My New Is200 Se

[Abz lex us know]

My new Is 200SE has landed. T'is a Nice shiney newish one , 2004 to be exact.

IS200 SE : Antimony : Exmoor leather and suede, :17" alloys (at The Mo) Unfortunatelty no Sat Nav as i cant be asked to use to Nav Man just yet.

Its an automatic one and to be frank i DONT like it. I'm used to my 2001 spec IS 200 manual. I feel like i dont have any control over gears and cant knock down effectively enough when i want to. i do like the cruise feature as i have just come down the A38 from Lichfield to Birmingham.

What shall i do?

Go back to manual or grin and bear it for a while longer to see if i could get used to it.

I have noticed that i am starting to reach to change gears but hey , Its an auto , Da*n.

Fellow LOC'ers please advise

ABZ

[Bazza]

will probably take time to get used to it

if not you could allways chop your left leg and arm off :winky:

[Gord]

Dont know why you got one in the 1st place

[Steve ( West Mids )]

If you have only just got it you are going to have to grin and bear it or take a big hit in the pocket. Only alternative is to go back to your garage ( it was Lexus wasn't it ) and tell them your concerns and see if they will do a swap. Some garages agree to this within the first 30 days, not sure if Lexus do.

[Monster-Mat]

Got any pics, never heard of that colour, and i know someone who is after an Auto...Cash waiting

[GlynnB]

There is nothing to stop you changing gear is there?

I often slip my RX into manual mode.

Never understood this "no control of the car argument" but heard it often - always from people who are not used to auto's.

My experience is that anyone who uses auto's would't go back to a manual.

[Rodders_UK]

Go for a drive in London - wouldn't be without my auto box in traffic - in fact wouldn't be without it at all - I have just as much control as as manual - just gotta get used to how it works.

[SHAHZ]

Go for a drive in London - wouldn't be without my auto box in traffic - in fact wouldn't be without it at all - I have just as much control as as manual - just gotta get used to how it works.

←

I totally agree, wouldnt be without it, especially in London :D, just got to get used to it Abz, i do the same thing sometimes when i get in to a manual.....dont change gear

[Kremmen]

I also would not go back to a manual.

They often give me a manual pool car and I HATE them - especially in London as has already been mentioned. Trying to crawl in traffic up a slight incline is murder whereas in my auto I just lift my foot off the brake.

However, some peeps prefer their manuals and I respect that.

[MrADeveci]

Show us some pics then Abz ................. :P

[1sTee]

Did you not test drive it first??

Someone I know begged me to buy their is200 auto when they knew I was in the market for one.

Drove it once and I stand by what I've always said.

"I don't do autos and never will!"

But thats just me. :P

[squarehead]

The manual is also faster - that was enough for me!

Oh, and I don't live in London

[Claire G]

I think autos in a smaller car feels a bit weird at first. However, since getting my GS, I doubt I'll go back to a manual - takes a bit of getting used to, but I love it now.

[Curran]

this is the euro auto I have driven and I have to admit I am not sure I like it and its for the following reasons.

Forget the acceleration side of things as it doesn't seem to be much different but the big thing for me is the braking side.

Becuase in normal " D" mode there appears to be no engine breaking at all so its all on the brakes I tend to have two concerns.

One the wear rate of the front discs and pads will be higher I now tend to nurse the car eg maker sure I am not applying the brakes heavily and don't "hustle" the car as much as I do with a manual.

The second is from an eye openning experience I had in the US regards auto cars. I was sent to work in Denver and over a weekend had some time off, got in the hire car and went up "Pikes peak" which is a 14000 ft mountain with a road up the side to the top. Going up was not a problem but on the way down I was aware of the lack of engine braking and used one of the lower auto box settings to get the engine involved in slowing me down.

Roughly half way down there is a ranger station or the like and there was a guy using an infra red temp gauge to examine the brakes temperatures and if they were over a certain temperature would ask you to pull over and wait till they had cooled eg go get a coke and drink it then carry on.

As soon as I spoke to him he said something to the effect "oh your used to driving using engine braking I won't have to test your brakes"

I was not quite sure what he was on about so I asked him and he basically said that peopole who drive auto cars get so used to driving in "D" only and using the brakes on roads where heavy brake usage is required it is possible to heat up the disc's and calipers so much that you can get the brake fluid to boil and in effect lose the vast majority of your braking force.

These are the only concerns I have about an auto box and I have to admit I am more worried about the brake wear than the temperature issue.

Just compare an auto car and manuel car and look at the size of the brake system certainly on the IS200 it seems much more substaintal than other cars of the same size and as such I cringe at the though of having to replace them due to wear