matt-c

I almost forgot. Since it was mentioned the 'charger in the Craigslist above was possibly a scam, and I don't blame anyone since £1k is half the going rate for one, I thought I'd mail the guy. First I asked if it was still available, and got a reply back that it was. Then I asked about it's condition, and whether he'd be up for a price negotiation, and got a reply back only saying the price was "fix" (intentional spelling). I then said I'd take it at a grand, but only if he listed it on ebay, as a BIN for £1k, and that I'd pay all incurred ebay and paypal costs. Surprise surprise, no reply....

I'm gonna go ahead and say if the guy doesn't have a grand to supercharge his IS, he ain't got £7.5k to buy yours! But out of curiosity, what would someone get for £7.5k?

I'd hazard a guess that if the cooling fans have packed in, the engine might shut down to avoid overheating. No idea if such a failsafe is in place on the IS. However, an old Escort I had many years ago would stall when stationary if engine bay temps got too high. Traced it to a faulty/poor earth strap

It's definitely had an aux belt at some point, as it's in the receipt folder. Not sure if only one or more. As far as tensioners, I assume both, as my mechanic says the belt kit comes with new one(s) rather than reusing the old one(s). He also takes care of the MoT for me too - a licensed tester, but with no test facility, he "rents" a bay from a local MoT testing station, takes the car there, tests it, then brings it back. Costs a bit more than just rocking up to any old MoT station, but the benefits are 1) it's all handled "in house" with a mechanic I trust (family mechanic for many years), 2) any problems or issues that may arise he can sort for me, and 3) he also carries out it's servicing, so since I got it serviced last month, it's a pre-mot check.

Passed with no advisories :) Cambelt definitely needed doing; And had the water pump done while the belt was off - pink furring underneath it, so worth doing £340 for the belt and pump, is that a good/bad/ok price?

The autobox is the reason I'm thinking about the 300 in the first place. The extra power is just a byproduct to me - sure it'd be nice, as the 200 is underpowered as standard (though I think that a smidge over 200 brake is low for a 3litre) The supercharger is much, much easier, quicker, and cheaper than turboing. You'll end up spending a lot more than the price of a charger kit going the turbo route. I mailed the guy on Craiglist about that charger last week, asking if it's still available, and was told yes. Haven't had anymore info about it mind...

Can't help you with ECU, but here's a couple links if they are of interest; Turbo kit (ebay) - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-IS200-Diy-turbo-kit-/251303872579?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a82e0c843 Supercharger kit (craigslist) - http://edinburgh.craigslist.co.uk/ptd/3850446938.html I was very tempted by the supercharger kit (as that's a very good price for one) but I really CBA. Increased power isn't high on my list of wants/needs, and I'm still tempted to switch to a 300, which if I do already has that extra 50hp anyway.

Well by modern standards, the bodywork is overweight, the boot is too small, the legroom in the rear is cramped, the air conditioning varies temperature wildly, the autobox is out of the ark and a half decent golf diesel will leave the IS for dead... But modern cars are built by accountants and focus groups, they feel nice while they are new but they will rape your wallet at every opportunity....What you save in fuel, you will lose in repairs....I don't really want to be conneted to my car by bluetooth.. The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to block up the drains. I gotta agree with this. On paper, the IS is the worst car in the world. And in many, if not most, ways in real life, it's defeated by new cars. But that said, it's very nice to drive, so we put up with it :D

Just dropped her off to get an MoT and a cambelt change, and possibly/probably waterpump too. I think she should go through - she had a pre-MoT check last month when the service was done. Que boring day sitting in the sun. It's a hard life!

Lack of headlight washers

Bit optimistic with the MPG. You'll get 30/31 motorway, but as low as 20 around town. Obviously, it does depend how it's driven, but the 200 isn't quick, or powerful, and does need pushing to coast along nicely. So don't expect much more than mid 20's, with a light foot.

Nope. If anything, mine seems happier in the warm weather than the cold :)

My mate had a number plate with "If you can read this YOU'RE TOO F**KING CLOSE!!!" along the bottom of it (where we now have dealer/motor factors credentials) I was gonna have "If you are close enough to read this, then you're a aunt" (except the last word begins with a C, not and A ;) )

Doh!

I thought the back looked cluttered as standard, so off came the Lexus and IS200 badges, leaving just the L logo badge. Which I'm tempted to replace with a smaller one....

Personal opinion is they look tacky, regardless of where you put them. On the grill or boot are the two least obtrusive places, but I still wouldn't have one, and I certainly wouldn't have them on the front wings. I did a screen on a new shape S4 recently, which had "V6" badges under the side repeaters, and I just thought it looked so gash!

I normally just slow them down and p!ss them off, but since I knew those roads like the back of my hand (cos I lived there for 26 years!) I thought why not have a bit of fun? It was late, and the roundabouts weren't busy (I wouldn't have even entertained the idea of doing what I did had they been). Thing with tailgaters is that so long as you don't do anything stupid, it's ALWAYS going to be their fault if you and the tailgater collide. The blame will ALWAYS lie with them, based on the fact they did not leave adequate room between them and you. Even if you hammer the brakes on emergency stop style and they run into you, it's still their fault. You just say you panicked and broke too hard. Or a fox/cat/dog ran across the road. No one behind you will be able to say it didn't, and it's highly unlikely any oncoming traffic will stop anyway. Getting hit up the @rse is nearly always the fault of the guy behind; even if you caused it!

Had one on Friday night. Got onto a country road (one that I know very well and have been driving on for over ten years) and noticed as soon as we pulled onto it from the round about, the car behind me was getting very close - close enough to not be able to see his headlights. Had a passenger here with me, and even he noticed it himself. The road is 50mph, single lane, not straight, and mostly downhill. So I just started to slow down, letting the cars in front of me create a long gap. This seemed to ***** the guy off behind me who began flashing me (and also getting closer, braking, getting closer, braking, getting closer, etc) I gave him a couple of fake brake taps (just enough to get the brake lights on) which gave the result of his front end nearly hitting the floor, because he braked so hard sh!tting himself. But to no avail, he still kept getting right up to me - must have been only a foot or so between us at one point. I'd slowed right down to 25/30mph by now, and he decided to pull out and try to overtake - downhill, single lane, with a blind bend at the bottom. Naturally, I booted it and matched his speed, which really ****** him off. But realising as the bottom blind bend was approaching fast, and I knew the road and obviously he didn't (if he had, he'd not be in the opposite lane by this point, I decided for the safety of other road users to yield, back off, and let him come in. Which was lucky because about 5 seconds after he got back into the right lane, a car came round the bottom bend. We then watched him do the same thing to the car in front, which we'd caught up by now. Now I'm not one to tailgate, so I maintained a couple car length,s but when it got to the roundabouts (two roundabouts connected by a short two lane (per side) carriage way, under a motorway bridge) and the car in front was using the first exit, I nailed it round the first roundabout, closing my gap to the tailgater, went up his inside into the second round about. He was in the left lane coming onto it, and clearly wanted to go right - I in fact wanted to go left, but also wanted to ***** him off. So I just matched his speed round the round about, and then edged in front stopping him exiting the roundabout. Full circle, and he's mad by now, I then cut his nose off and took my exit, making him slam on the anchors. Lesson of the events; tailgating is stupid, but so is trying to teach them a lesson. It's not big, it's not clever, it doesn't make me a hero. But it's fun ;)

Bad fitting is the cause of most leaks, and second is bad condition car. It's nigh on impossible for the actual windscreen itself to facilitate a leak. Windscreens are made from two pieces of glass, vacuumed together with laminate inbetween. Obviously, only the outside of the windscreen is subjected to rain and water, so for a windscreen to cause a leak, you'd need a crack on the outside large enough for water ingress, a gap between the outer layer and laminate, then another gap between the inner layer and laminate, and a crack on the inside large enough to allow water to exit. Not gonna happen! 1) Cracks in glass are so tight, water ingress is limited to minute seepage at best, and in 99.9% of cases, are still completely impervious to ingress. 2) gaps between the laminate and the glass would result in cracking almost immediately, and be incredibly noticeable. 3) even with all three of the above in play, the water flow into the vehicle would be so minimal, you wouldn't ever even know it. Go and look at old Mercs like the 190E; many of those will have white milky looking areas around the edges of the screen. That's water ingress, caused by the glass and the laminate beginning to separate. Typically these will be the original screens, and are very old. Merc's not fantastic design allows water to collect and pool at certain areas, meaning over time it will being to de-laminate the screen. Now think at how old that screen is; even if it's spent the last 20-25 years outside every day, there's still not enough delamination occuring to allow water to enter the vehicle. However, poor workmanship - badly glued up, incorrect (or lack of) use of primers, incorrectly seated, etc, screens can leak, just as cars that are rusty beneath the screen on the aperture. In 10 years, I've never heard of an IS leaking, and never had a 1st, or 2nd gen, screen that I've fitted leak (at least not to my knowledge) As for heater element - it's part of the screen. I don't recall ever seeing a mk2 without one, but to be on the safe side, tell them it's heated. There's only one option for heated, so it can't be wrong once established as heated. As for the film, I wouldn't use it. 1) by the way that "chip" broke, that's not windscreen grade glass. 2) I wouldn't be putting ANY type of film on the front windscreen of any car, and I'd be very surprised if it's MoT legal. and 3) I've been doing automotive glass for ten years - if windscreen film was actually any good, I'd have come across it by now, and/or been asked to fit it. I have neither. Finally, the most important thing to be sure of with your fitter when he comes, is to make sure her has a set of new clips for the side trims. I don't care how good you think you are, no one saves all the clips. I've saved some, but not all, and in the case of the 2nd Gen IS (and the GS for that matter) there's no point reusing the clips even if you do save them. New clips is the name of the game with these cars! Secondly, make a point to mention the top trim - on the 2nd Gen IS, the top trim is a small flap of rubber fitted to the UNDERSIDE of the top edge of the glass. This "flaps up" against the aperture when the glass is laid in (the same type of thing can be seen on a number of cars, including the 2nd Gen Yaris, the 2nd Gen Prius, and a similar style is used on later Mercs, Audi's, VW's, etc. In most cases, even with a dealer supplied glass, the trim is not fitted to the screen from the factory. It has to be applied by hand at time of fitting. Some fitters don't fit the new trim. I can understand why - 1) it's a PITA to get it on straight. 2) Sometimes laying it in can cause the trim to lift, and not be level when the screen it fitted. And 3) the "new look" for screens lately is "floating glass" - where there is no trim on, around, or over the glass, but instead a small gap (3-5mm) around the edge, giving the effect the glass is floating. Of course, this is NOT the fitters choice to make, as it's NOT their car! It's YOURS! So whilst some people might think "Oh, I don't want to be a nuisance" and I fully understand some people don't like to tell a professional how to do their job (and in most cases I wouldn't suggest you do so, because I'm on the other end of that stick more than you'd imagine, and it's properly annoying!) but it's something I've seen enough on these particular cars (and not just these, but since this is about IS's, then it's pertinent) to warrant making a point of it.

Well of course; we all know that you don't need two hands on the wheel at all times (even though, technically, you should!) just as much as we all know you can't drive everywhere with just one hand on the wheel. But even in my manual, I've found the front armrest to be irreplaceable - I'd say it's a 50/50 split between having my arm on it and not, and I include gear changes in that. One thing I've found with the Lexus is how much my driving style has changed since I got it last year. I now spend much more of my time driving in a "mature and adult" fashion, and along with the fact the IS seems happy to go on any road in 4th, I can lean on the armrest a lot of the time. On motorways and major A-roads, it's a godsend. The one really long (ie, nearly 4hrs each way) I did in the IS without it was a PITA!

First thing to do is check power is getting to the motor. If it is, then I'd suspect the motor has packed in

Even in a manual, I could not cope without my armrest!!!!

Don't even bother spending that £200 on anything to do with the engine (unless it's for a service or something). You're better off spending it on a front armrest ;)

It's so easy; Picture guide : http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/46731-how-to-install-the-gromaudio-ipod-adaptor-in-1st-gen-is/ And there's even a video!

Pull it out (it's only 4x 10mm bolts) and take a picture of the back and post it here. You'll soon be told if you do or don't have one