noby76

best to go see it in the metal and decide mate..car colours sometimes dont look the part in photos but better ones seen in the metal or when valeted. if you interested why not go and check it out...still enjoying the US?

i think you mis understood my point Colin. didn't say higher priced car seats are no better. i said they they are 'over kill'. a £200+ child car seat does not guarantee a child will walk away uninjured from all types of road collisions or accidents neither does the one which cost £40. fact that the £200 seat was say tested to be able to absord a side impact from a 1500kg family saloon travelling at say 50mph does not meant it would absorb the same impact from a 5000kg truck impact at 40mph...can you see my point here? is like saying fact that a car has been awarded 5 star ncap rating makes it bullet proof to all occupants in all accidental collision with all types of vehicles on the road. there is a legal required safety test which all child seats need to pass in order for them to be sold to members of the public in UK/Europe.

some things our just out of our control in life and we all risk our's and our kids lives once we get into a vehicle be it if its ncap rated 1 star or 5 stars and i tend to place more emphasize on driving that extra careful being that extra vigilant on oncoming cars both at roundabouts, in front or behind when i have my family in the car with me so a 5 star rated child seat will not guarantee 100% safety in all road conditions/collisions since the type of vehicle which collides into another and speed at which that vehicle was travelling at plays a significant part same applies to 5 star rated vehicles.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2375458.htm

I bought this group 1-3 for my son and its good value.. with adjustable straps and adjustable headrest aswell. doesnt take too much space at the back aswell. you can read others reviews on it and make up your mind. I personally think spending £200+ on a car seat is over kill. all these car seats have passed EU child safety tests in order for them to be sold by a well known company like ARGOS so why pay over the odds..so long as the car seat is securely installed as recommended by the manufacturer and a child is securely seated and strapped in, the rest is fate to be honest.

i dont think they were offered only rear sensors came fiited on gen 1 IS. i beleive you could fit aftermarket sensors on front if you wish couple of them being sold on eBay

and making a reliable 280bhp for under £2500 fully fitted

Lexus would have offered a turbo instead of a supercharger if 280bhp from 1G-FE was relaible.. if £2500 you quote is realistic then lots of guys on here would be running IS200 turbo's including you. no one would waste time spending £2000 on a supercharger kit which makes 70bhp less than a turbo kit which costs about the same..

and who says you needed £10k for an engine swap.. i got quoted £5000 for an LS400 V8 swap from these conversion guys based in coventry and this was all in..

all depends on roughly how much power you looking at and mainly your budget. will it be a primarily a track car or a daily driven car.. pretty much any engine can be turboed but depends on how much ££'s you looking to put into it to get you there. sparkystav did a good job with his conversions but if you noticed he is always having problems i didnt read through all the pages in his thread but he seems to be working on the car often which involves time and money if one has a second car to use thats no problem but if the IS your sole form of transportation then that becomes an inconvenience so you need to ask your self all these questions before you make a decision.

i personally think the only way to upgrade the IS200 reliably, cheaper and less hassle will be to drop a stock 2JZ-GTE engine from the Toyota Aristo/Supra along with the Supra 6 speed manual gearbox. without modding anything else, the stock engine makes over 320bhp and 160-170mph if thats not enough with intake and exhasut mod takes it to about 350bhp. no need to change/play with cams, head, gaskets, pistons etc.. this is stock

if you dont want turbo power but mucscle power you could drop the 4.0/4.3 litre V8 from the late model LS400 or LS430's and source a manual gearbox to fit. stock power from these engines 280-300 bhp.

i recon these two routes are cheaper in the long run, will run reliably as they are stock and less hassle. the challenge will be making fitting them into IS200 chasis and making the wiring work.

not bad in terms of performance but i think you should be comparing the 300h to a 325d automatic BMW instead of 320d sport automatic since the 325d and 300h have almost the same HP figures and are priced similar. the 325d wins in terms of performance..

hence i said most tuners confirm upto 10% could be gained from those mods on NA engines depending on engine design and health didnt say he was gaurenteed it.

if you dont want to charge the engine then performance air filter and manifold exhaust is the route to go.. as I already confirmed up to 10% gain is about what you should expect but all will also depend on engine health.

if you asked me, there is not a lot in real world performance difference between 155 bhp and 170bhp maybe a cars length or half a second improvement which is rougly what you might get out of intake/ manifold/ exhaust mod.. reducing your tires from 17's to 16's will improve acceleration you can also make changes to your final drive ratio which will improve acceleration but decrease your top end speed

nice looking IS300 you got there Tom :) how did you get hold of an IS350 and why did you get rid of it.. any plans for the 300 in terms of mods??

most tuners confirm upto 10% hp gain from an intake / Exhaust mod on NA engines depending on engine design of course.. a 10% increase will take it from 155 to about 170ish which might improve things but wont transform it if you know what i mean.. it will make it sound sporty tho if thats what you after..

the whole car's going for £3000 and already has a supercharge...will work out cheaper than you trying to source the supercharge kits and fitting them.. its Sport model so comes with the LSD aswell

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201501160215691/sort/default/page/4/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/usedcars/make/lexus/fuel-type/petrol/postcode/mk160ay/price-to/5000/body-type/saloon/price-from/2000/radius/200?logcode=p

just over 4 Years after coming from BMW 520i, Nissan Primera GT and Ford V6.. was torn between pre face lift mkII GS300 and IS300 and after some advise from both Colin and TigerFish decided on the IS300 currently at 150,000 miles and still going strong :)

It'd still be sad if you knew what it was you're actually talking about, but you don't, so you just try and blind everyone with the "facts and figures", which makes it all the more lame.

I think everyone can agree his quote above implies he has the knowledge either indirectly or directly. so matt lets hear you out since you pertain i dont know what I am talking about. i think you will do your self some justice if not then this sums you up really!

is it just me or does this kid like to chat out of his back sides?? he claimed i did not know what i was talking about in terms of how both engines in the RC-F and M4 delivered thier power and asked him to school me since he claimed he has more knowledge and he ducked out...

how did your soldering lessons go matt? secret is to always to keep it straight and steady whilst avoiding premature reflexes which results in an unsatisfied job..

can you point out where i went wrong in my performnce comparison of both cars since you come across as you have all the knowledge matt?

• is an RC-F and M4 nice cars? yes they are..
• can i afford one? NO but as a car enthusiast i love all things cars even ones i cant afford or will never get the chance to drive.
• would i buy one today If i had the means to? No as that is not my priority in life at the moment.

so why dont you spend your time productively by taking some soldering lessons from this chap below instead of being miserable on forums its not rocket science.

No, just out - anywhere, so long as it's actually with someone, and not copying and pasting figures from one internet page into another.

And since when was copy and pasting become a crime matt? one of the things most of the reviewers were going on about in the videos was the M4's torque delivery and RC-F's lack of it when they should be going into details about how different highly tuned NA and Turbo engines behave in terms of how they put power down.

yes matt i went on both BMW and Lexus websites and copied and pasted horsepower and torque figures to back up an explanation on power delivery characteristics only to get you so 'excited'.. do you need some tissues..

if this is your way of inviting me again to get out with you on a date then try harder matt... :ooh-ducky:

i have now seen a few more videos of the RC-F vs M4 and noticed and noticed the drivers of the M4's were fighting the steering wheel a lot which makes me think the BMW has setup the M4 to over steer more more than the RC-F while not making a lot of difference in terms of lap time when compared to the RC-F. I watched one video where the guy was complaining about the RC-F's brakes this made me laugh. does he not realise those brakes are designed and made by brembo..

I also noticed how almost all the reviewers were praising the M4 for its huge torque advantage . but what they fail to tell us is how different the engine characteristics are in terms of design in that the M4 starts making quite a bit of power early in the rev range 1850 to 5500 rpm to be exact due to the twin turbo's helping it generate a flat torque curve of 405 ft lb(550NM) once the rpm is past 5500rpm the M4 starts loosing torque and a lot of it. BMW claims the M4 makes 431bhp between 5500rpm to 7300rpm.

where as the RCF would start of with low torque figure just enough to propel it from 0-60 in about the same seconds or as close to the M4 as possible and whilst the BMW's torque is falling off once it hits 5500rpm, the RC-F's is maintaining its 389 ft lb (527NM) of torque pretty much from its peak point of 4800rpm to its redline of 7300rpm.

RC-F also looses torque from its peak of 4800rpm to redline of 7300rpm but not a lot of it hence why M4 engine manages to generate 431bhp at 7300rpm and RCF generates 470bhp at 7100rpm. so one starts off strong with a flat torque curve from idle speeds and runs out of puff later and the other starts off slightly on the back foot and makes more power later.

so depending on the track layout, there will be some corners were the BMW driver will not need to shift down a gear and the RC-F driver will. but for them to say the RC-F lacks torque is BS. The thing makes more power than the M4 and power is generated from torque multiplied by rpm.

M4 = 431BHP at 5500 to 7300rpm

RC-F = 470BHP at 7100rpm

so can we say the RC-F will be making similar power or as close to 431bhp at 5500rpm aswell if it is making more high up ??

there are 4WD Gallardo's and the GT-R still wipes the floor with those... yes am aware 0-60 is one aspect of a cars overall performance but just pointing out the fact that the M4's 0-60 is not that better compared to the bloated RC-F as some reviewers like to point out. I actually havent seen a proper comparison of the M4 and RC-F in terms of track times and handling capabilities. all the videos i see so far is reviers going on about how heavy the RC-F is and them trying out their drifting skills in them..

the RC-F is over 200kg heavier than the automatic M4 Coupe and yet the M4 betters it by only 0.4 secs from 0 to 60mph nothing in it if you asked me...infact this goes to show how good the RC-F is with over 200kg weight deficit when compared to the M4. have you not seen how heavy a Nissan GT-R is and yet manages to wipe the floor with Ferrari's and Gallardo's who's kerb weight are between something like 1400-1500kg?

the RCF might be heavier but has just over 40 bhp more than the M4 which weighs less and has less bhp this closes the gap between both cars in terms of power to weight ratio.

no point paying for a car you haven't seen in the metal or had the chance to even test drive.

although 0-60 figures does not paint the whole picture when it comes to an overall performace of a vehicle it surely does sell cars but saying that, it depends on the level of performance you looking for.

the performace figure of the alfa compared to the 300h is about the same in terms of 0-60 but i will put my money on the 300h when it comes to rolling acceleration. since the batteries are capable of generating 300NM of instant tourque when fully charged thats equivalent to a 6 cylinder 3.0 litre NA engine so for rolling acceleration up to a point the 300h will feel quicker

and because Lexus tends to have smooth drive trains you dont actually feel you are going quick but your are. my 300 sits at 70mph on motorway and it feels like am doing half that. side to side the Alfa spider driver will feel like they are going fast at 70mph and the 300h driver will feel like they are doing half that.

but for out and out performance hybrids i would say i would say look at 2-3 year old GS450h's or the Infiniti M35h's and pocket the change on splashing out on a new 15 plate £30-40,000 IS300h.. since they have done most of their depreciation and can accelerate to 60 in less than 6 secs infact the Infinit hybrid holds the world record for the fastest accelerating production hybrid neither of the German hybrids can match it. IS-F might be over kill in terms of what you looking for?

thats a 450h being put through some stress and it handles it without breaking a sweat

wow thats something...he needs to get it to 999,999 miles then stop and have it toed to Lexus Headquaters to be put on display.. i recon they would be happy to pay big dollar for this car..

yeh saw that episode on dragons den years ago. that guy can gold plate anything lol.. i can understand we are a bit more reserved in UK compared to US hence the gold emblem/badges were big there compared to here.. but saying that if Lexus liked it and were bold enough to use it as the official brand emblem why dont they have it on every Lexus sold? might be cost i guess.... but they do make the car stand out tho..