noby76

to be honest i havent replaced my fuel filter and car has been fine but i have only had it a year so not sure if Lexus did it at the 60K service. i use top tier fuels like Shell unleaded and Shell V power and stay away from Supermarket fuels (but thats just me) so i know it would have the right fuel additives to clean the fuel filter, fuel tank,and internal engine components during combustion. even if i dont get extra power from this fuel at least i know my engine and components are being cleaned when am driving. Lexus parts are quality and i personally think parts like air and oil filter are not that pricey but saying that I am currenlty not using Toyota air filter or oil filter. am running Apex'i performance panel filter and Blueprint oil filter but if you need oil and are filter see below link from Lexus birminghams ebay store. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-LEXUS-AIR-FILTER-IS200-/181014961723?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2a25551e3b http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Lexus-Oil-Filter-/170971980051?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27ceb96113 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-LEXUS-POLLEN-FILTER-IS200-IS300-plus-RX300-1-/170971980647?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27ceb96367 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Lexus-Spark-Plugs-SK20R11-Iridium-/170900441496?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27ca75c998

both NGK and Denso can be used and they need to be the iridium types. diff fluid is every 20k or 2years and coolant is either 5 or 10 years depending on the type of coolant used. I think Toyota/Lexus OEM coolants are 10years but worth giving them a ring to check. or just buy the 5 year ones from halfords or eurocarparts. if you want to give your IS the full overhaul its. 5W-30 engine oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter, fuel filter, brake fluid, power steering fluid, diff fluid, gearbox fluid, engine coolant, spark plugs and this IS will be running like a smooth operator !!

I had mine done last year when i bought the car and was advised by the Lexus dealer the belt only needed doing as the idler and tensioner on the IS300/GS300 engines are more robust and can handle more miles but i thought it wont cost me a lot to just add the idler and tensioner to it and have all done in one go. they confirmed my water pump was ok so i didnt do it and also added drive/serpentine belt change to it aswell. cost £588 all in but will take me to 200K miles or another 10yrs if i decide to keep it that long.. so my advise will be do idler. tensior and drive belt and have them inspect the water pump if it needs one then throw that in too for peace of mind. yes cambelt service is not cheap but you only have to do it every 10 yrs or 100K so not too bad. :)

As confirmed any car after 7-10 years might not command anymore money than the going market rate! So having it serviced at the dealers will bring peace of mind to the current owner knowing the job has been done but the service stamp wont add any more value to a 10year old 100k mile Lexus for the buyer..they will still pay the going market rate. My car is now 11 years with 115,000 miles on the clock so I know it wont fetch any more than £2000-£3000 if I sell it today so I use dealers for things like cambelt service and buying parts pollen/ oil filter etc . But for things like 10,000 mile services I buy my own engine oil from places like eurocarparts.opie or Halfords and take it to my trusted garage to have it changed for £30 labour. I can change my air filter so I monitor it and change if and when it’s dirty. It’s a 2 min job. So this brings my interim/yearly service down to a cost of £90 £50 for 8litre(2x 4litre) oil, £10 for oil filter and £30 for garage labour. I am still left with 2.5litres of oil to take home after the change for topups. I change fluids like diff, brake fluid, gearbox fliud every 20k to keep it fresh and I use the certified independent Lexus/Toyota garages near me for this and my last one was at a cost of £206 all in. spark plugs is every 60k engine coolant every 5 years so I get them changed when they due . My 10k oil changes and 20K fluid changes don’t get stamped in the service book as but I keep all my purchase receipts and Invoices from the garage in my file. these can still be classified as proof of work done as all garage Invoices/receipts states work done , parts and also lists the mileage and date so can count as service history when I come to sell it on. it wont have stamps but the invoices and receipts will tell the story against the mileage. Lexus dealerships do not do anything special to the car when it goes in for a service. Basically an Interim/minor service is just an engine oil and oil filter change and visual checks of tires and under body for leaks a valet and that’s it . major service is same as interim/minor but includes air filter change(which I can do), brake fluid change and maybe diff change visual check of tires under body leaks, valet and that’s it. Any more things like brake pads, discs, and tyres are chargeable. But I tend to monitor these my self when am pumping my tires occasionally and if they due, I buy the parts and have them changed by trusted garage for a small fee and keep receipts and Invoices for proof. I personally find this process a more economical and cheaper way to run my Lexus as I know at 11 years old a dealer stamp wont add if any more value but want to keep it in top shape the way I like with the exact parts I prefer. :)

both IS models are nice to drive and responsive they are reliable with less to go wrong when maintained. they are not LS400 comfort but mine rides better than my mates 330Ci BMW and we both have 18" alloys. the engine is Toyota so will go as much K's as you want it to go if you change oil and fluids whens they due. I have driven both IS200(test drive) and IS300(current car). I will say it depends on what you want. if you dont care about speed and how fast it gets off the lights then go IS200 auto, IS200 manual is more quicker to 60mph and will build up speed quicker dues to having 6 gears compared to the auto's 4 gear ratios. IS300 is quicker than both and has tiptronic box, has more torque which makes rolling acceleration easy, quicker 0-60 and higher top end speed. havent done a lot of 0-60 acceleration in mine but i would place it at 7-7.5 seconds in real life. just go for one in good confdition with service histroy and less previous owners. all engines are 6 cylinder as you might already know so they consume fuel like any other 6 cylinder petrol powered car manufactured between 99-2005. we go my miles per gallon in UK and both IS200's achieve 20-21 mpg in town and 28-30mpg on combined motorway/town driving. IS300 achieves 18mpg in town and 26mpg in combined motorway/town driving. if you ask me there is not that much of a difference between the 2.0 litre and 3.0litre when it comes to consumption. e.g. if a full tank costs £80 to fill in the 2.0litre which gives you 400miles it will cost you another £10 to fill the 3.0litre up to travel the same distance of 400 miles but you will get there quicker in the process. if you are into modifying cars for looks and cruising then IS200 auto. if you are into modifying cars for looks and a little bit of speed then IS200 manual(you wont be smoking any Type R's in this tho). if you are not into modifying cars and want speed then IS300(This smokes a Type R, Saab Turbo's, most BMW's, most Merc and most Audi's). if you are into modifying cars for looks and serious speed then go IS300 with a Turbo(1000bhp is no problem if you have the cash to take it there). :) best is to take all 3 models for test drives and spend time with each and you can decide mate!!

1JZ-GTE or 2JZ-GTE engine swap but as said above it involves a lot more cash . some guys in US are runing V8 LS engine swaps into the IS chasis..but i went the easy way and got an IS300. it has enough speed in stock form and if you want to go turbo, check out the engine block the IS300's carry under them :winky:

As you might already know Lexus initially offered the I300 in only tiptronic/manumatic form as this box was good, worked well with the 2JZ engine and was responsive to kick down and strong so they probably felt a manual box was not needed but when it went on sale mostly in the US (biggest market), most hardcore manual lovers cried at Lexus for not having a manual version. the argument was, if they wanted to take on BMW 328i/330i they hard to bring a stick (manual) to the fight. so Lexus went back to the drawing board and released a manual version from 2002 onwards just for the US market to shut them up. apparantely lots of manuals did not even sell there after the cry out as most realised the auto box can handle more horse power through it than the manual when the engine is boosted and the manaul wasnt that smooth to shift. the rest of the world did not get manual IS300's in thier showrooms hence not in UK. not a lot of IS300's in UK either so would be surprised if we find a conversion here. And you know what? Lexus engineers got thier decisions right the first time because a test was carried out in US between the manual and the tiptronic and the manual was only 0.5 secs quicker from 0-62mph in real life and wasnt much quicker in slalom and top speed tests either compared to the tiptronic. I was and still am a hardcore manual box fun but I have come to realise it actually depends on the car you driving. e.g. I beleive cars like Mitsu Evo, Subaru Imprezza, Mazda MPS, Civic Type R, S2000 wear manual boxes well but cars like the Lexus IS-F,M5,AUDI S/RS's, AMG's, IS200/300, V8's wear tiptronics well and i think it boils down to how the engine delivers the power and transmission gearing. I have now realised manual boxes are not always powerful or shift quicker than tiptronics. havent driven a manual IS300 before so not sure how much fun it would be compared to the tiptronic but after driving a tiptronic now I have gained respect for these boxes I still love manuals as i believe it gives the driver more control of the car and are more reliable but mordern tiptronic boxes and DSG boxes are becoming more reliable and lasting longer, they are now making manuals slower and hardwork to drive :) . thought i was gona miss a manual box when i got the IS300 but am not. I think the tip suits the IS300 and transmits enough power for me to the rear wheels. :D in fact in M mode with ECT PWR activated gives me all the control i need without having to clutch down.

there are rumours of the next gen IS-F being a twin turbo rather than NA just like the latest M5. rumour has it the engine will be a bored out engine from the IS350 used in US/Japan which will take displacement to 4.0litre and then lower the compression ratio and stick two turbos to it.. just like Nissan GTR currenlty has in thier 3.8 V6 engine. my guess will be an easy 500 - 550 bhp from the Toyota/Yamaha engine. ....watch out M5 Lexus is coming for ya..

my oil change is not due untill another 2000 miles but Eurocarparts ar now doing 20% off on all oil at the mo so am being tempted to pick up an 8 litre Petronas Syntium 5w 30 . havent used these oils before but certified at API SM and ACEA A3/B4 these gives better engine protection and performance than than API SL Castrol magnatecs. Fuchs Titans Race Pros I currenlty have are ace but at a cost of £40 for 5 litre bottle.. and Euro car parts is only 2 miles from me so I can reserve and pick up rather than pay Opie for delivery.

eurocar parts opieoils tesco and Asda do oils these days and are reasonably priced

Yes i know what you mean but you also know what i mean about having a 340bhp car and not using the horses every now and again :winky: I do - but the worst bit is having the horses and not being allowed to play ;) if you drive a car like the S4 no one wants to play with you..you might get the occasional Saxo who thinks he has a fast car cus of a cat back sport exhaust but you wont find a lot of similar high peformance cars in your league to play with unless track days which makes it quite boring. so in a way having a high performance V8 is good but everyone gets scared and not bother! unlike mine which most think its an IS200 (No offence) from far and think they can bully until the Supra engine comes on 'cam' in M mode and humbles a few and i have had plenty :D

Yes i know what you mean but you also know what i mean about having a 340bhp car and not using the horses every now and again :winky:

sometimes i think why buy a high performance car and drive it with a light foot to get 60mpg?? everything about the car was designed to make it handle on the limit and fast. fast = high fuel consumption. A CT200h will give you the 60mpg and I bet you if you buy the S4 and do the lpg conversion you will not be driving the car to get 60mpg trust me. from the exhaust note to the engine note will urge you to put your foot down evertime .. its a 340bhp car so you will not be pampering this car for 60mpg otherwise there wont be a point having it in the first place.

hahaaaa you make me laugh matt haaaaha...i dont need a reactrack to know my car is a rapid machine its not an IS-F beater nor an RS6 beater either but it performs better that 70% of cars driven on UK roads on a daily basis. if in doubt ask the dude in Subaru RB270 yes a 270BHP impreza couldnt get away from this IS in a straigh line drag race. so I dont need a track to know the IS300 is a high performace car. fact that I have never driven on a racetrack does not mean the next man who was able to set the fastest lap on the Nurburgring track is able to do so if he has not driven in Silverstone track before becuse he will be in the same shoes as me.

I always fall victim.. maybe i should start ignoring from now on

++ 1 :D

It's a bit worrying how you are just creating silly situations in your head and pushing them across the board. First it's running over a child, than it's your trainers. Wait that's probably not dramatic enough so you've moved to carrying a baby wearing flip flops. Go easy on the negativity. You are just shooting blanks. When s hit happens it happens. If you are destined to hit a child or slip in the snow than I am sorry neither your winter tyres or your boots will prevent that from happening. Sure they might make you feel better about your ability to avoid such incidents. Some might suggest even make you over-confident enough to do something stupid that you wouldn't do if you were driving/walking cautiously because you had less faith in your tyres or shoes. Does that make sense? Am i getting through at all? We've already covered this but here it goes again. Just because you slipped in your trainers does not mean everybody else will. The rest of us may be a lot more sure footed than you are, more skilled at snow walking than you are, more observant of the pathway than you are. The list could go on... You get the point. ++++ 1 :D

Thank you PetayV8 thats all i was trying to drum in all along..

weight matt think weight..

i dont own an IS200 so i cant comment on that i own an IS300 and it has done the job so far without winter tyres. you have winter tyres and its doing the job ok I dont have winter tyres and its doing the job ok. we are both happy with our desicions we made thats what counts.

yes matt he should get rid of it because the IS's are better built than a C class anyway! and am not changing any subject here we are still on the winter / non winter tyre subject for starters i have proved snow button does work in wintery conditions i have proved summer tyres also works on a rear wheel driven car in wintery conditions. and forget your neighbour he should have got winter tyres or an IS300 if he noticed he lived up a hill i dont live near a hill but for the past couple of days i have driven locally to town and from work which invollved some hillish roads and its been fine. better build qualiyu and reliability alone should make your neighbour do the switch and the snow button will def help him too :-)

quote from my last paragragh 'so in a nutshell if one is able to adjust the way they drive in wintery conditions they will be able to get by fine, stop and move from a stop ok without needing winter tyres based on where they live and how far they adjusted thier driving styles to accomodate the condtions. Yes it wont be a 100% like when wearing winter tyres but one will be able to get by ok untill the snow clears' and I keep saying based on where one lives matt so driving on non winter tyres in winter is not for everyone but not everyone needs a winter tyre. who knows maybe i will be able to get up that hill ok but you neighbor in the c class wouldnt but we wont know untill its tested out. oh and comon sense should tell you thoses figures a rough figures and are not real its only an example which means if one is able to adjust thier driving styles to accomodate conditions they can get by without winter tyres its all about making the right judgements when driving in these conditons matt!

"Yes you do" what? Know everything? My IS isn't undriveable. Went out in it Friday, and yesterday. Coped perfectly fine, almost as if there isn't any snow at all Yes i do know whats best for me based on my own research and decisions i make on anything sometimes it might be the wrong decision but i do learn from it... this is simple!! its like back ache or a headache.. doctors and chemists recommend pain killers when one is showing these symptoms but one can get by without taking Panadol to ease the pain and they will still go on with thier daily routines... they wont feel a 100% but will still manage to get by untill the body healls its self . where as another person wont be able to get out of bed or function well untill they have taken some pain killers to ease the same level of pain the first patient was suffering. same like winter tyres... they will do the job 100% in the snow just like how Panadol will do the job to ease a backache and I am not disputting that fact but one can get by with non winter tyres in the same inches of snow as you have in Essex and not end up in a ditch just like the first backache sufferer who did not take the Panadol and managed to get by ok. all am saying is winter tyres in UK are not for everyone most people think they need one based on the belief or dare i say myth about all rear wheel driven cars being bad in snow but actually they dont need winters and can get by ok with thier summer tyres if they change the driving, throttle and steering style a little to accomodate the road/weather conditions based on where they live just as I have proved with results in my pictures today. Will winter tyres keep a car more safer in winter conditions compared to another car not wearing them? Absolutely yes and will again be based on ones location and how one drives e.g. if it takes you 10 feet to stop in the snow when doing 50mph without winter tyres and takes you 5 feet to stop in the snow when doing 50 mph with winter tyres but will take you 5 feet to stop in the same snow without winter tyres when you drop your travelling speed to 30mph that will still save you from knocking down that child crossing the road or running into the back of the car infront. this result was all because travelling speed was decreased by 20mph in the snow without winter tyres .. so in a nutshell if one is able to adjust the way they drive in wintery conditions they will be able to get by fine, stop and move from a stop ok without needing winter tyres based on where they live and how far they adjusted thier driving styles to accomodate the condtions. Yes it wont be a 100% like when wearing winter tyres but one will be able to get by ok untill the snow clears. and lets be honest here there will be situations or inches of snow where winter tyres becomes useless anyway.

yes i do matt.. feel free to pm me a street name where your IS is undrivable near essex and i might just surprise you!!

hence i said it 'DEPENDS ON WHERE ONE LIVES' matt. learn to read posts first before jumping into assumptions. I even mentioned in my previous post about winters doing the job better in snow as thats what they a designed for but depending on where one lives, one can get by just ok in a rear wheel driven car wearing high performance grippy summer tires with good tread which handles wet weather aswell.