I Was A Lexus Owner :-(

[peter026]

That looks nasty............still, glad you and family are OK. Did the air bags not deploy?

[rainady]

Drivers side window bag deployed but that was all. Guess it worked correctly because there was no head on crash. It was all a side impact.

And yes, Gap is a wonderful thing, and to think I considered turning it down.

[LowRed]

Gutted for the both of you really

As for the driving, it seems to me too that the back end is far too easy to swing out on you in the rain :shutit:

[maneesh]

insurance pretty expensive to begin with.... insurance next year is a possible refusal or not affordable anymore so i loose the car anyway.

looks like the sensible "metro drivers" have been on and made a few comments. regarding your comment I am still kicking myself about it and I am beginning to pay for it already as the insurance company refuses me no end of cars since it got wrote off and insurance quotes for me have come up as £2500-£4500

Looks like you will be driving the likes of a Pug 106 or Ford Ka then - they are group 1 insurance right?

I feel for ya, the insurance for young drivers is horrendous...

And here is my IS200 on monday afternoon.

Lost it on an adverse camber at no greater than 35mph. I'd had the car less than a month and the insurance for that car only 5 days.

Im sure an IS200 should be better than that. Is it normal for the IS to be so easy to spin, even when Im just taking wife and child to Ikea. Not racing, not doing anything daft, just going round a roundabout and accelerating out of the junction.

I felt there there was something not right with the car and had it checked by Lexus. They stated that with uneven wear on the front wheels it was likely a geometry problem.

Suppose I just have to be happy that we all got out OK (me with sore feet, wife with bruises on her legs and a chipped tooth from bits of the dash flying out, and nothing but a bit of a fright for my three year old safely strapped in the back). But somebody tell me that not all IS200's are like that (losing grip on all four wheels just because its raining), because I want to replace it with another IS once the insurance and Gap comes through.

Glad u and ur family are safe.

Sounds like possibly aquaplaning? Or going over a patch of oil? What kind of tyres did you have? Were they worn down?

35mph can be very fast for some smaller roundabouts. How big was it?

I'm just trying to work out how this happened. It really sounds abnormal and extraordinary. I sometimes drove my old LS with 240hp on the rear wheels, pretty fast on roundabouts, and that was an old boat, but it was fine.

Oh, sounds like you better go for the IS300 with the immensely valuable Vehicle Stablity Control...

[rainady]

It isnt great for older drivers either.

nearly 40 years old with 8 years NCD with no accidents (prior to this one) that are my fault and the insurance was still anything between £300 and £700.

I remember when I was 17, people told me that your insurance plumets when your 21. I got to 21 and they then said it was 30. Got to 30 and insurance was still stupid. At what age do you have to be to get sensible insurance?

As I said earlier, I think there was something wrong with the car because it always felt a bit sketchy and could be quite worrying at speed. Above 80mph, I had to DRIVE the car constantly, I really couldnt relax on a motorway.

This roudabout was a biggy so it really wasnt that tight a turn, it was off camber comming out of the roundabout and there is a big metal manhole cover on the exit of the bend so I could have hit that. Cant remember what tyres they were but I had two different makes front and back. On the Lexus Safety check, the rears were reading 6mm right across the back tyres but the fronts were quite uneven (4mm,5mm,5mm front right and 3mm,5mm,4mm front left). I think there was something wrong with the car but Im waiting for you guys to tell me that most IS200's will lose the back end far too easily. Its not like the traction control kicked in either, one minute happily chatting to the wife, next minute pulling my feet out of the mangled footwell. The car just seemed to let go. As you said, could be oil or diesel but while I was stood in the rain feeling sorry for myself and looking for my wifes glasses (which mysteriously disapeared after a bit of dashboard hit her on the head), euro boxes were getting round the roundabout without any problems.

Saying that, the fire, ambulance and police all said that there were a lot of accidents on that roundabout and the tree I hit did have a lot more dings in it.

[maneesh]

At what age do you have to be to get sensible insurance?

Over 50s with SAGA get a cracking deal, not that I'm over 50!

[sercombe]

Bit silly admitting on a public forum what you were doing whrn you have pictures of the car, your location and even the location of the crash :(

what have i admitted on a public forum?

[MacRS200]

Bit silly admitting on a public forum what you were doing whrn you have pictures of the car, your location and even the location of the crash :(

what have i admitted on a public forum?

Well lets say I have a friend that into Supra's, EVO's and he taught me a couple of tricks you can do in rear wheel drive cars and I became addicted to it.

You missed this one :D

[derekyau]

Feel for you mate :duh: where did you hit the wall, was it near you

You feel for me because I now have to drive that damn BMW. First BMW and my last i think. hehe unless i ever came into M3 money.

It happened on a friday night at 2am, police turned up by accident since there was a shooting on the next road - some chav's having a domestic that got outta hand so I was out until 5am.

It didnt hit me until i was sat in the pub the following day, completely gutted thinking "if only i..."

Regret is a lesson hard learnt. Doing silly things on the road is bad, especially as it can affect others not just yourself.

Still, its is lucky that no one was hurt.

D.

[Parthiban]

As I said earlier, I think there was something wrong with the car because it always felt a bit sketchy and could be quite worrying at speed. Above 80mph, I had to DRIVE the car constantly, I really couldnt relax on a motorway.

That doesn't seem right at all, the car is actually very stable. Although it does seem like your geometry was out, I had the same problem a few years ago and had a twitchy back end on wet roundabouts, and after having the geometry checked, I found that my car was severly eating up the insides of all the tyres. I am surprised by that though, as it was still quite hard to make it lose traction, and when it did, the traction control picked it up and it was all fine.

Did you buy the car from a Lexus dealer, because that car sounds like it must have had some inherent fault there to start with if you never felt comfortable in it......

That looks like a really nasty smash, as the force seems to have focused at that one point, you're really lucky that it hit just before the drivers door, as it could have been a lot worse if it was square on with the door. Really glad you and your family are ok, and at least the GAP insurance will ease the pain

[Stoffe]

What are you people doing to your cars???? Don't race your lexus on public roads, at least if you don't know how to control them. How fast were you going to roll a complete brickwall down like that????

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

I felt there there was something not right with the car and had it checked by Lexus. They stated that with uneven wear on the front wheels it was likely a geometry problem.

My *** - the front ends seems to have totally buckled...if not split in 2! That off side front wing and wheel are pointing at 2.00 o'clock!!

I reckon there was something more wrong than just uneven wear for that car to have been destroyed like that at 35mph...

At least you and yours are all more or less OK...thank the heavens!!

[rainady]

What are you people doing to your cars???? Don't race your lexus on public roads, at least if you don't know how to control them. How fast were you going to roll a complete brickwall down like that????

Im sorry stoffe mate but I never said I was speeding. Unless of course you think 35mph is speeding.

Or am I being a bit too quick on the defensive and you are talking about sercombe.

Did you buy the car from a Lexus dealer, because that car sounds like it must have had some inherent fault there to start with if you never felt comfortable in it......

The car didnt come from a Lexus Dealers. I wont say where it came from but the dealer is in Derby,each car with the blue disk on the front and they all used to be made by a guy named Henry. I cant say too much because I'm thinking its going into dispute over this. They dont want to take any responsibility for the vehicle even though its inside its three month warrenty period. But what are they going to do at the end of the day, the bill will be picked up by the insurance companies, they are hardly going to give me a new car as compensation, and would I want to buy from them if they are selling stuff like the Lexus. If I took them to court, what would happen? We all got out of the car with no real injuries, the insurance will pay out and I will get another car. Compensation wouldnt amount to much would it?

I guess I just have to accept its my fault, I was the driver and I was in control of the vehicle at the time (OK, control could be considered questionable). Suppose I should just move on. But what car do I replace my dead Lexus with? Another IS200? An IS200 Sportscross. Im just scared Im going to have the same problem.

[Northern Boys Luv Gravy]

I felt there there was something not right with the car and had it checked by Lexus. They stated that with uneven wear on the front wheels it was likely a geometry problem.

My *** - the front ends seems to have totally buckled...if not split in 2! That off side front wing and wheel are pointing at 2.00 o'clock!!

I reckon there was something more wrong than just uneven wear for that car to have been destroyed like that at 35mph...

At least you and yours are all more or less OK...thank the heavens!!

The car has gone side on into a tree - the most dangerous type of impact a vehicle can have. While manufacturers now carry out the "pole test" to see how a car stands up to this type of impact - most end up looking like that.

FWIW I think a lot of drivers come a cropper when they move onto RWD cars like BMWs or Lexus after years of driving generally forgiving understeering FWD cars. They learn on FWD superminis and move up, getting used to a bit of understeer and putting on the power early coming out of corners, feeling the front wheels scrabbling for grip and then pulling the car round. As we all know trying this in a RWD car leads to sudden oversteer and if you are not expecting it you spin.

There's a lot to be said for a few sessions on a skid pan.

[rainady]

I suppose I have to agree with you Northern Boy. But the car did seem to let go very easily.

It still doesn ot explain the awful handling of my car at higher speeds. And if the car is bad at high speeds then it isnt going to be good at low speeds.

[GWilso]

That looks really nasty mate, really brings it home when you see pic's like that I actually booked an appointment with

Tony @ WIM a couple of days ago to have the geometry checked over as i'm also experiancing abnormal ware on the rear tyres.

Must of been a scary moment at the end of the day the car has always done its job if you walk away without any majors

I really think you would struggle to prove your case in court.

Happy Lexus Hunting (go to a main dealer next time)

[squarehead]

The only time I've felt my IS200 lose control is on a couple of occasions leaving roundabouts on a wet surface and that's in second gear and that will apply to any rear wheel driven car. Just imagine what an S2000 or 350z feels like!!

I think it's fair to say provided you've got decent rubber then your going to be fine on the whole. My point here is people seem to be scare mongering the IS200! As soon as I appreciate what happens on roundabouts I just take it easy, other than that I've never felt out of control in my car in the 3 years I've owned it and I've done 75k in it.

In this guys situation you really don't know the circumstances there could have been diesel or mud on the roads and then it's left to sheer luck or an understanding how to handle the car!

[Parthiban]

Im just scared Im going to have the same problem.

I wouldn't worry about that, that is not a normal reaction for the car at all. The few scary moments I've had I have always put down to being because my car is an auto - its always been mid-roundabout when I've hit the throttle too hard causing it to downshift and then lose traction. However, its never been too much for the traction control to sort out again.

What happened to you is definitely an isolated case, and from what you're saying it sounds like the car had a serious fault, and I would just be happy that you all got away without anything more serious that losing the car. Its a shame you didn't get a chance to have the car checked out before the accident, but sometimes, that's the way things go.

If I were you though, I'd go and test drive an IS at a Lexus dealer, and maybe even ask to borrow it for the day or weekend, and really get a feel for it. If it still doesn't feel comfortable (but I'm sure it'll be perfect ) then you'll know its time to start looking elsewhere.

[Stoffe]

[im sorry stoffe mate but I never said I was speeding. Unless of course you think 35mph is speeding.

Or am I being a bit too quick on the defensive and you are talking about sercombe.]

No mate, i wasn't talking about you! The 19 year old guy that started this topic and rolled that brickwall over and then tried to get out of there before the police came. That story just sounded just so stupid to me.

[sercombe]

heres some stuff i found on ebay

[Northern Boys Luv Gravy]

heres some stuff i found on ebay

LOL what do you mean "found"? That's your stuff salvaged from your wrecked car! :D