George

The Corolla T-sport may be of a lower grade but it shames the IS200 in performance. And the Celica T-sport will do 0-62 km/h in 7.2 sek. Performance isn't everything though there is much more to a car. If I would have wanted more power I could have bought a Volvo S40 T-4 with 200 bhp turbo engine or a Saab 9-3 Aero with 225 bhp turbo all for less than my IS here in Sweden. But these cars are ******* except their engines and they are front wheel drive which gives you so much torques steer when accelerating hard that you think the steering wheel will tear itself from your hands. Front wheel drive is not for a true sports car (...Celica...Corolla).

The IS200 6-speed gearing allows it to do 134 MPH = 215 km/h. This is a gearing limitation and not a CPU limitation like in the BMW M3 which is electronically governed to 250km/h so that Hans don't smash his M into sauer kraut on the autobahn. This gearing is actually quite unusual because it will do top speed at top gear and top RPM. Most cars do top speed at at 2000 rpm lower than redline rpm. This would explain the IS relatively high RPM at free-way cruising speed but also expalins it's high-reving powerband. The IS300 does 235 km/h = 147 MPH. To do 240 km/h you would have to change the final gear ratio. It would give you slower 0-60 times. On the other hand how often are you driving 215 km/h let alone 160 km/h even?! [Edited on 2-3-2002 by George]

Does the kit come with easy step-by-step instructions ? How much does the kit itself cost without installation ? And with installation ? Does it come complete with all the parts necessary ? Is it cheapest to order directly from TTE? //Does anyone know?

Hi ! It should be: savage_cars@gmx.de and / or webmaster@savage.de Boy have I done some publicity for these guys... I should get a free stage 2 upgrade...

Wouldn't it be nice if Lexus offered the 2-liter VVT-i inline-6 engine with VVT-iL ! That is Varable Valve Timing - intelligent with Lift. It did wonders for the originally 145bhp Celica which later got valve Lift technology and boosted bhp to a respectable 192. It can certainly be done for the 1G-FE engine. It would give around 210 bhp and a very very sweet push. Now even the new Corolla T-Sport comes with 192 bhp VVT-iL.

To Caffine Bomb: Most Ferraris have 4 rear lights / breaklights..doubt you would discredit a 550 Maranello if you had it's 4 breaklights before you in a car queue in your face... LEX 1 : Enjoyed your sarcasm ! Sportiness and extra individuality apparently only suits a few !!

Savage Performance Cars in Germany, the tuning firm, their phone number is 08542-917461 preceded by the country code for Germany (drop the 0 when calling from abroad). Together with the TTE compressor you might be looking at one of the fastest IS in the world !!! I don't think anyone has combined the two. Since the natural aspiration tuning works independently of the compressor. We might be looking at 250 bhp supercharged. That would probably give you 0-62 times of around 5.5 sek !! Unfortunately the top speed will be limited to 215 km/h due to the gearing. I personally don't doubt that they can get 200 bhp out of the engine. They upgrade the throttle body as well. This is a serious firm, they have tuning programs for all Lexus models and Toyotas. They specialize in Toyota. Their tuning techniques are not licensed. Give them a call and take a drive to Germany and they will surely accomodate you.

Is it possible to install the Compressor Kit by your self ?

There is a firm in Ortenburg Germany that will tune the IS200 to either 180bhp (stage 1) or 200bhp (stage 2). This is done through porting of the engine, modifying intake and exhaust, etc, etc. No turbo, no supercharger. Stage 1 costs about 1500 EURO and stage 2 3000 EURO + 16% VAT and 20 EURO / hour in work fee. Se attached price list that they sent me. It's in German but you can you can figure it out in general. Give them a call if you are interested ! Oh look at the spoiler kit (pictures below in the .pdf file) they offer with double sports-silencers. For 1300 EURO. Is it rad or what ! The same 200 bhp through normal aspiration, must be an altogether different feel !! And 1/2 price to the kompressor ! What do you think...

Hi guys ! I don't want to be a know it all but this I know first hand since I've toyed with the breaklights and foglights during conversion. First of all the the foglight intensity is the same as the break light intensit, that is 21 Watts. If you want remove the carpet inside the boot and look ar the bulbs. Or better yet check your car manual. Its there black on white. It may seem that the foglight is more intense than the breaklight when it is on constantly longer, but in ain't. If you want to complicate (I haven't bothered) things you can actually connect the curcuit from the foglight switch via a shunt-diode to the 21W circuit and your foglights will work when you want and when not active (99,9% of the time) it will be a breaklight /rearlight. Neat huh... Why didn't Lexus think of this ? PS The "regualar" rear light is 5 Watts. //George [Edited on 27-2-2002 by George]

Hi ! In Sweden there is no actual law that says that you have to have rear fog lights. There is only a "recommendation" that is not binding ! I know, I have checked the law books. The traffic laws within the EU countries are country specific...so too bad for you !! Does anyone know how it is in UK ? //George

Maybe this could be of interest to someone ?? I´ve converted my tail lights to Japan specification Altezza. I don't know how it is in the UK or the rest of the Union but in Sweden the two rear fog-lights on the boot work only as fog-lights. In Japan these lights are used as standard rear lights / breaking lights. I though the Japan spec looks cooler with the rear fog-lights functioning as the standard rear lights, that is 5W standard and 21 W when breaking so I converted them...Looks real nice at night. The bulbs for the rear fog-light are 21W with different sockets than the rear light / breaklight, which are 5 W / 21 W combined bulbs. I called Lexus and ordered two new cables with sockets and bulbs for the standard rear light. Costs around 80 EURO. I removed the rear fog-light sockets from their housing. Then wired the new sockets to the 5W and 21 W circuits plus grounding. You have to do some cutting on the new sockets to match the fog-light socket housing. It worked !! It really draws some attention at evening / night driving with four taillights shining. It adds some dynamism to the sportiness.. If there is some interest I can post a curcuit drawing I made of the conversion... //George

Hi ! There is a 5 speed manual available for the IS300 in the US, check www.lexus.com...it should have been standard here in Europe in the first place, I feel. The 6-speed mated with the 3-liter would be kickin´ but with the 5 speed you get 0-62 mph times of 7.1 sec. That is more than 1 sec off the semi-automatic. The torque converter steals quite som power. Like Top Gear wrote they also feel that the IS300 with the automatic tran leaves som power untapped ! Regards, George

Thanx ! I bought it new Sept 1, 1999, so that would make it about 2 1/2 years old. I've logged 37000 km so far. It could help to oil it up ? Although it was like this from the very start and I checked on a brand new IS in the Lexus show room and it had the same sound. If you find out how to cure this please let me know. You seem to know your way about the car judging from what I've read. I was actually surprised to find that no one had mentioned this in the forum. It would be interesting to know exactly what is causing the noise. It's definitely friction of som kind. And it is related to fan speed because the noise gets higher with speed. I don't know what the actual fan geometry is like. Could it be the fan blades ? Cheers !

Hi All ! This is my first post here. I seem to be the first Swedish member ! My car is an IS200 SE, spectral blue / ivory interior (fully equip). TTE (30 mm lower) springs and TTE sports exhaust. To my question: Have any of you IS200 owners noted a "weeening" noise from the fan motor when in position 2-5 (max). It should be quiet even in max position in my opinion. I have pointed it out to Lexus in Stockholm and I checked together with a mechanic in another IS and it had the same sound. Should it be this way ? Can anything be done ? The fan motor, from what I hear, but shouldn´t hear, is located by the passenger door fan exhust. In other cars I´ve tested, only the air flow sound can be heard at max fan speed. It´s very un-Lexus like to have unwanted noise. [Edited on 24-2-2002 by George] [Edited on 24-2-2002 by George]

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