Autobacs

iTrader: (1)

You gotta pay to play and I don't mean that in a disparaging way.

If I would be worried about a maintenance costs of a car beyond the initial outlay then I'll skip.

When I say worried, I do not mean you can't pay but worried in the sense that the cost/benefit is not worth it to you.

You simply can't get a high performance car and expect to pay economy car maintenance costs.

j8123

iTrader: (3)

I have found this car cheap on maintenance costs. I just turned 30k and all I have done is oil changes, replaced tires, and two airfilters. No complaints here... Other performance cars I have owned in the past have cost me a lot more. Very happy with this as I hate trowing money at a car to maintain it, besides normal needs.

JLMTX83

It all depends on how you drive it. I am going through a set of tires every 8-10k. Brakes are costly, but they are Brembo and it's one of those pay to play deals to me.

ALF6310

I bought my ISF new in March of 2008. Love the care but concur the maintainance cost can be a shocker depending on what you drove before (everything is relative). In my case I switched from a 2006 Infinity G36 with 22,500 miles with original break pad and tires and trouble free.
The shock to me after having the car immaculately maintained for oil changes and all required services was at the 20K service. I had been forewarned at the 15K service that the pads were still fine but should expect to replace them at the next service. I was prepared for the cost of the pads and expected it. The surprise was that the dealer called and told me that the rotors needed to be replaced as well and the cost would be about $1700 for both. The dealer was fair and replaced the rotor at no cost to me because they had not quoted a price or mentioned they might need to be replaced. In my decades of driving, I have never replaced rotors on a car because i drive reasonably and perform all maintainance on schedule.
I do not race the car but do have to do a lot of around town driving which would obviously impact break and rotor life. Maintainance costs will vary depending on your use of the car on a daily basis.
For those who posted long pad and rotor life and low service and maintainance costs, I am betting the live in more rural areas or have long, non stop, computes for most of the driving.
I did complain to Lexus that I felt the pads would be an issue but not the rotors if the car was maintained properly and that i was disappointed that careful servicing of the car would not prevent or lengthen the concurrent cost of rotor replacement. The did respond and sent me a $250 credit for future service.
You are smart to be examining the cost of maintaing the car and with gas prices climbing factor that in as well. On the open road i get almost 26 miles a gallon which is great considering the enjoyment the car provides and the performance. Around town more like 17 (again, not too bad considering the performance you are provided).
Good luck in your search. I do enjoy my ISF a lot. I paid cash for it and have factored the costs into the joy of ownership but the car or all the high performance cars out there are definitely to be avoided depending on your financial status.

duboseq

One thing that has helped me is I got a 96 Civic hatch for my 25 mile commute to work and drive the F one to three times a week.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

This tells me a lot about why your brakes (breaks are something else) died relatively quickly. I have a 20 mile commute (40 miles a day). Speed limit most of the way is 55 mph, but there are 17 stoplights on the way, many of them are red on my commute, so I'm decelerating from 55 - 60 mph and accelerating at least 8 times on my drive. I still get 20.x mpg according to the on-board gauge. If you're seeing 17 mpg, you're accelerating harder and braking harder than I am. I don't drive slowly, but I also spend a lot more focus on managing my speed with conditions than most people do. I'm pretty certain this is why I get much longer brake and tire life than most.

FWIW, I got 31k on my original rear tires including three track weekends. I don't call that bad at all.

rhy

iTrader: (2)

For anyone wondering about what dealers charge for service, here's a link from my local dealer's site with the full maintenance schedule of all Lexus models and the associated checklist / price for each:

http://sd.simmonsmcs.com/dealership/...lexus/vehicles

Yes, there are lots of "check this, check that" things, but you can at least see what the maintenance looks like. Which brings me to a question for those doing their own maintenance:

Does Lexus require a record of all the things you've inspected, apart from changing the oil and filters? Isn't that necessary in order to maintain proper warranty coverage?

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No, it isn't. I've never had a problem with getting warranty coverage for something genuinely broken under warranty. There is nothing in the prescribed maintenance which is necessary to prevent a failure besides oil changes, and those are far too frequent as prescribed by the factory when the owner has the oil analyzed to determine optimum oil change interval. Records of oil analysis will also prevent warranty claims being denied even if you don't follow the prescribed maintenance intervals.

indyberett

iTrader: (2)

The IS-F is really not that expensive to maintain. The type of tire is what you find on all similar cars and they all get about the same mileage on them. The brakes on all high performance cars cost more than normal cars. Unless you ride your brakes to the end of the pads, a turn or resurface is not always needed. I do my own so I only have to pay for the pads which you can get for $200 an axle. The oil changes are a little more just because of the extra oil needed, but go longer than most cars.

High performance cars are not meant for the masses...they do cost more $$$ than your normal plain transportation.

daniel3ooo

iTrader: (3)

I'll echo what others have said...the isF although not "cheap" to maintain is not at all different from other higher performance cars when it comes to maintenance

DHRP

iTrader: (2)

That's good to know. Most of the service looks like a lot of "Inspecting" resulting in a $400 oil change.