Fidgits

Anyone can think of a date and that could be great but best to be on Monday as my only dayoff.

I think you'll struggle then...

Weekends are always best, followed by evenings...

:D mine arrived yesterday too!

looks good... congrats

no, cant say ive had much reason to hang around the Lexus forums ;)

Okay, 50 grands not bad, assuming its M3/RS4 quick and handles well... cheers for the info :D

I noticed EVO magazine have a brief mention of the new IS500 (V8), but no more info...

Anyone care to shed some light on this? Real? Rumour?

Expected arrival/cost?

coffee machine, always first...

everything else is variable..

Are we not confusing here what an LSD actually does? (or have I muddled myself up on the definition? :duh: )

I thought an LSD gives you more grip through corners by limiting the amount of power transferred away from the loaded wheel.......

Either way, if you drive with the traction control on, I doubt there would actually be any difference because I think that would kick in before you get to the point of spinning wheels and power transfer.......but if you want to take it to the track and really "drive" it, then the LSD might make a difference.

I can't see how it would make that much of a difference in the real world, can't actually think of many cars that actually have them in the first place ;)

As you say, all the other differences are purely cosmetic so could be added - the only thing that is in the SEs favour is the single colour steering wheel. Just my opinion but I really don't like the two-tone ones

No.

it doesnt give any extra grip at all.

But your very right it doesnt make a huge difference in the real world.

In a nutshell all cars need to have a differential - because when you go around a corner, the outside wheel travels further than the inside wheel, so the wheels need to spin at a different rate.

So, when your delivering power to these wheels, the power can, in certain circumstances, be unevenly biased.

Imagine going around a wet roundabout, flooring the throttle, 9 times out of 10 the inside wheel will start spinning, which will result in the back end kicking out.

A Limited Slip Differential does exactly what it says on the tin, it limits the amount of slip to any wheel, so in our example, the inside wheel could still spin, however the outside wheel will still have *say* 25% of the power.

So, if you want nice big controllable powerslides, like in drifting, you need a LSD. If your very heavy footed in very bad weather, a LSD may counteract your bad driving to a degree.

However, when I tried a sport, i found it 'numbed' the connection with the road somewhat, the SE I found had more feel to the clutch and gearbox, and I seemed to find it easier to gauge when i could put the power down much better compared to the Sport.

But its horses for courses, it all comes down to what you want out of a car - for me a few splashes of Aluminium and a LSD didn't warrant waiting for a sport when the right spec car turned up as an SE.

I would advise the same to Jammie, buy the car based on Spec/History/Condition rather than being too specific.. otherwise he could be shopping for a long time

so.......whats happening ??

95% definate we will be going the easter weekend

looking at booking it in the coming week

so.......who else coming ??

What dates are easter?

nowt wrong with German cars ;)

At the end of the day, brand loyalty is for lazy people, if you don't look around and find the best car for what you want, well thats their loss...

If you want the Merc, get one, though I'd reccomend going for the 500, I imagine it will be easier to sell on.

I'm trying to convince the other half we dont need a holiday this year, after indulging and having 3 last year!!

(spent christmas 05 in Cyprus, followed by 2 weeks in California in April and a week snowboarding in Canada in December...)

I had a SE and never missed the LSD ;)

I was originally waiting for the PS3 - but ended up going for the 360..

Simply awesome... oh, and get Gears Of War... brilliant game :D

Gamertag Fidgits

Thanks for that. Just looked. It's quoting £10,100 for a private sale!!

That's amazing! Does everybody think a 4 year old IS is really worth £10k??

best bet is to look through autotrader and see what similar aged/mileage cars are going for...

oh come on.

you turned traction off, then floored it, and continued to floor it as the tail slid everywhere? How long have you been driving? 5 minutes?

Tractions there as a safeguard, if it kicks in, your doing something wrong, the best traction control system you have is your input to the car.

In a nutshell, any severe or sharp inputs cause issues, whether its the throttle, steering or brakes - if your smooth and progressive, you wont have any issues.

Perhaps you should invest in a skid pan training, Castle Combe do a very good half day session that will teach you some car control for a reasonable sum.

well worth it ;) im a convert...

oh, and get GoW - fantastic online play - just ensure you get the premium so you can get all the online stuff

odd one this.....a sport comes with a rear lip spoiler, but some ppl changed boot to get the raised spoiler....

As far as i know you could not just take off the lip and replace with the raised.

BTW...i am unsure if "facelift" would be the word i would use to describe the slight changes made over the years.

yeah, there never was a 'facelift' as the honorable Robert mentions.

Just a series of tweaks every year..

2000 got driver AND passenger electric seats and top loading CD

2002 got the piping and smoked rear lights.

2004 got the smoked headlights etc..

Argh bo!!ock5 - thats gonna hurt then, so I should really try and barter the car down and take some quotes with me for an approximate / average 60k service and hopefully kick them down even more then...?

Jamie

if its due its 60k, take a minimum of 600 quid off, if it needs anything doing, like discs/pads etc, you could easily end up at a grand.

It's overpriced anyway, plus the 60k service, if I was you i'd be looking to pay 6500 and not a penny more.

my 60k service cost £600 (before discount) with no extras on...

I always went for the dunlops... you could get 25k out of them if you wernt too 'spirited' and they did fine for me year round.

Excellent dry grip, good wet, didnt like standing water much, but the xmas i drove to the lakes in the blizzards she did fine.

Noticed you put group 13 down...thought they were group 12? The the sport was group 15....unless they have now been revised...

No, he's right.

the S and SE have ALWAYS been group 12, and the Sport has ALWAYS been group 13..

Perhaps the 300 is group 15?

probably an issue with the wheel sensor.

ello stu

at the age its on the boundary between saphirre and strathcaron.

Though, as someone said, its high priced - i sold a similar age/mileage/spec for 6500 last year.. so I would aim to pay a similar price for that one.

(oh, and mine had just had BIG 60k service, new tyres etc..)

expect the country to grind to a halt because theres a cm on snow on the fields...

driving on snow is easy, just take it easy and think ahead..

you know your in 2007 when this is the 10th year in a row this has been emailed around...

try the likes of Dabs and Ebuyer, they tend to have 'tower only' machines at good prices..

at your price point you should get a decent machine for your needs...