The_Stig

Thanks for the welcome everyone The_Stig

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm going to give the car a bit of time before I bother the dealer any futher, and I'll drop a new set of tyres on the back just in case as I'd like some different rubber on the rear anyway (does anyone have any recommendations for what tyre choices work well with an IS200?) I do suspect allot of it is just characterstics of rear-wheel drive (this is the first one I've had). Looking forward to doing a long run in london it it...having it has made driving allot less stressful so far! :D The Stig

Hi everyone, recent new owner of an IS200 & just wanted to ask a few questions and share my experiences of the car so far, particularly of the Derby Dealership based on Pride-Park (part of the incape group) First of all I was impressed with the sales process, and after a few visits bought a IS200 limited edition on an 04 plate. When I first picked it up I was impressed by how smooth & quiet the engine was, however there's one noticeable area where the refinement seems to fall-short and that's the gear-box. 1) I admit I'm fairly hopeless at smooth changes, but since I picked it up 3-4 weeks ago, I've found it harder and harder to change gear smoothly. Upon each change from 1st all the way upto 3rd I get a thud/dull bang from the rear of the car (the thud always seems to happen irrespective of how smooth my change is). 2) Especially when cold I get judder pulling away in first. I should say this isnt horrendous and I can prevent it by holding the revs over 2500 rpm pulling away - but I dont want to wear the clutch our prematurely. 3) 6th gear rumble/drumming - On the motorway when selecting 6th gear I get what I can only describe as a continous bassy rumbling/drumming that seems to go through the whole car. It's most noticeable on newly resurfaced sections, if I drop a cog to 5th the noise dissapears. (Already been into the Derby dealer for this and was told that because the tyres that are on the back where once on the front...they havent worn round???...and that's the cause of the noise...I cant help feeling a little fobbed off there). The preparation on the vehicle also wasnt great, I had to take the vehicle back within a day of picking it up for: 1) Headlights (Xenons) set so high they were blinding other road-users 2) Rear-wheels completely unbalanced 3) Tracking set so badly I had to hold the steering wheel 20 degrees to the right (reported that problem during the test drive and it remained unfixed when I picked the car up) 4) Driver's seat became loose and was moving about. While the staff have been very helpful, and the car overall is wonderful I've been left a little cold with lexus derby due to the intial problems with the car My biggest issue remains the gearbox which seems to be deterioriating. Does anyone else have the problems I described above?...I dont want to bother the dealer if this turns out to be just a set of characteristics with the car. Also I bought the car with another year's warranty. Will any lexus dealer honour it or do I have to take it back to Derby...as I am thinking of relocating with a job soon and it would be a nuisance to have to bring it back to derby for every repair. I love my IS200 to bits, but I just need to know if these are things I need to live with or problems which I should be insisting the dealer rectifies. Thanks TheStig (Dave)

Hi everyone :) Been registered a for a bit, but finally got an IS200 (which promptly got named by my friends as stiglex!!!) so I thought I'd say a proper hello. Picked it up from the Dealership in Derby after trading in my old Ford fiesta ST (which had more squeakes, creakes and rattles than an explosion in a creaking plastics factory!!!) Very happy with my IS so far, it's a 2004 limited edition one. Only changes so far have been a nice shiney new gear-nob :) Just wanted to say hello anyway and that I've found browsing around on the forums and reading other people's experience with these cars really useful. Mine isnt perfect but the service generally has been outstanding so far...and it's easily the best buying experience I've ever had :) I'm very pleased with how quiet and comfortable the car is, drove it to devon a few weeks ago (200 odd miles) and it felt like I'd only been on the road half an hour :D. The_Stig (Dave)