lexynik

hi all i know this is well covered but the article in the link is worth reading as it says hm government have announced raised ved rates for all banded cars - example given is band h goin up £65 to £240 per year - i can imagine post 2001 lex owners should have an interest in what their band rate increase is for this time CLICK ME i know its the daily mail but i doubt it would be a lie

its 21 million according to that and i dont really care either as mine is a 99 and wont be increased

if anyone knows how to put a link up to the dm page could they please as i havent worked out how CLICK ME

is this true what the papers are saying today ? government have just announced increases in car tax rates today - apparently vehicles in band H are subject to a £65 price rise making them £240 per annum ,, ??? where would that leave people with is200s and 300s i wonder ? just read this in todays daily mail online under heading HOUSEHOLD BILLS TO RISE so as they say not everything you read is true but i doubt very much if the daily mail would put that in print so clearly as a fact if there were no truth in it - go check for yourselves - i would welcome peoples thoughts on this

either that or if you are set on bucket seats why not ask matt if his arm can be twisted to let you have those trd ones if he doesnt need them anymore . i did have a think about it and if you had the suede/eccsaine part of your seats redone in red leather with black stitching and maybe your suede type bits on the door panels done in the same red but maybe ruffled like on the late mercs etc and obviously front and back it would look good maybe being as how you are goin with the red theme- i doubt youd see anather one like it and you can give them parts at a time to do ie back seats and door panels,then passenger seat then last drivers seat so they ought to be able to do most of it and you still got your transport

oh right i see - why dont you think about having your seats and door panels retrimmed then - you can change the eccsaine or leather for whatever colour you want - or add piping on the seats ie red for example - its nowhere near as expensive as it used to be and you can get a lovely very individual and yet tasteful result with the right choices - plus everything works as it should and no wiring -

Oh and forgot to mention the biggest issue of how to wire and what resistor to use to ensure the remaining airbags still work! why dont you try and source some alteeza seats if weight is the issue ? i think they would go straight in and shouldnt look quite as horrible as bucket seats sitting on a made up frame - i think the wiring isnt too hard to do either- theyre not electric or heated and sound like they would be just up your street - people usually give them away on here when they upgrade to is200 seats so should be cheap enuf - its hard to imagine an is200 with bucket seats unless its a full race type - are you going whole hog on the weightloss issue ie stripping out the back seats,door panels,carpet,spare wheel,carbon bonnet,full LIGHTWEIGHT roll cage etc ? or are you of the impression that you can improve the cars performance,handling,looks and comfort just by installing a pair of cheap bucket seats ? if you are trying to do it properly it might be best to buy an alteeza 210bhp as standard like the one yeldarb is selling and then transform that as its a faster lighter car to start with best of luck either way

yeah cheers tommy- i appreciate that-i got a notification of your pm on email and read it but cant find messages again on here !!!! never mind,nuff said ! if it does turn out we both have problems with same supplier well have to do something about it here and ?there?

congratulations on buying a lex and welcome to the club - it sounds to me like you may need to get someone good to give it another mop-sorry i cant really help i naver really washed mine yet

pmd you

tommy when i had my lowers done they said for sure it put everything out and wouldnt let me leave until they had done the tracking - eventhough i said i was getting it wimmed and they didnt do geo they still insisted on settin the tracking wrongly - did it cure the knock ?

oh right cheers deckie- im sure my dad had it on a car when he had a few quid - i think the glass was bulletproof as well - when you wound the window down it was ridiculously thick with like a black rubber seal around the edges

i thought about this for a while too when i got my 200 - the consensus of opinion seems to be it wont make any appreciable difference so i use 95ron asda fuel as its the cheapest - there was one interesting post that said to stick half a tank of the shell v power on top of half a tank of normal fuel every few months or so which apparently has lots of additives in it and thoroughly cleans your fuel system through and helps achieve optimum mpg - this is only what i have read not personal experience

john g you dont say if yours is auto or manual - im guessing manual - what you are saying kind of tallies with me as i too dont feel the need to chuck the car around etc-in fact the car inspires smooth driving with its smooth six engine,classy chassis and excellent progressive brakes with loads of feel - its quite easy to float into corners with confidence without braking too much or accelerating either as you have faith that the car has plenty of handling and safety systems in reserve to back you up not feeling the need to boot the car about is what i meant by the auto seems tuned for british speed limits,its happy getting to them and staying at them - so your post would suggest (if you have a manual) that the manuals also have a shall we call it a "happy mode" where a lot of thought was given to the gearing and it certainly doesnt need to be driven hard - i think a lot of mpg apart from servicing is influenced by your affinity with the car and of course driving style- im also lucky enough to not worry about the mpg and quite frankly i would sell the car if it ever became an issue to the extent that you have to concentrate on driving economically all the time - that would drive me mad and ruin the whole experience - happily my style of driving doesnt seem too thirsty and its nice to know youve allways got the vvt kick in reserve for those odd i feel like redlining it moments ! of course it doesnt stop me checking the odo every time i brim her up out of interest

tango,s car is the best 250 on here-gorgeous-auto lexs are beutiful things which waft you around with semmingly seemless gearchanges in absolute luxury and with the minimum of effort-i have driven a 250 manual and didnt like the gearbox as apparently they are knotchy as a charecteristic-also in pulling away from traffic lights you are usually gone before the guy next door has found his biting point on his clutch-i truly believe one of lexus strongest features is the way they make their auto gearboxes - go test drive one at lexus and in the same visit drive a manual one to compare,i doubt youd want the manual afterwards

parthibian-im pretty sure they make electrically tintable/untintable windows as an option on some special order flagship model type car - either range rover,bmw or rolls - they are only on double glazed windows about half inch thick and has something sandwiched in the middle which reacts to an electric current to go darker

i agree john g - plus the cost of fuel is rising fast - i must admit though ive owned thousands of cars and read loads of reviews in the three months i was looking for my lex so was warned repeatedly about mpg- i have to say though i was quite surprised at the reality of actually owning one-i must admit im ok with it as i think all in all its an amazing package but they do chew fuel like almost any other 3 litre even when driving like miss daisy-i guess you just have to start switching off the engine when you are waiting outside the shops while your gf does the shopping and such to get the best mpg from them-performance wise ive got an auto and it seems to have been "tuned" perfectly for in town cruising and 70mph motorway type legal speeds with hardly ever a need to use kickdown etc-in fact i may well be getting old but the autobox is so refined that you hardly can tell when it changes gear the way i generally drive it - ie keep up with traffic but not much needless overtaking . i read many reviews that slated the manual box for having silly gearing for the uk and also knotchy gearchanges-apparently people found the manual had to be revved like carlos fandango to make normal progress - i can imagine with a manual one there is a very fine line between making normal progress and thrashing the car just enuf to wreck your mpg figures

you can put an ad in the wanted section-loc owners frequently upgrade/change alloys,its certainly worth a try

oh well good luck yeldarb- maybe youll buy a lex over there or take yours maybe-either way im sure youll pop back on here every now and again to let us know how things are in the colonies-good luck with it-its a bit of an extreme way to get away from brown and his cronies but effective enough,hope it all goes well for you

i think thats a far better idea kj then those other (cough!!!) wheels , the standard 17s really suit the lex imo and you should be able to pick up a set a very good price

thanks felix-thats pretty much how i guessed it would be-ive got 2 or 3 laptops i never use so maybe ill just try and get a car charger for one of them and leave it in the car-yeah i suppose you are right you would see different info from the passenger seat while on the move-thats one of the ways they map other cars(with a few other sensors and bits attached here and there) thanks felix

felix-slightly off/on topic but can i ask - when you plug your laptop into the obd port does it draw power from the port to charge/run laptop ? i only ask because it would be pointless for me to leave my laptop in the car for emergencies as the battery does not hold a charge very well and is bound to be flat when i need to use it !! obviously i have not bought an obd reader yet and am deciding which one to get -i quite like the idea of a laptop one as they are cheap and you get a lot of info from them i believe

thanks, thats the first thing that i did do actually was check all the doors and it took me quite a while as well and after doing that it did actually lock the way it should. But this problems seem to be getting more frequent and I am beginning to look like a nutcase walking round my car opening and shutting the doors several times each time I need to lock my car Lol any more advice...... welcome to the club !

its only a hunch but have you checked the wiring to the led one ? i think there might need to be a resistor or something somewhere - wheres the guys who know stuff ? im pretty sure if you do a search on this youll find a solution

have you got a parcel shelf brakelight as well - if not and the bulb has been taken out maybe or the wires cut because you have a rear led on the spoiler this can cause that problem -- i think its quite common when spoiler brake lights are added - im sure one of the others can explain better than me