noby76

a 25 bhp gain will not be night and day in terms of performance compared to stock figures to improve the acceleration of your car you can reduce the wheel size from 19's and run 18". these will spin wheels faster than 19's and change your final drive gear ratio to an aggressive one. thing is IS-F has 8 gears so will for sure benefit from such a mod since this will increase acceleration in each and every gear you are in and not specific ones sure top speed will suffer but how many times do you get your car to 170mph??  this guy explains it better. Honda owners mainly do this to compensate for the lack of torque at lower rpm without modding engine/exhaust.

i think the 3.0T version would suit you.. RC is also a nice looker both cars are like no other Coupes on the road more aggressive and sporting looking than the German Coupes 

I will say go for it Paul, one pulled up along side me at the traffic lights a few days ago and its a stunning looking car. 

the looks of the 2018 model will even give Lexus and luxury big 3 sleepless nights.

3.5 V6 for me !! I can live with not having the L badge lol

i say leave the GS with the RWD/AWD platform and bring the Toyota Camry(FWD) back into UK/Europe as customers of these wouldn't mind whats really driving the wheels in terms of if its a FWD, AWD or RWD. offer same specs as they do in US 2.5 Hybrid, 2.5 4 cylinder petrol and 3.5 V6 280 bhp for those who want more power job done.

Thing is drifters, drag fans and heavy vehicle markets don't fall under your everyday average 'Joe driver'  RWD and AWD still have their place in motoring and I am in no way saying they are now obsolete due to advances in technologies is just most people just jump on the notion of saying FWD layout are always at a disadvantage, less traction, cars dont squat under acceleration, horrendous,  less fun etc etc when in reality they can just about do most things RWD and AWD cars have to offer without suffering the consequences of the side effects i mentioned in my previous post under the hands of your daily driver. 

6 hours ago, Upex said:

Front wheel drive sucks on powerful motors, but is easier and cheaper for use in smaller output cars.

I once had a stupid car that had lots of money spent (not by me) making it a beast with pushing 400bhp and front wheel drive. Net result was a waste of previous owners cash and an almost pointless car. Nearly got sides swiped by a lorry 20s into owning it as I tried to cross traffic and it just spun up the front wheels and didn't move far. RWD or awd for anything with over 250bhp I say.

Hopefully the next lexus won't go fwd and lower powers, that's just boring and falling into line with all the others.... 

modern technologies like electronic steering, electronic diffs,on the fly electronically controlled suspension damping not to name a few has made RWD advantages a thing of the past.

as an example the 2017 4 door Honda Civic Type R packs more power and chucks out way more Torque than the current IS and GS models sold in UK minus IS-F and GS-F of course and how many of these two models are sold in abundance in UK or Europe in general? not a lot so Lexus can indeed incorporate FWD layout in conjunction with these new techs into the majority of the saloon models sold which are the none F models and your average joe would not even know it on a day to day driving.

plus sides of FWD :

less weight,

less loss of power to the wheels,

more efficient,

average joe can control car in wet,

average joe can drive car in sleet,

average joe can control car in snow

and still put power down effectively

This FWD 4 door Type R lapped the famous nurburing faster than any RWD and AWD hot hatch in the world, faster than Audi R8 V10, Merc CLK C63 AMG, BMW M3 GTS, LEXUS IS-F, new BMW M5 560bhp a handful of lambos, Porches, CLS's and Audi RS's. what do all these cars have in common? RWD and AWD layout with  more power to offset their weight disadvantage.

so in a nut shell, a properly tuned FWD car will drive and handle  just like if not better than majority of RWD and AWD layouts...Honda just proved it..

Does RWD layout in a premium car really matter in this day and age? FWD layout has really come a long way and my daily 2.4 Accord drives and handles just as my IS300 and GS430 and more agile and predictable when compared to both Lexus's in damp wet conditions. Accord handles just like a RWD and if not careful it will over-steer. FWD can be tuned to behave just like a RWD these days without the torque steering sensation so wont bother me if Lexus switches to FWD to be honest as majority wont be able to tell the difference when tuned to behave like RWD.

On 27/11/2014 at 0:07 AM, rayaans said:

As per the title, has anyone noticed it?

It overlaps and makes a mess of things! Why make something so complicated! I dont understand the logic behind it.

It comes from the roof - distracts you when looking in the interior mirror, makes it uncomfortable for 3 people and its a faff getting it on and off and putting it back into the holder in the roof!

What kind of afterthought was this? Lexus make a good all round car but they sure do screw up on some things don't they?

My guess will be it's there to brace the chest of the middle passenger in case of a collision so they don't go flying off into the front passengers or windscreen. its more secure when compared to cars with the waist strap seat belt alone in the middle.  

why spend on a limiter when you can quickly glance at the speedo when driving. takes less than a sec to quickly glance at the speedometer and adjust your speed accordingly!

due to manufactures delibarte speedo errors/inaccuracy you are permitted at least 10% leeway so a 30mph zone will allow up to 33-35 mphish over same applies to 60mph or 70 mph. if you want to feel/hear the road more you can lower the ride height and fit poly bushes . 1 mph over a speed limit will not result in a ticket due to varying car speedo errors/inaccuracy set by manufactures so when cruising at 30mph your real land speed is around 25-27mph 

not sure if its the same rad as the GS430 but when i had to replace mine, it was a dealer only part at nearly £300 so might be worth phoneing up a few lexus dealers to ask if the rad would fit the Aristo. alternatively have a look at rockauto.com based in US worth ringing them as well to see if they have the part in stock might be the same rad as the 97' Supra.

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/toyota,1997,supra,3.0l+l6+turbocharged,1317563,cooling+system,radiator,2172

17 hours ago, Linas.P said:

The way the car gets there does... and in case of both 200t and 300h it is awful, not the time, but the feeling.

i think trying to expect 6 cylinder characteristics from a 4 cylinder in terms of sound is asking a bit too much. any 4 cylinder car be it from Bmw, Mercedez, Audi or Lexus will never be as smooth/refined as a 3.2 V6 engine from Vauxhall or Ford. its just the nature and characterises of a 4 cylinder engine so expecting the 200T and 300h with 4 cylinders to go about their business in a similar manner like the V6 250 is a recipe for disappointment, test drive any other 4 cylinders from Bmw, Mercedez, Audi and let us know if they are any better!

Yes you 100% right a Civic Type R rice rocket will not be luxurious as thats not what Honda intended it to be. it was built to be light on its feet, fuel efficient, punch way above its weight and sound trashy you will be surprised there is a market for trashy cars like these as the intending market would hate something too heavy to throw around, too much sound proofing, with a too refined engine which might put them to sleep.. over the years, ricer cars like Type R's, WRX's, Evo's, have always had these trashy characteristics and have been succesful.

Lexus can if they want to tweak the RC200 to hit 60 in the same time as the RC350 just a fiddle with boost pressure and maybe a 1st to 2nd gear ratio tweak might achieve this. BMW has done it with their 428i which also has a 2 litre 4 cylinder identical power and torque of the RC200 but leaner on the weight side and hits 60 in the same time as the RC350. my guess would be lexus wanted to charge more for RC350 so detuned rc200 to make the 350 superior in performacne terms for customers.

i agree and also disagree in your mention about the 2 litre 4 cylinder not matching car, brand etc.. i agree in the sense that you, me  and a few  prefer larger displacement models in these sort of cars. explains why i went for an IS300 over the IS200, again went for GS430 over the GS300 and recently own an Accord 2.4 over the 2.0 litre model but not everyone is like us and the premium car manufactures know this.

The premium German manufactures have done this for a long time and it seems to have worked for them their bread and butter models which sells like crazy are the 2 to the 2.4 lire 4 cylinder petrol and mainly diesel models which you see everywhere and these are in no way refined engines but people are happy and willing to buy and drive them and care less about cylinder harmonic sounds..as manufactures know the 4 pot will be lighter and thus more fuel efficient when compared to a 6 cylinder be it petrol or diesel.

And what does the term 'Luxury' car mean these days? I mean besides the badge and more sound proofing what does the term Luxury car mean when new Vauxhall Insignia's comes fully kitted with start/stop technology, electrics everything from electrics heated/cooled leather seats, self parking technology, premium speakers, Bluetooth, reversing cameras... you name it! when compared to say a C220 CDI Mercedez of the same calibre? 

premium car Manufactures are now combining two into one they are now building something which meets in the middle rather than extreme ends of each remember when some people shunned early lexus models due to being too refined and quite for their liking and opted for a BMW instead now Lexus cars are less sedate as some LS owners say the newer models dont drive anywhere near older ones. BMW has now moved more to the middle ground and are taming down their models and you also hear their hardcore owners say newer models dont drive like the older ones which were more raw and connected. 

They now build cars which fall into he middle ground rather than extreme of either side...

how can the RC200T be classified as under powered? thing makes 350NM tourque from around 1500 rpm and holds it to around 4500 rpm tourque does help shift the weight of a car even though its not the only factor when it comes to acceleration of a car but for one to say the engine in the RC200T is under powered is an understatement. i haven't driven one but based on its figures the  RC350 generates only 25 NM more tourque than it. but RC350 does it at higher revs.

RC200T is not a high performance sport Coupe car like the RC350/G37 Coupe and wont beat most modern hothatches with 290-300bhp to thier name but based on its performance figures it certainly wont be a slouch for day to day driving.. 

PS. i do like the look of the Infiniti Q60 more so the 3,0T version with 400 horses..will give 440i, M4, 435d's a run for their money

Thanks Guys, they sure are nice cars to drive 3 months in and 3,000 miles driven so far and nothings gone wrong.. everything in the car still functions including the AC, Satnav, sun roof, DVD, 6cd Changer, Cruise control etc.. credit to the previous owner..will still do detailed write up when i have had it a bit longer 

gen 2 signing in...

38 minutes ago, DanD said:

John, I am not sure I understand your point and how keyless is worse that the traditional keys.

 the benefit cars with normal keys have over keyless is without the key being cloned in the first place, 9 times out of 10 the car cannot be started due to the immobiliser not allowing it making it much more secure but in the case of keyless one does not need to have the key cloned any more a thief will just use electronic device to amplify your key fob signal from your house and thats it they drive away in your brand new shiny car

16 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

 Keyless entry systems are fooled because they don't measure the time delay to guarantee the key is next to the vehicle, hence they can be fooled by repeaters.

 

Thats my point i i can understand any car of any age can have its keys clonned and be stolen..but the keyless tech has made this process that less of a hassle for thieves. the benefit cars with normal keys have over keyless is without the key being cloned in the first place, 9 times out of 10 the car cannot be started due to the immobiliser not allowing it but in the case of keyless one does not need to have the key cloned any more just use electronic device to amplify the signal from your house and thats it. which makes it a step backwards in car security not forwards,

point i was trying to make is how much of an effort does it take to press a button to unlock a car?  the problems and uncertainty keyless technology has out weighs the minut benefits it brings to the driver. manufactures didn't have to change it resulting in cars being stolen all over the place. there are some technologies which are a step forward and some which are backwards and never thought through well and keyless technology is one of them.

i have never understood the whole purpose of keyless tech. what was soo wrong with having physical keys to unlock and start your car? keyless technology just doesnt make sense as one still needs to carry the key fob with them in order to access the vehicle or in this case use radio waves amplifier.

walk up to the vehicle touch the door handle wait a second or two before door unlocks. old school remote keys, can unlock a car about 5-10 feet away from the car and walk straight to open the door without having to wait few seconds whilst holding the door handle for radio signals to link together. someone might argue but what happens when you have a handful of stuffs and cant trigger the remote to open the doors? well the solution is to put the shopping bags down and trigger the remote its that simple and takes next to no effort.

Again how much effort does it take to insert a key into the barrel and turn it?? next to no effort.. just like pressing a push start button so again what benefit is the keyless tech bringing to the table?

with my old school keys i lock the car and check its locked by pulling the handle with key less tech there is no way of confirming your car is locked as door will always open once you walk up to it and pull the handle so how does one confirm their car is indeed secure?

so after spending ££'s on a car manufactures now expect key less car owners to spend ££ again on steering locks and pouches to store the fobs.  last time i used a sterring lock was when i had my 1995 Renault Clio 15 years ago. steering locks on a car costing £40-50k is ridiculous in my opinion. 

Even the Lexus LFA which is the expensive Lexus ever comes with an 'old school' physical key. LFA engineers knew keyless tech served no purpose.

one of the other aspect Lexus needs to improve on its their advertising. I mean i see cars like the Audi quattro S and RS lines being advertised on TV lately with the models making their way to a racing circuit. even the R8 which will be purchased by a handful gets advertised on TV doing doughnuts..Audi knows 95% of these buyers will never take these cars to a racing track but sells that idea to us. look at BMW 3 series adverts all over the place which includes some scenes of it doing a rolling start acceleration with camera shots focusing on it taking winding roads selling us the ultimate driving machine notion same applies to Mercedes i see C and A class adverts pretty much everyday on TV.

what I am trying to say is so long as you market anything right there will always be buyers. look at the Iphone i can name you some Chinese made phones which are faster, better camera better Battery life etc at a fraction of the cost but yet still people are happy queue/sleep rough over night and pay over £700 for a brand new 5.5 inch version 7. apple just has good marketing.

which bring me to question why Lexus does not or has limited their advertising capabilities on TV? 

take the launch of the GS450h which at that time was one of the if not the fastest hybrid car out there but yet still fuel efficient for its engine size and power output why did lexus not market it as such on TV show a few shots of how power is transformed form Battery to wheels a few shots of instant acceleration and stress of it being a fast and fuel efficient hybrid sport saloon.

take the IS-F again it had the worlds first 8 speed gear box in a high performance saloon again Lexus could have showed a cut away version of this gear box during advertising which can make an M3 automatic owner watching  feel like they are driving an inferior car with a few twisty shots.

The CT200h could also be sold with a 2 litre turbo engine with remap to around 250-300bhp along side the hybrid models which can then appeal to younger hot hatch buyers

i do recall reading the new LS600h and LS460 having something like 1000 newly developed parts and features so why couldn't they throw a few tv adverts of the LS and mention this?

all I am saying is you market anything well and make it attractive, you will always get some sales so not sure why Lexus does not adopt this and only leave it to what some board room execs decide. infact they can carry out surveys of their existing and potential car owners to find out which models or engines they would like to drive proir to releasing i know the hybrid models do sell well but they certainly are missing a market here as some mentioned the 30-40 year bracket who do not want to spend £50,000 -£70,000 on the IS-F, GS-F, RC-F.

Lexus needs to get their marketing and advertising up to speed.

Is this the concept or the real deal which will be going into production?? 

15 hours ago, Linas.P said:

 

That Clio is 2.0l Sport, 7.1s 0-60, 137MPH top speed, so it would overtake RC300h in any conditions, from any speed.

not sure why you tried a 0-60 with one the figures says it all an more over those hatches are like 12-1300kg in weight so power to weight ratio plays a part. even your IS250 would have a tough time against one. have you considered an infiniti G37 Coupe?? might not have the 'look at me' fresh looks like the RC but certainly not a slouch and figures puts it on par with an RC350  and 4-5 year old models would be about half the money of the  RC-F

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201606235204236?model=G&sort=price-asc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=200&make=INFINITI&postcode=mk160ay&page=1

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201611039418071?model=G&sort=price-asc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly New&onesearchad=New&advertising-location=at_cars&radius=200&make=INFINITI&postcode=mk160ay&page=1

import one from Japan. also thats clio might not be an ordinary 1.2 clio prob the 2.0 high revving sport versions