Going To Look At This Later...

[knitware]

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=65654 buy mine

This sounds like a sorted IS200 and buying from an owner with knowledge of the history of the car makes, to me, more sense than buying from a dealer who bought his car from auction.

Haggle hard, £3500!! ;)

[kenfoxy]

I wonder if a service history is a kind of comfort blanket in that you can kid yourself that the car has been properly maintained. It doesn't prove that at all. You only have to read some of the threads on car forums to realise that there are scum bag garages out there. Possibly if you know the garages in the service record, it would mean something. My view is that regardless of whether the car has a SH or not you should get a HPI check and a full inspection done. This will tell you what the state of the car is now.

If the cambelt hasn't been done, the car is on borrowed time. Driving an IS200 past 60K would terrify me.

[knitware]

I wonder if a service history is a kind of comfort blanket in that you can kid yourself that the car has been properly maintained. It doesn't prove that at all. You only have to read some of the threads on car forums to realise that there are scum bag garages out there. Possibly if you know the garages in the service record, it would mean something. My view is that regardless of whether the car has a SH or not you should get a HPI check and a full inspection done. This will tell you what the state of the car is now.

If the cambelt hasn't been done, the car is on borrowed time. Driving an IS200 past 60K would terrify me.

I agree in part. A HPI and inspection brings piece of mind but a FSH shows that the care has been cared for. I don't think that a Lexus dealer would stamp a book and enter data on its servers if the car had never seen it's garage.

Oil changes are very important. A car lacking in the most basic care, oil and filter, could seriously reduce the engines life. Also diff oil needs to be changed on these rear wheel drive cars. I personally wouldn't go for a car with no FSH when there are so many cars that have FSH.

[kenfoxy]

I agree that a FSH is "desirable" because it is better than none and a FLSH is better again. However, an HPI and full inspection is "essential". Certainly, if there are plenty of IS200's out there, that you want, then demanding a FSH is not unreasonable. Trouble is most of us are picky about the spec and distance which quickly narrows the field.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

I'd be inclined to say walk away and wait till you find a nice one, with this one there will always be that little thought in the back of your mind ...........

So it's got four scuffed wheels, partial service history, unsure about cambelt, brake judder ( caliper or discs and pads ). Needs a full service for piece of mind.

I'd say that's going to cost approximately £1000 if you are lucky at an Indie and £1500+ at Lexus. Is it really worth it on a £4k car when the dealer has only knocked £495 off the price?

There are better cars than this on autotrader with FSH and some with satnav for less money.

[Russell-H]

It may seem like the day will never come when you a waiting for the right car to come along, but belive me it is worth the wait, i used to check the autotrader every day to see what was being sold. You think your search is hard from what i see you want a nice is200 with service history, that should be easy, me i wanted a grey is 300 with sat nav a much rarer beast. but i now own a grey is 300 navigator.

A quick tale about service ing my first is200 i bought in haste and then discovered that the engine light kept coming on, the code was linked to the variable valve and a search said dirty oil could cause this problem i changed the oil and it solved the problem but when i looked at the service history there was nothing after 20k and the car had now clocked 110K the oil was that black that i well belive it had been in there all those years and who can guess what other damage it could have done. The car was returned to the dealer and i bought a much nicer example with service history.

Regards

Russell.

[wahid hussian]

hi mate

i was just on eBay lots of is on there with fsh

look

good luck ;)

wahid

[BRUC3]

I think I may hold out as like someone previously mentioned... theres something in the back of my mind that isnt sure...

And Wahid, there seems to be plenty of decent manual 200's on the market, but the auto ones seem to hold their value more!

Cheers for the advice people :) Its always good to see what other people would do in your situation and youve all been a great help :)

[kam05]

Service history to me must be made up of service stamps in the service book and also invoices/reciepts.

In fact I'd rather buy a car with no service stamps in the book but as long it came with a stack of invoices/reciepts for items replaced/renewed.

Hold in there mate, you will find the right car soon.

[BRUC3]

The fella rang back today and said that he had put it up on the ramps, and the brakes were fine. He said he took it for a spin and mentioned there was rust on the disk which could be causing it, but I poinnted out to him that if it were the case it would still mean the car needs a new set of disks and pads upfront... He wiggled a bit saying they looked pretty new anyways and that it will just rub off! Which we all know isnt the reason the car was jolting!

Im going to leave that car, but have been offered what seems a decent deal on a members car, so hopefully everythings up together and i'l be the owner of a sorted 200 by the end of the week! :)

[lexynik]

hey bruce-just as a thought wht dont you pm member "rory"on here as he has recently changed from a 200 to a 300 and should best be able to explain mpg figures compared and also equipment and power gains to be had

[BRUC3]

Going to see this on saturday morning...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Hopefully its all the same colour, drives well and i'l be driving it home on sunday! Prefer the multispoke wheels to, only hope is that the dodgy phone holder isnt screwed into the dash!

[Rory]

that one looks much better

[BRUC3]

Okay, so I checked eBay just before I set off this morning and stumbled across this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...=tab%3DWatching

He sais he would take 4k for it if I took the car this weekend as he's already sold it once on eBay wnd the winner disapeared! He's bought his new car now so he needs this gone asap as he needs the money...

I put the other car off as this seems a better deal what with the wheels and kit!

The cars pretty tidy bar a few marks. I cant decide if the whole car has been resprayed or if its just the bumpers...

There was some overspray on the bottom lip of the headlight from where he had the bumper sprayed when the lip was put on. Also theres a little on the underside of the rear light from where the rear bumper was sprayed when he put it on the car. Why he didnt get it sprayed before fitting I didnt ask.

The interior is absolutly mint and everything works as it should! Also drives lovely.

The only bad point which is bugging me is the service history again! It has none as the car was a reposession which he was open about on the phone before I viewed it. Theres no outstanding finance on the car which i've double checked as my initial reaction was a big no no!

I love the look of the car, and all the old mots come back with nothing serious!

Do I go with my heart and go for it, or hold out for a car that wont have the edge this one has in the looks department but maybe a folder of old reciepts i'l never use/look at?!

[lexynik]

swerve

edit -y didnt you go and look at the silver one bruce ?

[BRUC3]

purely because of time. They were in opposite directions so thinking I may go view the silver one today and hopefully pick either one up tonight!

I really like the look of the blue ones wheels and kit, and I especially like the colour! The silver one seems a little plain jane so im real undecided! He also said he would take £3800 for the car above!

[lexynik]

well i can appreciate the dilemma bruce,the blue one would tick most peoples boxes on here i would imagine as it has got nearly everything on the "wishlist"

my first reaction to it was yeah "lovely"

then about one second later in my opinion theres something not right about it-

i could be wrong but shouldnt an 03 plate lexus have smoked rear lights and different front ones too ?

many people change lights - usually to make a car look younger not older - ie ive not heard of anyone taking off facelift lights and putting on early ones ! i could be wrong about the lighta, maybe they are the right ones for the car -hopefully the guys on here will correct me if im wrong,please guys your opinion is welcomed.

also on the fifth picture down you can see the sunlight catching the door trim on the rhs,it glints down the rear door and on the front wing but the drivers door is obviously not in line with the rest .

at first i thought it had had two front doors for some reason - but the more you look at it and the drivers wing the more it looks like its had a whole front end or possibly a rear - its hard to say which from fotos but id guess front from the panel gaps on front drivers side wing -

with what you said about overspray i would be very wary of this blue one bruce - i could be totally wrong though and it could just be the car for you - i can see the attraction

for your purposes as its a lot of money to gamble i would take aa or rac to get a full inspection done on it before you think about buying it for the obvious reasons i said above plus -

you yourself seem to want the car but have "alarm bells"going off in your head - you yourself think it could be sprayed all over -

ps the stainless steel scuff plates have been added as its an se - thats pretty normal an upgrade but im also not sure if the interior is a later addition -

all in all its very possible this had an unrecorded whack and was rebuilt using 2nd hand or more likely a stolen doner vehicle for all the bits and bobs - plus you have the missing service history which would tell you a lot - it might be worth going to a lexus dealer and ask them to do you a printout as it must have service up to 30,000 under warranty.

also was there a sticker on the cambelt cover to say its had a cambelt ? if not it needs one straight away

if you want to buy this car bruce i may be wrong on everything and it could be as lovely as it looks at first glance but i would strongly urge caution and a proper vehicle inspection - if the seller keeps dropping his price for a quick sale you have to wonder what his hurry is - mention to him you are interested but want to get the aa to do a full check on it for you as its a lot of money to gamble - if his attitude cahanges or he drops the price further to avoid an inspection and speed up the sale it should tell you something---- buy in haste,repent at leisure - get it checked bruce , and speak to lexus

[BRUC3]

After thinking about it all this morning i've decided against it. As you said, something just doesnt add up...

Back to the search lol

[lexynik]

sorry to be the voice of doom bruce- go look at the silver one or is it too plain now ?

[BRUC3]

Nah its fine. You just seconded what I was thinking really, its always nice to have a second un-biased oppinion!

I spoke to the fella with the silver one earlier, and he has someone coming to look at it 'early afternoon', so he said he will give us a bell a bit later either way if its sold or not. So thats still on the cards.

Im hopefully going to look at another one later, which is only 10 miles down the road, although he said he wont be back until about 7 tonight so will probably be under artificial light in a fuel garage or something!

Its got 105k on the clock, and the o/s rear door has been keyed, but it had the cambelt and a major service done at lexus on 85k and also comes with full service history.

Its a 2000 model aswell which as you know is cheaper tax which is a bonus!

He wants £3400 for it so if I can knock him down a couple of hundred quid that would leave me a decent wedge of cash to tidy her up and maybe stick a set of wheels on it!

Will keep ya posted! :)

[Rory]

I also echo Lexyniks thoughts, the rear lights I think depend on the colour of the car, i'm sure for example newer dark models can still have the original chrome rear lights from the factory, i'd only question the rear lights if they were odd and i've come across this on several occasions

for me no service history is no sale, get one that ticks ALL the boxes, even tho these cars are relatively cheap now, theres loads to choose from and a few grand is still a lot if you get the wrong one, be patient, you'll find the right one if u look enough

[BRUC3]

Well I bought the black one I viewed this evening! 2000 with 106k on the clock. Full lexus service history and cambelt done at 86k :)

Nice shiny black, although the wheels are corroded and it has an after market head unit in it which I'd like to change back to an oem one!

Will post some pics up when I get a chance! :)

[lexynik]

oh good news - congratulations bruce - i feel less guilty now - well done mate - first job if you havent done it already is to brim the tank with fuel !! anything less then a brim up and you spend far too much time in petrol stations -

well done mate - anything you need to know just ask and someone on here will know the answer

[BRUC3]

Indeed will be giving her a good clay, polish and a decent run over the next week!

Already had to call the previous owner once as I couldnt work out why the car wouldnt lock from the fob... turns out I hadnt turned the ignition all the way off :P

Thinking these wheels with a 40mm drop will look nice. Only an idea at the mo though! Also need a standard headunit!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/18-LEXUS-IS200-INOVI...=item414db55f3f

And cheers for all the help people, especially Lexynik! Its always nice to hear a second oppinion whether it be good or bad! :)

[lexynik]

ooh goody you can update your signature now with all your mods and plans- also a good place to start could be -

are your two heated seat buttons next to each other ? if so the drivers one is kinda hiding behind the gearshift when its in park - you can simply pull the switch assy with the three switches out by getting a grip-mostly from underneath and pulling towards you - then its real easy to swap drivers heated seat switch with traction control - it kind of balances the look of the switches and puts them where they should of been in the first place.