Pre Is200 Owner

[Solost]

Hiya's all.. I'm in the throws of looking to buy myself an IS200.. I'm wondering if it would be ok to ask some questions with regards to these cars.. I'm coming from a Volkswagen background and really have no past exposure to these cars..

Checked out my first example today and I think I my have stumbled across a bit of a nail by all accounts.. Your experiences with your own cars would be greatly appreciated.. The model I drove didn't really drive as well as i was expecting and by all accounts felt a little flat in comparison to my vr6.. As i say I've no past experience of these cars other than drooling over the odd one that comes into work.. I'm still very much looking to purchase one but was looking at your experiences to brighten my day up :D

Thanks in advance Karl

[sparkystav]

if your looking for massive power then i'm afraid your looking at the wrong car (unless you add forced induction)

If your looking for a reasonably priced car with all the Luxury and toys of a high spec'd German car then you've found it.

And sooooo reliable provided its looked after.

Welcome as well mate.

Stav

[Solost]

Well I have an addition to the family so going quick isn't my thing so much any more but I do like a car with a bit of a overtaking thrust.. I'm a 6 cylinder man, It's the sound you see.. :P I need more room and refuse to go down the MPV/Estate car route till I've at the very least got some grey hair.. :D

I've possibly been spoiled then with the extra grunt of my VR6, driving them back to back wasn't possibly the greatest idea in the world.. lol.. I suppose the fact it's generating less power than my VR would account for some of the feeling, It just felt like if I wanted to extend it's legs a little I would be dropping her a good few fogs before it would wake up, rather than using some of the low down grunt i've been used too.. It felt like it was being strangled if you know what I mean.. I'll just have to change my driving style.. :D

I was more curious than anything else if I'm honest.. Like I said this was a pretty poor example so it's not gonna be my bench mark by any accounts.. I'm still looking.. The right one will come my way some time soon.. Any way taa for the reply.. And thanks for the welcome.. :D :D

[aztecbandit1]

Welcome to the club matey :D

I think the thing to do when looking for one is to drive as many as you can and dont rule out the is300 or the sportcross, as there are some really good cars about at the moment for little money,

Good luck with your search and any questions you have, just post them up and we'll try and answer them for you :D

[Parthiban]

As long as your budget can accommodate and you don't mind an automatic, I think the IS300 will be exactly what you're looking for having had a VR6..........

Welcome to the club mate :)

[Paradroid]

Welcome to the club.

I just changed from a MG ZS180 (2.5 V6) which I think has about the same performance as your VR6 (Golf?), and got an IS200. I've been really pleased with the Lexus, it's nowhere near as quick as the MG but I was finding it so rare that I could actually use that level of performance anyway, with the roads being so busy and full of dawdlers even on the fast sections.

So I thought well why not have some refinement, but a car that still handles well and can shift if you keep the engine on the boil. Great thing about the engine in the IS200 is that it's so smooth I never feel like I'm thrashing it when I do go up through the revs.

The other great thing about my IS200 is that the engine sounds great even at low revs, it still sounds sporty round town. My MG sounded a bit flat at low revs, it sounded great at 5k-7k revs but then I needed a good stretch of road to be able to open the taps and actually do that.

[Solost]

Thanks for the replys guys, much appreciated.. Unfortunately I've only a budget of around 3 and a half grand so I think I'm a little under for a 300, mind you I'm trying to stay out of the higher tax bracket.. That kinda rules that out for obvious reasons.. ( Damn you! eco freaks.. ) At the moment I'm looking at is200 sport, with navigation.. Aero pack would be nice but I think I'm dreaming on that front if I'm honest.. There are a few on auto trader, ( Home page set there at the moment :P )

A quick one.. What are these like after they break the magic 100k marker? Anything in particular i need to keep an eye out for? Obviously Service history is a must, but just wondered if I needed to aim for a lower mileage one or not really worry too much providing the service book has all the right stamps to match the according mileage.. Taa again all :D :D

[Gord]

Thanks for the replys guys, much appreciated.. Unfortunately I've only a budget of around 3 and a half grand so I think I'm a little under for a 300, mind you I'm trying to stay out of the higher tax bracket.. That kinda rules that out for obvious reasons.. ( Damn you! eco freaks.. ) At the moment I'm looking at is200 sport, with navigation.. Aero pack would be nice but I think I'm dreaming on that front if I'm honest.. There are a few on auto trader, ( Home page set there at the moment :P )

A quick one.. What are these like after they break the magic 100k marker? Anything in particular i need to keep an eye out for? Obviously Service history is a must, but just wondered if I needed to aim for a lower mileage one or not really worry too much providing the service book has all the right stamps to match the according mileage.. Taa again all :D :D

There are 2 or 3 supercharged one's for sale at the min, that will give you some extra power, ranging from £4500, £5500 and £8500 if you intrested :D

[Lexus2D]

:)

[Solost]

I'm a little way off deciding whether to supercharge one or not yet but I'm sure it would be in my future plans.. (Funds allowing) At the moment i'll be happy just finding a really clean example with all the toys with in my price bracket.. :D

[Guest inicol63]

Hi Solost i would like to say welcome first to LOC.

Why not look through cars for sale on here from what i seen there are some of the best cars available for sale.

Why not let people know the price band your in and what you want for your money.

IS with over a 100,000 miles are still going strong as long as the cars have the history to go with the car.

Good luck with your search, what part of the country are you searching?

Ian