kam05

I don't like the sound of that, mate.

Not sure what the technical term is- all I did was take one plastic screw off the car and told the guy at the parts desk I need some of these.

Them plastic screws are a few pennies from Toyota/Lexus (I ordered some last year), but if Ormi can get you some free ones then that's even better!

Nice- its got a lip spoiler as well.

330d/335d is what you want IMHO. The petrol IS (IS250) is a great car, but if its a diesel you want, then look elsewhere.

Have you checked autotrader/ebay for similar age/mileage IS200's? My guess would be that your car is worth £2750-£2850? T&T means how much road tax and MOT is on the car.

I think you are being a bit hard on the F1A's, like you my last set of tyres were if the F1A's and they were brilliant in the warm but totally useless in the snow/ice. The F1A's are a summer tyre, so in bad snow and ice they will be :tsktsk: just like any other summer tyre.

Full service, as in new: spark plugs, air filter, oil filter, pollen filter, oil, coolant, diff oil, brake fluid change? Your garage can do this for £160? Is that including parts, labour, VAT? Seems too cheap to me- unless they are using cheap/poor quality service items. For example, a set of NGK/Denso irdium spark plugs off ebay cost about £45 and a K&N air filter off ebay is about £37. A Toyota oil filter (with draining nut washer) is about £10 from Lexus/Toyota. I'd double check with your garage what their idea of a full service is.

What year is it? mileage?, condition? T&T?, spec? Give us more details

Bonnet clips are avaliable on ebay for £15.

Patterned rads have a 16mm thick core where as OEM Lexus one will have 27mm thick core- doesn't make a difference, as I've done 50k so far on a 16mm thick core radiator without any problems. Get a patterned rad mate.

try the online breaker yards as well, eg: motorhog

320d/330d- diesel and RWD :P

Service the car mate- that will make a difference to mpg (fresh oil etc)

I'm going through £50 of petrol a week and I'm getting about 250 miles (mix of dual carriageway and town driving). To me my IS200 is cheap motoring, ok its thristy, but in the 7 years I've owned it's never let me down. This car has done 100k under my ownership and besides it makes sense to me to run my IS200 into the ground then replace it. Mines a manual so mine might be a bit better on the mpg compared you guys with autos?

Haven't you noticed petrol prices going up in your area? As for service, the IS200 needs a service every 10k/1 year Whichever comes first

yeah, but wouldn't you rather have a crash free IS200 (which would make it easier to sell on when the time comes to sell up? would you buy a crash damaged/repaired car?) Also, I guess you would like to keep hold of said no claims and you would want your future insurance preimums to rise would you?

For those of you who think budget tyres are ok to use on a IS200, I suggest you fit some Fullrun HP199's on, then comment on budget tyres vs preimum tyres. I had a set of Fullrun HP199's and tbh I'd have rather had a set of really worn/slick preimum tyres- they would have been better than the Fullrun's!

Yeah that's right, a new IS200 would have cost £21/£22k new- a new BMW 320i (E46) spec'd up to the same level of a IS200 would have cost £26-£30k! You got/get more bang for your bucks with a IS200.

Well if the mileage is stored on the odometer, then Lexus have shot themselves in the foot. For example, my IS200 has done 133k and say for arguments sake its worth £2k- I decide to sell my car but I want more than £2k for it. I then decide I will clock my car before selling as I want more £££. Off I trot to a scrap yard down the road and I pick up a odometer from a younger/write off IS200 which has 60k on the clock. I buy the odometer out of the scrap car and I fit it to my car- my car's odometer reading is now 60k. I now advertise my IS200 saying its got 60k on the clock and I ask for offers in the region of £4000. I hope to get my asking price and I hope that any potential buyer that turns up doesn't ask to see the service history/book. This is a very easy way to clock a IS200, so the mileage must be recorded on the ECU. If the mileage is recorded on the ECU then this would mean you buying replacement ECU, locks, keys etc, thus making it harder/expensive to clock. Unless a replacement odometer won't fit into another IS200 without some sort of reprogramming? I don't what the answer is, so if anyone knows can they please clarify.

£3.5k I'd say?

Where is the mileage stored on the IS200? Is it on the odometer or on the ECU? I thought the mileage would be stored on the ECU? If that's the case, then can't the OP get a 2nd hand unit, plug it into his car and it will display the correct mileage (for his car)?

Congrats on the purchase, sounds like a good buy (with service history). Black cars are a real PITA to keep clean, but when they are clean and shiny black cars look the business. Here's mine: Got any mods planned?

Don't build them like they used to do they mate? Looks like Lexus/Toyota are going through a Merc phase (1995-2006) of crappy build and unreliability. As suggested, check for trapped leaves/dirt etc.

High level brake light bulb has blown I'd say, mines gone twice in the 7 years I've owned my IS200.