Paradroid

If you think about it though the older these cars get, the harder it will be to impose massive tax penalties on them. I'm satisfied it's not going to be reversed. The Tories were dead against this change to be fair to them, so if they do get in I can't see them reversing it. This terrible move by the Govt to hammer drivers of older cars already on the road was one of the things that got them more support IMO (I'm not talking about myself here by the way)...

I just got a response from the petition I signed about the unfair road tax changes, and in the middle of all the government waffle I came across this very interesting statement : That's great news for IS200 owners then :)

Dammit my IS200 is doing about 3250rpm at 70mph, a bit too low geared for me on the motorway. Lower geared than a Micra by the sounds of it?!!?

I'm not too far off kids myself. Why is it a struggle with an IS200? I'm not being funny, just have no experience.

Years ago (the 1960's I think) Rover used to sell their cars (which were classy and high tech at the time) with the slogan of "power in reserve". It's all about having the power when you need it, having quick acceleratation, effortless drive, and being able to cruise on the motorway with low revs. Plus with the BMW if you get a 318 or even the 320 on the new shape you don't get a 6cyl engine so it doesn't sound as nice.

I had to look at the pictures to believe it. Those V6 badges are tacky enough on actual V6 cars, on a straight six car it's ridiculous. What a chump. I've always thought it's stupid trying to point out to the world that you've got six cylinders under the bonnet. Anyone who's going to care will already know about cars and already knows what's under the bonnet. Anyone who needs to be told what's under the bonnet isn't going to give a monkeys anyway.

If the one key you do have is the master-type then you are ok and can do it much cheaper than Lexus. Put your key in the ignition (without turning it) and check the security light on the dash stops blinking. If it does you've got a master key and are ok. To get your own key done the cheapest way, buy a used key with a transponder in it. You will then need a new key case as the blade cannot be changed. Cases are available on eBay from around £10.00. Be careful to get the right one, you want about a 38 or 40mm blade length. There is another longer style which does not suit the IS200. If you get these two, put the transponder in your new key case then you just need to program it. See here for more details: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=48876

I thought the Exeo was an interesting development, being the old A4, I just really don't like what they've done the front end, which a shame because otherwise I think it look pretty smart inside and out. I've always liked the previous A4. That review goes to show one thing - rear wheel drive is overhyped in a lot of cases. Sure in a 300bhp+ performance car it's pretty much required, but on normal family cars, a good FWD chassis can be a better drive. I have the IS200 and don't know if it handles better or worse than the IS250, but it certainly has a lot less grip than the MG ZS180 I had beforehand, and the steering is nowhere near as precise. Ride quality is in a different league though on the Lexus.

My car is a 2004/54 IS200 Sport, and it's got full leather, sunroof as well as air con. I thought this was standard spec for a 2004 car, didn't they all have full leather? The Sport is quite rare on the 04/05 models from what I've heard, I guess because the SE's and LE's were so loaded up with kit and were better value.

Side skirts looks quite tidy in those pictures, but the front splitter is not nice at all.

Very nice, wish my IS200 was in Kodiak Sky!

Nice, I've always been obsessed with De Loreans! The interior looks quite nice, I guess it's not standard, especially the seats.

Yeah it does turn it off fully, because the IS200 just has simple traction control. I think on other cars turning the traction control off leaves some of the more advanced DSC-type stuff turned on.

I thought that too. The closest thing I could think of to the IS200 that I'd driven was the MINI Cooper 1.6 (not the S). But I checked the 0-60 for that and it's 9.1 seconds I think, so maybe it's about right. What doesn't help the 0-60 time on the IS200 is that you need two gearchanges, so it will feed quicker on the road than the 0-60 time would make you think.

My car does the same thing, and I wouldn't bother thrashing your car to cure it, that doesn't make any difference. I gave mine some hammer on Monday and it didn't like starting Tuesday morning. I never touch the throttle pedal though when I start it, I might try that and see what happens.

The car of the year competition is well known for being flawed, they all vote for their own country's cars, in the end the winner is usually an average competitor that manages to bubble to the top. I can't decide about this new Insignia, I think I don't understand what they were trying to do with it. I certainly doesn't look like a Vauxhall car to me. Is it one of those cars they designed so they could sell the same design all round the world? It looks quite classy though I must admit. On quality I can't really say about the new car, not been near one, but in general I've found Vauxhalls to be a bit more solid than Fords, i.e. bodywork is better and the doors shut more solidly, but they are not as reliable, I've heard a few bad stories about Vectra and Zafira reliability.

Well, it's a big topic, but to do professional web design you need to use CSS layouts. Your doctype should be XHTML 1.0 Transitional, and use the validator on the W3C web site to make sure your page validates. Don't use tables for layout (but by all means use them for table data). You'll need to make use of DIV's using floated elements, and use list elements. Make sure you understand the difference between a block level element (e.g. div) and an inline element (e.g. span) I don't know what you're trying to get out of this, if it's just a quick primer in web design then stick with what you're doing of course! But the advice above is if you are planning to get into it seriously. Some links: http://www.csszengarden.com/ http://www.alistapart.com/ This is very good too: http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/page_layouts/ My site (http://www.binary-designs.co.uk/) is quite simple but is an example of a CSS layout. Take a look at the HTML source, it's nice and clean (apart from a few ASP.NET things in there), because I did it by hand in Visual Studio rather than using something like Frontpage.

When I checked the web site it said 38psi. I run that front and back, and they work well. I think if you went higher the ride quality would really suffer, it's quite firm on my car at 38psi compared to what it was like on other tyres at standard pressures.

Link's broke mate :( Probably down to the dots in the middle, something (maybe this forum) has truncated your link.

Glad it's nothing serious. Sounds a bit like the starting problems a few of us sometimes have. Happens rarely, but the cause is unknown!

Great find, I didn't know there was a Top Gear TV review of the IS200. He really rates it too, although James May's review is a bit off the wall in places, not as good as the ones he does these days. If you're a Top Gear fan, there's another 'Old Top Gear' review on Youtube worth seeing, James May's Rover 75 review. His rant right at the end is priceless, and completely right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcweGGQbQ-E...feature=related I have a soft spot for Rovers but when my dad brought home a 75 from work when they were just released I just thought "too retro", shame because it seemed like a good quality car and had some nice touches.

Yesterday I drove my IS200 pretty hard because I was late for going somewhere and there was good open roads, and today it's not liked starting both this morning and at lunch time. I'd not noticed it before, but can driving style affect it I wonder - has anyone else noticed?

Check out Vredestien Ultrac's, not the cheapest but they're optimised for wet weather which I like the idea of on a RWD car. I've had them on my car since August and am really pleased. Vredestein recommend 38psi with their tyres for the IS200 (yes they recommend pressures for lots of cars!), I was a bit apprehensive about doing this, but it's really firmed up the ride and improved the handling massively from when I got the car - when it was running 34psi on cheap & nasty Semperit tyres.

What are they doing teaching you frames!?!? I can understand it if they get you to learn frames, then point out their weaknesses and say how it should be done. A modern standards-based layout makes use of DIV's, list elements and CSS positioning. And to be honest it's probably more straightforward than frames once you learn a few CSS tricks, and try and forget about people with Internet Explorer 6!! Still, having a background in older methods is probably a good thing. If you specify the name of the frame in the target attribute of the anchor, it should load the content in that frame. Try setting the ID and the NAME attributes on your frame tags.

Nice car :) The wheels look mint too. My previous cars were MG ZS180 (Mk2 with the side vents), MG ZR160 and Rover 200vi, so we have something in common. I hated the ZR, but the other two were excellent cars :)