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I registered right when this board came online and am now just back to see how it's going. I was very interested in getting rid of my '01 IS300 and getting an IS-F, but I ended up getting an '08 C6 and Yukon to get the best of both worlds in two completely different rides. I still check up on the IS-F, but here are my primary gripes with it:

1. Pretty harsh suspension
2. No backseat to speak of
3. Slightly awkward appearance from certain angles
4. Lexus dealerships
5. CTS-V

Pros:
Great motor
Great transmission
great Lexus quality

I think the CTS-V beats the IS-F at it's own game. The M3 is too much more for not enough. The RS4 is still a great ride, but it's getting old. The C63 has confining seats and a harsh suspension too.

So, how is the IS-F selling? I've heard people getting many thousands off sticker already and with the economy in the dumps, it's probably going to get cheaper. Thoughts?

 

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The Lexus dealerships here in DFW (Park Place and Sewell) always recommend ridiculous services that inflate the price every time the car is in for a standard oil change. There is a big difference in 'recommended' services and 'required' services, but they imply that not doing the recommend services could compromise the car and maybe affect the warranty (which is a big lie). I bought my wife an '08 RX350, but I do the oil change/tire rotation at home (synthetic oil) because I just can't stomach the rip-off at the dealership. In my humble opinion, there isn't a damn thing you need to do under the factory warranty duration other than oil and filter change/tire rotation and maybe a cabin filter/engine air filter replacement.

Her '08 RX350 with around 10,000 miles had a musty smell from the air conditioning. They tried to charge her $70 for a mold spray into her air vents. I flipped and they backed off. Then, they said the cabin air filter was bad. I have him pull it out (it takes 20 seconds, it's behind the glove box) and it was perfectly clean). F-them.

The final straw was my mother-in-law being charged $50 to change a tail light bulb for her certified pre-owned ES330. That pissed me off bigtime. She had bought the car certified a few months prior. I know it's a $2 bulb MAX and about 1-2 minutes of work.

So, was my clarification sufficient? Obviously, I'm pretty passionate about people being dicked over, especially my wife and in-laws. I love Lexus cars, but the dealerships are into making their service techs/advisors rich IMHO.

 

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I understand and maybe my experience has been an anomoly, but with my wife's RX, the 5k service was complimentary. When she went back at 10k and asked for just the tire rotation and oil change, it was like $110 or something crazy along those lines. They said why not get the 10k service for only $30 more at $140. I told my wife to ask what just the oil change was and it was $60, so I had her do that (even though that was a rip-off too). I rotated the tires myself and that's the last time I'm going there for non-warranty work/maintenance.

 

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I wasn't dissing on the IS-F, obviously I think it's a great car and I like Lexus products. Sewell and Park Place have good reps on the sales side and their customer service is good, but they try way too hard to make too much money on the service side. That is what I don't like about it. I guess Lexus cars are so good, they need to nickel and dime anything to make money on the service side of the dealership.

My C6 is good and it's a lot of fun around town and at track days. Here is a quick vid comparing the 0-100 acceleration to my Yukon (another video I have on youtube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMecChZGLiQ