lexus owners - what did we drive before?

[Joe 300h]

Great thread  ..1st was mini old p reg.

                                        Morris marina 

                    Rover think it was 318 

                                  Corsa

                                    focus

                                   saab 93 

                                Lexus 300h fsport 

[Sparkyx]

Before my IS200 I had;

Vauxhall Corsa B SXi 1.2L

Vauxhall Cora B SRi 1.4L

Vauxhall Corsa B GSi 1.6L

Vauxhall Corsa B Merit 1.2L

Honda Civic EP3 Type R

Citroen DS3

Vauxhall Astra H CDTi 1.8

Audi A3 2.0 TDi

Seat Leon Cupra 1.8 20v turbo

Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

[CharlieR.UK]

Why is it I can remember every car I have ever owned in chronological order and yet I cant remember what I had for dinner last night !!

Here we go Triumph 1300, MK3 Cortina GXL, Vauhall VX490, (What a rust bucket that was) Mk3 Cortina GT, Mk4 Cortina x 2, Rover 213, Sierra Sapphire, Cavalier, Celica, Escort van, Granada, Mondeo diesel (my one and only excursion into the devil's fuel, never again) Mondeo (with proper fuel) another Mondeo, SAAB 93. MGTF, Mercedes 350 SLK, Porsche Boxster S, Mondeo Titanium X Sport and now my new toy the Lexus.

 

As you can see there has been a bit of brand loyalty going over the years with the blue badge boys, have to say though have never had a bad one.

A quick pic below of my first true love complete with side pipes, louvered rear window, whiplash aerials, front and rear spoilers, ok it was the seventies and I was very young !!

[C Mclean]

Probably the same daft reason that I can remember that "E3134" was the number for high lift cam shafts for 60's and 70's Truimph motorbikes

[PCM]

Love that Cortina!

 

[CharlieR.UK]

Her name was Griselda, she had beige vinyl seats which roasted your rear end on a hot summers day. I did love her though

[Spacewagon52]

That Cortina was my dream car in 1974! Never did own another Ford after my MkII Cortina. How we have all matured!

 

 

[C Andrew Green]

My motoring bio:

1972 a 10 year old Ford Anglia 107E, too rusty to pass the next years MOT 

Some time with company vehicles and then bikes....

In 1978 a 1962 Fiat 131, Peculiar unreliable thing, suicide doors (front and rear doors both hinged on the B pillar), column shift, umbrella handle handbrake, hand throttle (like a choke knob, remember those? that you could pull out, like cruise control but more dangerous!) Bought it for a tenner as it was stuck in someones garage with the brakes rusted on (unused for several years, before the days of SORN). Had an aluminium cylinder head, I must have changed the head gasket half a dozen times at least including welding cracks and skimming it.

Hilman Imp, pocket sized awful handling rear engined thing (bought it off a workmate for a tenner after his daughter abandoned it in a layby near me with a blown clutch, caused by a dragging rear brake) Replaced clutch (they were a weedy little clutch), fixed draggy brakes, cheap motoring for a couple of years.

Ford Anglia Estate, a heap, for ~£30 from the same mate, he was fed up with only being able to put a gallon of fuel in it at a time due to a rust hole in the tank! Drained & removed tank & drilled hole out, fit brass screw and sealant, ran it for a while and sold it on.

100K Mile Cortina 1600 GXL Mk3 Maroon / Black Vinyl roof. Mechanically reliable but had a welded tubular 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust manifold (no idea if it was standard) that was forever burning through the outside of the bends.

Toyota 2WD Hilux Pickup, for no other reason than to get the pickup thing out of my system.

Daihatsu Charade (998cc 3 cylinder) Modern handling pocket rocket! Needed a service every 3K / 4K miles to mantain performance (coil and points ignition).

Nearly new 1989 8V Astra GTE, Good for 124 MPH! Ask me how I know, although I couldn't even get into 3 figures round Mallory Park. Acquired first speeding points  (only 3 mind) Slowed down a bit after that.............

1.6LCavalier

1.8 Vectra, eventually died of a seized camshaft, beyond economical repair.

1992 Maxda 626, Never let me down, 180,000 miles of trouble free motoring, just routine stuff, Didn't quite make 1/4 million miles due rust, scrapped it this year @ 243,000 miles.

Now: '57 plate Lexus IS250 for luxury commuting.............

Andrew

[Spacewagon52]

16 minutes ago, C Andrew Green said:

My motoring bio:

1972 a 10 year old Ford Anglia 107E, too rusty to pass the next years MOT 

Some time with company vehicles and then bikes....

In 1978 a 1962 Fiat 131, Peculiar unreliable thing, suicide doors (front and rear doors both hinged on the B pillar), column shift, umbrella handle handbrake, hand throttle (like a choke knob, remember those? that you could pull out, like cruise control but more dangerous!) Bought it for a tenner as it was stuck in someones garage with the brakes rusted on (unused for several years, before the days of SORN). Had an aluminium cylinder head, I must have changed the head gasket half a dozen times at least including welding cracks and skimming it.

Hilman Imp, pocket sized awful handling rear engined thing (bought it off a workmate for a tenner after his daughter abandoned it in a layby near me with a blown clutch, caused by a dragging rear brake) Replaced clutch (they were a weedy little clutch), fixed draggy brakes, cheap motoring for a couple of years.

Ford Anglia Estate, a heap, for ~£30 from the same mate, he was fed up with only being able to put a gallon of fuel in it at a time due to a rust hole in the tank! Drained & removed tank & drilled hole out, fit brass screw and sealant, ran it for a while and sold it on.

100K Mile Cortina 1600 GXL Mk3 Maroon / Black Vinyl roof. Mechanically reliable but had a welded tubular 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust manifold (no idea if it was standard) that was forever burning through the outside of the bends.

Toyota 2WD Hilux Pickup, for no other reason than to get the pickup thing out of my system.

Daihatsu Charade (998cc 3 cylinder) Modern handling pocket rocket! Needed a service every 3K / 4K miles to mantain performance (coil and points ignition).

Nearly new 1989 8V Astra GTE, Good for 124 MPH! Ask me how I know, although I couldn't even get into 3 figures round Mallory Park. Acquired first speeding points  (only 3 mind) Slowed down a bit after that.............

1.6LCavalier

1.8 Vectra, eventually died of a seized camshaft, beyond economical repair.

1992 Maxda 626, Never let me down, 180,000 miles of trouble free motoring, just routine stuff, Didn't quite make 1/4 million miles due rust, scrapped it this year @ 243,000 miles.

Now: '57 plate Lexus IS250 for luxury commuting.............

Andrew

A great write-up! I have shared some of those cars and agree with your comments. I find it interesting that very few Japanese cars, people have owned, are given a bad write-up. My old Toyota Carina (1974) in the end only died of rust - which was very common in the 1970's. The engine was still strong with 130,000 ona 1.6.

 

[ikeja]

My previous car was a SAAB 9-3 Aero 1.9 TTiD. Absolutely loved it. Only changed as Saabs not made any more. Lexus IS 300H is good, but still miss my Saab

[C Andrew Green]

10 minutes ago, Spacewagon52 said:

A great write-up! I have shared some of those cars and agree with your comments. I find it interesting that very few Japanese cars, people have owned, are given a bad write-up. My old Toyota Carina (1974) in the end only died of rust - which was very common in the 1970's. The engine was still strong with 130,000 ona 1.6.

 

Thanks, I was trying to keep it short and sweet, but kept thinking of more stuff.......

I loved my little Daihatsu, but the Astra came along at the right price and the Daiahtsu was rusting out the bottoms of the doors.

I think my Mazda 626 was actually completely worn out as the (original ) clutch released very high up and wasn't long for this world, needed a rear caliper (seized), it also had a few really noisy tappets when hot (surprisingly for a 2L 16V car it didn't have an oil cooler) I would guess the seals were worn in the hydraulic lifters and the expense of pulling the camshafts to do them would have been uneconomical. It was mainly the ~£350 to repair the rust at the sill / rear wheel arch junction that made it terminal.

Andrew

[dougie175]

The standard of my car history was very up and down depending upon financial situation such as buying houses and getting married and such but it went roughly something like this: On a side note none of the others are even in the same league as the IS a good few of them were faster as all were turned and modified along the way but the IS beats them all on every other level

Fiesta, Corsa, Civic coupe, Mitsu Colt, Integra Type-R, A3, Civic coupe, 306, Impreza, C2, Civic, 206, Civic and finally IS250 

Only car I miss was the Import Integra Type-R, getting to enjoy that car at 19 was something else, fantastic drivers car

[C Andrew Green]

1 hour ago, C Andrew Green said:

My motoring bio:

1972 a 10 year old Ford Anglia 107E, too rusty to pass the next years MOT 

Some time with company vehicles and then bikes....

In 1978 a 1962 Fiat 131, Peculiar unreliable thing, suicide doors (front and rear doors both hinged on the B pillar), column shift, umbrella handle handbrake, hand throttle (like a choke knob, remember those? that you could pull out, like cruise control but more dangerous!) Bought it for a tenner as it was stuck in someones garage with the brakes rusted on (unused for several years, before the days of SORN). Had an aluminium cylinder head, I must have changed the head gasket half a dozen times at least including welding cracks and skimming it.

Hilman Imp, pocket sized awful handling rear engined thing (bought it off a workmate for a tenner after his daughter abandoned it in a layby near me with a blown clutch, caused by a dragging rear brake) Replaced clutch (they were a weedy little clutch), fixed draggy brakes, cheap motoring for a couple of years.

Ford Anglia Estate, a heap, for ~£30 from the same mate, he was fed up with only being able to put a gallon of fuel in it at a time due to a rust hole in the tank! Drained & removed tank & drilled hole out, fit brass screw and sealant, ran it for a while and sold it on.

100K Mile Cortina 1600 GXL Mk3 Maroon / Black Vinyl roof. Mechanically reliable but had a welded tubular 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust manifold (no idea if it was standard) that was forever burning through the outside of the bends.

Toyota 2WD Hilux Pickup, for no other reason than to get the pickup thing out of my system.

Daihatsu Charade (998cc 3 cylinder) Modern handling pocket rocket! Needed a service every 3K / 4K miles to mantain performance (coil and points ignition).

Nearly new 1989 8V Astra GTE, Good for 124 MPH! Ask me how I know, although I couldn't even get into 3 figures round Mallory Park. Acquired first speeding points  (only 3 mind) Slowed down a bit after that.............

1.6LCavalier

1.8 Vectra, eventually died of a seized camshaft, beyond economical repair.

1992 Maxda 626, Never let me down, 180,000 miles of trouble free motoring, just routine stuff, Didn't quite make 1/4 million miles due rust, scrapped it this year @ 243,000 miles.

Now: '57 plate Lexus IS250 for luxury commuting.............

Andrew

I forgot to mention that i'm currently ragging this '97 Toyota Yaris round Bangkok for a couple of weeks while the IS is safely tucked away in it's garage in the UK. A Lexus would be nice but a small car is easier in Bangkok traffic! I'm missing the 6 speed and semi automatic gearbox mode of the IS (the Yaris is only a 4 speed auto with low, 2nd & 3rd hold)

Andrew

[B1001]

2000 Audi A4 2.4 SE

2006 Audi A4 S-Line Cabriolet

2007 Audi Q7

2006 BMW 7 Series

2009 Audi A5 S-Line Cabriolet

2011 Audi Q5 S-Line

2010 Audi A8

2013 Audi A5 Sportback S-Line

2015 Audi A4 Black Edition

Got married / had kids - decided to buy a car to keep a long time:

2014 Lexus IS250 F Sport

The rest is history. Plan on keeping as long as humanly possible then will get a GS and do the same and then an LS when I'm an old git :)

[AdeIS200]

Pfft, I've lost count how many cars I've been through over 20 years, easily into the hundreds! I tend to get bored very easily.

Past ones include Fiestas, numerous Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, Sierra's, Mini 1275GT, MG Maestro Turbo, numerous Escort XR3's and XR3i's, RS Turbo's, Capri 280 Brooklands, Mondeo ST220, Focus ST, Subaru Impreza STi, and currently a Mk1 Skoda Octavia VRS that's soon for the chop to make way for a Gen1 IS200.

[gareth1902]

Vauxhall Nova

Rover 414

Vauxhall Carlton

Austin Montego

Ford Escort

Peugeot 206

Nissan Almera

Lexus IS200

Nissan Primera

Lexus IS250

Lexus GS450h Mk3

Lexus Ct200h

Lexus GS450h Mk4

[peachy]

Currently own a lexus is250 and it's by far the best car I've ever owned and probably the best I ever will. It's one of lexus's finest. 

Previous cars.

Is220d 

Bmw 328i  ( now my wifes)

Vauxhall astra 2.2 sri

Bmw 320d

Bmw 323i

Ford Sierra sapphire cosworth 4×4

Ford Sierra xr4i

Ford escort RS 2000

Ford fiesta XR2I 

Vauxhall nova gsi

Vauxhall astra gsi

Triumph dolomite sprint. 

 

[Gearoidmuar]

Ford Escort Mark One.
Polski Fiat (I was broke)
Toyota Corolla.
Toyota Carina II

Toyota Carina E
Toyota Carina E
Suzuki Grand Vitara
Suzuki Swift
Peugeot 406 Diesel
Honda Accord Diesel
New Suzuki Swift
Citroen Cacus
Lexus 1S300h.

 

[200h]

from when i learnt to drive i've had since 1985

6 x mini's

2 x metro's

1 x mg metro turbo

1 x mk3 escort

1 x mk4 escort

2 x maestro's

1 x maxda 323

2 x rover 416

1 x rover 600

1 x rover 75

1 x mgzr

2 x mercedes A class

1 x Lexus CT

1 x Lexus Is300h (current car)

 

[PaulWhitt20]

Similar story,

 

Passed my test in my mums fiesta, then had that for a few years, passed it on to the wife.

 

Escort 1.4 LX

Rover 214 SLI

Civic Aerodeck 1.5

Accord 5 door

Stream (Honda mpv) 2.0 auto

Accord tourer 2.4 auto

CT advance

Current car IS300h advance

 

I sort of miss the CT in a funny sort of way but think the IS is much more like the Accord. I think I should have bought the IS instead of the CT but being the first saloon and rear wheel drive car and not a Honda it was a step to far. I went into the Lexus dealer to test a CT if the salesman had tried to sell me an IS I would probably have thought he was too pushy.

 

What next? Some sort of electric car probably in a few years time.

 

 

[Shahpor]

Like most on here, I have had a bunch of cars.  Unfortunately, I don't have photos of all of them, but I have some, so in no particular order:

Mercedes 190E 2.0 Auto - 220,000 miles on it when I bought it for £450, and mostly reliable.

Mint 520i SE Auto.  Again, very nice, if a little on the slow side.

S14 200SX. Already posted about this one on here before.  Fast and fun, but not very practical.

Pretty standard 316i.  Cheap run around for a while.

BMW 518.  Bought off eBay for £120 and a great car.  I am surprised by how much I miss this one.

One of my favourites.  Unfortunately, back then digital photography wasn't very good. Alfa 156 2.5 V6 with a supercharger fitted, bodykit, uprated suspension, brakes and wheels.  What a noise it used to make.  What I didn't like was the 15mpg and £2500 insurance cost.

This one actually had a bit of a makeover:

And to end with some porn:

 

In addition to this, I have had:

Vauxhall Carlton

Saab 900

BMW E21 323i

BMW E30 320i

BMW E30 316

Lexus IS200

[Chris111]

1. Austin Allegro 1100 deluxe (don't laugh!). The deluxe bit meant it had a carpet not rubber mats. Bought new by my father on 1st August 1979 he passed it on to me in 1987, when I passed my driving test, with 157,000 on the clock. I took it to 164,000 but by this time it was consuming more oil than petrol as well as constantly burning out engine valves. Above 40mph I couldn't see what was behind me.

2. Mk3 Ford Capri 1.6 GL. The Capri was my dream car when I was a teenager (probably something to do with 'the professionals' on television). Unfortunately because of this and being very young and naive I let my heart overrule my head and bought a shed of a car. It came to its demise when I hit a telegraph pole after skidding on black ice on back roads where I grew up in rural north Wales.

3. Mk3 Ford Escort 1.6 L. A quite unremarkable car.

4. MK2 Volkswagen Golf GTi 8v. A brilliant car a possibly the best one I have owned (apart, obviously, from my 450h!). In the mid nineties a friend of mine had just bought a new Mk3 GTi and at the time he wrote some articles for one of the Volkswagen magazines. This magazine had a quarterly spin off called 'GTi special' and he wrote a piece outlining the history of the GTi. Myself and my car were used for the photograph's for the piece on the Mk2. I did well over 100,000 trouble free miles in this car before passing it onto my wife, who promptly traded it in, without telling me, for a Nissan Almera!

5. Volvo 460 GLE. After my father passed away my mother gave me his car. I didn't like it at all so I got rid of it quickly.

6. Rover 620 SLi. A very underrated car as it was basically a Rover body and Honda everything else.  Again I did over 100,000 trouble free miles in this car.

7. Seat Toledo SE TDi 110. Another very good car but I didn't have it long before I passed it to my wife who had just started a new job which involved a lot of traveling. When she traded it in a few years later it had covered 197,000.

8. Jaguar XJ-S 3.6 manual. The most comfortable car I have been in. It had an interesting history too. It was built in 1983 but was not registered for the road until 1986 as it was used by Jaguar's SVE department as a test car. When it was road registered it had been fitted with the updates that were put on the 1987 model year cars. In the documentation I had with it there was a letter from the supplying dealer to the first 'owner' stating this and also informing him that the car had also been used by Martin Brundle as his 'company car' at the time he was racing sportscars for Jaguar. I sold it because it was costing a small fortune to keep running and was also dissolving away!

9. MGF. The worst car I have ever owned, sat in or driven. A truly horrible car.

10. BMW 325 Ci. Not a bad car but tiring to drive as it pulled 3250 rpm in 5th gear at 70mph, so not a relaxing cruiser.

11. Lexus GS 450h which I have had for 6 years now and when I next change I am 99.9% certain it will be another Lexus. 

[C Mclean]

Ducati 160cc, Truimph 350cc, Ford Corsair,  Austin 1100, Hillman Imp, Mk 1 Cortina, Mk 2 Cortina, Fiat 131, Mk 4 Ford Cortina, Datsun Sunny, Vauxhall Corsa, Shed loads of Toyota Landcruisers, pick ups minibuses and 4runners while at work. Jeep Liberty Toyota Auris, Lexus IS300h and now an NX300h

[200h]

14 hours ago, 200h said:

from when i learnt to drive i've had since 1985

6 x mini's

2 x metro's

1 x mg metro turbo

1 x mk3 escort

1 x mk4 escort

2 x maestro's

1 x maxda 323

2 x rover 416

1 x rover 600

1 x rover 75

1 x mgzr

2 x mercedes A class

1 x Lexus CT

1 x Lexus Is300h (current car)

 

i also had a 1.6L Mk3 capri for my 18th birthday

[Guest]

Like a few people on here i started driving in 1981 and have had numerous cars over the years including about 10 motorbikes and scooters of which i still own a mint Gilera 180 FXR which i still ride every week.

My first car was a mini but some of the better ones were;

Granada Ghia MK 1,Datsun 140j fastback,Renault 21 Turbo(fab car back in 1988)a mint vauxhall VX490,cortina mk3 and 4,opal manta sr,ford capri mk2,vw Golf gls,Bmw 5 and 3 series,Land rover discovery 3,Freelander 2.Some recent year cabs have included BMW Z 3 2.8,AUDI A4 2.5TDI,PORSCHE BOXSTER 3.2S AND CURRENTLY SLK 200.There have been many more including some awful ones.

Lexus wise we have owned RX300 SE-L,NX 300H and are RX450H.

A few pics i found.