Difficult life choice, please help ;-)

Very very Strange that you arent considering a Lexus IS250... esspecially since you want that toyota reliability...
The Lexus has so much exstra's in the car they deem as standard, the german makers would crush your pocket if you wanted to add those luxuries to their models.

Seen a few IS 250 SE's going for R150 000 with around 100 000 km's on. And they have pretty much everything in the car... even SATNAV. 153 KW is also decent and I can honestly tell you that my Lexus IS250 is lighter on fuel than what my Honda Accord ever was ! Doesnt mean the honda is bad though... they are bullet proof in terms of reliability as well.
 
Pornolio said:
Very very Strange that you arent considering a Lexus IS250... esspecially since you want that toyota reliability...
The Lexus has so much exstra's in the car they deem as standard, the german makers would crush your pocket if you wanted to add those luxuries to their models.

Seen a few IS 250 SE's going for R150 000 with around 100 000 km's on. And they have pretty much everything in the car... even SATNAV. 153 KW is also decent and I can honestly tell you that my Lexus IS250 is lighter on fuel than what my Honda Accord ever was ! Doesnt mean the honda is bad though... they are bullet proof in terms of reliability as well.
Click to expand...

i did consider the IS250, it was on my short list until i read a view reviews on http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/is-250/2006/consumer-reviews.html
after that i decided to rather not go for the Lexus. Same with the Cadillac BLS. The thing is i can go and read a few reviews about the E46 as well and i'm pretty sure I'll find people who have had problems with the car, that does not mean everyone will have problems. i think i need to take a day off and drive to all the different garages and test drive all these cars :D

sadly the C230 is of the list, there are forums dedicated to W203 problems.....:cry:
 
falcon786 said:
My dad had the 2002 c180 non kompressor,you right it was a dog.Anyway that met in an accident and he bought a 2006 c200k...lol i was going to see my fiance and never got there.The thing got stuck while doing 140kph just switched of,was some electronic device that cost R4000 to fix.

At almost every service there was something or the other extra needing changing and mercs motor plan doesn't cover you properly ,so they ok if you do very little mileage but for everyday use i wouldnt recommend it,always some electronics giving up in the mercs!If its not a fuel regulator then its the auto handbrake or something!



I have my e46 2004 318i modified out of motor plan for a while now,besides services (that cost me less than my cousins polo) ive had to replace the diff and clutch which cost me R6000 in the last 3 years out of motor plan so its not really bad at all.

Agree on the 320i auto though,either go a bit bigger for auto or take a 320i in manual,i would take the latter.

Accent :sick: lol sorry but I have a hyundai elantra and they devalue like mad and are generally crap cars....need to get rid of my piece of junk!Anyone keen?:D



Not a bad idea but the bigger one is actually alot classier and gives a much much better drive...cant get the name right now....i think its a legacy?friend has one and its a joy to drive,power,comfort and class which i find the wrx lacks.Also comes with same engines.


If you can get a decent one at a good price then a A4 2.0t multitronic might be a very nice buy.
Click to expand...

The e46 is a different story IMO

Also you are referring to older gen hyundais

I was trying to show some sensibility as IMO none of those choices are sensible :p neither is that Audi :p
 
NBS said:
i did consider the IS250, it was on my short list until i read a view reviews on http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/is-250/2006/consumer-reviews.html
after that i decided to rather not go for the Lexus. Same with the Cadillac BLS. The thing is i can go and read a few reviews about the E46 as well and i'm pretty sure I'll find people who have had problems with the car, that does not mean everyone will have problems. i think i need to take a day off and drive to all the different garages and test drive all these cars :D

sadly the C230 is of the list, there are forums dedicated to W203 problems.....:cry:
Click to expand...

Wow... very interresting read that... I can honestly tell you from my personal experience the only thing I can agree on from that review / writeup, is the backseat leg room. Its quite cramped at the back in terms of legroom if you are a tall person that needs to sit in the back. However thats it. My car is now on around almost 60 000km and I havent had one issue, not even one light flashing on the dashboard. The fuel consumption I think is total hogwash... if there is one thing I would really give praise to lexus, is that the fuel consumption is awsome on this car. Its very very economical on fuel and I tend to drive mine quite hard.

With regards to the poor performance issue they mention, I always switch off my VSC before driving, it does feel like the VSC retards the iginition system in terms of power, however once that thing is off, it runs great, and there is power at any given rev-range... it is afterall a V6. Also a lot of people tend to get confused with the whole recall issue. Remember the Lexus cars you read about most of the time, are US Lexus models. Cars they build in the States with certain parts sourced locally for costing purposes. The ones we have here, are built and assembled in Japan. They land on our shores fully assembled.

Seriously... and I am being brutally honest with you when I say this... I dont think I will be able to own another brand after switching over to this brand. I am so impressed with this car, I am even thinking of jumping over to a IS350 / IS F now. Its that good... Even the services at the dealers, they treat you like a king. I have always had a loan vehicle that is better than my car when i took it in for a service, and they pick up and deliver your car if you ask them.

My personal advice, read some more reviews... If I read that review you posted, it does portray a negative image of the car, and I think you should test drive one yourself !
 
NBS said:
While with the standard E90 its like driving a RunX with a fancy body....
Click to expand...

Hey! I take offense to that! ;)

My RunX had a 5 year/100,000km service plan, leather seats/gear knob and wheel, electric windows/mirrors, climate control, 6 CD front loader and could run circles around a 320i :P
 
falcon786 said:
If you can get a decent one at a good price then a A4 2.0t multitronic might be a very nice buy.
Click to expand...

Have an extra R50k to R70k handy for when that gearbox goes. Two friends have the multitronic gearbox, one spent R 70k to have it fixed, the other spent about R48k. Appears to be a problematic automatic :twisted:
 
Pornolio said:
Wow... very interresting read that... I can honestly tell you from my personal experience the only thing I can agree on from that review / writeup, is the backseat leg room. Its quite cramped at the back in terms of legroom if you are a tall person that needs to sit in the back. However thats it. My car is now on around almost 60 000km and I havent had one issue, not even one light flashing on the dashboard. The fuel consumption I think is total hogwash... if there is one thing I would really give praise to lexus, is that the fuel consumption is awsome on this car. Its very very economical on fuel and I tend to drive mine quite hard.

With regards to the poor performance issue they mention, I always switch off my VSC before driving, it does feel like the VSC retards the iginition system in terms of power, however once that thing is off, it runs great, and there is power at any given rev-range... it is afterall a V6. Also a lot of people tend to get confused with the whole recall issue. Remember the Lexus cars you read about most of the time, are US Lexus models. Cars they build in the States with certain parts sourced locally for costing purposes. The ones we have here, are built and assembled in Japan. They land on our shores fully assembled.

Seriously... and I am being brutally honest with you when I say this... I dont think I will be able to own another brand after switching over to this brand. I am so impressed with this car, I am even thinking of jumping over to a IS350 / IS F now. Its that good... Even the services at the dealers, they treat you like a king. I have always had a loan vehicle that is better than my car when i took it in for a service, and they pick up and deliver your car if you ask them.

My personal advice, read some more reviews... If I read that review you posted, it does portray a negative image of the car, and I think you should test drive one yourself !
Click to expand...

I’m going to take you advice, I’m going to test drive one, I saw one this morning, its strange when you are actually looking at a particular car how much better that car looks than in the past :-P

Before I go any further, tell me, where do I service the Lexus? And how much does the service’s normally cost?
 
Dolby said:
Hey! I take offense to that! ;)

My RunX had a 5 year/100,000km service plan, leather seats/gear knob and wheel, electric windows/mirrors, climate control, 6 CD front loader and could run circles around a 320i :P
Click to expand...

I also had a RunX
No leather seats/gear knob, manual windows/mirrors, no climate control, did have aircon however :-D

You probably had the 2.0 Rsi
 
MFour said:
Have an extra R50k to R70k handy for when that gearbox goes. Two friends have the multitronic gearbox, one spent R 70k to have it fixed, the other spent about R48k. Appears to be a problematic automatic :twisted:
Click to expand...

Thats why Audi did not even make it on my original 20 car list :-P
 
NBS said:
I’m going to take you advice, I’m going to test drive one, I saw one this morning, its strange when you are actually looking at a particular car how much better that car looks than in the past :-P

Before I go any further, tell me, where do I service the Lexus? And how much does the service’s normally cost?
Click to expand...

Ok well I am based in Cape Town, so most of my services are done at the CT Lexus branch, although I have even dealt with the Somerset West branch and both of them are very professional in terms of customer services.

Services I havent paid one cent yet, granted all Lexus's come with a motor plan... not service plan. So every little thing other than tyres and petrol are covered. Look at the end of the day, the Lexus is still a toyota, so you have that reliability peace of mind. Its a toyota but they took extreme caution to detail and finishing off touches. Interior is amazingly quiet on the open road, wind noise there is pretty much nothing. Even my battery in my car's keyless remote unit was replaced free of charge when the car warned me... "warning check your remote's battery."

I cant say what services would cost once my motorplan runs out, but I will be extending it for an additional year. Its not too expensive to extend it by a year...

To switch off your VSC (Vehicle stability Control) Hold the button pressed in for around 3 sec's... the dashboard will show the VSC is now switched off, power feels way better for me with that setting off. The automatic with paddle-shift gear changes are awsome. Dont settle for the manual like I did.... My next one will be the Automatic model.
 
Pornolio said:
Very very Strange that you arent considering a Lexus IS250... esspecially since you want that toyota reliability...
The Lexus has so much exstra's in the car they deem as standard, the german makers would crush your pocket if you wanted to add those luxuries to their models.

Seen a few IS 250 SE's going for R150 000 with around 100 000 km's on. And they have pretty much everything in the car... even SATNAV. 153 KW is also decent and I can honestly tell you that my Lexus IS250 is lighter on fuel than what my Honda Accord ever was ! Doesnt mean the honda is bad though... they are bullet proof in terms of reliability as well.
Click to expand...
Always wondered, what are the prices like for servicing and parts?
 
D3x! said:
The e46 is a different story IMO

Also you are referring to older gen hyundais

I was trying to show some sensibility as IMO none of those choices are sensible :p neither is that Audi :p
Click to expand...

True it is an older generation 2000 model,so maybe the new ones are better but still all the cars in the list are a league or two above the accent in almost every way possible.I drove my aunts new shape elantra and it was nice and smooth but for that money i just feel you can do alot better by going second hand.;)

MFour said:
Have an extra R50k to R70k handy for when that gearbox goes. Two friends have the multitronic gearbox, one spent R 70k to have it fixed, the other spent about R48k. Appears to be a problematic automatic :twisted:
Click to expand...

NBS said:
Thats why Audi did not even make it on my original 20 car list :-P
Click to expand...

Oh ok didnt know about that,my friends dad has one and he put 200000k's on the clock already as he travels daily from vereeniging to kempton park.His is still fine.But at that risk for one out of motor plan definitely hectic to take!

So why is a manual out of the list then?the 2.0t is a proven engine...
 
Last edited:
falcon786 said:
True it is an older generation 2000 model,so maybe the new ones are better but still all the cars in the list are a league or two above the accent in almost every way possible.I drove my aunts new shape elantra and it was nice and smooth but for that money i just feel you can do alot better by going second hand.;)





Oh ok didnt know about that,my friends dad has one and he put 200000k's on the clock already as he travels daily from vereeniging to kempton park.His is still fine.

So why is a manual out of the list then?the 20.t is a proven engine...
Click to expand...

not saying they aren't a step up, especially when you take into account that lame "status" factor :rolleyes:
 
Lexus iS250 FTW. One of the best everyday cars out there. You just simply cannot go wrong. When we were into drag racing a few years back, we had buddys who worked for TSA whohad is250 company cars and they were abused to no end (trust me I felt so sorry for those cars and never agreed with their actions), but the worst thing that happened was a clutch burning out. Beautiful cars, tops any of those cars on your list by a country mile. Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X