Advice in buying Lexus IS 200

[JaxonWyatt]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about buying a used Lexus IS200 6speed manual from 2000. It looks to be in great condition, has about 180k km, and two spots of rust on the roof. It's sold by a big garage chain that specialize in VW. This means that the car has to be in a certain condition for them to sell, which means that it should be approved for road use for two years. They also deliver with 3 months or 3000km warranty on the car.

Now, I've asked as many questions as I can think of, timing belt, electronic features, some pictures, tires and interior. All with positive feedback. But I'd like some information about common problems with this car.

I can't really go and test drive it, since it's a 21 hours drive each way. His asking price is also a bit out of my range, at about 10k USD, so I'm going to try and bring that down. Btw, this is in Norway, so the pricing may sound somewhat expensive/cheap depending on where you are in the world.

I'm feeling that this is a rather safe buy. I own a Toyota from '98, had it for about a year, rolled 50k km during that time, and I've had no issues what so ever. I've been rather hard with it too. I hope that this Lexus is about the same in terms of reliability as my Toyota, but also have the ability to give me a bit more joy on the road.

It is heavily compared up to the BMW 3-series of that time, and I really hope it lives up to it.

Any help or tip is really appreciated!

[scudney]

Just bear in mind that you are buying a car that is 20 or so years old and as such you more than likely will have certain issues to deal with at some point or the other 

[JaxonWyatt]

On 4/3/2020 at 10:47 AM, JaxonWyatt said:

Hey guys, I'm thinking about buying a used Lexus IS200 6speed manual from 2000. It looks to be in great condition, has about 180k km, and two spots of rust on the roof. It's sold by a big garage chain that specialize in VW. This means that the car has to be in a certain condition for them to sell, which means that it should be approved for road use for two years. They also deliver with 3 months or 3000km warranty on the car.tweakbox appvalley https://vlc.onl/

Now, I've asked as many questions as I can think of, timing belt, electronic features, some pictures, tires and interior. All with positive feedback. But I'd like some information about common problems with this car.

I can't really go and test drive it, since it's a 21 hours drive each way. His asking price is also a bit out of my range, at about 10k USD, so I'm going to try and bring that down. Btw, this is in Norway, so the pricing may sound somewhat expensive/cheap depending on where you are in the world.

I'm feeling that this is a rather safe buy. I own a Toyota from '98, had it for about a year, rolled 50k km during that time, and I've had no issues what so ever. I've been rather hard with it too. I hope that this Lexus is about the same in terms of reliability as my Toyota, but also have the ability to give me a bit more joy on the road.

It is heavily compared up to the BMW 3-series of that time, and I really hope it lives up to it.

Any help or tip is really appreciated!

Just bear in mind that you are buying a car that is 20 or so years old and as such you more than likely will have certain issues to deal with at some point or the other 

 

[lexus22]

So the most important thing is the duel mass flywheel, does the car judder slightly when letting the clutch out? If so then then it's £1000, best to get an automatic.

[ColinBarber]

38 minutes ago, lexus22 said:

So the most important thing is the duel mass flywheel, does the car judder slightly when letting the clutch out? If so then then it's £1000, best to get an automatic.

Not way, the auto on the IS200 isn't great with it only being a 4 speed.

 

Here are some things to look for:

 

[lexus22]

Push the boat out and get an is300 auto