Paddyw

Hi all!

Iam about to take delivery of Lexus IS 200 today.

A black Executive Auto, July 2003 with two owners and a full history. It has 5 refurbished alloys, 5 new tyres, 4 brake discs and all pads replaced, cam-belt and water pump replaced and a 12-month, unlimited-mileage Toyota Delaercover warranty. I'm looking forward to driving it; I have a SAAB 9-5 currently.

There seems to be a wealth of knpwledge in this community and I look forward to being able to "give-as-good-as-I-get"

Unfortunately, with so much work having been done to the car already, I will probably only be adding petrol for the first few months or so. I do intend to do all my own mechanical work but for the first year, for the warranty, I'm bound to the Toyota Dealer Network

Mike

Welcome to the LOC mate,from one Irish man to another,im up in the hills of Donegal :)

sounds like you have a tidy is200 on ur hands there alright

Happy motoring !!

I have just come back from France after having done 3000 miles and saw one Lexus and that was a German IS.

I guess they are not very popular -

having said that, anything, other than small french sh*t boxes are conspicuous by their absence. Anything remotely expensive i.e. above a BMW 3 series was just non existent or foreign registered.

p.s. I averaged 27 mpg on computer which equated to 22mpg on LPG. This was four up, fully loaded, roof box on all the time and aircon on all the time. It also included a 2 mile round trip every day for the morning croixants. The petrol cost equivalent mpg was 50.01 mpg - not bad eh.

I know wot ya mean man,

im living and working in france since January,and have not seen one lexus since i have been here,you're right its just all little french sh1tboxes,

i think they are more interested in eating croissants and sitting around than havin nice cars :)

Ah you must mean those Sh*troens and pukegots they have out there

yup thats exactly wot i was tlkn about :D

Waxing often is good - it gives a protective coating. Polishing often is bad - it removes fine scratches etc but it removes paint. I polish mine once a year (well actually clay bar, paint cleaner, polish then wax), and wax every few weeks. I should wax it more often than I do but don't get much time (family, own company and help to lead a church).

haha yea i know,its hard to find time to wax it sometimes,but ur car is lookin great in the pofile pic,super shiny

thanks for the reply

I have just come back from France after having done 3000 miles and saw one Lexus and that was a German IS.

I guess they are not very popular -

having said that, anything, other than small french sh*t boxes are conspicuous by their absence. Anything remotely expensive i.e. above a BMW 3 series was just non existent or foreign registered.

p.s. I averaged 27 mpg on computer which equated to 22mpg on LPG. This was four up, fully loaded, roof box on all the time and aircon on all the time. It also included a 2 mile round trip every day for the morning croixants. The petrol cost equivalent mpg was 50.01 mpg - not bad eh.

I know wot ya mean man,

im living and working in france since January,and have not seen one lexus since i have been here,you're right its just all little french sh1tboxes,

i think they are more interested in eating croissants and sitting around than havin nice cars :)

Hi guys,im jus wondering how often is it ok to polish your car,i had some people tell me polishing it once a week was too much,i would often polish it twice a week if im home,is this too much ??

Also,if any of you guys have info regarding headlight washer jets giving trouble on IS200's ?

mine were not working so i took off the front bumper to see what was wrong and notcied that the t piece going to the two washer jets was plugged with a nut,

do these generally give bother,or do any of you guys know common problems/solutions for these,

Thanks

well you will need to keep your eye on the forums like this one and # and ebay.

OK thanks Asi,

think id be changin the plugs alright to avoid that hassle

yea im keepin my eye on the forum here and also on eBay

As ASI says some people reccomend changing to IK22 sparkplugs rather than IK20 as they are more reliable due to lower heat but I've had no problems on my IK20s. In fact with IK22s my car wouldn't start but that may have been poor fitting by myself

Thanks edeath :)

I think i gotta try source myself a tte charger first though wont b easy i think :(

any ideas where would be my best place to start looking for one of them ?

i would recomend to change spark plugs when you get the chargers fitted.

Ah ok thanks Asi,if i get it SC'd i want to make sure the car is still runnin well so dont wanna leave something out,

cheers

ATM moment the supercharging is your best bet (if you can get hold of the TTE kit) as it is bolt on. The kit will give you 205Bhp stock but has been raised in the past to about 230Bhp with a new 6-2-1 manifold and a piggyback ecu.

However a turbo systems is being developed by SPC Horsham and I know they allready sell a very tasty looking Turbo Manifold (seen it in the flesh) so an off the shelf turbo system is looking like it may become the power mod of choice soon for the 200.

I've had no engine problems yet with the carger installed as it is a Toyota Tuning Europe part and is designed to be bolt on so is within tolerance of the engine. I know Monster Mat had it fitted by TTE themselves and Lexus allowed him to keep his warranty.

Alright,thats great thanks for the info,i would rather have a tte one installed alright as its bolt on as u said and within the limits of the car,i have heard tdi to rotrex chargers too,have you any experience with them or their performance,i hear they give more hp,but maybe they arent as good for the car as tte one

Do you have any ideas what kind of performance increase this turbo system by SPC will produce?? sounds v interesting

In general which is better for the car turbo or charger ?

Thanks for your help mate,appreciate it,

lookin forward to gettin my lexus mod'd

If you find a SC mate. There are very rare.

Alright cheers mate,

just a question,have you had any bother since u had it installed/anything to watch out for ??

Im very interested to get the hp up a bit

any recommendations of where to go looking for a charger ?

i have a supercharger and only reason why i went for the supercharger is because its easier to install and easier to come by and more reliable than a turbo.

your talking around £2000 for a supercharger and could be fitted by yourself. i got mines fitted for £300 which was good

Alright cool thats great thanks for the info,think its time to go shopping so :)

Let me be the first to suggest a search as it is a common topic.

But failing that, if you are near belfast anytime let me know. I have had mine SC'd with NOS, then turbo'd, then fitted with 2jz-gte. Another member on here with a currently SC'd IS lives just down the road from me too.

haha u really went balls to the wall eh ?

what kinda power u runnin at now?

do you need any other engine mods for the charger to run well ?

how much ya talkin for a SC bought and installed ?

Aye hey id love ta take a wee spin up to ya sometime n check it out if ya dont mind ?

Cheers for your help

Hi,my name is Paddy i'm new to the LOC,i have a 01 red IS200 sport and am currently thinking of performance mods,

theres so much free space in that engine bay it seems like a shame to let it go to waste

I was considering a supercharger or a turbo,i have heard the superchargers can be quite stressful on the engine,is this true ?

are there any long term effects of having a charger or turbo installed and which would you guys recommend for an IS200,i know the charger will give more power but im just wonderin in general which is better suited to the car ??

Do you guys know any people in Ireland north/south with experience in fitting these to IS200's or would i have to take it to the UK to get the job done ?

Thanks for any info,

cheers,

Paddy