George

Interesting facts (surely to some...): In 1986 Toyota Motor Sales contracted a renowned PR firm in California to create a name for the new luxury vehicle and division. The name "Lexus" was created by combining two words that depict the vehicle, "luxury" and "elegance."

I've removed my spare tyre. It saves weight which equals better fuel consumption. I'm sure it's made me save 100 EURO or so durning 2 years. I bought a anti-flat foam spray can instead. Really something I can recommend. The spare weighs about 20 kg so it's quite a savings. Better performance too, better curve handling. Mercedes has done away with the spare altogether they supply foam spray only. Because they say that according to statistics the likelihood of getting a flat does not motivate lugging around a spare. I mean should you get a flat. You can fill it with foam and drive safely home and change it. Put in the spare when going on vacation though but otherwise the foam will siffice ! [Edited on 19-3-2002 by George]

Anyway like 4 bhp will make a difference! Principally the question is interesting but not for finding the bottle-neck for squeezing those extra bhp out. Anyway it wiil be maybe 2 bhp extra at the rear wheels via the tramission ! By the way did you know that the Altezza RS200 with the 3S-GTE turbo engine has a red line that stats at 8000 rpm. Ours only goes to 6500 rpm. If the IS200 would go to 8000 rpm that could mean another 20 bhp.

350 USD for a stuffed leather cushion ! You gotta be kiddin' G !!!!

May *** rest his poor soul ! No better way to die than in a Lexus ! Bad joke but what can one say ! Guys let this be a lesson to all NO RACING in the streets !!! I must say that it doesn't take brains to buy a good car or step and the accelerator...obviously! Life is worth a lot more.

Maybe you are right it's your word against Lexus chief mechanic in Stockholm with 15 years experience of Toyota and Lexus cars... I'm just telling it like I heard it can neither confirm nor deny but I think it sounds credible. If not the catalytic converter then there is a restriction somewhere along the exhaust system that's definite !

Your observation is right ! The specification for the Lexus IS200 or Toyota Altezza AS200 in Japan says 160 bhp (118kW) and 200 Nm in torque. Elsewhere this figure is 115kW (156bhp) and 195Nm in torque. The fuel octane is not the reason for this. I talked to Lexus in Stockholm about this a while back and the mechanic said that the non-Japan versions have more restricted catalytic converters (more effective that is) due to tougher emission laws than in Japan. It is not recommended that you use a higher octane fuel than 95 octane. You can reduce the life of the engine as it is not tuned for 98 octane. Buy a free-flow sports exhaust instead and you can free those extra 4 bhp. Don't want to disappoint you but 4 bhp extra is hardly noticeable. It's like farting in space or peeing in the Nile river (a Swedish saying)!! :-))

Thanks back ! You're all welcome.

Front and side impact crash tests done by the NHTSA (National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration) in the US. NCAP standard testing. Test is done on the IS300 but applies by and large to the IS200 as well. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/1699.html Well above average I would say. Front crash safety is one star off perfect but still very good ! Shame about the cars...

Hi lil IS300: I posted the .pdf file. The phone number and e-mail are in it to the German tuning firm. If not look under Tuning IS200 to 200bhp without compressor post, or something like that that I posted. Here you can find e-mail and phone number among the posts. PS Like I said they're located in Germany but can surely send to anywhere. Good luck !

Full leather is available in Sweden from 2002 for both IS200 and IS300. It costs 2000 EURO extra I believe. So it ain't come cheap. I personally think that full leather feels and looks more exclusive. My ivory leather / alcantara is ok though. But I'll be sure to get full leather and bi-xenon in my next car, what ever it will be... and a zillion airbags.

You get what you pay for and the 2002 model has all these extras that you mention over the 99-01 models where they weren't even available. In Sweden, and I am absolutely sure everywhere else as well, the base price also went up 1000 EURO. Someone has to pay for all the "standard" extras. I may have no armrest but I can use my wallet filled with 1000 EUROS to put under it. SuperchargedL: Don't you have full leather in yours, that is an option for 2002. I would really have loved that in my car . [Edited on 12-3-2002 by George]

Probably true ?! Ok so you think your IS200 is fast with compressor, airfilter, sports exhaust...well think again ! These guys deserve to be cocky, their recipe: Take 1 Lexus IS200. Take out the engine. Replace it with a Supra twin-turbo engine. Upgrade that engine from original 320bhp to 450bhp ! Ok so how fast can this car be. Well the new BMW M3 is "pretty fast". It has a 343bhp 3.2 liter natural aspiration angine. It does 0-62 mph in 5.2 sec. This Lexus IS200 should with a 3.0 twin turbo 450 bhp do 0-62 in 4.2 sec... Check it out and be amazed at: http://www.turbofast.com.au/lexus.html This car eats Ferraris for breakfast, M3:s for lunch and Labourghinis for dinner !

Thats right. But you can also state what type of original halogen lights you have and get a HID replacement for that version (as the site says). Don't really need the make of the car. The low-beam is HB4 and the high-beam is HB3.

Can you feel a really big difference ? Where is the power most felt at low or high speed acceleration ?

There is apparently hope for us non-HID IS200 guys (and gals). For those earlier IS200:s where this wasn't even an option ! The problem has been that converting halogen lights into Xenon or HID has not been possible before because the HID bulbs have not fittet into the halogen sockets. Now that is solved. The second problem is that converting halogen to HID is only legal in Europe if you have an auto-leveling system for the head lights. The reason is that xenon is about 3 times more intense then halogen and it is a traffic danger if it blinded on-comers. There are now in the US and Japan genuine HID conversion kits available, but non with auto leveling. If you are interested then go to: www.hids4less.com It's a US site that ship abroad also. You can get conversion kits for both low beam, high beam or both (bi-xenon). You can get the standard 4300 Kelvin intesity or the 6000 Kelvin intensity type which is the same used for the 24 hour race Le Mans race cars. The 6000 kelvin type costs $750 plus shipping and customs (for two sets). The 6000K gives that super white purplish intensity. Real exclusive look. Auto-leveling is not law in the US thats why the kits are available there. Of course oredering a kit to Europe you would have to make sure that the headlights are correctly set so as not to blind anyone. The advantage is that the kit can be removed when the car is sold and the original halogen headlights reinstalled. You can then reuse the HID kit in your next car. Installation of the HID kit is done in a couple of hours. You can even orede HID for the front foglights (if you have the money...)

The best way to ruin an IS is buying the yellow color. Is it supposed to be sporty or what ?! I can not imagine that many have ordered this color. The resale value must be awful on the yellow. But I guess you could sell it as i silver metallic to a color blind :-)))

I was meaning street legal cars that everyone can relate to. Cheers!

Ok ! This should be a fun and interesting post. I was wondering what is the best performing car or cars you guys have ever driven or gone for a ride in ? Please be honest. The subject is a little off the mark but, this should be fun to read none the less I hope..!!! I'll venture to go first since I'm posting: - Volvo S80 T-6 (Bi-turbo 2.9 L inline-6, 24V, 274 bhp) modle 2000. Extras: tiptronic plus fully equipped. This was a rental car through Hertz in Stockholm. I had it for 2 days and maxed it out at 250 km/h (156 MPH). Let just say that this luxury saloon had pulling power in excess. It shot straight to top speed without tiering. This is a real beast in disguise. - Subaru Impreza GT model 2001, 218bhp turbo. This is the fastest car I have ever test driven. It really pushed me back into my seat. The 4WD grip is amazing and I overtook 3 cars in like 4 seconds. Really really quick this one. - BMW 850i (300bhp, V12) This car I was only a passanger in. The most expensive car I have experienced. Really smooth and powerful and sophisticated. We outgunned a Corvette in it on the freeway.

I got cut off...I was about to say that yellow is theonly color I haven´t seen in the streets. Is there a new yellow you say ...? The old 1999-2001 blue color code is actually not 8M4 its 8M6 (in my spec paper it is anyway). Which is nicer, the old blue or the new ? I haven't seen the new blue for real yet. Would you describe it as somewhat light blue turquize (azure-blue)...?

[Edited on 4-3-2002 by George]

I've had no problem with the "heat" so far. At worst they'll slap me a fine of 50 EUROS and tell me to change it back. I won't though. This is not a major offense anyway.

Perhaps someone should mail them and request a dyno. Post it here then...

I work as a telecoms engineer at the Swedish branch (world headquarters) of Ericsson. I specialize in Software Upgrades of Sweden's fixed telephone network. This is a fairly small company with 85,000 emloyees.