J Henderson

Very nice, I wish my exhaust tips were still that shiny! Anyway, welcome aboard. I think as far as intakes are concerned, the Joe Z or the F-Sport one are the way to go. Both will be a bit louder than stock plus a power gain across a wide rev range is pretty-much guaranteed. The only real negative is availability, and in the case of the F-Sport, cost. In my experience (on previous cars) short-ram style intakes like the Typhoon etc will undoubtedly be louder and more likely to put a grin on your face, especially at high revs, but that usually comes at the expense of some throttle response and low-end torque. In an automatic car that's not something I'm keen to sacrifice.

Looks amazing

Yes. It was changed during my last service.

I've no idea if changing speakers only will accomplish anything, but these are the sizes; Lexus Premium System (194 watts, 13 speakers); Front doors: 25mm tweeter, 65mm mid-range and a 160mm woofer. Rear doors: Same as front (25/65/160) Rear shelf: 200mm sub-woofer. Mark Levinson System (300 watts, 14 speakers); 65mm central speaker in dashboard Front doors same 25/65/160mm setup as the std system. Rear doors: 25mm tweeters, 100mm mid-range. Rear shelf: 2 x 65mm satellites, 200mm sub-woofer. And from what I've read, retro-fitting the OEM nav unit into a non-nav car looks like quite a bit of work, not to mention cost.

eBay USA Even once shipping is factored in, they work out at about half the price you were quoted.

Congrats on the purchase, HoodRich. It seems you can't resist a white Lexus. Will you be keeping the 200 as well?

I normally just use it at busy road junctions or roundabouts to help me slip into gaps in the traffic more safely, before returning back to normal mode again. If it truly has little effect on MPG though, I'll certainly be using it a lot more.

Assuming you still have the OEM radio, yep its a simple swap with no code to worry about

Its very discreet. I have the same camera in my car and you can't see it from the driver's seat. It's also harder to spot from the outside on a saloon as that dark polkadot film stuff is extended lower down the screen than on a convertible.

No manual box in the latest 911 GT3 RS, either.

Yep, plus tests have shown that high octane fuels will start to degrade quite quickly and at a faster rate than normal 95 RON Unleaded before the curve begins to flatten out. Typically, a fresh batch of V-Power can lose roughly 2 RON within the first week or two of its lifespan, dropping from 99 to 97. So for the best possible results you should only buy enough to last a fortnight or so. Buying from a busy forecourt will also maximise your chances of getting "fresh" fuel and avoiding the potential scenario described by IS200 Newbie. I have exclusively been using V-Power in my IS250 since I bought it and paid 110.9 per litre when I bought £50 worth last night - 8p more than Unleaded, so I could've gotten another 3.5 litres for my money. In my experience though, V-Power can potentially give you another 1-2 MPG (this was certainly the case with the IS200 I used to own), so the price difference is fairly negligible in the long run.

I wasn't particularly fussed whether to go for an F-Sport or the SE-L when I was looking for an IS250, but the one slight issue I had when deciding between the two was the fact that full leather wasn't available in the F-Sport model. My previous car had leather and I was keen for my next car to have it as well, but I can honestly say now that it's something I shouldn't have worried about. I really like the interior of the F-Sport and the seats are great. Besides the leather/alcantara combo, they're also a different shape from the rest of the range and are more supportive. The black headlining is also a nice touch and helps make the cabin feel a bit more special IMO.

Perhaps the function was removed on the 2nd facelift (2011) models - like memory seats etc.

Also useful at this time of year when windows fog up more easily. Lowering the window a touch can help clear them a bit quicker.

The auto-fold feature can be enabled/disabled with the satellite switch to the right of the steering wheel.

Whoops! Just checked mine and you're right, James. The option isn't actually there. My car doesn't auto-lock so I was relying on what I had seen in a youtube video - by an American uploader, so maybe that's the difference.

I was considering getting the F-Sport intake at some point, for exactly the same reason. Is it louder than stock at all times or only when accelerating hard? I love the fact that I can barely hear the engine when cruising and wouldn't want to lose that.

You can change how the door lock functions operate by yourself if you play with the settings on the navigation system. Go to Setup>Vehicle and you should find them there. Presumably you also have front parking sensors (like I do). In that case, with Parking Assist turned on, these should also make a sound when you're in close proximity to something, Although these only seem to be triggered when it's the corner of the vehicle that's in danger of hitting something, so don't rely on hearing a beep when edging directly up against another vehicle. Congrats on the purchase.

There are actually quite a few 3rd-Gen bumpers for sale on eBay right now. Some still have the grilles present.

I'm a big advocate of running winter tyres, having done so for years on my old IS200, but if you have something heavy you can leave in the boot like a toolbox or socket set, that can help a little when things are slippery. Just tie it down with some bungie cords to stop it moving around.

I've had my winter tyres on for the past week. It hasn't snowed here yet, but it doesn't have to for me to feel the benefits. Straight away, you can feel the extra grip and the ride quality feels better too despite me downsizing the rears to 245/40R18. The summer tyres were starting to feel rock hard and often struggled for grip when pulling away from some damp junctions during my commute, so I had to be careful and make sure there were decent-sized gaps in the traffic before making a move. Now though, I'm pulling out of those same junctions with plenty of throttle and there's not a hint of the TCS being engaged. I originally wanted Michelin Alpin A4s, but I think they must be in the process of being discontinued as I couldn't get hold of any for a reasonable price, so opted instead for a set of Pirelli Sottozero 3. Very happy with them so far although of course they've yet to be properly tested. Another thing is that my car arguably looks nicer wearing my winter setup as I've got the tyres mounted on a set of 3rd-Gen F-Sport wheels which I sourced from a breakers. They were quite badly damaged when I got them, but I had them fully-refurbished and now look like new. Terrible picture as it was raining and starting to get dark but you get the idea.

I have the smokey tint ones. They're a good match for my car (similar colour, no tints) although the logo stands out a bit so I think I'll remove the stickers, or at least the ones on the rear doors.

Had my car serviced by Lexus Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago and they stamped the book with the usual stamp, albeit they added a hand-written footnote to clarify that it was an Essential Care service. Happy enough with that if it saves around £100 each time.

Wow, that car would need to have been filled to the brim at least twice a week to cover those miles so quickly.

I recently completed an order with Amayama (my first) and was quite satisfied with how it went on their end. I went through about 7 days worth of status updates before my parcel was eventually shipped. I believe they can/will source parts from different locations before shipping the complete order from Japan, so that might explain the delay. As I recall, one of my items was sourced from their UAE warehouse. It then took about 3 days to arrive in the country...BUT, the parcel then languished in the hands of HMRC and Parcelforce for well over a week before they sent me notification via snail mail that I had an import VAT charge to pay before it would actually be delivered. This is terrible service compared to companies like UPS or FedEx who will let you settle a charge like that before your package lands in the UK, or even just bill you at a later date. Anyway, hopefully you will receive your goods soon. Luckily my order was only for something cosmetic (illuminated scuff plates), so I wasn't in too much of a hurry to receive them.