Friday 27th July 2012

SOTW: Lexus IS200

Shed spots a Lexus that thinks it's a 3 Series

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The 'Japanese Mercedes' may have had its rep somewhat compromised by its association with a certain Mr A Partridge, but the fictional Norfolk broadcaster very much had the wrong end of the pointy, sticky thing in describing the Lexus IS200 thus.

Given Steve Coogan's well-known penchant for cars, of course, Partridge's misconstruction of the littlest Lexus could well have been entirely deliberate. But it doesn't take a genius to work out that Lexus's crosshairs were aimed squarely at an entirely different German prestige carmaker for the first generation IS200.

Let's look at the evidence: 150hp naturally-aspirate 2.0-litre straight-six? Check. Rear-wheel drive? Check. Short overhangs? Check. Emphatically sporty dynamics? Check. Theoretically, at least. Lexus might as well have bunged in a Hofmeister kink and a double kidney grille - it wouldn't have made it any more obvious that the IS200 was angling for a slice of the BMW 3 Series compact sports saloon pie.

A decade and a bit later, and the two models are still chasing after the same buyers, if used values are anything to go by. Mind you, the scarcity of IS200s and the ubiquity of 3 Series of a similar vintage means you're more likely to come across a 3er while perusing the classifieds than you are an IS200. Especially one that didn't start out as a Toyota Altezza.

This particular car is up for a round £1,000 with 160,000 miles on the clock. As far as we can tell from the fuzzy photos and sparse details it's got plenty of kit for the money, including a factory-fit sat-nav (though we seriously doubt whether the efficiency or accuracy of said device would be up to modern standards).

The interior styling looks a bit fussy these days (especially that 'chronograph-inspired' instrument cluster), but the only thing that genuinely puts us off is the aftermarket grille.

Alternatively, if you venture outside the hallowed URLs of PistonHeads, you could pick up something like this over-so-orange IS200 for a few quid less. But then you wouldn't get the half leather, and you would have to do something about those quite dreadful wheels...

Thanks to PHer only1ian for the spot

Advert is reproduced below

LEXUS Is200 (£1,000)
Selling my Black lexus is200 sport. It comes with inbuilt Sat Nav, DVD player, Half Leather seats, Privacy Glass and Sports Exhaust. The car has 6 months left of Road Tax and M.O.T is due soon. Absolutely Solid Car and great drive.
Looking to sell quick as buying a flat.Price is negotiable!.1000ONO

[pSyCoSiS]

I was actually pleasantly surprised when I had a passenger ride in one of these a few months back.

Very smooth ride, nice growl to the engine and a funky instrument cluster!

Still, for £1k, you can get a much nicer example of an IS200 than these ones....

[pSyCoSiS]

Riggers said:

That's a gauntlet thrown down right there, Psycosis - let's see the colour of your money. Linkies please!

Ok let me fish some out, as was looking at these only the other day.

Do they have to be only from the PH classified, or is eBay allowed?!

[pSyCoSiS]

Strawman said:

As long as it's buy-it-now or classifieds, not a 7 day auction with 6 days left to run.

Ok - here are a couple.

The other ones I had emailed the sellers for the buy it now prices, and they were after around the grand mark, and they were very tidy examples.

It is quite shocking how these have gone down in value, as they look more than £1k worth of car!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-LEXUS-IS200-SE-AUTO...

Ok, the above is an Auto, but albeit a high spec one, later model, cam belt changed, etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-LEXUS-IS200-S-SILVE...

I'm sure you could get this one for around the £800 mark!

Although, my bag of sand would go on this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-LS400-Mk4-Satnav-a...

Big, all the toys, V8 and smoothness galore. Mileage is irrelevant if maintained correctly.

[pSyCoSiS]

Generally now, I am amazed at how cheap cars have become.

I mean, cars that, a few years ago would have cost over £5k, and now available at shed money or thereabouts...

I saw an 2001 E39 530i SE Auto for £950, a 2001 '51' BMW E38 735i SE Auto for £1500, the earlier W220 S Class models can be had for around £1400, Mercedes SLK Roadsters (1997 models) for £1500, and so on...

Most of these had impeccable service history and were well-maintained examples. All good quality, well made cars, some of which would have cost upto £50k when new.

I know they are expensive to fuel, maintain, etc. But, everyone should live a little and enjoy these lovely cars whilst they are at bargain prices and before they all get shipped over to eatern Europe!

Edited by pSyCoSiS on Friday 27th July 10:21

[pSyCoSiS]

SuperHangOn said:

One in Croydon and the other looks a total.. err... shed

Sorry but I think you still need £1500-2000 to get a decent IS200. Happy to be proved wrong though

Ok ok, I can't show any decent examples atm, and admittedly, they will more than likely be sheds (whcih is what we are talking about here anyway)!

Either way, still a nice motor for the money.

[pSyCoSiS]

thewheelman said:

An SLK for £1500! That would have been a bag of ste, even rough ones still go for over £3k. As for the prices of the other cars you mention, they've all been around those prices for quite sometime.

It was actually a decent example mate, 97 'P' Reg, Silver, Read Leather, 230 Kompressor model.

It did have 160k on the clock, but lady owner and FSH. She had been given a company car, with no room on the drive, so was desperate to sell. Was up at £2k originally, but she came down to £1500....

My point is that you can get so much car for so little cash these days, and some people are not aware of that fact....

[pSyCoSiS]

Didn't Lexus revolutionise the chav tuning scene with these rear lights?

Even BMW did something stupid by fitting those style lights to the rear of the E46 compacts?!

This is the only car that suits these lights IMHO.

[pSyCoSiS]

thewheelman said:

Sounds like a bargain, I like that not everyone is aware of the bargains out there

Totally agree - let's keep hush now!

[pSyCoSiS]

Leptons said:

I think they look pretty terrible now, even on the car that had them as standard.
In fact my first thought when I saw the pics was "some wkers fitted chav lights"

Oh, wait.

HAHAHAHA! Fair comment.

[pSyCoSiS]

edeath said:

Unfortuantely you get around 20MPG around town driving smoothly - you can quite easily get it lower if you are a bit spirited with your right foot.

When I owned my 200 I ended up fitting the TTE supercharger kit which gives around the 200BHP mark - surprisingly it made the MPG better by changing my driving style as you could ride the low down torque rather than have to rev it all the time!

I get 18.5 mpg out of my V8 XJR pondering around town, so it's kinda st on fuel really isn't it?!

What will you get on a long run in one?

[pSyCoSiS]

HeatonNorris said:

Early S-Types are bloody awful.

Really cheap interiors, with lots of bits obviously nicked from the Ford parts bin, then the gaps filled in with cheap plastic, and a reputation for destroying gearboxes and rear axles.

2003 facelift models were significantly improved - and then further improved with the revised shell in 2005.

If you're looking at Jags for a bag, then you'll be wanting an XJ40 or X300.

Agree totally. A nice spec XJ40 Sport, or X300 model are much better cars than the earlier S-Types.

I remember going to pick up an X308 3.2 V8 Jag a few years back, and the chap collected me from the train station in a 1999 S Type - it was bloody awful (even to his own admittence). Creaky inside, cheap plastics, noisy and just felt like a slighlty larger Mondeo. Jumping from that into the XJ8, you could tell how far superior the XJ is compared to them.

[pSyCoSiS]

I think the reason why a lot of people bought these when they first came out was due to the kudos / status attached with the brand of Lexus.

It was a huge success out in the USA, especially the bigger models, and was a bit of a status symbol there.

I guess people started to think the same over here, and thought they would try one as an alternative to the 3 Series / C Class / A4.

Like for like, spec for spec, I would have an E46 over this all day long. Maybe not as much kit in them as standard, but a much finer chassis to enjoy. And BMW do make a sweet 6-pot engine!