Lexus is200 se

[miken2k8]

Bought for £750 with 112000 miles. Owned a saxo 1.1 for 7 years and needed a bigger car. Had always liked the look of these and for what you get i think they are a bargain. a bit slow and thirsty but supremely comfortable and quiet. All for the price of a couple of months car payment.





The wheels need a refurb but that's it. It drives well.

[stewies_minion]

An awful lot of car for £750

Also <insert Partridge joke here>

[Heaveho]

Well bought...they're dead reliable, but it's only a matter of time before the head unit fails and you lose your cd's. Best to know in advance.......it's not an if, it's a when, sadly! Great cars generally.

[miken2k8]

i just use the bluetooth adapter in the cig port for music and taking calls etc works incredibly well for a cheap item. Was on the lookout for a casette to see what they sound like not heard one in years. Not cheap on ebay though

[exgtt]

Superb cars, really well put together and smooth. Sold mine after i got the cambelt changed and mpg suffered, I was averaging 26 before and about 18 after, thought I was saving money getting a back street garage to do the work. Cocked the timing up I reckon.

Also had the autobox, bit frustrating having the car fall out of the small power band it had between first and second but it was super smooth. Commute by scooter now, really fancy getting another when winter hits. Much prefer these over e46's and C classes of the same era (with equal engine capacity)

Good luck with yours not that you will need luck, great cars!

[miken2k8]

gave it a wash and wax, the paint is absolutely full of swirl marks. Anyone know how to get these out without further damaging the paintwork?

thanks

http://imgur.com/a/NKjPJ

[stewies_minion]

Autoglym SRP should make a big difference to that.

[Cookeh]

SRP might partially fill the swirls - and so masking them a bit. But the only way to remove them would be either a one or two stage polish (compound/polish) with a machine polisher, DA or rotary.

Love these IS's, much better than the E46 and C classes of the day imo. Learn to drive in one too, probably part of the reason!

[ctrph]

I have just bought a 03 plate one of these for £1000. Still can't believe how much car you get for the money and it is so much more comfortable and put together than my Civic Type R. Will be following this with interest.

[miken2k8]

I think the used car market in this country is amazing in general. There is a massive choice. People worry too much about having the latest plate car when in reality any car from the last 15 years is "modern" imo

[irish boy]

Great cars, friend took one to 300k with virtually no expenditure.

Over the sport ones are gaining a cult following with the lsd. Hard to find less than £2.5k.

[Mr Tidy]

Cookeh said:

Love these IS's, much better than the E46 and C classes of the day imo. Learn to drive in one too, probably part of the reason!

"Better" is very subjective! Toyota seem to have aimed for the low-hanging fruit with their limp 153 bhp straight 6 when the contemporary E46 320i had 170 bhp, the 325i had 192 bhp and the 330i had 231 bhp.

I'm happy to keep my 325ti thanks!

[helix402]

Great car. Please do not fit coilovers and a loud exhaust. They do have one plus over the E46, no rust! Probably more reliable too.

[miken2k8]

Don't worry all i'm going to do is get the wheels refurbed, these can be so easily ruined by tacky looking mods. Also why do people buy a £1000 car and fit 500 quid coilovers the mind boggles.

[helix402]

I think they usually fit £100 coilovers!

[Cookeh]

Mr Tidy said:

"Better" is very subjective! Toyota seem to have aimed for the low-hanging fruit with their limp 153 bhp straight 6 when the contemporary E46 320i had 170 bhp, the 325i had 192 bhp and the 330i had 231 bhp.

I'm happy to keep my 325ti thanks!

Subjective indeed, but there is a lot more to a car than its bhp figure... Oh, and lets compare like for like shall we, the competitor for the 325i and the 330's was the IS300 - with 217bhp...

To boot, I find the ISs to be more involving, with the IS200 having a much better gearbox than any of the BMs, coupled to a engine that wants to worked and pushed. I also find the ride to be superior, and much prefer the interior.

[miken2k8]

Cookeh said:

Subjective indeed, but there is a lot more to a car than its bhp figure... Oh, and lets compare like for like shall we, the competitor for the 325i and the 330's was the IS300 - with 217bhp...

To boot, I find the ISs to be more involving, with the IS200 having a much better gearbox than any of the BMs, coupled to a engine that wants to worked and pushed. I also find the ride to be superior, and much prefer the interior.

Never driven an e46 but i can say for sure this car is quiet no rattles and has a nice engine note when pressing on. It handles tightly has never failed an mot in 12 years. What more could you want? my only complaint is fuel economy at 29mpg average but when the car cost buttons who cares?

[Heaveho]

I used to process warranty claims for Lexus. I had a mate who did the same job for BMW at the time. No prizes for guessing which of us had the easier time at work, I basically just put my feet up for 8 hours a day for the 6 years or so I worked there. We've had a 300 Sportcross for about 7 years, it's not been " faultless ", but close enough not to matter.

[miken2k8]

Managed to machine buffer the front half of the car in this heat tonight and fully fitted the satnav and deep cleaned the interior. The seats came out good for 115,000

Edited by miken2k8 on Saturday 17th June 21:30

Edited by miken2k8 on Saturday 17th June 21:32

[anonymous-user]

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