londoner2001

AltezzaScott will fix you up with a great car, totally trustworthy, has a nice white one available as I type. http://www.altezzasportsandprestige.com

Jasear, just wandered did you import this car totally yourself or use an importer as the amount of messing about you have had you surely owuld have been far better off with a one stop shop importer like Scott where all the work is done for you, you are also guaranteed mileage and non accident or outstanding finance, seems you are having endless trouble just to even get the car roadworthy.

That's cool, forces you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times, less chance of crashing!

Sounds excellent, just what I wanted. Are the tiptronic controls on steering wheel the only way of changing gear or can you shift the gear stick intoa slot and use that to change gear? Many thanks for your help.

Can anyone tell me about the tiptronic changing of gears. If I select to shift up using the controls on steering wheel will the transmission voeride if I let the car go into the red or will it not restrict me and let me change up when I want to, is it one of those systems where it works out quicker just flooring it in fully auto mode? Many thanks.

Is this the one at Japanese Vehicle Sourcing? Make sure when you look you get a copy of the auction sheet, anything less than a grade 4 don't touch it with a bargepole, have a full RAC check up and the hard part here, get it checked voer by someone who understands modified altezzas. I'll leave it to you to decide who in UK you trust to understand this car and check it for you!

Emissions test is unlikely to be affcted by ECU thats just remaps etc, generally when people have removed the cat and have a straight through exhaust they have problems with emissions thats why people are often fiddling with exhausts before SVA and having to refit parts. One piece of advice with getting your Tez, don't get an accident damaged car, I know that AltezzaScott only deals with grade 4 and higher jobs, no accident rubbish so you can't go wrong there!

Thanks for that, so the RS Qualitat was most likely the Modellista, it was tiptronic so would it be faster than the standard RS 200, it has I think fatermarket exahust and TRD Sportivo suspension so I presume it would be a bit quicker than the standard RS200, how much would you expect one to go for at auction as I know the starting price like with most auction things is very rarely what the car goes for. So the Modellista and other Qualitat versions did come in theoretically any colour?

I have been looking at auction listings recently for the Altezza and was surprised to see recently a black Qualitat, the car was listed as RS Qualitat whereas I have seen other Qualitat models listed as just Qualitat and these are always in blue. I am assuming that there is an actual Qualitat model, this one has the full interior, full Qualitat extrerior, modified engine and has some bolt on bits, this only comes in dark metallic blue. Then there are RS models with full qualitat options but what are they , it's all very confusing as this qualitat model at auction in black actually appears to have the part orange interior looking through the window. I was under the impression that the Qualitat model had the 6 cylinder engine from the AS and it had been tuned and had new exahaust suspension and other bolt on goodies, however, I am not so sure now as surely it would of been much easier to take the RS engine and add on exahust, filter etc? If anyone knows the real deal with these Qualitat models I would be glad to hear as if this Black RS Qualitat is a Qualitat model with the added on stuff to the engine as well as extreior I wouldn't mind one, they look the dog's bo**ocks, I would attach a picture but I don't know how, if anyone knows how to post pics I will mail them to them. Cheers, Nick

Bout 5ft 10 I believe. Would like to test drive one but nothing has come in to UK yet in the spec I want and I won't test drive a car I am not looking to buy, I think it is a bit disrespectful to whoever is selling it after all they are nto there to provide test drives. I think it is the TRD wing that is pretty low key and normal goes bout 6 inches above the boot that I like, would definetly help as you say with reversing. I am hoping Scott at Altezza Sports and Prestige imports a nice tiptrnoic black RS200, that would be right up my street. Might be that the damping is a little less than the UK models, normally the JDM models because of them having better roads than us are slightly firmer and geared for more enthusiastic driving so that may be the difference, the RS was designed as an enthusiasts saloon so the drive must be better than the IS300. Good point about the weight over the front, read a Japanese review and they said the difference between the IS300 and the RS200 is enormous to handling from the weight of the engine and they can't emphasize enough how much this improves the RS200's drivability. Shotwood I noticed some people rebadged because otherwise nobody knows what their altezza is, undecided over whether I would. Visibility does sound good, it is small for a compact executive car at 14ft 4 so it can't be bad, I sat in a CL 55AMG once when I was with my family at Mercedes(helping the parents choose, they aren't too car knowledgable!) and I swear I would not at my height be able to drive this thing for a good few years, you can't see the front or the back it's rediculous, must be why older folk get them.

If your car was set up in Japan then presume it's set up better than anyone here could, of all the tuned cars i have seen and talked to people about it seems the Jap tuning houses are unmatched they simply are better than us in UK we are lagging behind, not to say there aren't people who can modify Jap cars here, it just sems that the Japs get the best results as it sounds you have with your car! You are spot on, I like Jap Performance and a decent handling car but with that tad of respectability that the RX7 just doesn't have and some comfort which the RX7 certainly doesn't have. Have you baged yours as a lexus or left it as an altezza? One thing I forgot to ask is how is visibility? Can you see the front of the bonnet and the rear or is rear parking a guessing game or parking sensor routine? One thing I must say also is I have looked on a couple of Jap car forums and the people here seem well down to earth and more wel roudned as opposed to completely tunnel visioned on performance and let's face it it's a car you still have to lik eit overall and have some degree of comfort.

Scott, 18's are just too big, they look bling bling(not my cup of tea!) and they slow you down a bit, 17's work real nice for grip. Shotwood I don't expect that, I am quite well versed on the differences between Jap performance cars and German and Italian stuff. I don't mind having to keep in the power band at the top of the rev range to get your speed, it's fun and keeps the noise coming non stop! I was thinking more in terms of stability, I know strut braces and aftermarket suspension will affect this but when you are say doing 80mph and you wanna overtake someone or do a bit of lane hopping is there a lot of roll or does it feel taught and stable? Toms ECU and zorst will definetly affect things, have you had your car mapped and dynod?

My ma and da have a C230Kompressor Sport Merc and for older folk it's pretty swift, looking at around 8.2 on the auto box. If you want real power you have to go with a JDM model jap car as opposed to UK. Jap models are virtually always quicker(Supra TT exception) and they are geared to be tuned later as tuning cars is a way of life in Japan, RS200 altezza in L edition has leather and often come with excellent aftermarket stereos, 0-60mph is 8 I believe with auto box and supercharger, cat back high flow exchaust, induction kit, ECU will give you serious pace, the IS300 tuned wouldn't match it and of course there is very little available for the UK IS models.

For those of you that have RS200 Altezzas, what do you think of the handling for fast road driving, mostly dual carriageway and motorway, the car at 14ft 4 inches is quite small so is it agile? What's the acceleration like from rolling start say from 40-80mph? Doe it feel stable when cruising on the motorway at a tonne or so? Many thanks for your views, am definetly considering getting one now as the RX7 although a great performer is looking out of date!

Looking for Altezzas on autotrader online and found a beauty, place is called Colston garage Company and they have various photos of cars they have had in and this one is actually listed under is200, is black with bodykit, looks the business without being too over the top, really nice car. Unfortunately it is sold, but a.) Someone may sell it on in the UK and b.) They may get another in like it. Never heard of the place myself and their link to bwesite brings up a registered domain name, so must be new to the internet. If anyone has heard anything good or bad about them then I would love to hear, as come January they may have something I want and it's a seriously long way for me to go if they are a dodgy import place! If anyone can advise other places who stock Altezzas in the Uk I would be glad to hear, would go with Newera but won't want to wait the time for shipping over. Thank you.