Hi guys. Long time no see. Last time I posted something here was because I had some weird screeching noise coming from the right side of my car. The noise is long gone, I suspect it was due to my new Mintex discs which were possibly rubbing on the back plate. I kind of ignored it because three garages including Lexus in Leicester didn't know what it was. The noise just seized to exist after a month of driving.
So my review is as follows. I've had the car since April 2014 and already covered 9k miles in it. The IS200 build quality is amazing; there are no faults with the car and it drives like new - touch wood. The car feels very premium, mind you my 2005 SE model has all the extras installed: 6 speed manual transmission, satnav, sunroof, leather heated seats, all electric (even the boot), limited edition gun metal grey rims, etc. The car doesn't eat any oil which is good, however because it is quite heavy and has 6 cylinders it eats quite a lot of petrol, then again if you're worried about fuel then this isn't a car for you - and c'mon, the engine note is music to my ears. I do feel that it's underpowered as 157bhp isn't enough for me to overtake someone without having to panic all the time. I think that it could have been perfect without an extra cylinder, with higher gear ratios on the manual gearbox and at least 200 horses onboard. Its traction control is beyond amazing, it thinks for you and corrects you very well. I have reached its highest speeds... Will not mention what speed but it was very-very close to the end, and it didn't feel scary at all, the car felt very solid on the road with the premium Pirelli tires.
Now the sad part. My Lex has been damaged by idiots (as seen in pics) who shouldn't be allowed to drive on the roads. It is so bad that I had to buy a dash cam so that I could catch the b*****ds who hit and run - this happened several times; it's disgusting to come back to your car and see the damage on it which was anything from leaving a dint in the supermarket, to driving off and scraping my bumper real nicely. Another sad news is that I will need to downgrade myself to a small car as my wife needs to learn how to drive and we'll be buying her a car and myself one; this means saying goodbye to my IS200 as I can't afford to keep three cars in the family. I will be very sad saying goodbye, as the car was amazing and I am not sure how I'll cope with something of less luxury. One negative thing to note is that the IS200 is very hard to sell. People want to pay you below its market value and everyone seems to be afraid of petrol.