Gruntfuggly

Ah - so if you manually lock the boot, the inner release doesn't work! Now I understand. What was confusing was that the remote on the master key opens the boot even when it's manually locked - which I wasn't expecting.

I can't quite work out why the valet key doesn't work the glove box or boot - is it just because the central bit is slightly thicker?

I thought the valet key was the grey one without a boot release button on it? Does the grey one not work the glovebox?

What is the point of the 'valet' key without the boot release button, when the valet could just pull the boot release inside the car?

If you can find one, the sport grille looks a million time better than the standard one...

I'm getting 430 miles out of a tank of fuel with mine at the moment (about 33mpg) which I'm pretty impressed with.

It's the little things that I love about the IS200 - I was driving my wife's Zafira a few days ago and the wiper motors are so noisy I had to turn the (nasty) stereo up. It made me wonder why I never noticed the wiper motors in the IS200. When I tried them the next day, they're silent...

Nice colour on yours...

There's no point trying to use the original amp - most modern head units will have more power anyway...

It lasts for about a month where I am - a week before haloween till a week or two after bonfire night... drives my dog nuts. Luckily he just wants to get out and kill the fireworks - they don't really upset him. My previous dog hated them though - she didn't know where to put herself.

The thing that really gets me is the utter waste of money. Just take a few seconds to tot up in your head how many thousands of pounds are literally just set fire to... it's obscene really.

Saying all that, there is still something very satisfying about setting them off...

When I was a kid, somebody near me used to have a black V8 SD1... monster of a car...

I used to worry about mine first thing on a cold morning - loads of steam! Not so bothered these days... the car is so reliable, it's scary...

Since my last post in this thread, my brake judder has completely gone. Wierd...

It's as bad as that ridiculous kwik-fit article from a few weeks back where they claimed that charging your phone in your car would damage the Battery...

Had my car just over two years now and it's just passed it's MOT again first time. I've had 12 cars before and none of them ever passed an MOT first time - this one has done it twice in a row!

In two years, and 30000 miles, I've had a new set of front discs and pads, a bonnet stay holder and that's it. Even the tyres are still good!

I'm sure I read somewhere that the original IS200 passes the MOT first time more that any other car. Not sure how that statistic was arrived at, but my experiences seem to back it up.

Happy bunny.

I think one press locks it - I leave mine locked (one press) with the windows and sunroof open and it seems to be OK.

I think the second press activates the alarm and deadlocks, but I could be wrong...

No - rear speakers are fine with the bypass cable. The only real problem is you might lose a couple of layers of skin getting the connector off the stock amp...

Fair enough - wired to the handbrake - that's clever!

Shame it wouldn't go flush - I guess because of the heater controls? Looks fine once it's out though...

Love the grille - not so keen on the DVD player - why does it stick out? Also, Isn't illegal to have one in the front in the UK?

Mine makes the same noise (sometimes) once I get over about 75mph (not that I do it very often). If I back off the throttle it stops, and sometimes it hardly does it at all...

I can confirm that this works. I had the same problem last year and just cleaned the rubber all the way round with100% silicone spray (off ebay) and it worked a treat.

It's quite simple to replace the grille - just some quarter turn clips if I remember correctly. One thing you might want to do is move the horns - otherwise they look a bit stupid behind the mesh. I moved mine up to the cross-member above the grille...

There's only so many times you can laugh at Hammond driving into the back of May's car. Let's face it, it's not really a car show anymore anyway - it's a sketch show with cars in it.

I'd go back to watching Fifth Gear, except that the presenters are even worse... (for different reasons)...

Surely there has to be a spot for a motoring program that reviews cars that people actually drive? Comparisons between the latest AMG 600bhp monster and a BMW equivalent are a bit pointless for me. And somehow I can't imaging that if you've got the money to buy one, you're going to be watching a TV show about them...

I've just learnt to live with mine :( bizarrely, it seems to have improved over the last couple of months?!

I was wondering why you were calling your Lexus a 'him' and then I noticed your reflection in the picture!

Cleaned mine this weekend too - black cars look a lot better clean - shame it doesn't last very long... :(

Got any left? I'm after the tiny bulb that goes behind the hazard light switch...

B) Genius.

Brilliant - thanks! At least I know I can get one - might be a bit steep though sent from the states - might try some breakers yards first...

EDIT: Found one on eBay UK - not sure why I couldn't see it before?

Now I'm thinking about bonnet lifters though... hmmm.