matt-c

You don't need to replace tail lights or indicators with LED's to improve visibility. I've been behind IS's in fog and never had a problem seeing their tail lights, brake lights, indicators, or fog lights. Can't say I ever remember being behind one while it's reversing, but I'm sure that is still perfectly visible too.

Nope

No one in their right mind would, but windscreens as standard have a colour tint (mostly green in this country, but also blue, grey, bronze and what's called "clear solar" which is the purplish/blueish petrol effect you'll often see on Renault's), which will restrict light pass-through more so than a completely clear one, and they also have a layer of laminate between the sheets of glass, which also dampens light passthrough. Hence why there is a tolerance on % of light passthrough

Have you had a post over on the OJC forum?

Does look a little blue..? :(

You're iPhone 4 should work fine if the Grom kit you are going to order has the 30pin Apple connector. If it has a Lightning connector, I don't think there is a lightning to 30pin adapter you can use... Check with the retailer as to which version Grom you need before ordering, or better still, take the stereo out and look at the plug yourself.

There are no light mods or bits and pieces to add to an IS to get that sort of power - or really any power at all to be honest. You're looking at either a supercharger or turbocharger conversion, or if neither of those are wanted, you could try a 50 shot of NOS, but I can't say how long your engine will last (or the bottle of NOS for that matter) The kit comes with everything you need. Many replace the HKS FCD with a black box from a member called Patrick, as his are better. Upgrades to the kit include bigger intercoolers, and a larger pulley wheel for more boost, and a BOV if you want to announce to the world you have forced induction, but personally I wouldn't. Been there, done that. Vrooom P-TISH! Not very in keeping with the Lexus image IMO..... My advice? If you're saving for an S2000, then don't bother doing anything to the IS. It never has been, and never will be, a fast car. And if you've no intention of going the long haul with it, don't bother modifying it. Enjoy it for what it is, then move on. If you must have more power, a quicker (and probably cheaper) alternative is to sell it, buy an IS300 (200bhp standard). The TTE supercharger kits aren't cheap (£2k ball park, although still cheaper than a turbo conversion, and probably cheaper than an engine swap to a 1JZ or 2JZ - you could go 1G-GTE, which were between 185-210bhp, but I think these aren't easy to get hold of, and not very tuneable without spending a lot. Swap cost wise, it's probably not far off a 1JZ-GTE, which is >280bhp standard, like the 2JZ-GTE)

See next post......

Supercharger

Who need's supercharged IS200's or IS300's when it's so easy to modify BMW's for huge power! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bmw-e36-328i-sport-track-project-/281155361906?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item41762a5c72&clk_rvr_id=513434954761 I'm off to get me a 328i!

Just like my other half . always has to get the last word in... Actually, Knobby posted between Transporter and yourself.... Just sayin....

Exactly right. They have a set of rules, and they self learn depending on fuel types, how they're driven etc and readjust to fit those rules. So little to no point getting them mapped

Apple is way more restrictive when it comes to mobile devices, yes. But I don't actually need to do anything to my Apple device to get from it what I want - well, other than press the Maps icon! I read up quite a bit on getting TomTom on the Chinese WinCE GPS's, and it's very hit and miss nowadays, mainly because of 1) the variations in the hardware in the devices, and also 2) because TomTom isn't "approved" for use on these devices, so there's no official installers, it's all done with patches and modified root files, etc. Some have got it working, some haven't. I tried, and it wouldn't boot. Tried again in a different way, and it booted, but wouldn't load any maps and kept error'ing. So I gave up - because it wasn't worth bothering with really.

I want a cake :(

Or even Android and reverse cams And combinations

That's the stock Lexus one. They did a 7" version too (same, just bigger screen - fills the whole front) and it's these that people modify with up to date aftermarket nav units;

Barney -

Haha, don't get me wrong, it does look quite trick when you start up the car, and the motorised unit revolves, revealing a screen with [insert whatever here] showing on it (be it sat nav, or a computer/tablet interface, etc). But trick just isn't worth it on it's own (to me) to do it.... Like I say, I've got a 7" motorised unit here, and a 7" touchscreen WinCE GPS device too - but I just CBA to get into the nitty gritty of modifying it. Maybe I will, then sell it as a whole - probably worth more than the individual parts on their own.....

I like the idea of the motorised dedicated nav too, and I'm not saying for one minute that it's not worth doing. However for me, I use nav in my car maybe once every couple months, it's not worth the hassle or expense - figure a motorised unit is going to cost upwards of £100, a TomTom or other nav is another £50, plus time, and a few more quid making it all work together; to me that cost isn't worth it. If I was using it everyday then sure, but for the rare occasions I use nav in my IS, it simply isn't worth it to me... I also hate things stuck to screens, which is why I don't use the little baby TomTom I had as a spare, and instead use my iPhone - which spends it's life (when it's in the IS) clipped to a dedicated holder next to the head unit, connected to a Grom for charging a music playback; Load up Maps on that, and not only do I have GPS guided turn by turn, but Siri also gives me voice instructions through the Grom, attenuating the music when needed, and restoring the volume when not. Back to the TomTom - it was something I discussed at great lengths with some very clever electronics people, who have done the retrofit nav's to IS's on another forum, and the general consensus was that the only real way to get it working was as I outlined above - rewiring the whole power switch set up to the buttons on the left and right of the unit. The way the power switch on the TomTom is, means you have to manually turn it on and off. I did get hold of a cheapish (£45) Chinese GPS 7" touchscreen Window CE tablet, that runs iGo nav, in an attempt to get TomTom Navigator running on it, but to no avail. For a start I'm a Mac man these days, and don't have the Windows equipment to be messing around with WinCE, and also it's notoriously hard to get TT Navigator running on a WinCE device, as it can be very picky as to which ones it will and won't run on, often with seemingly no pattern as to which it likes and which it doesn't. I could still use my motorised unit to have a reverse cam running, just depends if I can be bothered!

In regard to the comments about the OEM armrest being a bit low - I did think when I fitted mine it could do with being about another cm higher, and it is a shame that it doesn't have the ratchet feature the Golf armrests do. However, I don't notice it anymore, and rarely, if ever, do I think it's too low. I think when I first fitted it, I was used to the armrest in my Transit, which is higher in relation to sitting position. Now I've had my OEM one in for a while, it doesn't bother me. I've got used to it's position, and have also noticed, only while thinking about this, that I also use the space on the drivers door (next to the grab handle) to rest my right arm on - whereas when I first got the car a while last August (2012) I used to lean my arm on the top of the door card. For reference, the OEM armrest is about the same height as that, so if you find it too low to lean your right arm on the drivers door armrest, then you might also find it uncomfortable to use an OEM centre armrest. All that said, I'm perfectly happy with mine, and it makes ALL the difference having one - even in a manual! Plus, I'm 6'1/6'2, so taller than many, so I'm sure it'll be fine for the majority.

Typically, the sat nav motorised housings (even for just the dash section, without any control units or DVD parts etc) aren't cheap. Most times they go for over a hundred. I picked up a 5" version a while back for about £75/£80 (I think) and was going to do this mod myself, then lost interest and sold it (for £140!), and a little while ago I picked up a 7" version for a bargain, with the intention of either doing a sat nav mod (so as to have a nice large 7" widescreen sat nav) or a reverse camera (using a 7" TFT/LCD monitor), but again, lost interest. Since I integrated my iPhone into the car, and iOS6 incorporated turn by turn maps (from both Apple and Google), I just use that now for the (very) rare occasions I need a sat nav to get somewhere. And I really CBA to go though the whole expense and hassle of fitting a sat nav since I'll use it next to never, or a reverse cam (which I would use everytime I drive, but isn't really that important - would be nice though). The 7" housing has been sitting in it's box under my desk for the last 6 months! You are better off with the motorised units rather than the flip-top dash tray thing (which as said, are pretty rare, so hold their value quite well.

TomTom's do run on 12v (as do all portable satnavs). But the biggest problem with TomTom's for this conversion is they don't have auto-on and auto-off with power. Sony units are popular for this conversion, as well as Garmin units, as they auto power on (and off) when the ignition is turned on and off. You wire them into the stereo power wiring, so they come on and off with the ignition. The TomTom's don't do that, and since you've flushed the unit into the motorised screen housing, you don't have access to the power button (which is a push and hold) on the top. So you have to take it apart and completely rewire it. After looking into this myself, seems the only way to do it is wire it into the buttons on the side of the housing. Normally one is open/close and the other is tilt, but to wire in the TomTom for turning on and off, you wire the open/close button to be for "on" (and press and hold to power on the TomTom and open the housing) and wire in the tilt button for "off" (press and hold to power off the TomTom and close the housing). That's all well and good, but it's rather annoying as it's not automated. I want to get in, turn on the ignition, and have the motorised unit open on it's own and the sat nav boot up without me doing anything. Then, when I kill the ignition, I want the sat nav to shut down, and the housing close by itself. Even breakers yards can use ebay to research prices ;)

Possibly be worth if it was 7", but for such a tiny screen? Nope!

No idea what car that armrest came from, but it's not Lexus. Looks like it's bolted to the trans tunnel behind the standard centre console too, so if you take more than two rear passengers at any time, that could be an issue; there's not a lot of room for three in the back as it is! That's mine! :D Yes, it does ;eave the cubby hole "open", as the standard fitment replaces the existing cubby hole with lid; you remove that compartment, and the armrest fits inside the result hole, with a shroud to make a smaller cubby hole in the remaining space. Very little to see from outside the car, and I wouldn't leave any valuables in the car anyway (if I needed to, it'd be in the glove box, which can be locked, and is more than big enough to take anything you could possibly leave in the centre console cubby hole). Mine just has a lighter, my handsfree headphones, and my house keys live in there when I'm driving.

It's not, no