double the price just because it may be in the UK already.

@nathanielchapman have you got an outstanding recall on your car by any chance? Mine's going in today for the airbag recall but also FPS. Recall AGGB7 AGGB7# (R/SSC) - C/I for EUR = 4KET-991 - For UR GR fuel pressure sensor

Yeah well that's it. I keep having this conversation with my dad. He wants something new, but there is really f#ck all to choose from if you don't want an "older" car.. I am working on him though! He does like the 3IS 350 or Toyota Crown (2013+) also with the same 2GR engines, but doesn't feel brave enough to buy an import without being able to see it / drive it first.

To be honest, the handling itself is not bad at all, even on the 300h. I did enjoy everything the car did until I wanted to GO. So performance isn't necessarily measured in HP or 0-60times, but I mostly agree with you. It's like most of the the marketing everywhere. They always want to "trick" you into thinking it's the best thing ever. I don't have an issue with it. At the end of the day, people should make their own opinion on stuff. e.g. Go for a test drive, it may suit you and only you. I only have an issue with the fact that the looks doesn't match the feeling from under the right foot unless you get the RCF..(..or 350 but that's less relevant as it wasn't never sold on this continent). Again, I agree.. people want flashy cars without the bills of flashy cars😂 Makes those body shapes a lot less special. 4 series is a good looking car, but when you see the 420D badge on the back of it, it's a huge anti-climax 😂

It seems like every time there is a car discussion, we always come to the same conclusion. The answer is always RC350 🇯🇵😅

Purely from a marketing perspective, this is exactly why they called it 300h, not 200h. 300 looks better and marketing is all about making something look good enough for you to want it, and they have achieved just that. If anything, it was VERY clever marketing. Especially when you take into account 90% Lexus clientele. They seek luxury, comfort, serenity & smoothness. And the 300h powertrain does just that and you will be happy with it UNTIL you step on its neck. That's where things go south, but for most people, this is acceptable.. everyone's so scared of fuel bills and speeding tickets and not enough people appreciate a good engine. 300h makes sense. One thing I'll never get over though is the deceiving design, I can't even fault the car for this, because 350 would be perfect and there would be no issues, IF they ever brought it to this side of the world.

Oh, if your insurance is only £550 then it makes sense.the best quote I had was £1700 on a facelift rc300h.. In comparison is250 cost me under £500/year and the 3.5 mark x is only £150ish more. For £200odd I'd do it! You'll have the option to keep it if you pay the final balloon payment.

It's good for a normal commuter. No issues, good cars. I just personally think that they're not worth the money especially when you consider the fact most insurance companies will hit you with a big quote because it's a newer lexus despite them not being really the target of the thefts. You're better off importing a RC350 for similar money that you won't struggle to insure.

But wouldn't that be covered under their warranty since they give 10 years?