LexIS200Sport

Sucks to hear that. Paintless dent removers typically charge £50 - £60 per panel. Worth a shot me thinks.

lol yeah a quick detailing spray would be helpful Panya. Actually that just gave me an idea - to those traveling north via the M1 and passing by Junction 14, perhaps we could do a "meet and greet" at one of the services (say Newport Pagnell), and cruise together to the venue? We could also stop at one or two more services further up and collect more people en-route to the event. It could be interesting having a convoy of Lexuses (Lexii?) ariving at the venue in style B)

Just over a week left peeps, can't wait! It'll be my first LOC meet, so I'm pretty pumped :P Anyone giving their car a thorough clean this weekend in preparation for this meet?

If this comes to fruition, it should be a worthy competitor to the 4-series. Image stolen from here. . Ditto. I shared the same sentiments. But I'm curious on how the latest LS600h performs in that department with the inclusion of active anti-roll bars. . Does dynamic suspension = dynamic drive? If so, mine has it equipped and I couldn't praise it more. On the straights the car just glides over bumps. Yet in the bends, it corners so flat it's almost unbelievable from a car its size. . Which is sad/surprising considering that Toyota has produced so many capable diesel engines and should have nailed it.

If your ball joints appear to be intact, another known culprit is worn brake caliper slide pins. Have a look here (credits to TigerFish): http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/tutorials/article/158-gs300-caliper-slide-pin-overhaul-plus-all-models-i-think/ Also, what is the state of your front lower arm bushes?

Spotted one today on the M25 heading southbound near Heathrow, around 12:30pm. It was black and appeared to be in pretty good nick!

Koko, that is very impressive for an IS300. I have never come close to that even in my IS200!

Assuming the cost to tax and insure this car is comparable to a UK-delivered IS300, I think this car is well worth considering. I'd be very surprised if its parts and consumables aren't identical to the local-spec cars. Depending on how much it has been driven in the UK, the undercarriage of this car may be in relatively better condition too, because they don't grit the roads in Hong Kong. Just my 2p :)

The paperwork appears to be in Cantonese. I think this car was imported from Hong Kong. The Lexus marque wasn't available in Japan until around 2005, with the launch of the 2nd gen IS. Also, I think the IS300 was called the Altezza AS300 in Japan :)

Sounds like you'd prefer the Altezza instead B) As soon as I am able to, I am swapping my IS200 for an RS200 Z-edition

The ball joints alone were £50 each, and I obtained them from http://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/ The Toyota part numbers are: 43330-59135 (RH) 43340-59135 (LH) I got WIM to fit them for me, but I also replaced the bushes at the same time and it took them 2.5 hours labour to swap everything over.

Can't relate to the whistling noise, but vibration of steering wheel at speeds could also point to worn ball joints as you have hinted. Do you hear a clunk when you apply the brakes at low speed and turn the steering? That was the case with my car just before I replaced the ball joints.

I noticed that you didn't tag the Veyron as brand new... has it gone out of production or did you only want 2011-year models?

I think we had another thread similar to this not too long ago. Anyways here's my list: Toyota Altezza RS200 Z-Edition Nismo Z-Tune McLaren F1 Koenigsegg Agera Tesla Model S Holden Commodore SS (VF) Delorean DMC-12 Datsun Laurel C31 SGL Nissan Sunny B11 BMW 745i Sport E65

Pretty impressive! What mix of highway/city driving was that?

I'd be keen to test drive the LS600h at some point just to see how Lexus has tuned the comfort/handling balance these days, and how it compares back to the LS430 and Mk4 LS400. I heard that the LS600h in particular has active anti-roll bars similar to that of the E65's (but electrical rather than hydraulic), so it'll also be interesting to compare the two systems. If anyone's got an LS600h or has driven one, care to comment? :) Still can't afford one though, just curious! :P

If it's anything like the IS200, then the IS250 should be covered by the same 12-year anti-corrotion warranty. I suggest that you pop over to Lexus to have it accessed. They don't normally charge for accessing corrosion on bodywork.

Thanks for sharing, is the heated screen a standard fitment across all IS200/300 sold in the UK?

Yeah they do need replacing after a point, but they also have long-ish service life (as opposed to tyres for example), which is why I thought I'd point it out :)

Powertrain-wise, my IS200 has been running like clockwork (touches wood). She's travelled 114,000 miles so far. Apart from that, I had the following issues: Front lower ball joints were shot at 86,000 miles Front shock absorbers were also leaking at 86,000 miles Rear left shock has started to weep oil, and will probably need replacing during the next oil change I think that's pretty much it, apart from consumables like brake pads, tyres, etc

This thread:

Here's some pics to get the ball rolling, but they aren't from this month though My car playing in the snow (click to enlarge):

If cleaning your throttle body doesn't help, I'd have a serious look at what sjrainsford suggested above - binding brake calipers. These are known issues on the IS200 and can definitely have an adverse effect on fuel economy.

I'm attending with the OJC. Paid for the entry ticket as well :)

So... I guess I'm the outcast who chose the 7-series over the LS? :D Back when I was shopping for a V8 cruiser, I test drove a couple of these cars: Mk4 LS400 early LS430 W140 S500 E65 745i and found that the LS was the quietest of the lot, no question. But I also found the LS to be soo wafty, and that put me off somewhat, which was a bit of a shame. I searched hard for the Mk4 DHP model to see if it was any better, but none came up at that time. In contrast, I found the 745i much nicer to drive, with only marginal increase in road and engine noise from the LS (didn't mind the engine noise actually :P). What amazed me is that it had almost no body roll in the bends (even less than my IS200 Sport), and with the AC Schnitzer bodykit to top it off, it sealed the deal for me B) I guess it's really depends on what we look for in a car