Nick The Greek

I've got one for the day whilst my IS200 is in at Lexus Reading having a cambelt change. First impressions, quiet, smooth, executive car. No squeaks or rattles. Changes gear smoothly. Tiptronic is fun for a few moments. Engine pulls ok but the traffic on the M4 was very bad so haven't really had a chance to open it up. It's a good car. It does what it's meant to do very well. Nowhere near as much fun as my supercharged IS200 though ;)

Ian, intresting video, I take it your son lives in Cornwall as well, as they hedges looked damn Cornish!! Looked like Helston / Penzance way to me...

Who the fook bought one wheel? :D

as i said, i am well aware of how to get the best out of a car, i have been trained to drive at high speed Got to keep that engine spinning, you can actually feel the step in the engine when the revs hit that magic speed. If I want to go Chav baiting I take the Van, nothing pisses them off more than a VW Transporter with two sets of ladders on the roof and 230 horses up front Lol, you don't need 'training' to drive at high speed, just experience (sp?) :) Speed is just a matter of relativitely. Doing 100mph to me feels like a normal cruising speed.

Logic dictates i'd go for the 50 over the 150...

I also work for a construction company (as a QS) we have to budget for a visit once a month from an external body to come and inspect the sites (although we have our own internal department) I used to work for Laing O'Rourke who wanted zero accidents, my argument was that you could educate people as to stupid things like hanging off of scaffold, etc but how are you going to stop a chippie hitting his thumb with a hammer? The world has gone H&S mad and it's all because of the American blame culture. One massive arse covering exercise. Who do you work for Nick? I work for ISG Dean and Bowes now (interior fit out, shopfit work with structural alterations etc). Will PT you as you never know who reads these boards

Yep, hence I don't insist on the gloves and glasses rule on my sites (it's not a legal requirement anyway). It causes more problems and accidents than it prevents. The gloves I can understand (but until the HSE starts concentrating on subcontractors rather than main contractors this wont improve), butr the glasses is plain silly. Have the HSE guys tried wearing glasses/goggles everyday to do their work? I very much doubt it. If they enforced it on my site, then i'd fecking make sure they wear the stupid things when they write their stupid reports.

Being on the receiving end of all the H&S tosh (I'm a site manager for a construction company), my view is that H&S guys are generally jobsworths who should go and get a real trade, and stop making my life more difficult than it already is! H&S will never end, we will never be able to do anything 'correctly' in their eyes, and they will always pick holes in your work. I appreciate we must have some H&S, but it is starting to get a bit ridiculous and is making life difficult and more time-consuming in the construction industry.

What was the retail on it brand new?

ditto.............. my Is200 bleeps like a lorry

erm......... wheres the engine shots Mr Shipley? Could be a 1.1 for all we know

pictures? and what aboutr a gs300??? lol http://www.fordmondeo.org/garage/index.php?car/9/ As standard as can be! It's a street sleeper ;) I need to go test drive a scooby / evo to see if thats what i want GS300 is too boring for me, LS400 didn't float my boat. I like speed :D

Cornish LOC'ers are very thin on the ground! I think we are the only two :D Have only been home about twice this year although will be back for christmas!

I have a supercharged granite sky Is200 I keep thinking of selling, if I knew what to replace it with!

I second that!

I take it you got out of it unhurt? Goes to show how well the cockpit stood up to it, thats quite a hefty frontal smash. Glad your here to tell the tale!

Yep, it is pretty damn crude! I wouldn't rely on it too much! The back will still step out on you in the wet if your pushing too hard, regardless if the TRC is on or off!

Well, after ringing around numerous insurers, and getting dicked about by HIC (Quoted me an extremely undercutting price of £750, then once I was about to go through, he thought he better ask if the supercharger kicks out more power, errr, hello, it's a supercharger , then the price shot up to £990), I eventually settled with....................... A-plan, they managed to beat everyones quote. :) £899, protected. Renewal has basically gone up by £250 though just for living in London now :( And I have thought long and hard the past few days, I can't live without the SC, the power delivery is just too good

That sounds odd to me. You obviously have the skill to control the throttle so that the car accelerates hard out the wet junction without much wheelspin. What's odd is that the traction contol shouldn't be cutting in so early - are you sure it's actually working properly? Mine cuts in from time to time if I give it a clumsy bootful of gas in the same situation, but basically just sits there watching and waiting the rest of the time so I leave it on. Maybe you should have it checked? Mike Yours is an auto though mike, the gearbox and driving characteristics will be different from a manual. It doesn't take much practise to control the throttle in the wet on junctions tbh, you have far more control over the car with the TRC off IMO! Oh, and a standard IS200 doesn't have enough power to spin the wheels anyway! :P

I won't be going as i'm just too lazy tbh... even though it's only a few miles away!

My TRC is off most of the time, mainly because I hate the way it cuts in, it's either all or nothing, and if you want to make a quick getaway out of a junction, it can be rather dangerous IMO, with the way it cuts the power. I also like to practise getting my arse out at a few choice junctions

In a bit of a quandry at the moment TBH... Aftre ringing around, have so far got my insurance renewal down to £890, thats for parking on the road in West London, and with protected no claims. I'm in two minds whether to keep the kit fitted or not tbh. I could shave a good £400 off that just by getting rid of the SC, but I doubt I could live with the IS200 back at standard power levels... I feel like a rock stuck in a hard place :( (or whatever that saying is )

Hey Ian. What part of Cornwall are you from? I'm a Truro lad, and purchased my IS200 from Atlantic Garages in Hayle. Living in London at the moment though.

Count me in matty boy! The last impromptu tank show we had after the RR day was cool! :D

Check your ecu box before you buy anything. Mine was just a torx screw...