Potential New Owner Saying Hello

[tartje]

Good afternoon all.

I'm a veteran of other car internet forums, so I know what a massive wealth of knowledge they can be for specific marques. Decided this would be an excellent place to research a potential purchase.

Essentially at the moment, I have a 1999 Civic ES as my daily runner, and a 2000 Integra Type-R in the garage for weekends and track days.

Impending baby means freeing up a little money and reducing the fleet to one car.

Friend of mine has a 53 IS200 auto with the TTE kit. Always loved it, so looking into getting an IS200 or Altezza, for the sake of practicality, comfort, safety and a little sportiness.

I'll be scouring the forums for info, and may well end a more permanent member if I pull the trigger.

Basically looking into:

- Things to look for when buying

- Are high milers OK

- What maintenance needs doing at relevant intervals

- Are imports (Altezza) a good choice and what differences from UK models (besides obvious power from the Beams)

- General running costs

Does the forum also organise meets?

Hope you're all well. :)

tartje

[The Swede]

Given that you can get an IS300 for virtually similar money than an IS200 and that they are not really more expensive to run, why not get an IS300??

[kam05]

Welcome- most of your q's have been answered in the knowledgebase (what to look for etc).

Higer milers are ok, as long as they have been regularly serviced. I've got a 2000/X reg IS200 (owned it since 2003), its on 130k (100k under my ownership) and it drives like a car which has done 1/2 the miles. As long as the car you are looking at has been looked after, these cars will carry on clocking up the miles.

Don't know much about the tezzas other than they are more powerful than the IS200 and they are JDM cars.

[tartje]

Given that you can get an IS300 for virtually similar money than an IS200 and that they are not really more expensive to run, why not get an IS300??

That is an excellent point.

I would love an IS300 with the 5-speed auto, but I was mostly concerned about the running costs of a 3.0 I6.

As much as I want a nice comfy car to cruise about it, my monthly fuel budget isn't exactly extensive

What sort of MPG will an IS300 realistically get on a mixed tank? I mostly do cruising up and down the A14 to work in Cambridge, with a little backroad driving too. I'm not an aggressive driver.

Kamo, thank you for the input. I'm not inherantly scared of high-milers being a big Honda fan, but I know some cars like it less than others :)

[TommyH]

Have a look through THIS mate, hope it helps.

[tartje]

Thanks Tommy, I'll give it a thorough going over when I get home from work. :)

[The Swede]

Given that you can get an IS300 for virtually similar money than an IS200 and that they are not really more expensive to run, why not get an IS300??

That is an excellent point.

I would love an IS300 with the 5-speed auto, but I was mostly concerned about the running costs of a 3.0 I6.

As much as I want a nice comfy car to cruise about it, my monthly fuel budget isn't exactly extensive

What sort of MPG will an IS300 realistically get on a mixed tank? I mostly do cruising up and down the A14 to work in Cambridge, with a little backroad driving too. I'm not an aggressive driver.

Kamo, thank you for the input. I'm not inherantly scared of high-milers being a big Honda fan, but I know some cars like it less than others :)

Well, I was exactly in your position a year ago when I was looking for an IS200. I was looking for a safe, comfortable, reliable and somehow stylish runabout for my girlfriend. She doesn't do mega miles so it did not warrant buying a diesel en she doesn't drive fast, so we didn't need a BMW 335i.

I found our IS300 for similar money than a similarly tidy IS200, but it had the advantage of coming with the autobox as standard, the IS300 always came full spec and... it gives considerable better performance making for real effortless driving.

Fuelwise, we're running at approx 26-27mpg, which is really good as the car either runs fairly short distances (driven slowly by the GF) or it drives longer distances when I use it but a very 'fair' pace ;)

Insurance-wise, we pay 330,-GBP fully comp. Insured in my name (I'm 35, +5 yrs NCB and she's 26 but only drives since 2 years).

From a point of view of maintenance, a 300 shouldn't cost more than a 200. Oil, filters etc are approx the same anyway.

[kam05]

The Swede is right.

My IS200 does 25-28mpg on a local/town run, but I regularly drive from Leeds to Glasgow and my mpg on a motorway run is about 35mpg, therefore, if your budget allows, try and get a IS300.

Only downside is there is no manual option on the IS300- auto only.

[The Swede]

Looks like the topic opener wants a 5-speed auto, so that should work.

How does the auto actually fare in the 200? I heard that the 200 needs a bit of working on a smaller road. So I was wondering if the auto hence is not shifting up and down a bit too much in a 2.0.

[tartje]

I very much appreciate the input. This kind of real world experience and advice is exactly what I'm after.

Been searching the forums a fair bit, seems so far to be a good choice and ticks all the boxes of what I want.

Have to have a discussion with the other half and see where we go from here :)