Is a Lexus dealership everything it’s cracked up to be? ish…

Three. That’s the total number of people who have come up to me to chat about the IS-F. OK, so I’ve been eyeballed, waved at and thumbs-upped in traffic once or twice, but considering it’s been on the fleet for five months, I wouldn’t have minded a little more conversation, a little less hand action.

Then it was on Top Gear, in a twin test with the M3. Did pretty well, summed up by his Jeremy-ness as a car driven by dorks, but not cocks. No comment. The next day three people came up and asked about it. That’s the power of TV, I guess, but I’m also hopeful that this step into the limelight will raise the IS-F’s profile. Not too much, you understand, because the Lexus’s stealth potential is still one of the things I love most about it, but I just think it deserves a bit more recognition.

At the moment its own dealers barely know what it is. I rang up to book the Lexus in for its 10,000-mile check-up and the service manager repeatedly referred to it as an IFS. Since Lexus is fabled for its customer service, even this minor slip of the tongue had me mildly perturbed.

Have to say that nothing else in that first phone call gave me cause for concern, though. I’d deliberately rung up Reading Lexus at very short notice to see if they could handle a demand for the car to be serviced the very next day. The bloke nearly fell on his sword when he had to tell me they wouldn’t be able to come and collect it and leave me with a courtesy car.  

No problem – I wanted to accompany GY08 HUH to its first service anyway. Is a Lexus dealership everything its cracked up to be? Ish. Coffee, biscuits, plump chairs, wireless internet, newspapers and polished floors were all present and correct, but it wasn’t much different to the BMW and Land Rover showrooms I’ve experienced. Apart from the SC430 in pride of place (presumably for amusement purposes).

But there is another side. Step through the service manager’s office (I asked if I could have a look at the car up on ramps) and you’re into a world of Radio 1 and peeling yellow walls. The mechanic was happy to talk me through what he was up to, showing me the brake pads (still plenty of life left) and pointing out the tyres (not much life in the rears…).

End result after two hours? A bill for £209 (£82 alone for the 5W-50 synthetic oil) – a few quid cheaper than the Evo X last month, and it included a full inside and out valet, plus a nice presentation folder for all the documents. Shame they forgot to stamp the service book, though.