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.

[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

[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

[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

[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.

[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?

[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

[miken2k8]

Found a nice country lane. Seems to go round corners quite well

Edited by miken2k8 on Monday 26th June 15:19

[miken2k8]

Also the stereo in this car is very good and does not distort at high volume which is a plus. Never heard a standard stereo of similar quality in this class

[miken2k8]

Cookeh said:

You're the first person I've come across that can describe a 2JZ as "mute" and "flat"

OP, car is looking great after that machine polish. How did you get what appears to be a Windows OS onto the dashscreen, though?

I bought the satnav housing off ebay and gutted the screen. I bought a cheap 5 inch satnav off ebay and put it in place (it fits perfectly). It's add a fused to the ignition so it comes on and goes off with ignition. The housing is motorised so goes up and down with ignition. Works really well and has a lot more features than just the nav part.


Thanks for all the positive comments this car is a massive step up for me from a 1l saxo.

[miken2k8]

lost all previous photos gave it a polish and did skyline light mod, done 10,000 miles in this with just a new set of tyres going in for service and mot next week. Only failed once in 13 years for a wiper blade apparently. Love it.

[miken2k8]

So sold the is200 in jan went through mot with no advisories had the following 2 cars since

mg zs180

paid 400 for this. Easily the best handling car iv'e had direct steering lightweight with a wacking v6 upfront. Unfortunately i could tell this was a bit of a dog so sold it after a couple of months for 460. It had a rattly manifold and needed new brakes. There was a good car under there no rust at all.






On to my current car a 99 gs300. Went back to lexus purely down to the reliability this has 155000 miles on it. needed a new set of tyres for mot as tracking was out but everything works. It's a big old thing but still picks up speed ok. Paid £680 for this. Bangernomics for me is a nesscasity as i'm not loaded. but it's amazing the cars you can get into for such a small outlay imo. Will be looking to swap this for a cheap convertible for the summer. Hoping for an mx5 or similar.

Edited by miken2k8 on Sunday 29th April 16:42

[miken2k8]

Done a few changes to the lights led all round just looks a lot better. That's it for this though going to try the gs430 want my 1st v8. Has anyone tried one of these in mk2 guise?




mike

[miken2k8]

Jacked it up today to replace rear pads. The jack collasped landed on the disc. I was shocked at how much of a monumental bellend i could be to not use axle stands. called aa man out and he replaced them both for me. The aa really is a great service hat's off to them. Did no damage fortunately.

Wish i had taken a picture it really was a cringe moment and i don't like to use that word.