lexus owners - what did we drive before?

[65mike]

Hi all.

My cars i have had since i first started driving are,

Chrysler Sunbeam.

Vauxhall Cavalier sport hatch.

Vaushall Astra.

Vauxhall Nova.

Saab 9000S

Peugeot 309GRi

Ford Mondeo Si.

Peugeot 406 Sri.

Jaguar X-type 2.5 Se Auto.

Jaguar X-type 3.0 Se Auto.

Jaguar XK 4.2 Auto ( ali version )

Lexus is250 SE-L ( currant car. )

And the best car i have owned  smooth comfortable and quiet what more could i ask for.

[javadude]

30  years of motoring for me equates to Escort mk2, Cavalier 1.6, Cavalier 2.0, Cavalier 2.0 16v which at 4 year old had rust hole in petrol tank, various tuning problems and at 7 years Vauxhall said it needed new wiring loom so decided I needed something more reliable so IS200, IS220d, RX400h, NX300h.

[Ala Larj]

Previous Cars:

Austin 1300 Estate (Lovely first car, learnt mechanics and s*x with it. Wrote it off.)

Morris Marina 1300 coupe (The biggest pile of ******* ever conceived in the name of motoring! Handled so badly that if you went round a corner too fast the back end literally jumped. Think I spent more time fixing it than actually driving it.)

Vanden Plas 1300 (Absolutely delightful car. Totally reliable. When I sent it to St. Peter I kept the front seats as they were so comfy.)

Ford Escort 1300 2dr Mk 1 (Bright orange and just did the job with limited excitement.)

Ford Escort XR3 (Loved this one but was disappointed with the handling. Found out it was a cut and shut!)

VW Golf GTi  Mk 1 (Absolutely brilliant car and great fun to drive. Learnt how to ‘drive’ properly in this.)

Ford Cortina 1600 Mk 4 (Practical commuter)

Austin Allegro (don’t ask but better than the Marina!)

Landrover Defender 110 (Was living in the Thar Desert at the time and couldn’t have wished for a more suitable motor. Noisy and terrible on the road though.)

Mitsubishi Pajero (Was living in the mountains of Pakistan with this one and it never let me down mechanically and always got me to my destination in difficult terrain.)

Toyota Hi Lux (Still up in the mountains and need a pick up. Battered and rusty but bomb proof.)

Ford Fiesta 1300 Mk 1 (Bought for £250 in 1996 and did everything asked of it albeit slowly.)

Ford Fiesta 1.25 Mk 4 (Did everything asked of it but less slowly.)

Ford Orion 1600 Mk 1 (Liked this but don’t know why. Quite unmemorable.)

Ford Mondeo 1.8 Mk 2 (Liked this but don’t know why. Quite unmemorable but it did handle well.)

Honda Accord 2.0 Fifth Gen (My first taste of a little luxury and gadgets but boring.)

Volvo V40 1800 Estate (Best seats ever. Dare I say it but more comfortable than the GS!)

Lexus IS 220d (Loved this car. Did 80,000 trouble free miles in this all over the UK and Europe)

Current Cars:

Honda Jazz First Generation (Don’t laugh. Brilliant at what it does and what we ask of it. Totally reliable.)

Lexus GS 300h (The best car I’ve owned.)

[NemesisUK]

Learnt to drive in a Triumph Toledo 

Singer Chamois - my first car, totally rebuilt it into a Monte Carlo tarmac rally car

Vauxhall Firenza HPE - aka Droop Snoot

Vauxhall Chevette HSR - totally mental road car

Vauxhall Cavalier (first child) - totally forgettable 

Rover Montego 7 seater estate (second and third child) - great car but rusted away before my very eyes!

SEAT Alhambra (3 children + Labrador) - 190k trouble free, comfortable miles

Mercedes C270 estate - bought as base model and then retrofitted every option possible bar sunroof

Mercedes CLS55 AMG - absolute rocket ship, awesome lowdown torque. Glorious V8 growl + supercharger whine. A licence looser, had to go  

 

[Ala Larj]

1 hour ago, Ala Larj said:

 

 learnt mechanics and s*x with it

 

Meant in it not with it before I get banned from this club!

[Shahpor]

I just assumed it was your trusty sidekick, sharing its wisdom.. 

[Guest]

Hi Peter have you got any pics of the Droop snoop and HSR?

[NemesisUK]

58 minutes ago, Eame64 said:

Hi Peter have you got any pics of the Droop snoop and HSR?

Unfortunately not, photography wasn't one of my interests at the time. Even though the HPE was used at our wedding it managed not to get photographed! 

[Jaystar77]

Good thread, great to see such a variety of cars.

 

Sadly I sort of stuck with the one model for a long long time.  In fact I'll probably stick with them a while longer as a few are still lying about the garage as side projects now!

First Starlet Turbo back in 2000 :

 

Then had a long run of rinse and repeat:

 

My first automatic GT:

Still have this one:

This is my current project car:

This auto served me for 8/9 years as a daily driver, it's currently rusting away in the yard till I get back near it: 

 

Still have the first one thankfully.  Perfect garage ornament:

 

 

[ColinBarber]

Opel Kadett

Ford Capri

Ford Fiesta 1.0 (company car)

Ford Fiesta XR2

Rover 416 GTi

Toyota MR2 MK1

Toyota MR2 MK2 T-Bar

Toyota MR2 MK2 GT-S Turbo (import)

Toyota Supra TT 6-speed manual (UK-spec)

Lexus GS300 Series II

Lexus GS430 Series II

Mercedes SLK 350

Lexus RX400h

Lexus IS300h

Lexus GS F

[Big Rat]

Before I had the isF it was this 996turbo with europipe stage 3 exhaust gt2 turbos and intercoolers an all weather supercar 550bhp and about the same in torque.......

Big Rat

[Catlnike]

Not got a Lexus yet but
Vauxhall Astra 1.4si
Vauxhall cav 1,6L
Vauxhall cav 1.8L
Vauxhall calibra 2,0 8v
Honda prelude 2.2
Bmw 850
Honda Accord type r
Vauxhall vectra 2.2
Honda Civic type r
Honda Civic type r


Lexus isf (next) [emoji12]

[NothernDan]

There's been a fair few for me too! Haven't listed them like this before, it brings back some good memories

• Mk4 Golf 1.4S - company car
• Rover 75 2.5 V6 - company car
• E46 BMW 320 M Sport - company car
• Volvo 850 T5R
• E30 BMW 325 Touring Alpina Spec
• Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v
• Vauxhall Calibra Turbo
• Rev 2 MR2 2.0 G-Limited (still got it!)
• MG ZT 2.5 V6
• Mitsubushi L200 - company car
• Lexus IS250 - company car
• E36 BMW 328i M sport
• Subaru Impreza WRX STI Wagon
• E46 BMW 325i M sport
• E46 BMW M3
• Chrysler Crossfire (what was I thinking!?)
• Jaguar S Type R
• Mk5 Golf R32
• E46 BMW 325i M Sport
• Mercedes e320 sport
• E92 BMW 335i M sport
• Mercedes CLS 350 CDI
• Lexus ISF

The last one is a perfect mix of the best bits of all of the others although I did enjoy;

• The noise the 335i made (heavily modified!)
• The pure badass looks of the MR2
• The stick-to-the-road handling of the R32
• The old school cool of the E30 touring

 

[baxlin]

Hi Dan,

Quick question, what was wrong with the Chrysler Crossfire?

I've never even sat in one, let alone driven or owned one, but I have always liked the looks of the soft top version, and, as shown by my list, particularly the JZR, I tend to go for 'not quite mainstream' cars.

thanks

Malcolm

Edit.  The Lexus was a company car, (my choice) now I'm retired I have a Volvo C70 folding hardtop

[NothernDan]

6 hours ago, baxlin said:

Hi Dan,

Quick question, what was wrong with the Chrysler Crossfire?

I've never even sat in one, let alone driven or owned one, but I have always liked the looks of the soft top version, and, as shown by my list, particularly the JZR, I tend to go for 'not quite mainstream' cars.

thanks

Malcolm

Edit.  The Lexus was a company car, (my choice) now I'm retired I have a Volvo C70 folding hardtop

Hi Malcolm,

There was so much wrong with the Crossfire it was untrue! Any that are still around now should be OK maintenance and reliability wise but they are not without their issues;

• It's a Chrysler so was/is made from the cheapest possible forms of all materials. To say it felt like it was made from old biscuit tins would be flattering
• 18 inch front wheels, 19 inch rears.....why oh why oh why!?
• The chassis legs were unncapped and exposed beneath the front bumper so in certain wind conditions it howled like blowing across the top of a bottle and you only found the source of the problem out after 6 months of annoying ownership as the dealers said they 'could not hear it' even when you took them out and replicated it with them sat in the car. They always said they could not replicate it when they had it to themselves, odd that.
• It shared most of it's construction with the SLK of the same era (Gen 1). Have a look at one of those and the interiors are quite nasty and plastic-ey. Chrysler used cheaper plastics and harder materials so it just looked and felt worse.
• Interior fit of everything was very poor, very rattly.
• Radio looked like one out of a 1984 Cavalier
• most of the interior trim on mine was silver hard plastic which scratched up in no time.
• Both cats went on mine within 1,000 miles of each other on a 24,000 mile car (very common fault), which required the full exhaust system to be replaced unless you went with after market weld in variety, which at the time I didn't. a very pricey job to fix
• Very, very uncomfortable and very sweaty seats that were made of what was supposed to be leather but looked and felt more like plastic. Mine were in a fetching murky green colour (if you wanted the gunmetal grey one, which I did).
• Worthless boot space.
• Clarkson said they looked like a dog bending over for a poo so consequently every bloke between the age of 15 and 45 also said the same to you and found it hilarious (oh how we laughed!)
• Doors are about 50,000 miles long so you can't park in most places
• Bonnet is about 100,000 miles long and with the roof being so low you can't get up high enough to see over it.
• Sounded like a far slower car, accelerated like a far slower car
• Other than that it was great..... you should get one!! (DON'T!!) 

[baxlin]

Thanks for the reply, Dan, but I wish you'd answered  the question, rather than just beat around the bush......

[dutchie01]

Dan, be fair to Chrysler please. It is an achievement in itself to build a car that totally fails on all fronts.

Not easy to achieve it is an engineering accomplishment in itself!

Did the americans ever build a car that could compete with the standard in the automobile industry?

Why oh why do they still use regenerated coca cola bottles for the interior, why are the gap panels so flexible that sometimes you can literally stick your fingers in it? Why are there no engineering accomplishments no technical innovations apart from Tesla?   

Anyway, i still think it is not a simple task to build a car that is engineered so badly as the Crossfire, hats off!

[nickd]

Now have an 06 LS430.  88 onwards Talbot Sunbeam, Mk 1 Fiesta, VW Golf MK2, Ford Fiesta XR2, VW Campervan, VW Golf Clipper Convertible, BMW 325i Sport, Alfa 164 TS, another 325i Sport, another Alfa 164 TS, Alfa 164 24v Q.V., Merc SL 129 280,  Alfa 166 TS, Alfa Face Lift 166 ti,  Ford Mondeo, Alfa 166 TS, Audi A4 3.0 Sport Convertible, Lexus IS 2.0 Sportcross, Merc E Class Estate, Renault Avantime 2.0, Renault Grand Espace.  Also have a little MX5.

best car was the Alfa Q.V.

[NothernDan]

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

Dan, be fair to Chrysler please. It is an achievement in itself to build a car that totally fails on all fronts.

Not easy to achieve it is an engineering accomplishment in itself!

Did the americans ever build a car that could compete with the standard in the automobile industry?

Why oh why do they still use regenerated coca cola bottles for the interior, why are the gap panels so flexible that sometimes you can literally stick your fingers in it? Why are there no engineering accomplishments no technical innovations apart from Tesla?   

Anyway, i still think it is not a simple task to build a car that is engineered so badly as the Crossfire, hats off!

I must concede, it did have a good........... errrrrr.......... ummmmmmmm.............. no, on second thoughts it didn’t!

[NothernDan]

Hard to conceive a worse car than a gen1 SLK but it seems everyone else except Chrysler just wasn’t trying hard enough.

Just had a quick look on welovecrossfires.com out of curiosity but the page hasn’t been opened for so long it’s rusted shut!