Linas.P

I guess if you have electric seats, then they would not go down as much as manually adjusted ones. Never had a problem with seat position in IS250 (as far as I know they are same) and I am 6.2. Fitting racing seat would seem a bit extreme for me, but getting one of manually adjustable ones should not be a problem, you might even be able to re-use the leather (assuming you seats are leather) to re-trim the new seat. As far as I know manually adjusted ones didn't come with leather option. Other things to note - Lexus IS mk2 seating position is little higher then say BMW 3-series, so depending on what was you last car you might just need to get used to it.

I think good reference would be BMW E28 M535, E34 or Lotus Carlton... by which I mean - they are certainly "classic cars", they not mentally expensive as Jag E-Type or some Ferrari with legacy, but ones in good condition can still be worth more then they sell now. Say now you can get reasonably original IS-F and in good condition for say £15000 and probably if you keep it in same good and original condition for another 20 years it will be worth maybe £40000.

I haven't voted - because... What you define as future classic? Any car which sold only ~200 units going to be locally in UK a "future classic". Now what the classic car means? Any car over 40 years old? Surelly most "F" will survive... So in short, I think they all going to be, the difference is going to be... like: how soon and how valuable etc... That will depend on original manufacturing date and rarity, so IS-F might become classic sooner, but RC-F carbon will be rarer hence more expensive..

Interesting.... well, to be honest any turbo engine can be remapped unlike N/A where you need to change rods, shafts, skim heads (physically replace the parts) etc.. So I would not be surprised if IS200t would have more potential. @doog442 I agree that IS200t is better car then mk2 IS250, but it is like saying - "I am stronger then 5 years old" of course you are - it is 2005 car, as well at what price?! When it comes between mk3 IS250 and IS200t, you probably right - latter is better of two, but when it comes to upgrade from mk2, then my perspective if completely different.

I like the wheels - kind of classic looking, almost doesn't look like OE. Certainly much better then both current offerings... I am not sure about black colour though, maybe as contrast on yellow car they are ok, but I guess I would go with gun metal on most other colours.

He said it is both positive and negative... "it never feels powerful, but it smooth and comfortable... yet almost boring"... - "ohhh cool that is what I always wanted with turbo car - for it to be boring!". I never said it is not fast as it would be factually incorrect, what I always said it doesn't feels fast! Again what he means by "smooth", probably "flat" torque curve.. which is not exactly desirable in my books - it is otherwise known as "flat spot", except on IS200t it is not a spot, but whole range - what you actually want is lineally increasing power and torque... and watch the video and listen to that horrible sound again.. He even specifically said - "you cannot hear the engine sound" - yes indeed, because it is not sound ... it is "noise".

To be honest I agree.... If I would have no pressure on being somewhere on time e.g. on occasions where I going out just to drive to country side... I would not use motorways. For me mostly because of terrible lane discipline... even in the quietest motorway you will find somebody hogging the lane, nobody uses first lane ever... and then you have all so called smart motorways which apparently suppose to prevent ghost jams, what they do is exactly opposite - they create them! Then obviously, restrictions for road works without single worker to be seen, restrictions for broken down vehicle on another road 15 miles away ... just because! etc... So not only you end-up not going faster, but as well it is infuriating (hence I need sunroof!)... It is so much nicer to be on A road, you might not be going fast, but at least it is more relaxing and more interesting. The problem is that many scenic A/B now are being deliberately terminated in vicinity of motorways, your sat nav doesn't find the route because maybe one doesn't exist. Logic is that - if there is motorway A/B roads terminates onto it or into some sort of dead-end, or simply takes you around the globe!

There are no tolerance on speed cameras in UK, they are either on or off. If they off - do whatever speed (though I believe the ones on M25 are set to always flash at 102MPH+, but it might be just a flash). I have been done for 52MPH on 50MPH average (probaly 3 years ago now.. did "speed awarenes course"), I was coming off 70MPH and I never brake for lower limit, simply let the car decelerate, the first average check was probably 700 meters away for slip road, hence overall average was over 52MPH "Real". As other said Lexus usually indicates 10% above the real speed, so when I was travelling at 70MPH that was something like 64 and in 700 metres I have slowed down to something like 45MPH, but average was maybe like 58MPH "indicated", which apparently was 52MPH "real". The most likely way to get massive penalty is on "smart(dumb) motorways"... most of the time you can do 90MPH no problem with the flow in outside lane and cameras are never ON (not that I say you should, but you "can"), however if the speed changes from national to say 50MPH or 40MPH, the cameras become active immediately... if you were doing 90MPH.. then ouch... I drive every day on A13 which for most part has 50MPH average with some parts 40MPH average and I always set my cruise for +5MPH to be dead on the limit. It is funny when I see people overtaking me and then braking before average speed cameras as if that helps with average speed, not sure if they ever get penalties. Again I think most of the time they are OFF, but you would not want to try when they are ON.

When I got my car previous owner probably didn't use A/C or it sat for some time before begin sold and I had that issue A/C smell when you just get into the car first time in the morning. Did anti-bacterial clean for £20 and never had it ever again.

First time I have seen IS200t review... Now there are places where I agree and disagree with opinion.. as expected. But look at 7:27 - nobody can tell met thats nice sound - trash can on fire sounds better. 10:40 hesitation on start. And summary is what?! - "it is boring car which never feels like it has any power!". Now he does not point gear hunting thing in this video (maybe because mostly he is in manual mode), but he mentions it in quite few other videos when comparing against older A960E 6 speed. Completely agree - it is smooth if you don't push it and you just cruising along, it has power if you in the right RPM.. never said otherwise. Problem for me Obviously, I pushed it because it didn't felt powerful at all and I got all that terrible noise at high revs.. all the time. So all in all nothing new I didn't already knew about the car... but thanks for posting. Again, IS350 - whereas for 200t he had some criticism for 350 there are none... yes "it has more potential then Lexus tuned it for" ( wow.. hardly a criticism):

I think it is standard function on Lexus remote - Keep open and hold and it will open windows and sunroof, same works for closing everything, keep close on hold for few sec.

I don't know maybe.... but I not always lived in London and still appreciator sunroof on any car. Just makes it feel more spacious and brighter inside - positively affects my normally agitated mood 😄

That is nothing to do with forum - idiots drives all sorts of cars! If I understood your scenario correctly, then it is called "merge in turn", which is completely legal, but as you said people get upset and defensive about it... not because BMW or other more powerful cars drivers are doing something wrong or dangerous, but because other drivers simply don't know the rules. Secondly, I believe drives in all makes and models does that, but Premium makes like BMW, MB, Audi sticks out more... people won't notice some rust bucket, but if it is nice and shiny premium car they notice it and sub-consciously are probably jealous . Or it is just prejudice that "oh another BMW pilot flying past" even though there is no fault of BMW driver in that situation. Yesterday, I had exactly same issue (I am driving BMW now) there were 2 lanes merging and it was other lane which has to merge into mine, I let the long van to merge in front of me already and then there were another guy with some rust-bucket cutting me off, preventing me from zip merging even thought technically I was simply continuing on my lane and he was the one to merge. My point - he noted brand new shine BMW going past him in the left lane, because left was going faster as right lane had to merge-in .. and he probably thought "oh yet another BMW driver undertaking, I am not going to let him in"... again didn't even realise it was actually my right of way! Other common issue - you will always find some rust bucket in outside lane on motorway doing 65MPH and not moving over. They doing it deliberately and illegally, because they actually have false perception of the rules - "I don't need to move over if I am doing the limit" or " no need to be speeding".. In reality any right lane is for overtaking only and no matter what speed you doing you must move over (lane discipline is unbelievably poor in UK). Then obviously, there is no other way but to blink few times and eventually undertake, because nobody have time to reeducate these people, BUT if you ask them then they would paint totally opposite picture - "those BMW drivers always flying past at 'dangerous speeds', flashing me and then dangerously undertaking"... that would be their perspective of the circumstances. They imagine themselves as some sort of heroes, police wanabe volunteers etc. Whereas in reality, they are the ones braking the rules and creating dangerous situations.

And you?

Oh... so if you I haven't owned the car I cannot say it is amazing?! How does that work? As such I guess all reviews online and in magazines ... all are pointless, because all those bloody experts, those journalists... they don't own the cars so they cannot have opinion as such... good logic... keep it-up!

ES is global model made for all markets, all but EU... until now. All RC's are made in one of two factories in Japan, LHD versions exists in Japan, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia just to name a few, that includes 350, not sure about 350AWD that might be US only model. Literally, just need to get it approved in single EU country and they can sell it across European Union including UK. https://www.lexus.com.au/models/rc/overview https://lexus.jp/models/rc/ Funny enough they call RC200t a "RC300".... Seen one of those in China and could not believe it was V6 sound... now I know why (I knew all along it was fake!) @Martin J and others - Don't get me wrong - I am not against hybrids! However, hybrid does not necessary automatically mean compromise on performance - good example is GS450h... oh wait what? I was told it is being discontinued! @doog442 where you learned that... in BMW fan club perhaps?! This is Lexus owners club, not bling fans club! When Lexus does something worth embracing I will embrace them - LFA, LC500/500h, GS450h, RC350, RC-F, IS-F all amazing cars, but when they make shait cars I will say they are shait!

Nooo.. sunroof is must for me, even better glass roof - I don't even need for it to open.

No... they told me I am not welcome, because I reported same issue with BMW320d engine and gearbox...

Sunroof, real leather seats?

That is only relevant when it is taken into consideration together with the gearing. The "flat torque" you are talking about is achieved on the bench without gearbox even being attached, it is not so flat when you put it in real live scenario at certain real speed with certain gear choice, or multiple gears. Even if you get actual graph from dyno, that is done in single gear (usually 4th on 6 gear box, not sure what would be equivalent in IS200t... maybe 6th). So you get engine hp/nm curve.. but it means nothing in real terms if say in your situation you are cruising in 8th, press accelerator it drops to 5th, then mid-way trough overtake drops to 3rd, then runs out of revs and changes to 4th.... your real life curve will be all over the place. Compare that with N/A engine dropping from 6th to 3rd and continuing in 3rd all the way and you will realise that your acceleration will be much more consistent there.

I just pick what is important for me from my experience - in fact I have never seen review of IS200t or RC200t... nobody is interested enough to make review about one ... or it might be that I never paid attention to whatever is there. 0.2s is for singular gear change in "physical terms within gearbox", that doesn't mean it only takes 0.2s from the time you tap on the paddle to the time it actually changes gear, this might vary... Furthermore, if you changing 4 gears, it doesn't mean it will take 0.8s - most likely more because there will be delay between gear changes and the delay of the change itself. I believe it might skip the gears sometimes if you tap it quick enough, so sometimes it might take less.. Then there is the question of actually knowing which gear will be suitable, again because of narrow power band of engine and so many so similar rations/short gears. I understand that would come with experience driving the car for longer period of time, but my point - it is not simple answer of pressing accelerator pedal. My simple experience is that gearbox was almost continuously hunting for gear, both during acceleration and deceleration... and I didn't like it. Once you set it to cruise at certain speed and it sets the gear it is obviously fine. Same story with BMW320d I am currently driving - never stops hunting for gears and it is both efficient and annoying. And I don't blow anything out of proportion, but as anyone I have perspective of what I value and what I don't care about - I have noted everything what I found positive about the car (which arguably isn't much).

The Radar cruise would be one I could compromise on if good opportunity would come along... Sunroof is must (sadly Lexus doesn't have panoramic roof), TVD and non-TVD depends on the price... if there would be 2 identical cars and one without TVD for £4000 less, I would probably go for LSD version, but I would easily pay £1000-£1500 more for identical car with TVD. I probably would compromise on colour as well, as RC-F arguable looks great in any colour ( I would not go for Solar Flare unless I could have multiple cars which I can't). I would not mind mileage as long as it is 10-15k average a year... even if more I don't mind as long as it is reflected in price.

You just adding more twists on the story... to make it confusing cloud again... I general I agree, it is easier to control the pollution form single big source, then it is from multiple vehicles.... Motorists deleting emission "control" should be punishable offence and enforced - I agree, but that is not part of the ICE problem, it is problem with lack of hands on enforcement and control. MOT centers must be accountable for it and if car is found having passed MOT without DPF then the engineer should be jailed and the owner of garage severely fined (or whatever other form of punishment which is considered appropriate). Now whereas pollution in power stations is actually controlled is another question and from multiple breaches known to public (how many are not known) I would have very little confidence it is controlled properly. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "localised pollution" especially when we are talking about air pollution - yes it might not be on the doorstep of population centers, but eventually it will reach that population in one form or another. From global warming perspective it makes no difference where pollution is generated and as I said before private vehicles are accountable for maybe 1% of pollution. Fighting small issue just because it is more visible is common lazy approach, much more impart is to fight large issue which might not be so visible.

Not really, if that would be 350 with 6 speed, then it would be no difference in same situation whenever it is in 3rd or 4th. Secondly, sometimes you overtaking several cars in 4th and all going well, but the gearbox decides it will further drop to 3rd and you lose the power for the moment whilst gearbox is doing it, then by the end of overtake you hit rev-limiter and gear box have to change back to 4th... Basically, that change to 3rd just completely unnecessary and loses you time. As I said, to really get best of the power you need to set gear manually and that is a bit exhausting to change from 8th to 4th.... I don't have any such issue in IS250 with 6 speed. Finally, it is not only me reporting this "gear hunting" issue...

It is similar gearbox to IS-F, GS-F and RC-F, but not the same AA80E vs. AA81E... I know about it having AI and adjusting for driver style, but that was not it. First of all, say RC-F or GS-F will have wide power band and really there are little difference if it downshift to 3rd, 4th or 5th when you start overtaking - it would still pull strong. On IS200t the engine power band is narrow and therefore it is crucial that it gets right gear e.g. it must be 3rd, because if it is 5th then it would not pull at all. Furthermore, it is about thing which are unpredictable e.g. maybe I start overtaking with pedal half way depressed and gearbox changes to 5th, but mid way overtaking I will realise I won't fir in the gap and therefore I will floor it... then gearbox will have to change again to 3rd mid way in overtaking. It is not specifically an issue with gearbox or the engine, but combination of both - IS200t probably would be ok with 6 speed auto with longer gears so it doesn't need to change as much gears to stay on power (obviously it would be less fuel efficient then) and AA81E is fine with 5l V8 where being in exactly right gear is not as crucial... In short issue with IS200t is the narrow power band of the engine + short gears.