JimmyTightlips

Facelifts are very rare in the UK, there's only one other for sale at the moment, a 2013 car for £29k - which is too much imo (and it has a white interior, so not for you) I've gone the import route as facelifts are far more common in Japan and generally a bit cheaper for a much cleaner car; there are obvious downsides to imports though, so it really depends on you as to whether you think it's worth looking into. For me, personally, it definitely is.

I've got an IS-F on the way from Japan, can't wait. Hoping to get a GS F one day, can't get insured on one at the moment though - so the IS-F will be a stopgap until then.

Yeah, Torque will do it for you as part of the process.

It's really simple actually, it's just a replacement fascia, it doesn't change anything else: https://lockwoodinternational.co.uk/product/lexus-isf-mph-dial-part-no-c1654/ So all the original electronic elements remain the same as they were - in KM, in Japanese You can't do this on the pre-facelifts because they've got the fancy original dials.

The speedo I'm having updated to MPH. There's an easy replacement available for the facelift cars. With the pre-facelifts I don't think there's any way to convert to MPH aside from buying an entirely new speedo, which is obviously very expensive. The odometer I'm just keeping as KM, as I don't think there's any way to change that.

I've definitely got the technical experience to do it, I build / repair PC's and game consoles as a hobby so I shouldn't have any problems. I think more than anything else it probably comes down to time / money / can I be bothered Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Lovely car, hope you enjoy. I've still never seen one in person, looks like the people of Kent are lucky to have two about

The top spec LBX starts at £40,555, and the GR Yaris starts at £44,250 I can't see it being cheaper than either of these. I desperately want this thing to be sold here - with the 6MT.

Thanks Do you know if I'd be able to take the black fascia off my IS-F and attach it to the new head unit? CD Player included, or are they permanently attached? If this is possible - I've also noticed that the button position is flipped on JDM cars (e.g. on UK cars Climate and Audio are on the driver's side, whereas on JDM they're on the passenger side) - do you know if this would cause any problems or not? (i.e. would it say climate but actually bring up the map when pushed etc.)

Something I've been wondering, What options are available to get (OEM) UK Sat Nav / English language on JDM head units? Would it just be a case of sourcing a UK head unit (from an IS250 or 200d), ripping out the HDD and sticking it in the IS-F? Or are the drives locked to the specific head unit they shipped with? If so, it's something I'd be interested in looking into as I have a few ideas. Alternatively, would it be a case of installing an entire UK head unit into the car? Would that work, or are the connectors different? I'd also want to keep the black buttons / trim from the IS-F, are these detachable so I could remove them and put them on the UK unit? I'm not personally too interested in an aftermarket system, as I like to try and keep my cars as stock as possible - warts and all.

It's an IS250 Sport, 55 Plate, Manual, Silver, 109k miles with the Nav pack.

How long are you willing to wait for a 250? I'll be selling mine later in the year as I'm importing an IS-F, happy to let it go for cheap in the interest of a quick sale. That'll be late November though, so might be a bit too much of a wait for you.

I've no final figure just yet, as the payment is split up into a larger initial payment and an additional, smaller, one when I pick the car up. There's liable to be a bit of movement in the final price, but the estimate is about £19,500. You can get pre-facelifts from Japan for significantly cheaper than this too; most imports are going to be better than a UK car for the same price, though won't necessarily be worth more on the resale market (i.e. my car will be worth significantly less than a UK equivalent 2012). The process itself was very fast. I was aiming to get a Mesa Red or Ultrasonic Blue but they're very, very rare in Japan so that could have been quite the wait. Most over there seem to be Black or White. This car popped up a little over a week after we started the search and was otherwise perfect (Grey is my third favourite colour regardless), so I couldn't really sit by and let it pass as I doubt we'd have found another one this nice for a while. And again, given the rarity of Red and Blue cars - I may very well have been forced to go for a different colour anyway even if I had waited longer. It's estimated that the car should take about 14 - 18 weeks to arrive, get registered and have all the appropriate work done, so it's a fair wait. Best to start as soon as possible - especially if you have any specific requirements.

They have a variety of cars for sale at the moment in their showroom, but they tend to focus on JDM Exclusives and things like RX-7's, Skylines, Evo's etc. and not so much on cars like this and the 350. I've used their import service where they'll help source any car of your choice and handle everything for you - the auction, shipping, fees, registration and MOT. If you wanted a 350, they'd be able to find one for you. When you consider all the import fees, and the actual prices of these cars in Japan, I'd imagine the cost of a 350 wouldn't be too far removed from that of an F - so it'd definitely be worth taking some time to figure out how much it would cost and whether it's worth it or not.

I'm actually in half a mind to buy a UK Spec number plate holder for the car, as I prefer the way they look. As it's a 2012 it should be Euro 5 compliant, which doesn't really matter...yet. You can faintly see the flare in one of the interior shots (below the photo of the gauge cluster)

Here's some other photos I have 👍

Thanks, I've always loved the 2010 - 2011 wheels on your car too. Torque have been excellent, really happy with the experience so far.

Mercury Grey I believe - colour code is 1H9. Only on 2012+ cars as far as I know.

Torque GT, same as @BenH22

Thank you, they're really nice. I wasn't even aware that this wheel design existed until very recently, so it's nice to have a bit of a rarer spec.

Thanks, its only just arrived at the docks so it'll likely be a fair wait. Hopefully I should be on the road before the end of the year, all going well, though.

Really excited to share that there'll soon be another IS-F on our roads, which I'll be the lucky owner of. It's a 2012 on just over 50k miles, in absolutely stunning condition. I'll be sure to keep you all up to date and share some more photos once it arrives.

I mean compared to the E90 M3, W204 C63 and B7 RS4 - I think the ISF has the nicest interior by far. At the risk of derailing this thread even more than I already have - how much did it cost you to import yours? Just trying to build up an idea of the costs involved (on top of the cost of the car) to figure out what I might be able to buy within my budget.

Oh yeah, I have nothing against Cat S cars in of themselves; as long as the job's been done properly I don't see any issue. It's just that one in particular rubbed me the wrong way the more I thought about it, quite a few things just seemed "off" so I decided against it. But who knows, maybe someone got the bargain of the century there.

No that one wasn't me either. After sitting on it I simply couldn't bring myself to drop so much money on a Cat S car with a (seemingly) dodgy history. I'm happy to pay a few grand extra for something I know I can trust. I think I might look down the import route a bit later in the year, once the insurance on my 250 completes so I can get my years' no claims from it.