2002 Lexus IS200 + Fairly long Roadtrip
Discussion
I've been browsing the forums for quite some time but never really got round to registering and decided that I should post some pictures of my Temporary shed,
Anyway I arrived in the UK from Australia back in May and needed a cheap reliable car to get me to Chania in Crete to visit my folks and then on to Poznan 6 weeks later for the opening of our EU office. After wading through pages and pages of BMW's on Ebay i decided that I should probably go for something a little more re-known for reliability rather than performance given the 4000 mile trip ahead of me and given that Toyota's seem to survive in the most inhospitable parts of the world I settled on this 2002 Lexus IS200,
The first leg of the trip,
It was a 1 owner car with 90k on the clock and FSH although it was due a service so I promptly took it to a local garage for a cambelt and waterpump and then set off on the first leg of the trip, Chichester to my overnight stop in Zurich,
Goodbye UK,
Arrival in Zurich
From Zurich the following day it was a quick dash down to Ancona to catch the overnight ferry to Patras (Mainland Greece) No photo's as I was driving and felt that i should probably concentrate on that, Also I was late so no time, Total Mileage so far...
The Ferry trip consisted of mainly this....
Upon arrival in Patras it became clear that the Greeks can't drive for sh*t and also they have the audacity to charge drivers for roads that aren't even built but I hit Piraeus with plenty of time to spare.
Greek Roadworks
Leaving Piraeus headed for Heraklion
On Crete
And on the drive in Maroulas
In the Cretan hills,
After spending 3 weeks in Crete I got bored and as my company had kindly sorted my apartment in Poland I decided to head there, Unfortunately by air as I had to take this little chap who had just arrived at my parents place from Sydney and it seemed cruel taking him for another 2 days in the car after such a long flight
3 weeks later I went back to collect the car and as I didn't have the cat I could take a direct route to Poland from Greece going through some non EU countries,
Boarding the Ferry in Reythmno (SP)
From the boat,
We then headed from Pireaus up into Macedonia, Stunning scenery, terrible roads.
Entering Macedonia,
I had to buy insurance at the border as my insurance documents were in English, Macedonia is indeed a Sh*thole and I will never go back theres not a lot there and petrol isn't very readily available. it was also 48c outside
Macedonian toll booth,
Serbia was a much nicer looking place (Well at least outside the cities)
Mostly twisty mountain roads until we hit the main Autostrada to Belgrade which was free and surprisingly good.
No photos from here on in as it was a quick blast up through Hungary via Budapest, Into Slovakia, Brief meeting with the Czech republic and then into Poland and a flat out jaunt towards Poznan,
Pretty much flat out (I forgot I had 6 gears, having driven Auto's for the best part of 5 years)
Sunset looks pretty but bloody annoying,
Home sweet home
Overall i'm really impressed with the IS200 for such a cheap car and after owning BMWS for many years I definitely prefer these to the e46, Also I forgot how small Europe actually is
Anyway I arrived in the UK from Australia back in May and needed a cheap reliable car to get me to Chania in Crete to visit my folks and then on to Poznan 6 weeks later for the opening of our EU office. After wading through pages and pages of BMW's on Ebay i decided that I should probably go for something a little more re-known for reliability rather than performance given the 4000 mile trip ahead of me and given that Toyota's seem to survive in the most inhospitable parts of the world I settled on this 2002 Lexus IS200,
The first leg of the trip,
It was a 1 owner car with 90k on the clock and FSH although it was due a service so I promptly took it to a local garage for a cambelt and waterpump and then set off on the first leg of the trip, Chichester to my overnight stop in Zurich,
Goodbye UK,
Arrival in Zurich
From Zurich the following day it was a quick dash down to Ancona to catch the overnight ferry to Patras (Mainland Greece) No photo's as I was driving and felt that i should probably concentrate on that, Also I was late so no time, Total Mileage so far...
The Ferry trip consisted of mainly this....
Upon arrival in Patras it became clear that the Greeks can't drive for sh*t and also they have the audacity to charge drivers for roads that aren't even built but I hit Piraeus with plenty of time to spare.
Greek Roadworks
Leaving Piraeus headed for Heraklion
On Crete
And on the drive in Maroulas
In the Cretan hills,
After spending 3 weeks in Crete I got bored and as my company had kindly sorted my apartment in Poland I decided to head there, Unfortunately by air as I had to take this little chap who had just arrived at my parents place from Sydney and it seemed cruel taking him for another 2 days in the car after such a long flight
3 weeks later I went back to collect the car and as I didn't have the cat I could take a direct route to Poland from Greece going through some non EU countries,
Boarding the Ferry in Reythmno (SP)
From the boat,
We then headed from Pireaus up into Macedonia, Stunning scenery, terrible roads.
Entering Macedonia,
I had to buy insurance at the border as my insurance documents were in English, Macedonia is indeed a Sh*thole and I will never go back theres not a lot there and petrol isn't very readily available. it was also 48c outside
Macedonian toll booth,
Serbia was a much nicer looking place (Well at least outside the cities)
Mostly twisty mountain roads until we hit the main Autostrada to Belgrade which was free and surprisingly good.
No photos from here on in as it was a quick blast up through Hungary via Budapest, Into Slovakia, Brief meeting with the Czech republic and then into Poland and a flat out jaunt towards Poznan,
Pretty much flat out (I forgot I had 6 gears, having driven Auto's for the best part of 5 years)
Sunset looks pretty but bloody annoying,
Home sweet home
Overall i'm really impressed with the IS200 for such a cheap car and after owning BMWS for many years I definitely prefer these to the e46, Also I forgot how small Europe actually is
Nice motorway cruisers had one myself,my mum still has it now on 156k only things ever gone wrong since I got it at 34k were minor things
Air con pump
Central locking modual
Other than that it's just been general regular servicing and wear/tear items
They are a lot of car for the money,you can pick them up for next to nothing now
I paid 14k back in 2006 for it (54 2005 car)
Air con pump
Central locking modual
Other than that it's just been general regular servicing and wear/tear items
They are a lot of car for the money,you can pick them up for next to nothing now
I paid 14k back in 2006 for it (54 2005 car)
It seems to be fantastic on a run and very comfortable and well screwed together, Only problem I've encountered is the clutch has started to judder when its cold but i've ordered a new clutch and a solid flywheel which i'm hoping will rectify this, The clutch and a set of 4 winter tyres are the only things i've had to put to it in 14k
As for MPG I honestly have no idea on a run I get around 500 miles to a tank (Well until the light comes on) and thats generally pressing on a bit, I've also found that using the "snow" button seems to make the throttle less responsive and improves range for some unknown reason.
As for MPG I honestly have no idea on a run I get around 500 miles to a tank (Well until the light comes on) and thats generally pressing on a bit, I've also found that using the "snow" button seems to make the throttle less responsive and improves range for some unknown reason.
Absolutely wonderful car and great story. From the pics I'm assuming your car is a IS200 sport? Love the IS200 and would love to own one day, only thing that really ever concerns me about them is the poor mpg considering its displacement. I can forgive the opinions of it being slightly underpowered for its cc & number of pots.
CDB1983 said:
It seems to be fantastic on a run and very comfortable and well screwed together, Only problem I've encountered is the clutch has started to judder when its cold but i've ordered a new clutch and a solid flywheel which i'm hoping will rectify this, The clutch and a set of 4 winter tyres are the only things i've had to put to it in 14k
As for MPG I honestly have no idea on a run I get around 500 miles to a tank (Well until the light comes on) and thats generally pressing on a bit, I've also found that using the "snow" button seems to make the throttle less responsive and improves range for some unknown reason.
500 miles to tank sounds pretty good to me assuming it is an average size tank (60 litres).As for MPG I honestly have no idea on a run I get around 500 miles to a tank (Well until the light comes on) and thats generally pressing on a bit, I've also found that using the "snow" button seems to make the throttle less responsive and improves range for some unknown reason.
I think its the SE rather than the sport as it hasn't got the metal sill plates and pedal covers, Also its only half leather (PVC) with the suede inserts so I assumed its the SE but still a great spec. The only thing thats missing is the MPG/Range computer which I've had on pretty much every car I've owned and do quite miss,
As for power it doesn't feel too "slow" as such as there appears to be quite a bit of torque and it pulls very well in gear, Not unlike the e36 320i I had a few years ago but i do think it handles slightly better with much less understeer than the BMW.
500 miles to a tank is pretty good, Its terrible in the city though but I walk to work and only really drive on long trips where it seems to work quite well. If that changes I can get it converted to LPG for around 200GBP (1000 pln)although i don't really want to risk losing any reliability, It hasn't used a drop of oil since i've had it and the oil is still a golden colour which is a far cry from adding 1.5 litres a month to my BMW which i did less miles in.
Clutch should be done next week and then in 3 weeks its back to Greece for 2 weeks over Xmas via Ancona again...
As for power it doesn't feel too "slow" as such as there appears to be quite a bit of torque and it pulls very well in gear, Not unlike the e36 320i I had a few years ago but i do think it handles slightly better with much less understeer than the BMW.
500 miles to a tank is pretty good, Its terrible in the city though but I walk to work and only really drive on long trips where it seems to work quite well. If that changes I can get it converted to LPG for around 200GBP (1000 pln)although i don't really want to risk losing any reliability, It hasn't used a drop of oil since i've had it and the oil is still a golden colour which is a far cry from adding 1.5 litres a month to my BMW which i did less miles in.
Clutch should be done next week and then in 3 weeks its back to Greece for 2 weeks over Xmas via Ancona again...
Boring update + another roadtrip...
Well after a long winter and being freezing and miserable in Poland me and the better half have decided to move to Crete which obviously meant having to drive 1 because its more fun and 2 because its probably cheaper than trying to take all my belongings by Ryanair.
First things first, Back to summer tyres despite there being snow on the road. The Polish made Colways were just far to noisy for a long trip and they would probably melt upon arrival to Crete.
So left the house in this to go to the Garage,
In process,
I also had the windows tinted, Not because i'm a chav but mainly to reduce the heat in the cabin and make the black leather tolerable in the Greek sun and also to protect the interior slightly, Anyway it peels off and only cost 70 euros to get done.
En route
Southern Germany and Austria was a bit hairy with freezing fog and snow but the road from the Austrian border to Modena is sublime even at 3.00 am after driving for 10 hours! (No pics, the Mrs was asleep)
At the ferry port, (She was still asleep)
Waiting to board, Ancona is a Dump!
Arrival in Crete, Albeit in need of a wash,
Washed by hand for the first time in my ownership, Unfortunately its hard to find a Polish carwash here so I had to do it myself, I even polished it
Oh and its pretty hot here too
So in just over 25,000 miles nothing has gone wrong at all and apart from routine maintenance i've only had to put a clutch to it and have the wheels straightened as they got bent from driving on Central European and Balkan roads.
Its the cheapest car i've ever bought, Boring as all hell to look at, surprisingly good to drive and comfortable for long trips, Appalling on fuel but i'm guessing its a keeper for at least the next 12 months until we lease something newer.
Well after a long winter and being freezing and miserable in Poland me and the better half have decided to move to Crete which obviously meant having to drive 1 because its more fun and 2 because its probably cheaper than trying to take all my belongings by Ryanair.
First things first, Back to summer tyres despite there being snow on the road. The Polish made Colways were just far to noisy for a long trip and they would probably melt upon arrival to Crete.
So left the house in this to go to the Garage,
In process,
I also had the windows tinted, Not because i'm a chav but mainly to reduce the heat in the cabin and make the black leather tolerable in the Greek sun and also to protect the interior slightly, Anyway it peels off and only cost 70 euros to get done.
En route
Southern Germany and Austria was a bit hairy with freezing fog and snow but the road from the Austrian border to Modena is sublime even at 3.00 am after driving for 10 hours! (No pics, the Mrs was asleep)
At the ferry port, (She was still asleep)
Waiting to board, Ancona is a Dump!
Arrival in Crete, Albeit in need of a wash,
Washed by hand for the first time in my ownership, Unfortunately its hard to find a Polish carwash here so I had to do it myself, I even polished it
Oh and its pretty hot here too
So in just over 25,000 miles nothing has gone wrong at all and apart from routine maintenance i've only had to put a clutch to it and have the wheels straightened as they got bent from driving on Central European and Balkan roads.
Its the cheapest car i've ever bought, Boring as all hell to look at, surprisingly good to drive and comfortable for long trips, Appalling on fuel but i'm guessing its a keeper for at least the next 12 months until we lease something newer.
em177 said:
I loved my is200, if it wasn't for the fuel consumption I'd have had it considerably longer than I did. Great read op. thanks for positing!
+1Great write up OP, lovely cars apart from the MPG.
I really enjoyed mine and if it could've done maybe 35MPG I would probably still have it
Be interested to know where you stayed in Chania, I lived on the outskirts of it for a couple of years ( near Almyritha and Kalyves ), and still own the property we were in. I've driven there and back in a variety of cars including my Evo 8, bet that was worse on fuel than your Lexus!
Great story, good read, cheers.
Great story, good read, cheers.
After nearly 50k miles its gone For such an ordinary car i'm pretty sad to see the old girl go as it was/is a great car and the most reliable i've owned and sold it to an American soldier that works on the military base here in Crete so it will soon be sporting USA number plates.
However i broke even on the purchase price + the work i had done, Clutch DMF etc so in 18 months all I had to put to it was Petrol (Quite a lot) and insurance which i thought was pretty good.
On a different note is there anything i need to do/tell the DVLA? I gave the purchaser the whole v5 as he needed that to get it registered on forces plates?
After spending many hours on mobile.de looking for its replacement I can't believe how cheap cars in the UK are compared to the rest of the world....
For such an ordinary car i'm pretty sad to see the old girl go as it was/is a great car and the most reliable i've owned and sold it to an American soldier that works on the military base here in Crete so it will soon be sporting USA number plates.However i broke even on the purchase price + the work i had done, Clutch DMF etc so in 18 months all I had to put to it was Petrol (Quite a lot) and insurance which i thought was pretty good.
On a different note is there anything i need to do/tell the DVLA? I gave the purchaser the whole v5 as he needed that to get it registered on forces plates?
After spending many hours on mobile.de looking for its replacement I can't believe how cheap cars in the UK are compared to the rest of the world....
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