bored AF so I was on netflix the other day and came across a 2012 BBC drama/comedy series called "Last Tango in Halifax"... It's about two 70-somethings that meet up again after not seeing each other in 60 years. They immediately rekindle their high school romance and decide to get married... They go to a car dealership and buy a Lexus ISC.. Red with white leather.. Looks like a 2012. I'm into season 3 now and the car is featured quite a bit.. I haven't seen a good rear shot to see if it's a 250 or 350.. or something else they did for the UK market.. It's right hand drive, of course... Not a real practical car for northern England.

 

It'll be a 250 as the 350 was never marketed in the UK.
The IS250c was sold from 2009 untill 2012 and somewhere in the region of 800 cars found homes in the UK.
I'm in Ireland and imported a very early ( May 2009 ) production car from the UK last year as they were never actively marketed here. I have never seen another one on the road here though I do believe that there are a handfull in the country.
Dec.

 

Try this site: http://www.imcdb.org/
I have looked up old rides I used to own...great fun.

 

My main reason for posting is to express gratitude to TomDac for bringing Last Tango in Halifax to my attention. As a result my wife and I have now watched Season 1 and it is first-class viewing - we will work our way through remaining episodes. The plot, script, direction and casting are superb and I am proud that the BBC commissioned such a wonderful drama, particularly as I worked for them here in London for 11 years.

Oddly, I could not locate it on Netflix but picked it up on BBC iPlayer. There is talk of a further Season being commissioned but with Covid getting worse this will undoubtedly be put on hold.

I will not expand on the storyline and actors but the subject is covered in depth at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Tango_in_Halifax

Of course, the icing on the cake is the car the couple buy in Episode 2 - an IS convertible. It looks brand new but is pre-registered when up for sale at a non-franchise dealership at £ 27,000. The registration plate indicates that it is 2011/2012 but this plate number was never assigned to this or any other car. It looks a dream in dark red metallic with ivory interior and the writers clearly went to great lengths to choose this model in character with the story, rather than any nondescript BMW or Audi.

Certainly it will be a 250, rather than a 350 as Beamish points out. Lexus see the European market differently for big engines than for the US. I think it likely that less than 600, rather than 800 were sold here in the UK over the 3-year period as DVLA records show that 524 of this model are currently registered. It is rare to see another one, there are none for sale in Lexus franchises and just two on e-Bay UK. I suspect that any that come up for sale with reasonable mileage and in good order will be snapped-up very quickly - but they can't have mine 'cos I love driving it!

Thanks TomDac and good wishes to all other IS-C owners.