I have had it for 5 days now and done about 700 miles in it. It is VERY tight but you can feel the power is there - it is very good at overtaking on the motorway and seems as torquey in many situations as my Impreza was, just not as high revving. The box seems very good, you can use 6th gear at 70MPH no worries.
The box has just been "modded" by Lexus to stop it being as clunky/crashy in 1st and 2nd, which seems to have 90% done the job but it is a tight(ish) gearchange at the moment.
Being a "modder" at heart, if there was a good ECUTEK equivalent remap available (as available for VAG or Peugot diesel cars) then I will certainly look 100% carefully at it as an option.
Overall the car is great, cannot understand reviews like the one in "What Car" this month saying the car is "off the pace" and is poor, missed the boat etc. The quality, design and overall package is UNBEATABLE.
A friend was up today with his new Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd he picked up at lunchtime - and was seriously stunned by the IS - he was so impressed by it, the design, the space, and the quality...he left calling his a "Big Tractor" - he has just traded his V plate Grand Cherokee LTD so does like them...
REALLY good car - any gripes are totally washed away by the whole package.
Brian :)
Hi Brian!
First post from Swedish IS200 owner. Test drove IS220d and was not impressed by the engine. I just wanted to make you aware of KCR diesel tuning. This Swedish company provides plug and play boxes that improve horsepower and torque. Please note that I have no personal experience from KCR products (and no, I don't work there...). But I know that KCR has a very good reputation among Audi/BMW/VW-diesel owners + the mobile home crowd.
All necessary info is on their site, so I won't waffle about it here and now. KCR offers a box for IS220d that promises 200 hp and an awesome 455 nm torque. What I would like to know is if the KCR box improves the feeling of the engine - to me it seemed very strange with an extremely narrow power band. Also, the gears are totally wrong unless you cruise in 200 km/h!
Finally, major credit to the people who run this forum. I read many posts, but I wish I had more time to participate. Gotta work my *** off to pay for gas, the tax on gas in Sweden is like 100%...
Lexus 220d Sport
in Lexus IS200 / Lexus IS300 Club
Posted
Hi Brian!
First post from Swedish IS200 owner. Test drove IS220d and was not impressed by the engine. I just wanted to make you aware of KCR diesel tuning. This Swedish company provides plug and play boxes that improve horsepower and torque. Please note that I have no personal experience from KCR products (and no, I don't work there...). But I know that KCR has a very good reputation among Audi/BMW/VW-diesel owners + the mobile home crowd.
All necessary info is on their site, so I won't waffle about it here and now. KCR offers a box for IS220d that promises 200 hp and an awesome 455 nm torque. What I would like to know is if the KCR box improves the feeling of the engine - to me it seemed very strange with an extremely narrow power band. Also, the gears are totally wrong unless you cruise in 200 km/h!
Links:
http://www.kcr.se/render_homepage_en.asp?pageid=1
http://www.kcr.se/render_page.asp?SEARCH=Lexus&pageid=32
Finally, major credit to the people who run this forum. I read many posts, but I wish I had more time to participate. Gotta work my *** off to pay for gas, the tax on gas in Sweden is like 100%...
Cheers!