mart1n

Plus at least you guys didnt slate me for owning an escort (maybe thats because you know i have seen the light ) :P

That was quite a read since i last checked last night lol :P. Some good points for me to ponder on, however i really do feel the choice will be taken out of my hands because of insurance. I am going to phone around today and see what they say, although as im not looking to get one for a little while (need to save some more wedge up and sell mine) it could be a while before im ready to go.

Uh oh... i think ive started and argument :(

Cheers for all the information dude. I will have to give them a call and see what they have to say for themselves. I can understand why they wont insure under25's on some cars which are imports, but i cant quite understand it for all of them. I will seriously have to go and see if i can test drive one of these babies at some point to see how i feel about it. As for the question about my escort. Its a 1800 zetec which the guy before had kitted out with the Wrc kit... it wasnt a full on rep, as it had the wrc spoiler and front bumper + sideskirts. Its had a few bits done to the engine, and was rolling roaded last year at just shy of 130 bhp. I know thats not really great but considering it is my second car i was quite happy with it. I got my fingers stung well and truely tho, as although externally it was a brilliant looking car, he hadnt looked after it under the bonnet. I have since had to lay out the best part of £2k on various repairs / replacements etc. Some people might say im mad, but what else could I have done, considering I was not prepared to sell it onto someone else when it wasnt mechanically 100%, that would make me as bad as he was. It runs pretty sweet nowadays, but after the bad experiences with it, I decided that it was time to move along onto another manufacturer, as I didnt wanna touch ford again... and I have always had a bit of a soft spot for the IS200 as i think its a very very nice car. I havent told many peeps from the owners club im a member of with the escort, as I know what their reaction will be, I told one of them tonight and he laid into me big style about how expensive and crap VW and Lexus are... it just annoys me that people wont respect you decision. I wont bother posting any pictures of my escort on here, as im sure you wouldnt want to see what it looks like anyway. THat and the fear that it might land itself on barryboys website :P. Thats another reason for me to get rid of it. The whole modified car scene has been flooded by burrburry cap wearing nova driving twonks, who have given people like me a bad name. I drive down the street day in, day out and have people shake their head as if i am scum for owning an modified car. I dont race my car, I dont go to cruises etc, but im in the same boat as them. Fair isnt it :(

The insurance isnt tooo bad for me at this moment in time. When i got quoted it was about £700 which for someone of my age wasnt too bad at all!

please dont flame me but i own a modified ford escort. it not a fast an furious jobbie, but i figured i had to get the whole modified thing out of my system some time. Its a nice car and is a nippy one at times too, but as im growing up a little so to speak, I wanted to look at something which was more of an investment! if i could get close to 200bhp i would be chuffed as. And to answer someone else question:.. Nope I have never driven a lexus... but a friend of mine owned a IS300, and it was amazing inside.

I wouldnt mind a IS200, the only problem is the amount of horses which it is pushing. Im not a complete BHP junkie... or a boy racer.. but my car now has Just shy of 130bhp now.. and to fork out another £4k on top of the money I would get for my car, seems a lot of money to fork out for that extra 20 Hp. I know that it isnt just the extra BHP i would be getting, as its all of the class which comes with owning a lexus, but i dont want to get 6 months down the line and think... I need something with a little extra poke.

Ahh that would explain that one then! How easy is to get parts for the altezza??? I am wondering, does anyone know of any insurance companies which might consider insuring me on an altezza as they arent really a high insurance rated car!

Afternoon all, I have recently been looking into the possibility of buying a lexus IS200. When i was reading up the tech spec of them it states that they are 153bhp, however some of the cars on autotrader are being advertised as 210bhp.. Which I presume is the imported altezza??? The problem is when i buy my next car I will probably have just turned 22.. and insurance companies wont insure peeps under 25 (new policies) on imported cars, regardless of their spec. I was wondering why the UK version is 153bhp, but the import version is 210... are they different engines? Is there any way of getting the UK version at 210bhp? Cheers Mart