noby76

Is that it? thought you were more interesting than that..

Hey matt...if having less torque was a disadvantage then this almighty 3.2 litre E46 M3 with 365NM of torque should have walked all over this 2 litre 208NM Honda S2000 round this track..even if this Honda was tuned it wont be much as I cant hear a turbo or Supercharger whistling under that bonnet.

Yep!! if it means you have to pull the door handle aswell just to double check before walking away! but no matter how secure a car is, car thiefs will always be one step ahead if they know what they doing.

I dont think you read my previous post! and i quote "sure does depend on what one is comparing and i was comparing equal cubic capacity and equal power output" power is power regardless of the aspiration or fueling so a: 2.0L 187bhp Turbo diesel is equal to a naturally aspirated 2.0L 187bhp and both are also equal to a Turbo charged petrol 2.0L making 187 bhp. why do i say this?? Regardless of thier differing torque figures based on thier aspiration and fueling design be it kicking in at low down rpm, or at mid rpm, or at high rpm all three engines will be making enough Torque to yeild 187bhp at the crank. but who ever makes it high up the rpm range tends to gain an advantage hence car manufactures lean thier sports cars towards petrol powered cars due to thier revving nature and light weight engine construction.

boost the IS200 lighty to add another 34bhp to the existing 153 and you have apples. the power delivery, torque figures and gearing can be classified as apples and oranges but they will both yield the same result. let me make it easier for you. to get to london you could either get on the M25 or the M1 there will be a time in your journey when on the M1 whereby you limited to slow driving due to road works then speed picks up. M25 journey will be a breeze from start but will slow down during the last 10 miles. so you will get to London either way but can achive it in two different ways.

sure does depend on what one is comparing and i was comparing equal cubic capacity and equal power output which makes them both apples but the way they go about delivering that power could be classified as apples and oranges.

BM's do really feel like a drivers car as I have driven a mates 330Ci couple of times but too common on the roads for my liking. and No the Celica wont be trotting behind either we all know the Celica will take a 0-60 shoot out against you due to its light weight. and when it comes to rolling start acceleration, the BM will take the lead with its huge torque but Celica will start catching up slowly with its higher revs and gearing the Celica driver wont feel the torque but will be going just as fast. in a nut shell gearing a car which makes most of its peak torque at higher revs helps it multiply its torque to the wheels because the engine is turning faster at higher revs so its doing twice the work of a lower revving car. I mean think about this, if a diesels high torque figure was soo important Lexus would have given thier F lines big 5.0litre deisel engines, BMW would have given M5 and M3 diesel engines, Audi would have done the same with thier RS's and Mercs with thier AMG lines and the list goes on . there is something about petrol powered cars which gives them an advatage over Turbo diesels regardless of the huge torque they make. dont get me wrong I'm not knocking deisel cars as in the right place and right time(rpm) they can be very very rapid but the fact that they pack huge torque figures does not make them superior over another car making the same bhp. off topic: but do you know modern day F1 engines make less than 300NM of torque? thier power advantage lies in the 15,000 + rpm they rev to which multiplies the small torque using gearing to get them to pull harder and quicker than a Buggatti Veyron.

OK take a factory petrol 1.8t Saab 93 note:(its actually a 1998cc 2.0litre) it makes 147bhp hits 60 in 9secs and top speed is 135mph. and guess what a stock factory diesel 320d (its actually a 1995cc 2.0litre) makes 147bhp hits 60 in 8.6 secs and top speed is 135mph. the saab generates 240nm and the BMW 330nm and regardless of the BM making 90NM more one can say they will perform evenly when put head to head along side one another which makes both cars apples. and every car enthusiast knows petrol always wins so I wont be surprised if the Saab with even a 90NM disadvantage gets to 135mph first.

show me a non turbo charged 320d which comes from BMW factory. a 2.0litre 150bhp turbo diesel car is equivalent to a 2.0litre 150bhp turbo petrol car yes thier power, torque and gearing will be delivered differently but they can be classified as all apples and not apples and oranges. Yes how a car performes is more to do than just the bhp and torque figures at what rpms. Yet, the figures on paper gives one an indication of what to expect of the car performance wise. and I know cars deliver power in different ways hence i gave an example to Mikey's IS comment using the Celica 187bhp and remapped 320d 187bhp to bring to attention that the 400NM on paper torque figure for the remaped 320d doesnt make it superior over a less torquey car; say a 180NM on paper figure of Celica making the same bhp cus once you start disecting the figures and characteristics with ingredients like gearing, diffs, weight and handling dynamics a car which does not look good on paper will end up performing better depending on how or where the car is used. but a 320d sure does make it drivable from low to mid rpms tho not forgetting the fuel efficiency.

apples and oranges is when comparing a 1 litre to a 3 litre car a 320d is a turbo charged diesel an IS200 turbo will also be a Turbo charged petrol all having identical cubic capacity(2.0litre) so certainly not comapring apples and oranges here. Like they always say 'It is better to make torque at higher rpms because you can take advantage of (aggresive) gear ratios'. but saying that depends one what one wants from a car some prefer to 'drive the car' i.e rev and hear the engine and others prefer the less revvy but torquey car so both characteristics ve thier advantages and disadvantages. quoting figures is not an obession but is to make things easier for others who might not know and if you do know all you have to do is ignore it thats all. was pointing to the fact that high tourque figure is not everything when it comes to performance of a car but Torque its self is certianly needed when it comes to performance of a car.

Chuck a turbo or Supercharger in the IS200 and the remaped 320d will end up back at square one(slow) performance wise. most people forget its not the amount of torque which is generated at the crank of an engine but its the amount of torque generated at high rpms coupled with gear ratios and final drives thats most important. Turbo diesels make astonishing Torque figures but thier gearing and unwillignes to rev quickly hinders them when it comes to top end power. e.g. my IS300 makes only 290NM torque but its able to keep up and pass 3.0 TDI 500NM torque Audi's and BMW's and yes those dudes had thier foot down, the diesels will tend to pull away from around 1500 rpm to about 3000rpm but past that the IS300 catches up when they have run out of puff at higher rpms and pulls away and those drivers wonder why??A 187bhp 180NM torque Toyota Celica will be as fast and will pull as fast as a 187bhp 400nm torque remaped 320d BMW why?? becuase horse power figure is derived from Torque against time(rpm) so to not go into details the Celica will only need 180NM of torque and different gear ratios to make 187bhp at 7600rpm and the 320d BMW will need 400NM of tourque to make the same 187bhp at a low 4000-4500rpm but the 320d driver will feel like he has a fast car from 1500rpm to around 3000rpm until the Celica hits 5500rpm and above. And what makes it very interesting is the horsepower being generated by the engine at the various rpms. the formula for calculating horsepower is always [ft.lb x rpm / 5252].now lets punch some figures into this formula. so lets say the remapped 320d 187bhp makes 400NM(295 ft.lb) at 2000rpm which is the same rpm as the non remaped version to keep things equal. so power generated at the engine is 295 x 2000 / 5252 = 112 bhp. now a stock 187bhp Celica makes a very very small 180NM(133 ft.lb) at 6800rpm so power generated at engine is 133 x 6800 / 5252 = 172 bhp . all of a sudden a less torquey car is pulling extremely hard from 6800rpm with high bhp being generated by the engine.

The handbrake location is not close to the driver but that doesnt mean one cannot get the perfect drift as demonstrated with this stock TTE IS200 i think more practice will crack it.

I dont think the location of the handbrake in the IS/Altezza is that bad when compared to the couple of inches you want to move it to yes there will be a gain in terms of drifting reaction times when its located more closer to the drivers side of the center console rather than the passengers side of the center console and when measured from side to side, the difference wont be any more than 5 inches apart so I think it will take someone who is extremly slow in reaction times not to reach for the handbrake in time at its currenlt location when drifting but then again drifting is a sport and all equipments needed for a good drift needs to be accesible conveniently to the driver to get the perfect drift so if moving the location to your desired location will yeild the perfect drift with regards to your reaction times then by all means do it and post pics and step by step process for others who might want to swap thier hand brake location aswell. but its certanly not a Toyota/Lexus design flaw as thier designers would have stumbled on this during the center console design faze the IS was desinged to satisfy all markets and in the US they really make a big fuss about thier cup holder location so my guess would be Lexus/Toyota wanted to keep them happy by placing the cup holders next to the driver side and moving the handbrake to the other end as that will be rarely used during driving comapred to reaching out for a Soda when driving on a daily basis. so my gues will be Lexus/Toyota had to compromise on this to keep thier biggest market "US" happy.

nice!! you wont have any problems carrying the straight line speed round tight corners now..

if am to upgrade and stay Lexus then MK2 GS430 for me or monster ISF if the budget permits!! if am ever going to go back to a manual car then Mazda MPS AWD with almost 400NM on tap at a low 3000rpm this thing has a grunt of a V8. Jaguar XF's have a presence on the road that BM's and Mercs even Audi's dont have any more but one will always question the relibilty of a Jag which is a personal priority for me when looking for a car.

I think it might be where one lives as I could sometimes go for months without seeing an IS and am on about the MK1's ...depends on what one is looking for in a car and in my case was reliability and rareness as the Lexus was a breath of fresh air over the German counter parts and rode more comfortable than my mates 330i which makes me think BM sacrifised comfort for the extra handling dynamics.. go for what ever ticks your boxes

must admit i used to be a beemer man aswell and had a 520i briefly but over heated on me ounce on the motor way being a high mileage 180,000 miles cost me lots of money that time to put things right and didnt enjoy driving it since then, as i kept on thinking something might go wrong again! but then again it was 180,000 miles so things were bound to go wrong. my mate has the 330i E46 coupe and i must say the OEM exhaust on that car is sweet the start up and moving from a stop is superb you feel like you driving a sports car. i have driven it a couple of times and even drove it yesterday to town with him. and there are a couple of differences compared to my IS3 firstly every thing feels kinda heavy from opening and closing the doors, inside feels good but nothing special and the steering feels like its connected to the front tires so gives good feedback to the driver than my IS3 but i get in my IS3 after driving his and mine feels lighter the strange thing is his 330i Coupe weighs lesser than my 1500kg IS3 so my guess will be Lexus went for overboosted steering design compared to the BM. also raced a guy a while back in; you guessed it, a 330i coupe and that car handled like a go cart round corners I was behind so saw the handling for my self. for the first time i couldt keep up round bends but was not using M mode to pick and select the right gears round bends but now i know how to use it . the E46's both saloon and coupe sit even more lower than IS200/300 sport so that always gives them superior handling in very tight corners than IS's but drop the IS300 another 15mm to match the 330i ride height and thats handling sorted but will spoil ride comfort. Beemers/Audi's are good cars but too common on the roads for me. if you commute on the motorway like i do you will know what i'm talking about. I have only seen 1 IS300 since i owned mine in January so that alone speaks volume as i like something rare but others go for what everyones driving; i don't. when it comes to tuning you are already aware of the 2JZ's potential under the IS300 the beemers M54B30 engine can be boosted aswell but i think it cost way more and IS300 is Jap so they hardly break even with high mileage tho if one maintaince the BM/Audi they will give the same service and be relaible aswell. I would say drive all three cars IS300, 330i and 3.0 A4 really well and you can decide. was torn between the exact 3 cars and IS300 won for me for the sheer fact that it was Jap(reliability) and wasnt common on UK roads tho I see more IS200's they are still a rare sight compared to BM's and Audi's.

same here i use the paddles for when am in the mood for a more sporty driving and the strange thing is, in M or in the case of IS250 S mode the throttle is more sharper than in D mode and the sound of the engine gets a bit more throatier. M or sport mode is good for when one wants to pick the highest gear they deserve so say for example you are braking for a round about or bend in D mode the ECU might only drop the gears downfrom 5th to 3rd or even 4th depending on your throtle peddle position which wont be ideal to put more torque to the wheels when exiting out of the bend but if in M mode and you have the same scenario you would be able to manually put the car into 2nd when braking for the bend which translates to more torque when existing out of it. it basically gives one the freedom to use the transmission like a manual but without having to clutch down. and the good thing is it wont let you abuse the box if the speed you traveling at is more than the transmision can handle it wont drop down so when doing say 70mph and you try to select 2nd gear in M or sport mode, it wont do it but will allow 4th or maybe 3rd gears and i think it also automatically shifts at redline even when in manual mode to save one from over revving the car.

Just go for what you want IS250 has just over 200bhp so it wont be a slow car but if you used to evo or STI performance then it will be a step down but its more refined quiet and comfortable than EVO or STI's but then agan those two cars are in a different class to Lexus IS so no need to compare them. if IS250 is well in your budget and you like it go for it and do it up the way you want. more after market parts like bodykits, exhaust etc will have to be ordered from US or Japan though.

take it to the tracks and give it what it wants :D !! looks like a track car

since no faults have been found have you thought of running the car on higher octane fuel?? all high octane fuels include high concentrate of cleaning additives which cleans the whole engine system from the fuel tank to valves to injectors etc might be carbon/deposit build up over time from the previous owner which is robbing the engine from returning good if not better mpg! worth runing 2-3 tank fulls of high octane fuels then switch back to regular and see if mpg improves.

Which means money well spent on the Apexi then .

American fuel ratings are calculated differently they use the average of RON and MON so averages slightly lower than just the RON ratings used in UK but the quality is the same. US 91 AKI = UK 95-96 RON US 93 AKI = UK 98 RON US 94 AKI = UK 99-100 RON US 87 AKI = 91RON not sold in UK. Lexus is mapped to run on minimum 91 AKI which is UK 95-96RON though it could run on lesser RON octane its not advisable to use that grade of fuel for a longer duration of time if one wants to save his/her engine. if one drives a car which cannot take the benefits of higher ron fuels then using it is a waste of money but in the case of this GTI there is 5bhp to be made if Shell or Esso Supreme is used instead of Asda unleaded.if you are into mods, invest in a high flow panel filter or Induction kit for another 5 bhp and thats a total 10 bhp yeilded from the same car. if one is not bothered about performance then standard fuel is fine but i personally think Shell and Esso know what they are doing when it comes to refining the base fuel with additives. might be the fact that i watch too much F1 and the two most succesful teams use those fuels even though its not the same compound sold at the pumps! I might be a sucker after all :D. but seriously most people have experieced countless issues be it rough idling, noisier engines, non responsive, failed emissions, slow to start and the list goes on from using supermarket fuels so for the sake of a couple of pence i will give my engine the best fuel it deserves and it will serve me well. will boil down to personal preference i guess.

Just get an ISF which already packs nearly 420bhp and wont need tuning as everything is there or get a late model IS300 which has a Toyota Supra engine block and Turbo it I think club founder called Monster Matt can help if you want to take this route. if you go for the IS250 you can drop in a panel filter or induction kit and cat back exhaust for the more sporty throaty sound than a huge bhp increase. you might get some increase from those two mods but wont be anything you will feel on the road.

yes I'm aware they are all the same 95 ron and come from the same refinery but what differentiates them is the cleaning additives. the better the cleaning additive compund the smoother the car runs and the better it will combust and perform. so as DJP confirmed his engine wasnt liking the fuel compounds/additives from the supermarket he filled up at went back to shell and everything was as smooth as Lexus intended. its just like Apple juice they are all sold on the same shelf and both marketed as refreshment beverages which meets food safety quality laws but if you look closely there our ones labled as 'From Concentrate' and ones labled as 'Not from Concentrate' though the body will still function ok when both are taken in, the 'Not from Concentrate' juice is the healthy option as it contains less beverage chemicals same applies to fuels they all meet 95ron spec but will differ in thier chemical cleaning additives .