DANSLEX

No probs :) This is not a 'new' system. As far as I know this employee contribution method has been around for many many years. I've had colleagues doing this back in 2003, and I wouldn't be surprised if this method existed prior to that either. I just haven't worked in tax prior to that. But in regards to lease terms, 1 and 2 year leases are the only ones worthwhile doing, from what I've found. Basically due to the difference in residuals, and paying off the principal with your pre-tax dollars faster. The IS300 I sold recently, on which I've had 1 year lease on, I've recovered about 80% of the net of tax lease payments I made over the term of the lease, on resale. Only downside is the cashflow due to the shorter term, but you don't lose much money on the car at all at the end of the day, as not only do the tax savings offset your interest on the lease completely, but also majority of the depreciation as well. Same can't be said for the 3/4/5 year terms... hence in my opinion 3/4/5 year lease terms are a waste of time, especially on more expensive vehicles...

Haha, yeah, I guess I could easily spend 13K per year running an IS-F haha. I suppose it would be either pay the tax or the running costs, so what the heck :) Smoke a few tyres, drive most uneconomically foot-to-the-floor-spec, and so on... 1 year leases on an IS-F would be hell pricey though... 3,4 and 5 year leases are not worth doing at all, as you probably know. Yep, I'm a tax accountant... and I drive a Lexus. Bang! What a stereotype :)

My car is pearl white. I like it. But black looks much better... when it's clean haha. I've owned a black car before. Loved it when it was clean, right after washing it. Two days later it looked yuck. So unless you love washing your car often, you will hate the black :) Can I suggest Crystal Mist?? I so regretted getting the pearl white when I saw the crystal mist. My god, it looked stunning. Just like pearl white, except for the pearl reflection, you get a blue misty reflection off the white colour. Love it! May not be everyone's cup of tea though... pictures won't show it, you will have to see it in person mate.

Brandon, let me give you a novated lease tip :) Don't do fully maintained novated leases, as they are just rubbish (unless you are in the very very top marginal tax bracket). Do a lease only novated lease, and pay for all running costs post tax, out of your own pocket. Don't factor them into the lease, you'll come out with zero FBT that way. I've done 26K kays, which means 11% of my car's value is taxed. Assume the car's value is 50K. At 11% the base value of the car is $5,500. Given I have done so many kays, I went through two services, so that's about $1,400 bucks spent on servicing alone. Insurance - 1K. Rego - $500. Fuel - about 2K+, can't remember. I also bought tyres, so that's $1,500 on top of that. So overall, my running costs were about $6,400. Now here comes the beauty. This is called the 'recipient contribution' which means the $6,400 is used to directly offset the base value of the car, and given I have paid more than $5,500 on the running costs. the taxable value of the car is ZERO, and no FBT. The remaining $900 I can use on calculating FBT next year, as the excess recipient contribution is carried forward to next year, with which I am able to offset the taxable value with. So you don't lose any excess amount spent. In regards to IS-F, in theory I could, but I would have to spend about 13,200 on running costs per annum to offset FBT, assuming it's a 120K car and doing 25K+ kays per year. I don't think I'd be able to hehe. There are also other tax consequences due to such a high value, which I won't bother mentioning. I'll wait and buy a second hand one for 60K in a couple of years time :)

I think it's simpler than that. The Sensis maps are rubbish in country areas, where the roads aren't actually driven by the data gatherers but scaled or digitised off aerial photos. Both my Lexus and Tomtom (which also uses Sensis mapping) will often show the car 100+ metres off the road in rural areas. But it's not just in the bush - they are appallingly slow at updating the Perth metropolitan area. Have a look at the intersection of William St and Riverside Drive - it's two years out of date, right in the heart of the city. They've even added the new railway station, but haven't updated the roads. Quite pathetic, especially when they want to slug you four hundred bucks for an "update". Fair enough, no doubt there are plenty of mapping errors too, but they shouldn't last for the whole duration of the trip, only occasional off road hiccup. I've noticed they have some roads recorded as totally straight, whereas in fact they're not, and occasionally the car comes off the road. The problem with mine was definately the ECU though. One trip, I was coming back from Albany to Perth, via Nannup, so it's a 500 odd kay journey, through which most of the time the car was off road on the map, unless I stop it, and let it sit there for 5 minutes, it would then somehow find itself. Not that I bothered doing it. By the time I arrived in the metro area, the car was telling me I was 15 kays away from where I really was. And the roads I was driving on in metro area I am 100% sure were mapped correctly as I never had a problem on them before. Probably best to check both the map and the ECU, just in case :)

Hehe, going off topic here, but I pay zero FBT luckily, but I do 25K+ kays. I think novated leases are the best thing since sliced bread, on disposal I recover enough to cash to cover most of the lease payment I paid during that time... i.e. free Lexus If I gotta spend X amount on maintaining the car, whether it is running costs or FBT, I'd rather pay it to someone other than the tax office haha

Ah ok. Well, not that fussed about it now, the car's sold hehe. But might have to have a look at torrents etc. I got version 13 in my car, slightly old, but still useable. It could be your sat nav ECU playing up mate. I had mine replaced under warranty. But it sounds like the same sort of problem I had. Next time it happens, check what GPS coordinates your screen displays. You will also need a standalone GPS unit that you know works (I've got GPS on my phone, so I used that). I noticed that there was a slight difference between where the phone was saying I was (which was correct) and what the car's satnav was saying (it was out by a few degrees or minutes or whatever). Also pay attention at the little GPS sign on the corner of the screen, see if it disappears often (it shoudl be on all the time, unless you're in a tunnel). If you were to go into the secret menu, see how many sattelites the car can 'see'. Often, right in the open, clear weather, it could only see one or two, as opposed to the usual eight or whatnot. Wasn't like that all the time, but I noticed during long drives, the ECU would just go wacko, and lose its orientation. Get it checked, it might not necesserily be the map's fault :) Oh, while my problem was due to a faulty ECU, I read somewhere on the US lexus forums, some v12 disks had faulty firmware on them, and replacing the map to a newer one will update the firmware and fix the problem. Don't know if you have v12 or not, but could also be it. Good luck sorting it out :)

The service are great in Perth but the charges are so damm expensive compare to eastern State. Wish there are more dealers in Perth. How much do they charge in the eastern states? My average service is around 600 or so bucks for a standard one, plus more if something extra needs to be done. I don't think it's too bad, given you get a free rental Lexus, and comparing to what they charge for a service across the road at other premium brands... My car's on a novated lease though, so I gotta spend X amount of money on the running costs regardless, otherwise I get slugged with FBT. But yes, it would be good if there were more lex dealers here, little competition never hurt anybody :)

Did that story go around as a hoax email a while ago? For starters, there is no danger in using the cruise control in the wet, since you have traction and stability control, that cut out the cruise control if there is a slightest problem.

How do you copy them?? When I was selling my IS300, I wanted to chuck the newer copy of the DVD from the IS250 in there, and I burnt it on a DL DVD. But the vehicle's satnav computer somehow recognised it as a not valid disc, even though I did an image burn...

My '06 IS also had the VVTi cam gears fixed under warranty recently. I wasn't even aware there was a problem, I don't think I heard anything. I took the car in for a service. On pick up I was told they ordered some parts already to fix the problem, and to come back later when it arrives. I didn't even have to ask for it to be fixed, they automatically acted on it as soon as they spotted it. That was with Lexus of Perth by the way (not that there's any other choice in Perth haha). Always happy with their high level of service. So yeah, looks like it is a very common problem in those early models.

It is a buyers market indeed. I recently sold my 02 IS300 Sports Luxury. The car was mint, in perfect condition, with all options incl satnav. Sold it for 21K. Had it up for sale for over 2 months, no one wanted to pay 25K for it. Such is the market right now. A 2000 model IS200 for 20K is a ripoff, considering you can get the much better IS300 with better fruit for a grand or two more. I think 14K is a fair price...

I reckon 90% chance it is the mic volume. I just turned it up to max, no problems whatsoever.

The menu won't work if you've updated your map to one newer than 2006 version... Version 12 will work, version 13 onwards it won't :(

Cheers! :) I think it would be better if they gave it a time limit perhaps until it shuts down, with a timer shown on the dash. But then it woudl cause a problem if your battery is flat. Since to start the car you need to place the keyfob on the button, but when you drive, you wouldn't be able to hold it there. Not that we need it here in Aus anyway, but could be a cool safety feature to have...

If it was a second hand car, perhaps the original owner lost his second key, who knows...

Just thought I'd correct you on something. The 3 litre soarer actually has the 2JZ-GE Supra engine, which is an in-line 6 cyl, not V6. Given that it's a Supra engine, you can turbo it easily, although it does have a slightly different compression to the 2JZ-GTE engine. It also doesn't have oil squirters in the pistons. But you can turbo it, no problem. You can also drop a turboed engine in it already. But with all that hassle, I'd just sell it, and get a TT, unless you want something with moster power that is, that 2J is the way to go. They're not bad cars. Obviously slower than the TT or V8. It will not differ much otherwise to the TT, same interior and equipment. It will not be as luxo as the V8 Limited one obviously. How long do you have till you can drive a turbo one?

At first I thought that it will serve as an anti carjack device, that if the car drives away from the key for some distance it will automatically shut off. Nope. It will run as usual. Reason for that is so that if your battery runs flat in the fob, you can still drive the car.

Have you checked your mic volume perhaps?

Sounds like a reasonable price to me. I bought my 06 IS250 Prestige with EMV and sunroof, and 38K kays on the clock back in November 08 for $43K from a private seller. At the time the Lexus dealer was selling an identical car with same kays except for different colour for 53K, which seemed way overpriced for me. The seller was desperate due to share margin calls at the time. I'd imagine there would be plenty of people in similar boat. Given the car you are thinking about has no sunroof or EMV, high 30K doesn't sound dodgy to me. I've seen Prestige models with no extras on carsales listed for high 40s, being advertised for good 4 months if not more, so I'd think you'd be paying a fair price there.