Rate it or Hate it?

[Alpine*]

Just curious what the consensus here is, and are there any experiences with the car amongst our little community.

Scenario, you have had the M3, the new car is a long way off and will be a price premium for a year after release. You want a V8, and you guess that a RRP of $135k is way off what you would end up paying.

I know there is a new IS range out in the next month but the ISF as is will be round for a while.

[Convert]

I like them, despite numerous bad reviews. Good value, but never driven one though.

But I guess if you're looking at automatic, V8, why not go all the way and look at a C63? I know you said you'd only ever consider a Black

[HecticX5]

For 135k i would go a lightly used/demo C63 AMG. The only time i would ever consider the ISF is if my budget was at 90k, there are a few i remember seeing with demo kms at those prices. At 90-100k bracket i reckon its a worthwhile car to look at, but personally i'm not happy with the design so i would rather save 20k and go for the new 300 SRT8 with updated 8sp trans. Can't wait to see how hideous the new ISF looks...

[Alpine*]

Some may laugh, but I don't do used, lightly or otherwise, unless it was my dream car (GT3 RS) of course.

C63s are in a different price range to the ISF, as Hectic says, if you get to the $100k price point it may be a good deal.

The MY2013 cars are updated somewhat from the early cars, dampers, steering etc, and they seem to review much better than in the past. I had a look at one yesterday, awesome quality product, panel gaps and the fit and finish in general.

What really is worrying is that they only sell maybe 5 or 6 per ISFs per year in Canberra, needless to say they haven't really flown out of the showrooms and as such one must have resale concerns if one is a habitual buy/sell kinda person

Seems like a nice product though, sounds the biz too.

[John_01]

My friend has one. He is happy mostly with it, but thinks he should have got an M3. He says it feels quite front heavy and doesn't have the steering of the M3. If you want a cruiser with a traditional sounding V8 its not a bad car.

[Superdaws]

I drove one of the first ones, nice sounding V8 (just not quite as good as the 63) and as you stated, it is actually very good quality. Reliability would be way above the others... Front heavy and doesnt handle nearly as well as the competition. I really liked the mark levinson audio.

The fake twin pipes on the rear really get to me though, the top pipe on each side does nothing and is not connected...

Would i buy one over an M3, no way especially with the current M3 pricepoint, but if you want something different...

[david.orr]

Mate loves Lexus, has had a few and I have driven most but not the ISF. Don't like Lexus' steering and suspension feed, luxurious but yet plasticy interior (I know go figure), cruiser car nature, ........ I can't imagine a true car enthusiast driving them. So I guess hate for me.

Supercharged M3 would be ideal bridge to M3/M4?

[HecticX5]

Drop it down to 99k which shouldn't be too hard and you have a bang for your buck black betty. I actually am warming to this...damn you Alpine!

http://www.carsales.com.au/demo/deta...11745699/?Cr=4

[Linwe]

Originally Posted by Superdaws

The fake twin pipes on the rear really get to me though, the top pipe on each side does nothing and is not connected...

I agree, quad pipes are usually sexy as hell but those ISF pipes are fugly.

I would go Mercedes or Audi before the Lexus unless you are looking for a fast cruiser, not a bruiser

[drjekl]

The thing with lexus is you rarely have problems with them, and the service regime is bloody fantastic.

When its time for a service, they pick your car up from you at your house/office and drop a loan vehicle off and they offer free car washes generally for 3 years (or you can pay extra to extend it) whilst you sip on a latte and eat their assortment of pastries and muffins.

I haven't driven an is-f but have heard a few of them and for an oem car i reckon they have a much better sounding engine in comparison to the m3 which is quite on idle and startup with an oem setup.

One is-f owner i knew who had owned a few premium euro products stated that for a daily driver its much better then a cayman etc

[ttimbo]

John, why not listen to your inner bogan, and get the new HSV GTS? That has to be about the best expression of a V8 in this country, and I suspect it won't have the downsides of the Lexarse in terms of resale (still plenty of CUBs around, even in Cambra!)

[John_01]

Regarding the IS-F fake exhaust argument: To me it is totally a non-issue.

If you have a close look at the 2010 model IS-F you will see that none of the four chrome tips are connected directly to the mufflers. It has as dual exhaust system with a muffler on each side like most other high performance V8 cars. Each muffler has two short steel outlet pipes which are aimed at two fake-looking chrome rings. All four outlets pass the exhaust gasses. In reality it is exactly equivalent to the M3 exhaust, and most importantly it sounds pretty tough too. I don't really know why Jeremy Clarkson started the whole thing about Lexus exhausts.

[drjekl]

Originally Posted by ttimbo

I suspect it won't have the downsides of the Lexarse in terms of resale (still plenty of CUBs around, even in Cambra!)

Haha are you sure about that!?!

My mate bought a 4 year old gts for $40k, you cant buy a decent isf for under $70k and the ones in the $60s are rough!

[bmw1mc]

good car and bucket loads of features! plus I read somewhere it did a higher top end than the M3... very sleeper imo

[WAY]

I drove one a couple of years back too. Very good cruiser, and will drift easily with the diff being standard. But the interior just isn't for me. I really don't understand what a Toyota green digital clock is doing on such a high end car. One of my family members has the hybrid SUV 450h thingy, and its the same story. Sad.

[Alpine*]

Originally Posted by WAY

I drove one a couple of years back too. Very good cruiser, and will drift easily with the diff being standard. But the interior just isn't for me. I really don't understand what a Toyota green digital clock is doing on such a high end car. One of my family members has the hybrid SUV 450h thingy, and its the same story. Sad.

What clock do you mean? Maybe the dash has changed since you saw it previously? (Love the fact that the dash is focused on the tachometer, big and in the centre)

[sparoz]

C63

[WAY]

Hmm, maybe it has changed. That does look very nice! There used to be a Toyota green digital clock on the centre console somewhere.

[Alpine*]

Originally Posted by sparoz

C63

$40-$50,000 more money?

[WAY]

Originally Posted by Alpine*

$40-$50,000 more money?

I agree, not in the same price range in real world.

[Superdaws]

Originally Posted by WAY

Hmm, maybe it has changed. That does look very nice! There used to be a Toyota green digital clock on the centre console somewhere.

Pretty sure interior was updated in 2012? moved more towarcds the LF-A interior.

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by Alpine*

$40-$50,000 more money?

That much more? I didn't realise .