noby76

if its the 190bhp VVTLi model then i would say go for it mate..they are meant to be very good in terms of handling and power due to their light weight.. looks quite nice in white aswell.

sounds like a good mod if its more responsive than that of what sport mode generates.. reason why i asked was i find sport mode really responsive when coupled with M mode. and any thing more might just result in the tyres breaking traction/wheel spin due to soo much torque coming in all at ounce instead of it being delivered in a linear fashion as speed builds with throttle travel which can sometimes result in the car being quite difficult to control during cornering whilst opening throttle as it becomes over sensitive. but hey i haven't driven an IS-F before or one fitted with the Apexi kit so cant really say how much of a benefit it is over sport mode lol... but if you do then its def money well spent.. :)

excuse my lack of knowledge on the Apexi thottle control kit but does Lexus not already have this mechanism built into thier ETCS-i hence they have the word i which makes the Electronic Throttle Control System an intelligent one? the thottle responsiveness i get when driving in normal mode compared to when sport mode is activated is very noticeable in that trottle becomes very sensitive and responsive when compared to driving in normal mode which has resulted in me driving in ECT PWR mode all the time so my question is what benefit does the Apexi unit offer over sport or ECT PWR mode? since the diagram test results they have shows test done against Normal mode but not sport or ECT PWR mode..

Looks like its gone already. :( shame its gone so quick.. it was a good one in blue one owner full service history..

yeh quiet flattering the IS-F's were used to pace it..which means Merc takes Lexus very serioulsy.. i also read an article a while back which mentioned manufactures of Luxury saloons also used the Lexus LS models when it comes to testing their cars in terms of ride comfort and cabin noise levels. which makes me think people are happy to ride around in Jag XJ's, 7 series and S Class's if only they knew a Lexus was used to help set it up in terms of ride comfort they might aswell buy the real deal lol... and you right Stu manual mode makes a difference in terms of how the car behaves when responding to throttle..i noticed my 300 is even more responsive in M mode than in D mode even when sport mode is activated. maybe they need to do a re run of this race with all cars in manual sport mode.. :winky: so we can see what the ISF could really do with its fastest shifting gearbox

mmmh i dont it was a head on race from the looks of it.. for all we know Mercedes could be carrying out a test on how the 63 behaves behind another performance car.. it could be tyre test, suspension test etc.. maybe the IS-F's were in front just to pace it..those 63's (older models) are very good in terms of handling and power delivery so i wouldnt think the newer ones would struggle against an IS-F when it comes to full on racing.. in fact against BMW M3, AMG 63 and IS-F i think Lexus done a good job for first attempt in developing a muscle performance V8 Saloon as both BMW and Merc have been producing performance Saloons for decades.. found this vid on the three models racing round a track.. the M3 is still king when it comes to handling which was evident in the time attack figures of over 1.5 secs against the IS-F. on track performance there was no difference between AMG 63 and IS-F.. Infact the IS-F had the best lap time round the track compared to the other two..I will say IS-F Is def on par with the 63 once lexus gets thier suspension tuning right, BMW will be defeated in handling aswell. but for price, spec and reliability, i think IS-F wins hands down..

piston heads http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/lexus/is/lexus-5-0-v8-is-f-4dr-auto-huge-spec--1-owner/2639893?isexperiment=true its a 2010 but i dont think a year makes a difference in terms of spec?

you might need to have your gearbox fluid drained and refilled if its not been done in ages the gearbox shifts roughly when the oil is quite old and dirty. I had a similar rough and jerky shifting until I did a drain and refill. Lexus recommends Toyota Type T-IV as apparently any other transmission oil other than this will damage your box. the slight delay/pause you feel when you put your foot down is just the ECU shifting down from a higher gear e.g. 4th to a lower gear 2nd. automatics tend to shift up to higher gears during cruising when not on WOT in order to return good MPG and the moment you put your foot down, it needs to gather its thoughts to register what the drivers intentions are then drops down to the best lower gear ratio before it takes off hence the slight pause or delay for few seconds... a manual gearbox will have the same effect when say cruising at 40mph in 6th gear and you put your foot down you will notice nothing happens until you manually drop it down to 2nd or 3rd gear then car comes alive again. in a manual you are thinking for the gearbox in terms of what gear ratio to be in, in an auto the ecu needs few seconds to think and make the decision once you go WOT when cruising. tiptronic style auto gearboxes have resolved this by giving the driver the freedom to pick and choose a lower gear when safe to do so. so say you approaching a round about or corner and you want to take that corner in 2nd gear instead of 3rd or 4th gear the tiptronic will allow this and will also hold the gear just like a manual box would. unfortunately IS200 is not a tiptronic auto gearbox so ecu will make the decision instead of the driver..

I disagree Colin, Yes both Bridgestone and Yokohama are Japanese companies and maybe your likes of Toyota, Lexus Nissan, Honda, Subaru will lean towards them in terms of choosing a tyre manufacturer for thier high performance vehicles which is understandable but your likes of Ferrari, Porsche and mainly BMW who put ultimate driving at the fore front of advertising have always been running one of the Potenza range run flat tyre on thier cars for years. sure Ferrari could have easily opted for Pirelli cause it was Itlian brand , Porsche and BMW could easily opt for Continentals cause it was German...not sure why most of the stock tyres wont be good for day to day driving and the ocassional spirited driving? why would car manufactures maily Lexus and BMW spend billions developing models only to start cutting down on tyre spec due to cost? this wouldnt make sense.. sure thier enginners are bound to fit tyres they deem best in the market.. we all know after brakes the most important kit on a car is its tyres so manufactures wont be penny pinching when it comes to OEM Tyres. of course one cannot compare one brand or spec of tyre with another brand and spec as they all have unique differences, strenghts and weaknesses as i mentioned in my last post. but that doesnt mean RE050's are not in the same category or are crappy tyres they are mostly rated at W and Y rating which is 150 to almost 190mph.. so to me thats more than enough an IS200, IS300 and most cars will need for day to day and ocassional spirited driving unless one will be using thier cars for tracking days then they need track tyres of course. as I confirmed earlier in my post gen 1 IS's are setup to oversteer easily so there is so much a grippy tyre could do before rears starts breaking traction if not careful. but since owning my IS i have run Pirelli P Zero's, Falken FK453's and now the S001 Bridgestones so cant comment on other brands as i have no experience with those. the only difference i have noticed is my traction control light has never come on during spirited drivining since switching to S001's when compared to the other two brands i have run but apart from that cant tell any difference between the 3 brands in terms of noise levels and fuel consumption. I dont drive hard when its wet anyway so am not concerned about wet performance. rear wheel drive cars are vulnerable when the roads are icy or wet anyway.. am yet to see how many miles i get out of them before needing replacing. When it comes to Tyres its all down to personal preference and there are other factors like brand loyalty, price, tread design, wear rate, grip level, which fuels ones desicion to run one brand of tyre over another but regargless of which tyre one choose's to go for it will have its strenghts and weakness against another as they all have slighlty unique differences..

Bridgestone still makes the RE050's in 2014 so i wouldnt call it an ancient tyre.. yes the model might be ancient but doesnt mean its the same compounnd design as it was years ago. http://www.bridgestone.co.uk/auto/ranges/potenza/overview/ Pirelli P Zero, Michelin Pilot Sport, GoodYear F1, Dunlop SP, Continental Sport Contact are all good Performance tyres... but i see it this way regardless of how good these other brands are, your likes of Lexus LFA, IS-F, Nissan GTR, Ferrari , Aston Martin, Mercedez AMG ditch these brands and opt for a spec from the Potenza range to fit on their high performance models from factory. below is a quote from tyrereviews.co.uk The Ferrari Enzo, Lexus LFA, Porsche 997 Turbo, Ferrari 599 GTO. Thes eare seriously fast cars, which place extreme demands on their tyres, and just some of the range of premium hypercars which have chosen to be fitted with the Bridgestone S001. so you wont go wrong with any performance tyre from Pirelli P Zero, Michelin Pilot Sport, GoodYear F1, Dunlop SP, Continental Sport Contact as i beleive each has its strengths and weaknesses..but if in doubt i will always stick to the tyres chosen by Lexus, Ferrari, Porsche and GTR engineers so forget what these paid tyre reviewers tell you in thier tests..engineers know better

Michelin's are up there aswell for performance if you decide them might aswell go for the Pilot Sport one's a bit pricey tho... I have noticed the gen 1 IS's have been setup to over steer (back end kicks out) easily.. so there is so much a grippy tyre could do..

Yes am aware of that Colin.. maybe I should have been more specific.. I meant Potenza RE050A's or the newer S001's which am also running at the moment...

if in doubt of which tyres to go for stick with Bridgestone Potenza's . that's what the IS was designed to run on Including the Dunlop SP's. cant go wrong with Potenza's they are designed by the No1 Tyre company in the world so they have the budget and R&D to design a performance tyre. most high performance cars like IS-F's, GTR, LFA, BMW M's, Ferrari, Aston Martin come fitted with Potenza's from Factory. most of the fastest laps set round the Nurburgring were set with either Dunlops or Potenza's. so they are quite sticky tyres. but saying that you also need good suspension setup to make all that happen your model is an SE so might be worth ditching standard springs for Eibachs or Bilstein sport springs to make it all happen..

Hence a proposed idea of a 5iver in exchange for a 30 day advertising space, this could also be open for members who have Lexus parts to sell or interested in doing car swaps e.g. someone looking to say exchage thier LS for a GS, an IS to a GS and vice verca. this idea will generate more revenue than that of what Adsense brings in .

I understand you point raised Hugh if other car forumns can do this why cant LOC? obviusly any business is run to make revenue/returns on investment and can confirm someone(club founder) is paying to have this forumn run 24/7 on the web. maybe the other forumns are generating revenue in other ways where they can afford to have their for sale sections free to all members. but at the same time we live in the real world there are lots of products or services out there which could be given out for free or sold at a fraction of how much they are going for whilst still making a profit but thats not the case they rather bend us over and we dont have any choice than to take it... I'll rather if its free to advertise but i can also see the £5 as giving something back in terms of both parties (buyer/seller) gaining a sense of satisfaction from the sale transaction. funds/revenue generated could also go towards hosting/funding LOC events where members get together chat have beers/drinks check out others cars socialise etc a prize draw could also be thrown in on those events where Lexus merchandising like T shirts, caps, wastches could be won for those who turned up etc.. all these ideas wont come from any ones pockets but from revenue genereted from the club by us enthusiats...

Yes Stu secret is to undercut your competition.

agreed. it does make sense and would drive more traffic to the website for existing LOC members and non members who are looking to make a purchase since they will need to sign up as members first in order to make a purchase or communicate with other members which in turn will bring in new members to the forumn. I have also had a glance through the for sale section and there is nothing going on there as Hugh confirmed. I know Hugh said it should be free but web space costs money so infact instaed of having to be a gold member in order to sell on LOC why dont they introduce a flat rate fee say £5 fee for 30 day ad space regardless of its the item being sold is a car or part. pay a 5iver advertise for 30 days with option of keeping it rolling the next month if the 30days runs out without the item / car selling. question is how many of us use the Lexus dealership where we could save the 25% off servicing parts and labour the gold membership offers? best way to find out is for mods to carry out a yes or no survey asking members this question and i can bet only a fare few actually do. my suggestion is not to scrap the gold membership but keep it for those who use the Lexus dealerships often where they will benefit from the 25% off offers and keep the for sale section open to all members to trade for a 30 day advertising space for £5. worth trialing this for a couple of months and see how much revenue it will generate for the site compared to the current gold membership solution. my 2 cents

until one blasts past your ISF's round the Nurburgring or a racetrack for that matter Lol.. yes I will pick an IS-F V8 over the SEAT Cupra any day of the week but for track days. I will hop into that SEAT for the sheer fun aspect of it. I am not a badge snob and have respect and admiration for car manufactures who are able to make a car go faster and handle with less bhp to its name Subaru, Honda and Nissan being others I respect as well. thing has less than 300bhp to its name but can lap the ring and most tracks faster. only way to beat it is in a drag race but how fun is it??

internet saves me from going to the local library to seek for information Dave this is the 21st century keep up. trust me Dave even car techniciaons/mechanics use the internet and google stuffs these days to help them solve issues they are not familiar with they wont do it in fornt of customers but trust me they do behind closed doors its a way of poiniting them to the right direction doesnt mean its a bad thing. and i will cut and paste the formula on here if and when i do find it on goolge Dave.. who doesnt?? but best to call BMW first thing 9:00 am tomorrow morning and ask if you really want to know how they came about with this figure. if you have an excelllent life,then act like you have one then Cheers John

1/ I know figures vary by driver etc but to try to equate electric power to mpg is a very strange thing for BMW, or whoever made the equation to do. Can you show me the equation? 2/If you check you will see that the companies authorised by the government to carry out these grant funded installations are NOT cowboys but well known names in the industry so common sense should really tell you that and they all carry 3 years warranty. 3/I would not be surprised how long it takes to recharge via a normal mains socket since it is made fairly clear in tests etc. It should not take any appliances down whilst charging since the power drawn is kept down by the device. Agreed, not ideal situation but the car manufacturers make this method very clear in their attempts to sell the cars. You keep saying "common sense should tell you" but if you also did your research you might realise that in these examples it is not really valid. Anyway, I think we are agreed that whilst the Tesla is a big leap forward, there is still a long way to go both in technology and infastructure even though 28 new models of electric car are apparently due in the next 2 years! 1. Ask BMW for this maths formula. 2.Never said the comapies were cowboys. i said you can get any cowboy to the job. more over British gas is one of the authorised companies which i used in my example. i.e i picked one of the companies out of a bunch to use as an example or would you prefer if i listed all the authorised companies? 3. we all agree it will charge by a mains socket but not ideal so not sure what your point was. how are my examples not valid? ... which scenarios in my examples has not happend to any one of us car owners before in real life.. as you confirmed there is still a long way to go intechnology and infrastructre to make it easier, less of a hasle and cheaper to run electric cars over hybrids hence i said i was not sold on them to start with. seriously..anyone else thinks Dave needs to get a life??

this is a combined figure of the overall consumption i.e. battery and engine based on driving style and driving conditions so its not cast in stone. depending on how one drives it could be less than this figure common sense should tell you this Dave. British Gas do not need to be involved but they are part of the energy companies authorised to carry out the free home installation of course you can get any cowboy to do the job but at least you garunateed warranty with british gas incase of any power/voltage issues at home so i used them in my example again common sense should tell you this. plug your electric car into a normal mains socket and it will work fine but you will be surprised how long it takes to charge withoiut a stand alone circut to aid in the high voltage draw thats if it doesnt take down other home appliances with it whilst charging via a standard mains socket. again common sense should tell you its possible to charge vis a mains socket but not an ideal solution Dave

the Tesla is not comaprable to the BMW i3 or CT200h i was comapring a full blown hybrid to an electric and used those two as examples. if you comapre the Tesla to a GS540h F-Sport hybrid the results will be the same. in that it will be cheaper to buy, maintian and run in the long which was my point. the i3 is offically stated to return around 470mpg combined yes its an electric but with good maths skills you can work out its distance in mpg based on distance travelled if you want to..see below. http://cars.uk.msn.com/reviews/bmw-i3-rex-range-extender-long-term-test-review-1 http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bmw/i3/first-drives/bmw-i3-range-extender-first-drive-review British Gas came into the equation because one might need a charge point installed at thier home if they own an electic car and the UK govt has a subsidised funding scheme with british gas which gives electric car owners best deals on free home installation charge points which BMW or Tesla might not be included at the moment but there is a govt scheme in place with british gas for electric car owners. Always take the time of the day to do a little bit of research before you grab that keyboard Dave.

am still not sold on the electric car technoology until there are charge points everywhere just like petrol stations. dont get me wrong am all for any technology which would help save our planet but i personally think Hybrids are a better technology than fully electric. e.g take the CT200h vs the BMW i3 for example. they both cost around 25 - 30K. the i3 makes around 170bhp and the CT200h around 140bhp so the bmw is quicker of the two to 60 but ct200h beats it for top speed. whilst the CT200 has a combined mpg of around 78mpg the BMW can manage a whopping 470mpg. al this favours the i3 against the CT200 but whilst one can fill up the ct200h with petrol anywhere and everywhere, one will always need to plan thier jorneys with the i3 in that they need to make sure they have enough charge for any given journey this means they will need to have a charge piont installed at home so althought you get 470mpg you wouldnt want to see your british gas bill at the end of the month. one always has to make sure thier destination has a charge point incase they might not have enough charge left to get them back home this could also mean having to drive the extra miles from your destination to locate a charge point and spending around 3 hours of your life waiting for the batteries to charge when the CT driver can just duck into any petrol station and fill up. even if the CT driver runs out of fuel in the middle of no where, they can still walk some miles to any fuel station, buy some petrol top up and they are sorted the i3 driver cannot do this in the same scenario once thay are out of charge thats it. if the CT200h develops any issues with the hybrid battery system thay can still drive the car using the engine again the i3 driver cannot do this in the same scenario if thier battery system malfunctions. Yes the i3 owners can opt for the range extender model which gives them a 2 cylinder 650cc engine which serves as a recharging device for the batteries whilst on the go but this can only handle 2 gallons of petrol which serves as an extra cost as they now have to have to pay around £3000 to have the range extender model, pay for fuel, and also pay british gas at home to charge thier cars over night and also pay british gas for maintenance of the home charge kit once warranty has run out and also pay BMW for servicing. so all in all i personally think Hybrid makes sense, will be less of a hassle to own and run and cheaper in the long run than an electric car equivalent. at almost £70,000 for the Tesla i would would rather spend £50K on a new GS450h F-Sport and invest that £20,000 some where.

most tyre manufactures claim thier tyres can save fuel but quesgtion is how much does one really save from these tyres.. sonce owning my car i have run Pirelli P Zero Rosso's, Falken Azenis FK453's and currenlty running Bridgestone Potenza's S001 and i can say my fuel consumption has been the same only time i save fuel was during the warm weathers and when i keep the engine between 2000-3000 rpm during a journey... so regardless of what tyre manufactures claim with thier tyres saving fuel, if you drive like you stole the car, it will drink fuel....

with good maintenance Toyota engines are said to hit over 200,000 with no issues.. mines at almost 140,000 and still drives and idles smoother than some newer premium cars i have rode in... here is one with over 200,000 miles and body work and interior still looks like its done quater of that mileage.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-05-LEXUS-IS300-AUTO-FLAGSHIP-MODEL-SAT-NAV-CREAM-LEATHER-REDUCED-PRICE/141294922008?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D22047%26meid%3D7131368663878068374%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D9537%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D141294922008