New Members Introduce Yourself Here!

spikes · March 28, 2006

Hi charles and neil , welcome loc :D

acro · March 29, 2006

hello there just joined the forum altezza rs200 is my ride looking for ways to mod my car the na route

Rasputin · March 31, 2006

Hi all,

My wife is the proud owner of a secondhand 2003MY RX300 (new model), with absolutely all the options available (plus some accessories). We've had it for more than 2 weeks now and it really is the quiet rolling lounge we were expecting. Coming from a TDi Audi, mind you.

It also came with a few issues that should be solved under warranty by Lexus :

- dasbboard creaks (actually 2 sorts of noises, both already described on this forum)

- the power tailgate is dead now, after only one day playing with it...

Our other car (actually mine) is a Standard Power Mazda RX8.

But I enjoy driving the RX300 (in a relaxed way, at legal speeds, for the first time in my life). I was surprised by the fast response of the Auto'box, the pace you can achieve when you press on and the amazingly sporty engine note at kickdown.

I'm located in Belgium. I registered on the UK site because the Euro site seems to be a German language forum.

By the way, does anyone has TSB references for the dashboard noise issues?

Cheers,

Fabrice

Robin H · April 1, 2006

welcome peeps

phil1954 · April 1, 2006

Hi my name is phil i bought my is200 last August i really enjoy driving it, i'm 51 years old and live in Folkestone in Kent

bigjud · April 4, 2006

hi all

just become the proud owner of a UK spec '93 GS300 Auto, been after one for a long time.

bought it at salvage auction for a song, needed o/s headlight and bonnet (which i bought from work).

any advise on being a lexus owner would be welcome.

looking forward to many a happy mile.

cheers

jud

Rickenbacker · April 4, 2006

Hi and welcome to the Lexus Owners' Club!
Please introduce yourself here and tell us about you and your pride and joy!

Any questions please feel free to PM me or a moderator.

:) :)

Hi, I joined as a Gold member and posted this in the Gold Forum yesterday. It's a long one!

I have just joined following my purchase of an IS200 SE Automatic. 'She who must be obeyed' insisted on an automatic.

I have owned a Mercedes 300CE since 2000 and since August last year, I have been obliged to make my daily 28 mile commute in it. Not the wisest choice of vehicle for such a function. It has been costing me approximately £30 a week in petrol, not to mention the insurance cost!

Bearing in mind that about 90% of that commute is an 'A' road and against the rush hour flow, I have been hurting in the wallet.

So how did I decide on a Lexus? Well I gave in to Lexus' incessant mailings urging me to test drive the new IS220d SEL and three weeks ago I found out what I've been missing. I turned up at Lexus in Bromley with my wife and I was knocked out by the level of spec.

I couldn't possibly afford a new one, but I liked the marque and started looking at the IS200 range. Before long, I explained to my wife that I couldn't continue to haemorrhage money commuting in the Benz and that it was time to put this right.

My wife had two stipulations: it had to be Platinum Ice and it had to be automatic. So the search began. My rules were that it had to be an SE or SE Navigator.

I started with Auto Trader and then paid for a Parker's Guide to the car. Best two quid I've spent in a while and typed 'Lexus Owners Club' into Google. Another stroke of genius!

I found a privately owned example in Bromley and went to take a look. I had done my homework and the vendor confessed that I had actually 'educated' him about Lexus!! His car was a 2001 model with 85k on the clock. he had recently had th 80k service. However... both sides of his front bumper were badly scuffed and his alloys were shocking. Pitted and corroded. U-G-L-Y! He wanted approximately £7,200. Hmmm... dunno about that, I thought. The alloys would have cost me upwards of £250 plus to sort out, even without tackling the bumper issue.

Anyway, long story short, I did an AA Datacheck on the vehicle and found that the vendor still had finance on it and was insisting that I pay him cash. Suffice to say, any further conversation with him ended there and then.

Found another one. 2002 in Barnet. Looked very nice. Being sold by a 'sole' trader. He said 69k on the clock, AA Datacheck said, 'try 103k recorded in 2003'!!

Oh look! A 2001 Navigator in North London! Looks nice. Brief 'phone conversation with yet another 'sole' trader. Before wasting a journey, I turned to my friends at the AA. The car had been written off in January 2003.

All of this happened last Friday. I had spent £105 and still had no car

Then I found... THE ONE!

Just off the North Circular; a 1999 model regularly serviced at Lexus Woodford. It was also purchased pre-owned from Lexus Woodford. Full Lexus service history; ownership details; MOTs; bills.

I rang the vendor. Met him at 7.30 that evening in the rain and dark. He took me for a drive, we agreed a price and I paid him. In cash. I didn't even bother with an AA Datacheck. As the chap handed me the keys, I swear he was almost in tears.

Why was he selling? Two weeks after he bought the car, his missus announced that she was, 'with child'. He held out as long as he could, but eventually, he had to let go. I know how he felt. I had to sell my spotless Triumph Stag when I got married.

Observations about the car:

My wife and daughters (17 and 13) love it! The spec is spectacular! I love all the gadgets, especially the folding mirrors and the automatic headlights feature that automatically turn the lights on if its dark outside. The stereo (fingers crossed) is blinding.

After wallowing in the Benz all this time, it was a nice surprise to not have to use a steering wheel the size of a lorry's and to feel like I am driving on rails. I found the throttle ultra sensitive and found I was throwing everyone back in their seats every time I pulled away

I find the IS a little 'gutless' between say 15mph and 30mph, but after that, it kicks *****! To over come the problem I sometimes pull away in 3 and then slide it to D. No problemo.

I'm still getting used to the intrusion of the exhaust 'burble', but it's all good

So, apologies for the long post, but I was just so excited about my IS, I just had to share.

Just gotta find a good home for the Benz now.

Btw, I am saving approximately £20 a month on insurance and I am certain I will save a hell of a lot on fuel too. I am not a boy racer

Do Gold members get good insurance deals?

Thanks for reading. Great website!!

Ciao for now. I can't stop opening the curtains and peering at it!!

johnEDWARDS · April 4, 2006

Hi and welcome to the Lexus Owners' Club!
Please introduce yourself here and tell us about you and your pride and joy!

Any questions please feel free to PM me or a moderator.

:) :)

hi i have owned a IS200 for 17months what a pleasure to drive. until it went for a small dent repair on the front wing at kc autos of winsford. now what a nightmare NEW ECU REQUIRED OUCH £1229 see my post on new members area

Steve · April 5, 2006

welcome dudes!!!

PCD · April 6, 2006

Hi

I'm Paul (head of family, well at least like to think so) from Huntingdon (where's that!). I gotta GS300 sport (97), very happy with it but got some issues I want to raise with some more knowledgable geezers (or Dames, I aint sexist).

Car came without user instruction book, my fault forgot to check, can anyone advise me where to access one or copy, think I've work out most of the buttons but would like to reinforce with facts.

Car came without remote locking fob, is this because it has'nt this facillity or I was'nt knowledgable enough to know it should? If it should can I obtain another?

But main issue, got good reduction on car because audio was not working, fella that sold it to me promised it had been working (good bloke and I believe him) but slowly deteriorated over a week and had been told the main power on/volume button needed changing. Now this does not pan out to me, the button turns on the unit, the LCD works, it switches through the different inputs plays the tape/CD but it dont make no noise! Great to advertise the purity of engineering in its silence but crap for drowing out the verbals of the junior members of the posee. Can anyone advise me (save slaughtering the youngsters) where to start tinkering. As an after thought I know previous fella had the Battery changed, would this be the root of my problems?

Look forward to hearing from you all Paul

ps I'm a Estates technician at a NHS Trust, if any one needs advice on building electro/mechanical issues feel free to ask. (I tap your knowledge you tap mine)

Snork2004 · April 6, 2006

Eyup,

Another Steve here. Just replaced my long suffering series I GS300 with a shiny series II Navigator. Taking a break from learning what the differences are (manuals are for girls) and now i'm trying to figure out how all the LOC web site features work. An interesting distraction.

Cool things I found today - the change tray... a lttle button and a spring-loaded whoosh rather than the slider that was in the old s1. Love It.

The Sat Nav - learns your preferred route and stops giving you the heavy traffic way round. Bonzer.

Have a few q's for you guys in good time - my "new" late 2000 model doesn't have a Navigator manual and my amatuerish sleuthing isn't paying dividends yet on some of the goodies that I suspect will be hidden behind that georgeous touch screen (gets stroked more often than the wife, I'll tell you that for free!).

soooo, how do these d*** smiley things work then......

boyblueex1929 · April 6, 2006

Hi everyone, I`m Paul from Sheffield. I`ve owned a Is200 Sport Navigator from new for the last couple of years. My retirement present to myself. Apart from one or two niggles with it, it has been there and back to southern Spain twice without a hiccup. It`s the best car I`ve ever had. The dealership in Sheffield have also been excellent. Today it went in for new wheels, due to corrosion and they found the water pump was leaking. No problem, here take this new 220d and we`ll drop your car off at home when its done. That`s service.

Been reading the forums for a long time but decided to join in. Thanks everyone.

Paul

T7RY B · April 6, 2006

Hi Paul and welcome to LOC enjoy!

Warlock · April 10, 2006

Hi Guys n Girls,

Neil here from Bucks - I dont actually own a Lexus yet but with a bit of luck I will do very soon.

I'm trying to find a GS but trawling through the "showroom condition" piles of poo is taking a while :D

so if anyone knows of a nice tidy genuine GS up to £3k somewhere down south please let me know.

Great forum !!!

Cheers All

N

spikes · April 10, 2006

hi neil,welcome to loc and good luck with your search for your GS :)

Rich_Bee · April 11, 2006

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster... :P

Previously I owned (well company owned) IS200 SE, managed 80,000 miles in two years and never had the slightest bit of trouble.

Then made the horrendous choice of going for the Saab 9-3, worse car I've ever had - even worse than some of the scrap items I had as a student.. Pretty much everything has been replaced over the last 3 years including suspension (4 times), turbo (twice), main ECU, Climate control, fuel pump etc etc.

Now coming back into the fold and have been agonisingly waiting for my new 220d which is coming at the beginning of May (ordered Feb, Argento Ice) to tie in with the end of the current lease. I'm almost as excited as when the kids were due but don't tell the wife that B)

Rich

rainady · April 11, 2006

Hello all

Andy from Burton on Trent (Midlands). Collected my 03 IS200 last Saturday after 3 years with a top spec Rover 75. Missing some of the more fancy gadgets on the Rover but boy it the IS so much more fun to drive. The car has to be driven very differently to the Rover as well. Without the revs spinning the IS200 is quite slow. After my first drive back from Derby, I was a bit upset because it seemed no faster than the Rover and such a hard ride (driving a 75 makes you an old man). But chatted to a friend who suggested that I need to use the revs and the gearbox more. Went out for another spin and what a transformation, great fun.

Im slowly getting used to the 6 speed box (keep forgetting that last extra gear) but I really dont like the warning buzzer when getting into reverse. Anybody know how I can disable that buzzer. Cant seem to stop myself pushing the car a little bit harder to find the limits. Sorry, I know it sounds boy racerish but its just so different to the Rover. In all my years driving, I think this is only the third rear wheel drive car an there is so much more power to play with (first car a 1500 Spitfire, and a scatty old 1600 Capri), I cant help myself wanting to play.

Shame its costing me a fortune in petrol though. Hopefully I will get this out of my system soon and try and save some cash.

Anyway, hope to be on here more often now wit lots of questions.

Speak to you all soon

Andy

Noel · April 12, 2006

Welcome all :)

@rainady..... economy or fun... i vote Fun... :D.... and boy does my altezza drink!

mr frosty · April 12, 2006

Hi to all, just thought 'd introduce myself to all you passionate LOC members. My name is Paul from Yorkshire and I've just sold an Alfa 156 to become a proud owner of an IS200 Limited Edition in black, which I'm really chuffed with. Spent the last few days washing, polishing, waxing, cleaning the interior and engine and she now looks mint.

Looking at adding a few extras to the car like styling kit and 18" alloys, in fact I've just ordered a rear spoiler for starters from Chris @ Lexus Hanley, top fella!! Can't wait to start adding other bits and bobs and give the car those personal touches the make it stand-out from the crowd.

Would appreciate members sending me details of good web sites selling Lexus mods / styling as I'm struggling to find many good ones with the exception of Prolex and Lextacy.

Many thanks and looking forward to many posts in the forums.

Paul.

peter026 · April 12, 2006

Welcome one and all :D

mas431 · April 12, 2006

Welcome one and all :D

Hello all I John from Bristol & I am hoping to buy a Tourer MkII V from Japan.

blimft · April 14, 2006

Hi All

New member here, bought IS200SE coulpe weeks ago, hope it was a good buy. I was looking at Merc c200 and BMW 318, but then i saw this IS200 and (more Importantly) heard it, well i guess i was smitten.

just worried about a whirring noise at the back when cruising and the lack of chilled air from the air-con.

cheers for now

SunnySingh · April 14, 2006

Ezee dudes, my names Sunny Singh and I'm from Coventry. Jus purchased a lexus Is200 in black. Love the car espec. the heated seats which are a real asset in Covs cold weather (",)

Am, getting some black 18s on it in about 2 weeks. Gunna slap a induction kit and Kazama zorst from Prolex too to get sum Vroom into the ting! This forum is wicked, jus by reading the members stuff gives you soooo much info. Cheers guys and keep up the good work! Peace Up.