Paradroid

Sounds like an awesome car! I like the sound of it. Great to read a review of it by a real person, not the magazines. I have to say though, I've always liked the Audi RS4 (the older shape A4 that they just stopped making). I like the fact that it's nice and compact for a saloon. If I didn't have the budget for an IS-F, that would be a tempting option.

My take on this is that it would be waste of time trying to explain this to the customer services department of the insurance company, and I don't think they'd be interested anyway. On mods I've always been careful but each person has different thoughts on what's ok and what's not. I would always declare an induction kit or a sports exhaust, because they're obvious to see and it's just not worth the risk of not declaring it. On something like geometry/tracking, you're only making adjustments to the car, not modifying it with different parts. I know you're changing it from the factory setup, but to be honest unless there's a raft of crashes caused by Lexus cars with modified geometry (not likely given it's a more stable setup from what I hear), the insurance companies aren't going to know about it or check for it.

Definitely a good deal with all that petrol in the tank! I can't see myself ever filling up more than 1/2 way with the tank being so huge, and the price of fuel being silly.

lol glad it's not just me

I have only had my IS200 a few days so am in the same boat. To try and cut down issues on wet roads I'm looking at some new tyres - Vredestein Ultracs which are meant to the be best around in the wet. Also my car needs tracking/geometry sorting, to make sure the car is as good as it can be in the wet. One other thing I noticed going from FWD to RWD is that on FWD I'd picked up a bad habit which doesn't work on RWD. On FWD you can use the throttle to straighten the wheels up quicker when you have a lot of lock applied. Obviously you wouldn't do this at speed! But when manouvering or turning into side streets at low speed it can be useful. However, on RWD this DOES NOT WORK!!!! Maybe it's just me that does/did this, being lazy :)

They are standard lights but the car is (what I would call) an 04 model, so has black front lights, smoked rear light clusters. It also has a different style of alloys as you can see. On the grill, I have been thinking of getting the LE grill after looking at pictures on this forum. Does anyone know if one can be had from a dealers? There was one on eBay which I was going to bid on but he ended the auction early because there was no bids. Grrrrr...

It sure does, will take a look tomorrow. Hope it's not full of sand!

Hmmm that's interesting. The car has full Lexus dealer history, so I don't know about why it's not the right stuff. Could it still be the factory stuff (53k miles), and they started using something different? Could you tell me how to remove the air filter? I've seen a clip at the front (it's the bit with the Lexus badge on right), but it didn't seem to want to move. Is there something else I need to do?

To get rid of all the dust and dirt I just used a hose on trickle and a soft wheel brush, and took my time, taking care not to drench anything. I dried it off and then just used a cheap no-name exterior trim cleaner :) Thankfully there wasn't any oil or grime on the engine so nothing more powerful was needed.

Sounds like a standard "feature" then! I feel reassured that I've not bought a car with a knackered gearbox anyway. I remember reading years ago that six speed gearboxes can have issues because there's more cogs and synchro's packed into a smaller space, meaning it's harder for the oil to get round everywhere. I had a Hyundai Coupe V6 years ago, that had a six speed box and it had issues with second gear too, but that was more temperature related. When cold it was awkward but once warmed up it was ok. Seems funny how it's always second gear that's most affected. On the Lexus I don't find it gets much better once the car has warmed up. It's bugging me a bit already - it makes the car feel slow off the mark, because first gear is so low and you have to really take your time getting into second. Meanwhile you've got a Transit van in your rear view mirror, with the driver wondering what the problem is Does anyone do second gear pullaways? I might experiment with that and see how happy the car is. A mate had a Merc C-Class Coupe a few years ago and Merc actually recommended that you pull away in second. I was suspicious of that to be honest!

:) Another newbie question, is the silver on the 04/05 models the same as the previous cars? i.e. is your car and my car the same colour? Just wondering in case I ever buy a sport grill!

I suppose it's the old problem of tuning non-turbo'd cars - lots of money for very little gain! Still I've seen decent results with sports cats, freeing up the engine at lower revs, not making much difference at high revs though. Has anyone tried one? I think if the OEM one failed it would be a no-brainer, especially if cheaper :)

Thanks :) I was impressed with the build quality of the Lexus when doing the engine bay. Even though the car's obviously been in the weather/elements a bit, there was no rust under the bonnet at all. Excellent for a 4yr old car. A funny little thing that I noticed was the power steering fluid reservoir, once it was cleaned, the quality of the plastic was amazing for a little reservoir! You can see on the pictures, it gleams like it's polished! Can anyone tell a newbie what the big chunky black plastic box is, on the right of my pictures, in front of the suspension tower? Is it something to do with air con?

Here's a few pics of my new IS200 folks. In need of a little bit of TLC so I started with the engine bay tonight: As I got it (a bit shocking isn't it, all that dirt is actually sand, must have been near the coast): Some time later: Front (not quite happy with this at the moment, thinking about grill or even bumper change for something a bit more stylish) Side view (my favourite view of the car!) Outside needs a good clean/claybar/scratch-x, but so far I've only had time to do the interior and the engine bay :)

Just commenting on this thread as I'm in the same boat, just bought a IS200 Sport, company car so service history is spot on, but not an enthusiasts car, as it needed a damn good clean and there's some scratches that need sorting. I've found pretty much the same thing with the gearbox. The stick does react to bumps in the road as I drive along, it's a bit distracting but I'll get used to it. More of a concern is the awkwardness of second gear. It always clonks/thumps going into gear, and if I don't take my time or press the clutch right into the carpet, then it crunches slightly too. There's not much of a crunch noise, just more of a feel through the lever. This all sounds quite normal though by the sounds of it. The thing that confuses me is that I can get a great smooth downshift from 3rd to 2nd, it's just upshifting to 2nd from 1st that's always the problem.

£280 for a full set of 4? Hmmm that's pretty good actually, cheaper than the Vredestiens I've been looking at. You got the FK 452's right Andy? Dorian

Ha ha, you nearly got me going again then!!!! I think it's going to be a case of asking Tony for the right settings then going to either Manchester or Blackburn to get it done. Looking to get tyres sorted first (end of month), they seem like the top priority, then the geometry done sharpish before the tyres wear unevenly. @andy-r - thanks for the recommendation, I know of Pem tyres. They messed up the rims on one of my previous cars so I don't go there any more. I have a recommendation for you - "Wheel Quick" just down the road from Pemberton on Enfield St. My mate with a ZS180 has been offered 4x Vredestien Ultracs for something like £360 fitted, which sounds like a deal to me. Apparently the Vredestiens are a wet weather tyre, but are as good as almost anything else in the dry too. Given that I'm a bit worried about the IS in the wet, I think I will give these a go and will let you all know how it goes :)

Are these the right geometry settings? http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/knowledge...mp;id=1&c=5

Great pictures, your car looks great :) Looking forward to getting a clay bar on my car too. You've convinced me of something too - I need a sport grill for my IS200! I've been looking at the front and something needs changing.

Is there a sports cat option, and would it do any good? To replace the main cat I mean, not the precats, which I'm guessing are in the exhaust manifolds? I've found you can get quite a bit more noise with sports cats though so maybe not what every Lexus owner would want.

Yes it's front wheel drive. One of the better handling ones though thanks to Honda double wishbone suspension :D It's got loads of grip and is very forgiving to drive, even wet roads don't really bother it. You can tell I rate the ZS but so far the Lexus feels very good indeed. Grip is great, it turns in really well, and the steering is nice and sharp and accurate. As you say though, I'm new to RWD and am still getting used to it. I don't get the power down as hard or as early as I did in my MG. Obviously there's a difference between fun tail-out moments and it happening all the time when it's wet though :) I don't drive like a loon, just drive "briskly" when appropriate to do so. I'm sure that when the tyres and geometry are sorted, the Lexus will have more grip than my average driving abilities will ever need!

@andy-r, yes I see you're in Skem, I'm just down the road in Wigan :) I've been thinking I need to go to WIM, but just checked and it's a 400 mile round trip unfortunately. Thanks for the info about the place in Blackburn that's much closer, I'll give that a go. Was speaking to a mate today from Skem who's found a really good place for tyres in Wigan, so I'm going to go there in the next week or two and get two new tyres on the rear. Just need to wait for pay day really! @Parthiban - water in boot not that unheard of actually on the IS200, there's threads on this forum. When I say rust it's just a bit of surface rust on the inside of the boot, because the metalwork is just painted and not lacquered. It's going to need sorting though, will have to get my missus to fire the hose pipe underneath to see where it's leaking in!!!! Cheers, Dorian

Well I was at the local CostCo today, loading up the boot, and I had a go at the torsion bar that was out of position. The good news is it worked a treat and I was able to push it back into place, the bad news is it crushed the tip of my thumb slightly and I now have a sore thumbnail Problem solved though I think :) Hope it lasts.

What a load of ********. Did you see the rain and standing water on the roads on Friday night? And I had to go out at 12am so it was plenty dark enough. It had been raining torrentially all night. I turned round a mini-roundabout, foot wasn't even on throttle and the rear of the car skipped about 1-2ft. No opposite lock required to correct. Still driving irresponsibly? Funny how I could drive at the same speed in my ZS180, in the wet, and not have any funny moments like this. Anyway, back on topic. Wozza, it's a manual, traction control turned on, no throttle, third gear, turn from single carriageway into dual carriageway so not full 90 degree turn. As above, it only skipped, didn't snap out or anything. Would have been fun except I'm new to the car :) I went rummaging in the boot earlier this evening. As well as water and rust (nice one Lexus) I found my spare alloy tyre, and that was full of information. Worn so badly on the inside that metal wires were sticking out of the rubber. So, it would seem that I do need to get the geometry sorted...

Very informative, many thanks :) I'll go and price up a pair of new tyres based on the recommendations above. The Semperits will probably have to stay on the car for a while due to finances. It would be better to have them on the front and better tyres on the rear, right?