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johnnyb
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This is my second foray into Lexus ownership as my wife owned a 1999 is200 sport when it was around a year old and a very good car it was too.

The reason I've rejoined the forum is that I'm looking for a cheapish automatic car due to knackered knees and as I always liked my wifes is200 it seemed a natural choice. Much better equiped than the German rivals and also seems to have aged much better. The only problem I have is deciding between the S and spending the extra on the SE.

I've found a couple of cars, both 2001. An S for £2500 and an SE for a grand more. I'm struggling to justify the extra grand for what is basically heated/electric seats with a bit of leather and 17" alloys plus a few other minor extras. Much as I'd prefer the SE is it really worth the extra? I could easily add a set of SE alloys to the S and they would look virtually identical.

I suppose it really depends on the condition of the individual car on the day...

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I have an SE and would go for it everytime - between an SE and Sport the difference isn't quite as obvious, but between the S and SE in my opinion it's a no brainer :)

That does seem a larger difference in cost than I'd expect to be honest, that could be down to how much less desirable the S is.

As you say it's not hard to get hold of the SE alloys, but the cloth seats are not as nice as the half leather ones, there's no sunroof and the stereo is much better in the SE (also upgradeable though)

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Yep the SE and Sport have an 8 speaker system with an external amplifier - the S has no amp and only 6 speakers.

However, if you're planning an aftermarket stereo then it may not be important but if you're not it's worth considering :)

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Doesn't seem to be worth buying a S and spending cash on alloys & upgrading stereo as you'll be up near the price of the SE anyway, best looking for a SE with an aftermarket stereo as the lex one will prob break anyway :whistling:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just to update this...

Against everyones advice I bought the "S" :lol:

I decided to go on the condition of the car over the trim and this one is in not bad nick plus it has only had one owner. It is in need of a cambelt and service though which I'll probably do myself.

The only niggle is the common fuel gauge fault. When I collected the car it was reading empty so I put £30 in the tank which didn't register on the gauge. I gave the top of the dash a couple of taps which caused the gauge to go up to just over a quarter of a tank where it has remained ever since, even with the ignition key removed. Is there a fix for this that doesn't involve replacing the speedo pod? I'm pretty handy with the soldering iron.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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