Lexus image in the UK

[V8Granite]

The LC500 is gorgeous, they sound better than any AMG or BMW with a little exhaust work and in that special red they look far more classy and expensive than they are.

The seats in the ISF were fantastic, the entertainment system though is a bit of a joke, like a badly laid out Amstrad. The service my FIL gets from Lexus in Cambridge when he takes in his IS250 though is very impressive.

Go get a red one, enjoy a wonderful car.

Dave!

[Carlos]

They do a lovely blue as well.

[Rich B]

I don't think they really know what they want to be. They made big bland barges with flat seats and dull designs. Then they made a crazy supercar with an awesome engine. Then they made big bland barges with flat seats and jarring designs. Then they made a weird folding converable with zero sporting aspirations (and flat seats). Then they make smaller coupe barges with flat seat and jarring designs.

Overall, it's clearly the flat seats that are putting me off.

The seats of a performance coupe. They look like they belong in a Chrysler sedan.

It was specifically the seats which my business partner’s father loved, he said they were the most supportive he’d had in any car. Have you sat in any? Or is it the look of the seats that you dislike?

Supportive seats are definitely the sort of reason old people would choose a car.

[240PP]

Lexus is the new Rover (in terms of UK ownership demographic).

Sounds right.

I used to listen to a lot of early to mid 90s US hip hop as a teenager and those chaps were all about the Lexus with relatively little mention of Merc/BMW back then.

[Rich B]

Lexus is the new Rover (in terms of UK ownership demographic).

Sounds right.

I used to listen to a lot of early to mid 90s US hip hop as a teenager and those chaps were all about the Lexus with relatively little mention of Merc/BMW back then.

ive not done any verified studies on the matter, but I'd say there were FAR more references in hip hop to Mercedes (or more specifically Benz's) than Lexii.

[240PP]

Now you mention it, yes they were partial to a Benz. And to further discredit my own post I’ve found a song with them all in

[integrale_evo]

I can definitely remember my mate who was into his hip hop in the early 90s loved Lexus before anyone here had really heard of them.

Odd that in the US they treat different badges as totally different brands. I’ve hear they have always been posh Toyotas.

I was going to say maybe because they’re used to having so many domestic brands selling restyled versions of the same cars while being owned by the same company. Then I remember we also had BL here

[Mito Man]

VAG not much better, you can buy the same car across 3/4 different brands.

Toyota had an older person image problem in the US too, so they made the Scion brand which was meant to be cool and for youngsters. But it sounded shit and no one knew about it and the youngsters who wanted a Toyota just bought a Toyota

[mik]

So I've been shopping for an LC500 for a while now. Pretty much given up, limited budget, rare car and me wanting a specific spec...

I assumed these were now reaching “feasible” for you? What are your spec-ific must-haves?

[Matty]

So I've been shopping for an LC500 for a while now. Pretty much given up, limited budget, rare car and me wanting a specific spec...

I assumed these were now reaching “feasible” for you? What are your spec-ific must-haves?

I'm after a Sport+ (RWS, LSD, Carbon roof, and more) Financially yes - I mean, they're at the top of my budget, I'm not on casually-purchase-a-new-Cayenne-money just yet but it's not really the up front captical cost, it's the TCO that I'm finding difficult to justify.

I always buy/sell privately. It's saved me many multiples of thousands over the years...but as per this thread, LC owners are typically your wealthy/middle class mature types, they barely ever come up for sale privately, less so given the spec I want. So I'll need to buy and sell back to a dealer....buy back prices are terrible, as these are slow sellers, so the TCO for something like this over 2 years (inc servicing, consumables, tax) could be £10-15k. I consider a *bad* TCO over 2 years to be £5k for me, so this just blows that out of the water.

Next, it's justifying that type of car. It's a near 5m long, 2m wide, 2ton luxury GT. I live on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, with lots of time spent on shit roads in poorer parts of town...there's a certain element of 'What's the point'...Which does also lend a certain aspect of anxiety with parking, narrow roads, especially as I live in a small village where potholes are considered 'part of the charm' it seems. A guy on PH sold his after 10 months for exactly this reason.


So yeah....TL;DR. The more time I actually spend thinking about it, the more I'm convinced an Evora400 is the better choice, especially financially. I'm usually very, very certain about what car I want next, so this is pretty unusual for me. And it would just be terrible for me if I had to default to an Evora...1st world problems.

[mik]

All sounds fair and well considered. I think they look (and based on a very brief encounter when one pulled up at lights and then departed whilst I was on foot) sound great. Auto probably suits it as they are big heavy buggars.

[Carlos]

If you can afford £12k over 2 years why put a max figure on it.

Admittedly I'm 47 now and it's probably only the last 5 years I've not dwelled on the cost of things rather than live on the basis of can I afford to indulge in something I want regardless of cost and perceived value.

Your only getting one go at this

[Jobbo]

Have you driven one Matt? I suspect the want-one factor is greater than the live-with factor; most of the ones for sale have low mileages.

[Matty]

If you can afford £12k over 2 years why put a max figure on it.

Admittedly I'm 47 now and it's probably only the last 5 years I've not dwelled on the cost of things rather than live on the basis of can I afford to indulge in something I want regardless of cost and perceived value.

Your only getting one go at this

See it was the other way around for me. Until I turned 40 I didn't really GAF about spending money...but now I've started to be far more cautious, despite being in a very financially stable situation. I almost feel like the more I earn, the less I want to spend it.

Have you driven one Matt? I suspect the want-one factor is greater than the live-with factor; most of the ones for sale have low mileages.

No. Never even sat in one but TBH never sat in many of the cars I've previously bought. I just find that a 30 min drive tells you absolutely nothing until you've lived with it for a few weeks...I think I would have dismissed quite a few cars I've gone onto enjoy immensley (like my SLK55, and the Up) based a test drive.

Agreed on the want/live factor. Made worse by the dealer purchase - I'd be taking a massive bath if I decided after 3-4 months it was a bad buy.

[Jobbo]

I’m sure you read the thread on PH by someone who bought one. It was going to be a keeper forever; but he sold it within a year.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... 72677&i=40

[Matty]

I’m sure you read the thread on PH by someone who bought one. It was going to be a keeper forever; but he sold it within a year.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... 72677&i=40

Yeah saw that one, but only due to potential redundancy which did in the end happen (apparently)

This was also recent:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... 988676&i=0

(As an aside - no idea what they were thinking with this edition, black/black on small wheels? Terrible)

His notes being:

Living in the middle of a massive dairy farming area, with miles of single track roads to cover before hitting any kind of sensible road was massively stressful any time I wanted to take her for a drive

Not easy to use on anything other than a UK A road or similar. (OK, it's a big coupe/GT so that's more of a Me problem!)
Literally more than the sum of its parts - the price of some of the carbon & CRP panels is eye watering, a low speed whack from the rear could easily be £30-50k of damage.
Has the same theft vulnerabilities as the rest of the Lexus/Toyota line up. Whilst aftermarket mitigations are available, a thief may not know that until they have ripped off the bodywork.

[Jobbo]

The telling comment is on the last page of that first one - he didn’t have pangs for it when he saw it advertised.

[Rich B]

Yep, lame flat seats...

[Mito Man]

Buy Evora 400, drive for a few years until bored and sell it. Replace with big Lexus which will have depreciated substantially like all big V8 GTs do and done the bulk of it's depreciation by then.
I should start charging for sharing my extremely high levels of IQ

[mik]

Buy Evora 400, drive for a few years until bored and sell it. Replace with big Lexus which will have depreciated substantially like all big V8 GTs do and done the bulk of it's depreciation by then.
I should start charging for sharing my extremely high levels of IQ

Also buy Evora 400, because Evora 400