el_gencer

slightly off topic. chuck norris had a switch just like that fitted to his supercharged ford bronco in Lone Wolf McQuade which he used to power out of being buried alive. after a beer of course.

back on topic. i can't see how it could be done as the supercharger is being powered by engine. unless there was an additional clutch assembly that could engage and dis-engage by the flick of a switch.

At least Toyota have held their hands up and the head honcho has publicly apologised for recall. How many other companies would have their top man do that ? It's a two way argument tbh, people really need to maintain their cars. I mean how many times do you see a car with no tyre tread or running flat, head light on one side out etc etc ? As for the manufacturers a bit more r&d before these essential parts are put into a live environment.

I just don't like the way the media is handling the story, its too much of "famed for their reliability and look at them now" style reporting with some scaremongering thrown in for good measure.

@MarkLex. i aint convinced by those start stop features. used to be a time when we were told it was bad for the engine. and after the fiascos my friends have had with french cars thats one feature on them i wouldn't want.

yeah japan and usa only model i think. doesn't look too nice on the outside.

i don't know why the media and people are jumping up and down over this toyota recall lark. it's not like ford never built a car that didn't explode or chevy never built a car that was catastrophically dangerous and french cars in general.

I'm not sure what it is with humberside police and fast cars, but at least they know how to spend the publics money. i've noticed they usually hunt in packs. the 330ci usually follows the subarus or the evo x's. they used to have and escort cosworth, but my mate watched them drive that into a lamp post chasing a 1.2ltr punto or something equally small.

Whilst driving around Hull earlier on i spied the IS-F police car.

I have to admit it some how looks even meaner with police badging all over it. If i was going to get arrested i'd want to be carted off in that car.

Erm, well actually i wouldn't as its for the armed response

When Lexus asked me why i don't upgrade i told them it was because there was no IS350 in the UK. I agree that their engine range is limited as there are obviously people out there that want more power than the IS250 can deliver but dont want to pay for an IS-F. The rep said he'd report that back to Lexus, obviously they haven't listened to my "expert" advice :P

will do. just got confirmation that it's been posted as well.

I ordered mine from here :-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OEM-Honda-S...#ht_1957wt_1165

Just waiting for it arrive, hopefully it'll arrive some time next week.

nice find there. gone and ordered one for myself off fleabay :)

Had mine since 2002 and even with the road tax price hike i'm still keeping it. I don't whats going to die first, the is200 or me ^_^

i've always been under the impression that the internals couldn't take too much boost, and that forged pistons and con-rods etc were required if you really wanted to hit 250bhp and above mark safely. am i right in thinking that previous setups didn't have the correct maps ?

4k rpm sounds quiet high for the turbo to kick in. doesn't leave many revs left to play with. personally i'd prefer to boost lower down the rev range and have less top end.

make sure it's got plenty of hdmi ports as well. you'll run out quickly if you start getting HD equipment. i have 3 hdmi ports on my tv and i've run out, i think four is what most come with. the samsung LED screen are quiet nice and bright if a tad expensive.

I'm currently running that setup. Tein offer a refurb service so you could send them there to get sorted.

I haven't really used the EDFC unit, i just left the setup alone once i found i good ride. I will admit that it's more of a showing off thing if you're not going to use it on a track.

As for the coilovers, i can't fault them. Soon they went on the car the difference was clear. Less body roll in the corners, better grip and handling. I don't get any knocking sounds either. On the softest setting they are noticeably harder than the stock stuff, but you soon get used to it. Put it this way, my dad drives car and he's not bothered. Also get geometery done on as it well, that makes a huge difference as well.

They're nice cars, i've sat in a few when i was in America. If Lexus is the Japanese Merc, then Infinity is the Japanese BMW. Like the press says though it's wrong time to introduce the brand. Lexus is well established now in Europe and are competing with the Germans, Infinity would have a long hard road ahead. Maybe we'll see Acura enter the market as well ?

good o'l cyprus is there nothing you can't buy over there from other markets.

asia has had hdtv for ages, so personally i'd have a thought a tv from that region would be ahead of the game. maybe a software update is required on the tv assuming there is one ?

Can't comment on the super streets, however i've had no issues with the type flex and knocking sounds (now known as mono flex i think). ride is bit stiffer than the factory stuff on the softest setting and hard as nails on the hardest settings.

how long have you had the box ? if its less than 2wks just quote them the sale of goods act.

it'll be interesting to know how it is on you're mates tv.

from what i can tell on the internet, your tv is an asia only model (which is of no consequence as it's multi-standard) and is effectively a 720p panel (native res 1366*768). this is all assuming that i found the correct tv.

to me it sounds like the box is just crap at handling SD via the hdmi, but unless they can provide another box of samsung/pace/thompson and all is well then i could well be talking cr*p (which is not unheard of). i can definitely say that my humax freesat hd box handles SD better than my SKY HD box ever did. have you tried the box round a mates house on a different tv to compare the hdmi output of SD. different tv's have different processors so give different results, it's worth checking. if it looks prefect on the other tv, then it could be your tv and how it interprets SD via hdmi.

@kev dod

you are correct about a hdmi 1.3 lead, the main difference being bandwidth increase to support extra features. however i have yet to notice any difference in pic and audio quality between say a certified £15 cable and a £100 certified cable.

TBH it's not difficult to see the manifold has 6 pipes on one side only. Maybe he's thinking the engine should be mounted the other way around perhaps or is getting confused with the IS250.

i'm putting my pre-order for it. haven't played a decent racing game in ages, and gran turismo is taking far too long to see the light of day.

thanks guys. i'm just off as i need a holiday, it's more of an adventure thing really. gadgets are high on my list so a trip to Akhiabra is going to be on the cards. shame the exchange rate is so pants, i wouldn't have minded getting myself an arm rest or some toms/trd parts. having said that i'd probably get done in customs when coming back, i seem to the have no end of bad luck re-entering blighty.

how is it for english over there ? am i going to have to put my japanese lessons to the test ?

It's nice to be different, but at the same time it's gonna cost. Parts for Lexus don't sell on "the cheap".

do you know anyone with a different brand of box you could try on your tv ?

Is your tv full hd ? Sometimes it helps to set the box to the same output as the tv's native resolution. For example if your tv is 720p set the box to 720p etc.

Also SD channels can be pap depending on which channel you are looking at. BBC1 has a decent amount of bandwidth allocated to it so it tends to look good.

Changing the HDMI cable wont do too much as the signal is 0's and 1's, so dont believe the hype that a £60 cable will give better results, the picture is either there or it isn't (unless it's shielded to prevent the breakup of the signal). Also how close are you sat to the tv ? SD pictures can and will look pixelated and this only gets worse the closer you sit. Most probably the issue is going to be with the box, who makes the box (pace, thompson, amstrad, samsung) ? Whilst the boxes are all supposed to be the same, they aren't. They'll have different ways of processing the image, unfortunately Sky are cheapskates and you can't pick and chose the box. Also if you call them to replace the box you'll get a refurbed one !!!! (thats partly why i cancelled, no end of issues with the box and Sky being useless).

Hope some of this helps.

well the is200 is around 156bhp and its not too difficult to get the back end out. you also need a decent 1.5 or 2 way diff as well which aint cheap, probably coilovers suited to drifting and some good o'l geometery to set the car up for drifting. strip it out, will get you extra power for nothing and few simple tuning options such as back box and air filter etc. as the drift king says "its harder and more skillfull to drift a lower power car".