Skraggy_uk

Yes, purely a coincidence. If you look, I was posting in the Imports board a while ago regarding a Celsior I had. This was not just some elaborate campaign. I was merely suggesting that it might be something that would be useful if they added lexus to the range, to maintain the OEM look of the dash for owners of of IS200 models which are prone line mine to Error 1 messages (which I believe can be down to a dirty lens) so won't recognise CDs, or Error 3 which suggests to he Unit is FUBAR'd in many cases. I like toys and gadgets, and while the cheap and nasty chinese unit might not be even a patch on the Mark Levinson system, or even the basic Pioneer Lexus Premium system in the older LSs, they don't sound bad. Where do you reckon the major companies get their average system made (not the top ends)? China makes almost everything. To disregard anything made in China without a major name is to be honest stupid. China is doing now, what Japan did 30 years ago, and Korea did 15 years ago. Eventually this will be cars as well as electronics, but lets face it, there was a time no so long ago that if you bought a Japanese car then you were daft. The same goes with Korean electronics. Now China is getting in on the act and has skipped a lot of the learning by picking up where Japan and Korea went wrong early on, and also getting its hands directly on the latest technology by getting licenses to manufacture the branded goods. The fact that they have a total disregard for international intellectual property while legally wrong means the same technology you see in a branded piece of kit appears in a white box unit without the fancy interface design. What does a fully featured Pioneer 2 din touchscreen MP3/DVD/TV bluetooth navigation headunit cost in comparison to the units I linked to? The only reason I linked to that Liverpool reseller for the equipment I linked in China is that if anyone else was interested and got him to contact the makers, they might consider making a Lexus Lookylikee system for far less than the factory one costs. Some people like their car to look original, but don't have £1000 to spend when original headunit goes off to the home of the ancestors, and unless you have spent a lot of money creating a very special environment, car audio will never sound HiFi, much less so in a factory install system. For most people, as long as it sounds OK, that is sufficient.

Not sure I understand. The fascia adapter doesn't cost very much and gives you access to a huge range of aftermarket head units. I don't see the big advantage of these units happening to come in the right shape. Because no matter how much work you put in, a fascia and an aftermarket headunit can look good, but not factory. These factory fitted units look right, as as technology is improving sound better than cheap tat, and cost less than a decent aftermarket headunit, and with so much outsourced to china, are often made in the same factory, with the same workers, using the same components. If you fit one of these tailored fit units you don't need a fascia adaptor, a cable adaptor, a steering control adaptor if you have them, a display adaptor if you have them and a can bus adaptor if need one. They are truly plug and play and directly replace the factory units, which while amazingly resilient in my old Celsior and the LS, appears to have been designed and assembled with a self destruct mechanism by a 3 year old for the IS. These budget units don't seem to be that weak because they don't use a complicated multi changer to get six discs in, they use a single discs dvd-rom to play MP3s, give access to USB/SDcards, HDDs, TV sources, GPS and bluetooth phones. You don't need trailing wires to the tomtom, and wired in handsfrees and adaptor cables to add an iPod. One unit, one ipod adaptor and a phone mount covers phone, other music and your phone through the speakers.

Yep, the Altezza. I was thinking something more mainstream like an MR2 or Corolla of a similar age, or maybe even from a newer model that used up left over lexus tooling when the moulds changed at some point.

The people I know from the Briskoda forum who have fitted the VAG fitting ones (VW was available before Skoda branded ones) have said the sound quality was at least as good as the factory fitted ones even the better end stuff. The downside seemed to be the control interface which was pretty rudimentary once you got past the front ends, although each generation they brought out improved that, and as they were running on Windows mobile/WinCE 5 some of the Skoda owners figured there might be somewhere to hack the OS rom, like a lot the windows mobile based phone user groups do to make custom roms with interfaces that were. I know they wouldn't be upto the quality of a Lexus premium system, but when the standard system starts throwing £1000 worth of CD errors, something that fits into the custom space without a facia adaptor is always a good option to have.

Witson Electronics They make OEM shaped headunits with modern features like bluetooth/nav/steering wheel control/can-bus for a damned site less than standard factory replacements. there is a A company in Liverpool who sells them. And the beauty is they don't need tacky surround adaptors, and if you have a non-iso harness (like quadlock canbus, or factory harnesses) they plug and play ones just fit and match the original dash colours. I don't suppose any other Toyota units are the same physical shape as that in the IS200 are there?

My IS200 has the top loader headunit. It also has a Motorola cradle handsfree. Totally useless so I'm pulling it. If I fit a parrot 9200 in it's place, do I need a GROM cable, or can it be fitted in place directly. I plan on using the A2DP audio feature as much as the handfree. I don't want to do any more spending than I have to, but I want to do it right first time.

These standard audio cds burned onto CD-R discs. The early 90's Celsior with it's plain old fashioned pioneer cassette loaded changer played them fine. Thing is, one or two of them will work by trial and error, flicking through the discs plays each track. Then you add another discs, and that might work, suddenly the next one won't and then northing including the discs already working give error 1. I guess job one should be to try and clean the lens. On the subject of the shudder, all good, all gone. In this case the garage were lucky they fixed it first time. They had in writing that I would reject the car if it wasn't fixed, because that was one of the terms of buying the car along with the paint chips, they told me they had done it before I collected and it drove fine, when I had handed over the keys to the trade in, they told they hadn't had time to do the paint and would need to make an appointment, and didn't get to drive it properly until two days later when I discovered it was as bad as ever. They were lucky that they did a moderate job of the chips, and sorted the brakes or they would have had it back quicker than the guy who owned it from them for 3 months.

OK, a week on, after the caliper change, the fuel consumption has improved drastically, 21mpg is now 30.4mpg And gone from 3/4tank for 250miles to 1/2tank for 260 miles. And the car has become much more enjoyable to drive, just need to sort out the Code1 with most burned CDs that have played fine in everything from a 90 Celsior Multichanger, to cheap supermarket headunits, to cheap standalone domestic DVD players and add a Bluetooth handsfree and I will be a happy happy bunny.

The one you're thinking of is Charlesworth Motors - a great bunch of folks and I'd definitely recommend them if you can make the trip there! Yes, that is the baby.

I wasn't aware of that, will have to look it up.

Not going mega fast, it is the M56 in rush hour. I was doing about 75, and dropped to 65-70 as I pulled into the second lane to let it past, heading toward Manchester. Very nice looking car. Sounded really quiet as it went past, but I was in the IS, so well insulated, and had XFM on.

I'm heading along, minding my own business, passing a RX300 at 70 something officer. When I see this black shape gaining fast. I gets out of the way and it comes past me, a Black V300, with a Thor-racing sticker on the back, and a "lexus" type numner plate. Nice motor fella. Loverly.

Looks like LPD have gone downhill a bit, two days and they haven't even acknowledged my contact from, never mind the quote. Delivery in 48hrs is no good if it takes them weeks to quote you first.

I think I might get the cover off this weekend. See what physical condition it is in. I've contacted Lexus Parts Direct as I've bought from them before when I had my Toyota Celica GT4 from their Toyota branch, to see what the belt/idler/tensioner costs, and I'll give Charlesworths a ring and see if they are happy with me supplying the belt/other service gear. I guess it can't hurt to make sure it is right can it.

That was what I figured. Cheers.

Looking at all the service record tick sheets for my 2001 IS200SE, all the sheets say 6y/100k miles. Looking through the receipts there is no record of a belt change upto 65k. Car has done 81k now, but there is a compliment slip from another garage saying oil/filter service at 77k so I'm happy that the fluids are good. But on the cam cover there is a sticker saying that the belt was changed arround 42k in 2003. Would it be normal to change the belt at such a young age and make no record of it. I have all the reciepts from Birmingham Lexus for services before, after and during 2003 and no mention of the belt/idler/tensioner at all, not even an advisory that it was worn. Wonder why it was changed early, and does that mean I have another 20k before I need to do it again (allowing 60k from the last one), or should I get it done with the next service (due a full service anyway) as it has covered another 40k since it was done.

Somewhere in the next 6 months, it will be getting a full service. The history shows a full service in 2005, a lexus intermittent in 2006, an oil/filter in sept 2008 at the garage I bought from less than 7000 miles after the last lexus intermittent. It has only 2000 miles since then. So while it isn't strictly to schedule, it is within miles. It is 8yrs, 81k but no sign of a belt, so I'm going to get a full with belt done. MOT is March, so seeing what miles I've done by then, I might get both done at the same time. I know there is a good indy arround Glossop and that is less than an hour from work, but I might try to find one a bit closer to home. Will be a bit cheaper than the £800ish that Lexus will want.

The calipers were swapped by the garage I bought the car from, at their expense as I had only had the car a week, to stop me rejecting it. The sales guy I dealt with said they were £100 a pop, which sounds like exchange recons, and they have that slightly gold colour to them. Now, after a little drive out to deliver a birthday pressie, it will hold 30 in 6th, at 60mpg without any bother, and sit at a solid 30mpg at 70. Much better than the combined 21mpg I got during my first week of ownership. And it doesn't try to stop the car every time I dip the clutch anymore.

Got the car back from the non-franchise dealer I bought from. They diagnosed a sticky passenger side caliper. They changed both to make sure it didn't cause an imbalance the other way. Now, no shudder, no pull, and I can use the top 2 gears at any speed above 30. Before, I couldn't use 6th until the steering shudder had gone off, because the car would lose speed. 5th could just about maintain 50 and no more. Thing is, it didn't feel like you were correcting the steering like some of the older bangers I've had, it just pulled if you let go. So I'm a happy bunny and starting planning for getting the motorola cradle handsfeee pulled and getting a parrot of some sort fitted. Just need to run a few tanks through and see if such a dramatic change to the drive has affected fuel consumption as much and I can make a massive improvement the 21mpg combined (almost all motorway, some crawl, some steady, some flying) I was getting during the first week.

I've made my own thread about this because I need to ring the dealer who sold it to me to get it sorted within the 1 month warranty I was given, didn't find this one until after, but I'm getting the same thing in my 2001 Y IS200 SE. Only happens during the first 20 minutes of 10 miles. Feels like it is coming through the seat as well as juddering the wheel, and it is enough to shake the whole car. Feels like a wheel is coming off, and car feels sluggish in top two gears. 10 minutes later, car pulls well in all gears, no juddering. And one thing I have noticed is that I don't get judder on braking, only accelerating/cruising. Car has done 81k, and it lists at least 2 sets of discs and pads in the last 7 years.

When I test drove the IS there was a judder through the steering wheel arround 50-60. It seemed to go off after while, but dealer said he would get it balanced. Before I collected he it had been balanced by local Hyundai dealer across road and he had tested it upto 65 and there was no judder/shimmy/wobble. That was Friday. Yesterday was the first time I've been over 30 since I got it, and going over M6 Thelwall, about 20 minutes after I set off, at 50 5th seemed sluggish, 6th wouldn't pull at all, could barely hold revs. In 4th and 5th at arround 3k ish revs the vibration started again. Enough to rattle the keyring against the dash, and if I take my hands off, blur the wheel. You can actually feel the whole car shimmy, and feel the vibration through the seat first as the wheel starts to shake. It also pulls very slightly to the left. 10 or 15 minutes later, everything fine at all revs, and will pull cleanly from 30 in 5th and 40 in 6th. I need to take it back to get some stone chips sorted, but what are anyone's thoughts to the cause of the wobble. I want this sorted while there is a warranty. Is it likely to be prop or gearbox mount, wheel balance or sticky caliper, or a disc/hub face (it has had at least one set of discs/pads). Braking feels smooth and doesn't pull particularly either way. Another thing is, when stationary at traffic lights, the car is rock solid doesn't roll, no brakes, out of gear. Whenever do you find junction anywhere in the UK that is that flat? I've had it at every set of lights I've stopped at. It really confuses me how it can be so bad, then 10 minutes later be so smooth.

That looks to be the same cradle and mic, but the cradle is in the normal Nokia position attached to the side of the console on the passenger side. I'll need to double check for control buttons but I'm sure there aren't any.

Going to appear dim now, but how do I get to your Gallery?

No buttons that I could see, but the phone antenna runs up to the old tax disc holder, and there appears to be a microphone tucked up behind the rear view mirror.

Bum, I hoped it might have been a fitment option. Oh well, it might make it easier when I get a Parrot etc fitted as they won't have to do any new cuts.