What Option Would You Take?

[Saraj]

Right heres a interesting choice which Im deciding on. Ive got 9k to spend and...

Option 1:

Do I buy a IS220 or if possible a IS250, and slowly save up again and start modding it

Option 2:

Buy a 2 - 3.5k IS200 99-01 reg, and use the rest of the money to mod it

Edit: Option 3:

Buy a IS300 and spend the rest of the money to mod it (probally cant get insurance for an is300 after writing my is200 off lol)

What option would you take?

[aaronabbott]

or option 3 an is300 :winky:

[Asi]

yep is300 but remember no overtaking

[Parthiban]

Definitely either an IS250 or an IS300, wouldn't bother with the others.

Drive both and see which you prefer, not driven an IS300 but pretty much an IS200 with more power and a little more refinement, the IS250 is full of toys and super refined (very silent at speed) but imo the drive isn't quite as involved (although the handling is better)

[dave1]

Right heres a interesting choice which Im deciding on. Ive got 9k to spend and...

Edit: Option 3:

Buy a IS300 and spend the rest of the money to mod it (probally cant get insurance for an is300 after writing my is200 off lol)

What option would you take?

If you think the insurance for an IS300 would be prohibitive you would have even less chance of insuring a car after you mod it! IS 300 or GS is maybe best bet until you build NCD again as you would have extra power over IS200 without mods to inflate your insurance premium even more.

[Dimitris Papamichail]

If you are into tuning, I would suggest to go for option 3. There are many many upgrade kits in USA for the IS300. From what I know there aren very few upgrades for the IS250 and especially for the IS220. If you go for the first option I would suggest to go for the auto option. I have driven many times my father's IS250, which is manual and it is not so pleasant as the auto. Also it has a heavy flywhell which means that when you start from stop most of the times it doesn's start smoothly, what the IS200 does also as you know vey well. With the auto you will not have this problems and it has a very swift 6 speed gearbox!!! Also IS250 and especially the luxury edition has a lot of gadgets, such as the heating-cooling seats, the nav, the touch screen, the mark-levinson audio, Bluetooth, and many many other things.

[Anees]

What are you looking for in a car? What are the requirements?

Personally I would look at other brands too with a £9K budget unless you must get a Lexus (nothing wrong with that!!) :)

I wouldn't really consider a IS300 unless you want to keep it for the long hall.

[Saraj]

To be honest its not something which Ive thought about alot, and some of the points above are noted.

its something which i mate of mine said which made me think, 9k on a is220 or 250 or 3k on is200 and kit it.

for me its all about luxury, comfortable, and needs to have toys.

I had an IS200 for like 4 months untill i wrote it off cat B and absoutly loved it, especially when i though i paid 2.7k for it which was not bad.

to get another is200 would be very nice and keep it cheap.

however to have a is220 or 250 with all its toys, and the design of it, and how comfortable it is, would be a dream.

ummm.... something to think about but undecided.

Insurance wise, all options dont add up, if i bought a is200 today i would have to pay £150 a month, where as before i had one it was £100, 50 increase due to the accident. an Is300 would be worse, and a is220 or is250 would probally be even worse.

Ive also looked at other makes and nothing seems to catch my eye and in my eyes the same standard as lexus, not much of a BMW person, unless its something like this link but i still would go for the lexus to be honest

[Rob]

buy some gold and then cash it in - at least u will make a profit rather than loose money

[Saraj]

haha good idea and just keep my 900pound astra lol

[Asi]

if you look around you might get chea[er insurance for a is300. it all comes down to your budget mate

[Parthiban]

The 250 makes the most sense (to me anyway), it's not just the initial purchase price, the tax rules could always change again meaning an IS200/300 would cost you a lot in road tax. Also depending on the mileage you do, the fuel cost could vary massively as well. My IS200 auto gives me around 21mpg around town, whereas when I've had IS250s it's been more around 28mpg in the same usage.

And please don't buy a BMW without leather seats :shutit:

[Saraj]

lol yh thats what a thought aswell lol

when im looking at a is200 i always look at the bottom range, so like 99 or 00 never above dont see the point really, in which case any tax changes would not affect it, hopefully, heres me with my fingers crossed.

Is250 does make sense, and at the moment i do 60 miles per day, so yh would make sense.

Should just continue saving and buy a decent IS250, I love it in gold color with cream seats lol

[Rory]

how about converting an IS300 to LPG?

[Saraj]

very true, very true

[reganlives]

how about a honda accord 2.2 diesel? lol...remap it n u get nearly 200bhp and 300lbft torque and still 50+ mpg! lol

go for whatever is more cost effective for u mate. remember the is220 and 250 will still have a large chunk of depreciation to do yet.

[Rory]

if it was me i'd definitely go for IS300, and I do plan to in the future, but not right now

[Rich OB]

i plan to get into an IS300 too, when budget allows. Still they're hard to come by aren't they with correct mileage and colour. If you're fussy.

[Saraj]

how about a honda accord 2.2 diesel? lol...remap it n u get nearly 200bhp and 300lbft torque and still 50+ mpg! lol

go for whatever is more cost effective for u mate. remember the is220 and 250 will still have a large chunk of depreciation to do yet.

I actually sat in a new shape honda accord, i do like the ones with the kit, do seem comfortable, nice option there !

i plan to get into an IS300 too, when budget allows. Still they're hard to come by aren't they with correct mileage and colour. If you're fussy.

yh a bit expensive at the moment, but sooner or later there will get cheap

[Asi]

so what ar eyou thinking to do mate

[DJ Wozza]

I'd say go with the IS250 (get a fully loaded one) as the prices are fairly depressed at the moment,

and you will get a lot of car for the money.

The IS300 is only really an option if you are gonna keep it for several years IMO and run it 'til it drops.