gsdude

Nice to know as I'd heard a few rumours about the snow button and was actually thinking of trying it...I guess i'll to stick to driving like a pensioner when I want to save the pennies!

How was it??? I did global last year and also in 2009 but felt like trying something different this year!

I really wanted one in that colour, I think it suits the lines of the IS200 very very nicely....A few weeks before I got my current one I saw a bargain low miler in the same colour, got to the garage slightly late so it was shut but still managed to check it out from the outside. It was absolutely mint not a speck on the bodywork and the alloys looked like they'd only just been refurbed...99 V reg and it was for sale for £1695....called the garage up the next day and arranged to test drive with the intention of buying it at 12:30...long story short but I got ****** about by the person who was supposed to be coming to view it with me so was delayed by a couple of hours, only to find that some bugger had come along and bought it at 1:00 that same day...I was that gutted that I haven't spoken to the idiot who was supposed to come with me since.. BTW lovely motor, where u off camping to?

.....will any fellow LOC members be gracing Creamfields this weekend?!?!? :P

LFA would definitely get my vote too...even though there are so many other cars out there that outperform it in comparison. For a long time I used to ask myself 'what is it that makes the LFA so desirable for me?'. And then I realised: With most cars these days (not just supercars) they're built to be faster or more powerful or the more stylish or even simply to outsell their rivals...they all (maybe with a handful of exceptions) are generally built to compete with or trump one another in these respects. The thing that makes the LFA so special in my eyes is that in relative comparison it almost ignores the competition, it isn't really built to compete in the truest sense otherwise Toyota wouldn't have spent so much and gone to such extreme lengths to develop a car that falls short on paper to so many other cars that cost less than half as much, the LFA is built purely to exhilarate and is a sheer engineering masterclass of the sort that don't come about everyday. The noise, the poise, the technology...everything about this car just makes my mouth water.

Congrats mate! I'm sure Steve's LS will give that 1924 Roller a run for its money :P

I personally wouldn't swap for a GS unless it was a mk3 ('05 onwards)...they're one of the few newer Lexus models that I really think is up there with the best in its class looks-wise, the other models still fall short of their German counterparts in the styling department in my opinion. I do like the mk1 and 2 in sport trim though with the 18's but if it were me it wouldn't feel a mk1 or 2 would be a big enough step upwards over your IS300 to warrant a change. You'd be looking at least double your budget for a half decent mk3 though!

Looks sweet mate, I couldn't picture a better set of rims for your car/colour combination!

It's just to let you know that its in reverse (and not first)...remember this car was designed for Americans too!

Same as the two I've owned, best looking colour indeed ;)

I get maybe on average 380-400 miles to the tank with mixed city/motorway driving in my IS200 which has improved from the 350-360 I used to get before my full 60k service which was carried out recently. However I have developed a driving style since my first IS200 that I think goes quite easy on the petrol. Its all about smooth and measured operation of throttle/braking and minimising the change in speed where possible ie anticipating the road ahead and holding a suitable speed to get you there without dancing on the pedals. Using the brakes is also technically wasting energy produced by the engine too so coasting at a steady speed and lifting the throttle in advance before junctions/roundabouts etc works far better than bombing it and then slamming the brakes right before a junction/roundabout etc. On motorways I find cruising at around 60 seems to return the best mpg, I drove to Wolves and back last weekend and averaged 35mpg driving at roughly this speed. Saying that though, using a similar driving style I used to get around 600 miles from a tank in my old astra 1.7 (probably the only good thing I experienced with that car!) and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the IS200 has a larger fuel tank too!

Mt first car was a Pug 307 named Juliet, aka 'me Julie'...I've owned Elena (IS200) Sheila (Astra) and Charlie (IS200) since then. Noticeably they're all female names otherwise it doesn't feel quite right. It's kind of a silly thing though that rubbed off that a female friend of mine used to do. Her black EK9 Civic was called 'Maximus'. I had another mate who named his cars after pornstars lol

I had geometry done at F1 Autocentre on my old Lex last year and they did a cracking job, I had a long drive to cardiff and back the weeknd after and ride was much smoother afterwards ...I must say I can't remember how much it cost me without going back and checking reciepts as I had a new set of rears from them too but £120 does sound a bit steep to me just for the alignment

Welcome to the club m8, motor looks sweet

Chauffeuring my grandparents in the back seems to do the trick for me! ;)

2001 IS200 2004 IS200 (currently owned)

had me in stitches!

Gold might look nice in contrast to Kodiak Sky paintwork

Ed, I'm sure you have your opinions on banks for very valid reasons, but having worked in financial services for a few years now it does dishearten me to read. I concur with the opinion that big city bankers and their ridiculous bonuses is quite sickening, but for me this is more so because I know that there are people like me at the bottom of the chain, who work damn hard to live with integrity and do what's morally right for the people who put their trust in me, who earn peanuts in comparison. It's a shame that in this world, not just in banking but in general, the actions and lack of morals of a minority can lead to widespread labelling and often discrimination of a majority. Greed is to blame for this economic mess, 'banks' are just a piece of that puzzle. Don't get me wrong at the end of the day we all do it for the paycheck we all gotta pay the bills but when I come home from work knowing that I have 'sufficient joined up thinking' to prevent somebody from being conned out of thousands of pounds by a fraudster, or even if I helped a lady with her luggage at the train station it might sound silly and cheesy but its the little things like that makes life that little bit more rewarding. Bottom line though if it was me in this scenario, I would spent it on some brand new 18"s for my Lex ;) Lol jk...to be fair though, if something is not right and you've been overpaid then trust me it will eventually get noticed. Also it could be somebody else's money (i.e. another customer) I'd just save everybody the trouble and speak to them about it.

I work for a bank and I see this sort of thing from time to time...luckily just the other week I managed to prevent a guy from wiring two and a half grand to somebody from a scam on pistonheads for a beemer he'd seen for sale but he was totally sold by the scam and I must say it was only due to my instincts telling me to do a bit more digging that we sussed it was a scam. But for the sort of thing mentioned above the cheques aren't always fake, sometimes they'll be real but either stolen or drawn on a fraudulently opened account or an account that's closed hence will bounce. This particular example is quite obvious but its amazing some of the intricate lengths fraudsters go to con people out of their hard earned cash

Dave its very easy to install, only takes about 10-20 minutes if u have a reasonable idea of what your doing. I'm no whizz when it comes to this sort of thing but I managed it without much problem. One thing I will mention though is that it becomes a little easier if you have a second pair of hands to help you out but by all means its still quite simple even on your own. I tucked mine away right at the back behind the dash on the passengers side, theres a small gap you'll see when you take the stereo out which you can thread the wire through from the passenger footwell and I simply hooked the unit inbetween some wires right at the back behind/below the glovebox with the ipod cable coming down through the passenger footwell. All I need is some clips to keep the ipod cable out of the way! Theres a very good guide which I found handy when doing it for the first time here: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=46731

Hi all, I recently bought an XCarLink ipod integration kit which I picked up from their official website and thought I'd share my experience and comparison with the Grom IPD3 unit I had installed in my previous IS200. In comparison to the Grom it works pretty much the same way in the sense that it does most things that the Grom does but with a few minor differences which IMO give it a slight edge - main comparisons listed below. - Price: Slightly cheaper than the Grom (comparing the cost that I paid for each), I picked it up for £78.99 or £84.32 inc next day delivery...not a lot in it but still worth noting. - Functionality: A few key differences I noticed, the Grom supported upto 12 (I think?) playlists via the head unit by selecting next/prev disc which was great, but I have more than 12 playlists on my device which was annoying. The XCarLink seems to select between my 30+ playlists without any problem. Also, when first plugging in my ipod classic to the XCarLink I see a Toyota logo on the ipod screen using the XCarLink which doesn't really add anything functional but a nice touch which the Grom didn't do so worth noting. - Cables: My XCarLink came with the same sort of 8 pin mini-din as the grom and has an aux-in (3.5mm) and bluetooth expansion port. The Grom had a second mini-din as an expansion port although I haven't ever used an expansion port or bluetooth kit with either so couldn't comment on how each worked. The Grom had a removable manufacturer-specific cable (one that plugs from the unit into the CD changer socket) but the XCarLink cable is built into the unit which further down the line might be an issue if a fault develops. - Size: Again not much in it but the Grom was slightly larger mainly the thickness which is important considering that most users would keep these stashed behind the dashboard. That said though I had no real issues with fitting either of these. - Sound: To be honest it's been too long a time-gap between using the two of these for me to really comment on which one sounded better, but I would consider myself a little bit of an audiophile and the only thing that would be my gripe is the sound output of my ipod's itself - both units reproduced the sound through the OEM head unit excellently. Only thing I'll mention is that the volume on the Grom seemed to be a bit louder ie the volume control on the head unit wouldn't need to be as high to give equivalent volume compared to the XCarLink (or any other stereo functions for that matter - 6 disc changer/radio etc) - Support: So far I haven't had any experience with the Grom or XCarLInk support teams as frankly I haven't needed it, but one thing worth mentioning is that while Grom Audio are based in California, XCarLink are based in North London I believe, which made me think contacting them or returning under warranty would be alot easier with them being so much closer to home. In summary both worked great and I was happy with both but the functionality ie playlists as mentioned above are what sway me to the XCarLink over the Grom. To each their own though and I wouldn't say a word against anybody favouring one over the other as they both do a job and do it well. Hope people reading this might find it useful, George

i'm from worcester too! man up! so GS dude its all on you ;) blame you if it goes bad. everyone still keen for this? Haha :) I'm defo still up for it, assuming we're still aiming for 12th August

Probably one of the biggest attractions from my point of view. A very big factor in my decision to buy one :)

Still a lot closer to Walsall then me! :)