andyk134

Thank you, I think the wheels suit the colour of the car perfectly. They are 4 pot brakes I had fitted when the turbo and lightened flywheel conversion was done last year along with the poly bushes and lsd. it certainly gives more confidence in the wet and coming off roundabouts so was worth doing at 200 quid fitted. Mine is just my daily driver so I didn't want to go too manic and think I have it just right at the way it drives and handles. the only thing I would do is to have a proper piggyback ECU so I can set the fuelling all the way through, it isn't bad but there are a few flatspots I would like to eliminate, bit not found anyone who does one. Have fun at Santa Pod.

With you on that Eric, I have used V Power (previously Optimax) since I bought the car and wold never use anything else. Mine is now turbo so I need the extra but always did before. Also shop around we have garages about 4 mile apart that are 8p a litre different but they still go into the expensive one. I would imagine petrol would degrade eventually and why those with cars they don't drive very often haver to drain the tank from time to time and refill, but you are probably talking a year or so.

The cost of fuel always amuses me when people talk about it. When you buy a new car it drops about 10% the day you drive it off the forecourt, which for a new Lexus is probably about 2 years worth of fuel anyway. We sell water at £1 for half a litre (and some idiots will spend £9 on a packet of cigarettes!) so is petrol really that expensive?

They do look nice for the colour of the car and suit it. Photoshopping is a good way to see if they look good. I am sure there was a company that you could do that on their website a while ago but cant remember the name, but it made a big difference. I went for Rota Gravels 18x 8.5 as I wanted to keep it as close to the smoked multi spokes I had as standard. But for the colour of my car they look great. I went for Meister R coil overs as they have a softer spring rate which makes sense on our patchwork potholed roads..... the only body mod I did was to take the lip under the rear arches out and they fit perfectly with no rubbing and no problems on speed bumps or multi story car parks. yours will look great with those wheels and coil overs, be good to see the finished result

That is how mine is set up on the Meister R's. I have had the rear lip cut from the arches so it all fits nicely, n rubbing and can still get over sped humps with no problems. I love the ride and the confidence it gives me. Something else you might want to consider is fitting the limited slip diff from the sport, that helps a lot.

Still not a fan of the arch gap on standard cars, I do feel it spoils the look especially at the back. But it does  make it look different with the wheels which is good.

Agree with Michael, you should be ok when it is warmed up. Mine is Turbo so I have no cats at all now and a "friendly" garage for MOT time but for normally aspirated as he said you can have too much freedom and need to get it right. The exhaust itself is an "airgap" one so a pipe within a pipe, so a decent exhaust will feel a bit better too. I changed my back box before I went turbo and did feel a slightly better pick up.

I went for Meister R coilovers as they had a lower spring rating than the Tein or BC ones and with our roads I think I made the right choice. Shocks are 32 way top adjustable so you should be able to find a setting that suits you. Most of the Japanese stuff is pretty hard as it is made for their super smooth roads, so it just depends on how you like it to feel. One of the best mods I did was poly bushes, really tightened it all up and improved steering response too. Super Pro do a full kit. Have fun!

The 18 X 8.5 will fit fine on 225/40 tyres dependent on how you lower it as I have them on mine with the right offset. I had the rear lips cut our for 50 quid so it sits nicely flat but I can still go in and out of multi storey car parks with no issues or rubbing. find someone who knows what they are doing to set it all up for you and it will look so much better. I know it isn't everyones cup of tea, but I love the way mine looks and am not a fan of the stock look with the massive arch gaps and wheels set back in the arch. but as I said it depends what you are after. mine has Meister R coilovers, Eibach anti roll bars, Cusco strut braces and poly bushes and drives like a totally different car to standard, so you can go as far or as little as you want. Mine are Rota Gravels which I chose as the closest alternatives to the smoked 17 multispokes I had as standard. Good luck and enjoy your car.

Much better to get them set up by professionals. Surely the whole point of coil overs is to set the car lower to improve handling and get away from the arch gaps that so spoil the look of the stock car. But hey just my opinion.

Hi I bought them through Torque Developments, it was a special order and did take about 4 months and was about 4 years ago now to get them made but it was worth it. Or you can get the Cusco ones which are only a little bit smaller and do a good job too. I know some import the Hodgkiss ones from the US made for the 300 which fit and are even stiffer than the Eibachs.

I think they refer to Kilometers which would be the same as the UK in reality

Very strange they badged one model as a "Sport" then when it clearly wasn't if they weren't selling a performance model and I am not a fan of "slammed" cars either, mine still goes in and out of multi storey car parks with no problems, I just think it looks so much nicer than the standard car. And it nice to know we can all have our opinions in this lovely free country of ours. For me the arch gap on the back of your car spoils the whole look of it, but you clearly love it so that's good and we are all happy. And I think its great that some like to add something to their cars so they don't look like all the others. We all see cars differently which is a very good thing, life would be very boring if we were all the same. They certainly did build a lovely car but that doesn't mean it cant be improved upon and the 200 has lasted a lot better then its rivals of a similar age that's for sure!

If Toyota really knew what they were doing they would have put an engine in with a lot more grunt that was also a lot more tuneable, the chassis can take a more more then the 156bhp it was given. A shame it didn't have the 300 engine as standard and suspension that doesn't make it look stuck up in the air especially at the back, that arch gap is way to big. But you cant fault them for reliability that's for sure!

mine turned out to be power steering pump when i had a squeak on full lock especially when cold. changed it and it went away

as i understand it sport springs are 15mm lower so you will only get a further 15 - 20 mm drop as is is based on standard springs

Might be worth getting that checked before MOT time to be sure, my guess is it wont pass and they will also notice the pre cats are gone as they are huge.

I have read that going too low on standard springs makes the standard shocks unable to cope so that could be wht has happened. Bilsein and Koni do uprated shocks, but by the time you have paid for springs and shocks you could have gone coliovers with way more adjutment. Puting better roll bars on made a massive difference when i did it.

Yes i think there was a bit of a misunderstandong on which model was being discussed. this should be in the IS300H section rather than the is200 - 300 mk 1 version. I have an IS200 manual turbo 1st gen, and get about 22 to the gallon, but don't care because I love it and had it enhanced for the perpfmance it gives me. On the subject of fuel economy the most import factors are wehre and how you drive it and you will almost never achieve the quoted figures from the manufacturer.

as many have said its about whether you feel you get a difference. I know that when i used "standard" unleaded the pick up and smooth acceleration was not as good as when i used v power, so thats why i use it. As for cost, you drive a new car off the forecourt and you have lost more in depreciation than it would have cost you in 5 years for the extra cost of using "super" fuel anyway. Supermarket fuels have no additives whatsoever and some call it hype, but whatever it is my car definitely runs better on v power and I have had my car 6 years so I know who it feels.

This is always a difficult debate and people will never agree. but there are 2 issues being discussed here. one is saying that "bad" drivers are more likely to have and/or cause accidents than experienced older drivers. I don't think anyone disputes that, but that is more about the selfish arrogant attitudes of large parts of society, not just in how they drive but in their lives in general who have this "it will never happen to me" approach until of course it does happen to them. Add to that the pathetically soft police and judiciary who don't enforce the laws at their disposal and bad drivers don't need to behave correctly as they wont be caught and it they are it doesn't mean much to them.

The retest though does make sense. Firstly if they are good drivers they will pass so no problem. Secondly if we are going to have a lower age limit to drive because of perceived ability then clearly that works at the other end of the scale. I am sure there are many people who are 16 years and 11 months and 30 odd days old not yet able to who would make better drivers than some 85 year olds. this is more about taking the ones who clearly cant control their cars anymore or don't have the eyesight to protect themselves as well as others. I do agree that there should be more retests for "bad" drivers, but until we have a change of attitude form the muppet drivers, young, old, male and female, and a zero tolerance policy from the law we will continue to see around 2500 deaths and thousands more life changing injuries every year, 95% of which are driver error, or could have been avoided with a bit more care and attention. And yes you will always have those who "fake" the way they drive when they take a test, but that is no different in many areas of life where a qualification in their youth is carried through fro the rest of their lives.

It isn't perfect and never will be, human nature dictates that sadly, but we do need to do all we can to try and keep death and idiots off the road.

I had the conversion done by Simon at http://mjsservices-ipswich.co.uk/ he does advertise on eBay.

he charges £2100 for the kit but only another £200 to fit it for you as he designed it and loves doing it. Engine wise I just went for a lightened flywheel and a new clutch to reduce the stress and make the turbo spool up quicker. Also took the main cat out which makes it better. If you look on my profile you will see all the other things I have done to the car, suspension, brakes wheels, tyres. It pushes out around 230bhp which is probably enough for our roads to be fair. where can you really use a car that does 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds on a regular basis. I did it because it is different and I love my is200 and I don't care about car values it about the pleasure I get from driving it that's important to me.

Give Simon a call and he can go through it all with you. Good luck

Yes Danny, i had mine done in October. what are you after

or just don't have them and keep practicing in the back seat......

i have the bosch twin blade flat ones and they are perfect, so not sure whats up with yours.

So why are there different octanes sold if it doesnt make a difference then? Is it really just a monumental con as suggested? Should it be investigated?

For me i have always used v power and always will because i do know my car very well and it definitley runs better when i do. I am really not concerned about mpg as it is a drop in the ocean compared to depreciation, so people who buy a new car based on the mpg really don't look at the bigger picture and I always find it amusing when it is discussed! once you drive your new car off the forecourt you might just as well throw wads of cash out of the window as the value drops, so an extra couple of £ when you fill up is hardly relevant.