2001 Toyota Altezza RS200 (Lexus IS200 with 210bhp BEAMS)

[bicycleshorts]

I thought I'd start a thread for a car which not many people may be aware of.

I've had a manual Lexus IS200 as the family car for the last year. When our first born came along, the criteria was "Something cheap, RWD with an interesting engine and ISOFIX". Didn't really fancy a BMW and my wife wouldn't drive anything bigger than a small saloon so I set about my search.

The IS200 was in the running for a while but it was difficult to find one that was a Sport, manual and in budget. Eventually one would come up just round the corner from the parent's house. I instructed my Dad to buy it provided it was clean and ran well.

The car has been great to us, other than being a bit of a bd finding a rear-facing baby seat which would fit. All its needed in a year and 10k miles is the wheels refurbed and a fuel injector changed (an entire rail was so cheap I changed them all at once).

As luck would have it, it also had ISOFIX which I only later found out is late 2001+ cars!

Buuut, there was always a nagging feeling that it didn't have enough power to really make it a "do everything car". This is probably a compliment to the chassis, running gear (particularly the LSD) and suspension set up more than anything else.

When I owned the MR2, I always wanted to try or own a BEAMS engined one. When randomly reading wikipedia one night I found that it was also fitted in the IS200 as the Toyota Altezza RS200. This coincided with an upcoming holiday to Japan where we would be visiting the Japanese auction houses (call it fate!).

I set my eyes on 3 which were going through and put in my bids. Each one was under the final sell amount by a huge amount. And so that dream died...

Except it didn't. Our guide stated that this particular auction is often the most popular, most expensive one and to keep an eye out for the other ones. When we returned I checked the listings again and found some more going through.

A cheeky bid request when in the pub led to a sore head in the morning and news that I had won an Altezza! Naturally my wife was thrilled with the news that her 150bhp Lexus would now become a 210bhp Toyota which I had never driven, looked exactly the same aesthetically as our current car and cost a small fortune to ship from Japan.

Some further reading about the BEAMS engine:
http://www.beams-redtop.com/history.htm

EDIT:
A pic of the car at Le Mans:

Edited by bicycleshorts on Friday 25th August 13:14

[Bdevo3]

They are cracking car. A lot of fun, still look good,

[TotalControl]

Loved these when I found out about them. The beams was put in the MR2 SW20 and Celica SS3 from memory. Yamaha did a great job with it. This is probably the best all rounder with this engine.

Can't see the pics unfortunately but look forward to reading more about it here.

[benjijames28]

Looking forward to updates from this thread.

Big fan of the Lexus is200, even fancy buying one if I could find a good example.

[TotalControl]

Can see pics now. Looks to be a good, clean example.

[BenWRXSEi]

Excellent work!

[HustleRussell]

210bhp from the two litre nat asp lump is quite impressive, what's the power delivery like?

[bicycleshorts]

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully pics now fixed.

The IS200 we have has the optional OEM body kit, I'm in two minds as to leave the Altezza with the sleeper look or transfer over the bodykit which would leave it looking something like this (minus the BGW):


There was also a TRD front bumper which I think suits the car, no idea how I could ever get one in the UK though!


Regarding power delivery... no idea! I've never driven one. Apparently it delivers peak power at 7600rpm so I would guess it's pretty linear.

[NateWM]

Lovely cars these. Best place to find a TRD bumper is probably here in Ireland! There's absolutely tonnes of IS200's/Altezzas this side of the pond, as they are cheap (less than 2k) and very popular for "diffing", i.e being a talentless moron and doing donuts in the road bouncing it off the limiter

[anonymous-user]

bicycleshorts said:

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully pics now fixed.

The IS200 we have has the optional OEM body kit, I'm in two minds as to leave the Altezza with the sleeper look or transfer over the bodykit which would leave it looking something like this (minus the BGW):


There was also a TRD front bumper which I think suits the car, no idea how I could ever get one in the UK though!


Regarding power delivery... no idea! I've never driven one. Apparently it delivers peak power at 7600rpm so I would guess it's pretty linear.

Lovely cars the IS200, I bought one years ago and regretted selling it from day one, So much so I convinced my wife that she needs one as her first car

The Beams engined ones always looked very interesting and short of an is300 which are auto only is really what Lexus should have sold them with in the EU markets. excellent choice.

Re the bodykit have you tried Yahoo Auctions? Maybe you could look on their and ask your agent to put them in the car when its shipped to save on postage which can be quite expensive.

http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/search;_ylt=A7d...

[xjay1337]

I'm a bit confused.

Do you just want the BEAMs engine? Just swap it into your IS200, swap the IS200 back into the Altezza, sell the Altezza. Eazy.

[EJH]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Couldn't agree more.

Much of this car's appeal is a special and slightly mental engine in a total sleeper-spec car. Putting the body kit on, for me, ruins that.

I know it's your car (and I'm merely a chap on the internet with an opinion) but please keep it stock!

[bicycleshorts]

Body kit is stock guys, they came from the factory with it as an optional extra:


Appreciate this is pistonheads, but assume we don't all think s-lines and m-specs are Bradford too?

Also not sure if the chap suggesting taking the engine from a rust free, fresh import and putting it into high mileage, UK car was serious?

[aka_kerrly]

Cracking choice!!!

I also have a IS200 at the moment and have been looking at Altezzas to, that or a Greddy turbo kit or a 1JZ swap

Annoyingly not so long ago the Altezzas were plentiful and rather cheap in Ireland but now the Euro rate has changed & the Altezza is deemed more desirable the prices are going up up up.

[xjay1337]

bicycleshorts said:

Also not sure if the chap suggesting taking the engine from a rust free, fresh import and putting it into high mileage, UK car was serious?

Wasn't quite sure what you wanted as you already have basically the same car. Just with a lower powered engine.
It would still be rust free and freshly imported with your current IS200's engine, if you like your existing car but just want the better engine.

Just a suggestion.

[aka_kerrly]

xjay1337 said:

Wasn't quite sure what you wanted as you already have basically the same car. Just with a lower powered engine.

I believe there are more differences than just the engine. The Altezza RS200 is built as more of a Toyota sports car where as the IS200 is a Lexus more focused on luxury/refinement.

A RS200 has better seats /interior/carpets, is lighter by over 100kg, different gearbox ratios/final drive, lsd, different suspension, often come with TRD bodykits so look far better than a standard model.

[bicycleshorts]

aka_kerrly said:

I believe there are more differences than just the engine. The Altezza RS200 is built as more of a Toyota sports car where as the IS200 is a Lexus more focused on luxury/refinement.

A RS200 has better seats /interior/carpets, is lighter by over 100kg, different gearbox ratios/final drive, lsd, different suspension, often come with TRD bodykits so look far better than a standard model.

Some of this is news to me! The is200 sport has full leather, lsd and nav (in some). From the one interior pic, it seems the Altezza has cloth seats and no nav (don't use it anyways). When it shows up I'll do a full comparison including suspension!

xjay1337 - the Altezza definitely looks cleaner than our current IS. I'm intrigued to see the wheel condition as paint flaking is a known problem in the UK. If anything the IS may become the donor car!

tonker - of course. This will be as close to OEM as possible. Except for the rear lights, first thing I did on the IS was spray them red... Lexus lights, not even once.

[xjay1337]

aka_kerrly said:

I believe there are more differences than just the engine. The Altezza RS200 is built as more of a Toyota sports car where as the IS200 is a Lexus more focused on luxury/refinement.

A RS200 has better seats /interior/carpets, is lighter by over 100kg, different gearbox ratios/final drive, lsd, different suspension, often come with TRD bodykits so look far better than a standard model.

Ahhhh ok I got it :-)

Thanks!

The Altezza on the pics looks like it has faded headlights, that could be the first swapped part... :-)

[aka_kerrly]

xjay1337 said:

Ahhhh ok I got it :-)

Thanks!

The Altezza on the pics looks like it has faded headlights, that could be the first swapped part... :-)

No worries pal.

Regarding the headlights, they all do that....but you don't need to replace the parts, I sorted headlights/fogs/rear lights with a machine polisher and some cutting compound.

Sad as it sounds one of the best upgrades I've done on the is200 was genuine oem mud flaps , helps keep the car much cleaner at this time of year.

You ought to check out the TRD RS200,


Youtube Vid of a TRD , this is why I fancy one!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DbtM7Fewos

[DanielSan]

I'm a big fan of these with the BEAMS engine, did look for one when my Impreza went but there was none for sale at the time, the best motoring review describing them as a rear wheel drive Integra Type R sealed it for as a car to be put on the want list