noby76

Hi Guys, cant beleive this...some d***k head couldnt resist admiring my 10year old Lexus they had to break the driver side wing mirror !! Guys, after 12 years since IS release these cars are still admired.. not sure what they wanted to achieve. strange thing was both mirrors were closed using the electric close button on the door panel which tells me it was done delibrately!! Anyway after running to both Asda and halfords and buying two different brands of adhesive glue to try and patch it back up has been unsuccesful so I guess I will need a replacement. I do recall some one posting how to remove the wing mirror from the door but cant seem to find the post..will someone be kind and send me the link on how to do this. Thanks guys

I have used both of these guys for fliud changes and spark plugs http://www.albinbmotors.co.uk/ speak to Kevin http://www.toyotec.co.uk/ speak to Russel Jem Lexus seems reasonable pricing wise as you can get a quote online but havent used them yet http://www.jemlexus.co.uk/

I dont want to resurrect this thread from the dead. but I never said my IS300 left the M5 for dead. I said I managed to hang on in front of him on the M1 sure there were obstacles (other cars) on the road so we were both being extra carefull not to put anyone in danger. on a clear open road the IS300 in stock will stand no chance unless its boosted (turbo'd) . all I meant was for a claimed 500bhp vehicle i was expecting to be blown away from mid range acceleration but the IS held it all the way to 135mph and we both backed out. so for sure a stock 2JZ stands no chance from say a 0 -60 start but mid range acceleration the M5 wasnt far away from sight. watch videos of stock M5's being dynoyed and you will see they put out between 360 to 440 bhp again M5 makes a maximum of 520NM of torque at a high 6100rpm and IS300 makes around 290NM at a low 3800rpm so if we both accelerate from 60mph'ish which was were we roughly started,the IS300 will be spining at around 2500rpm were as M5 being a 5 liter will probably be spining around 1750rpm at that cruising speed, M5 would have roughly the same amount of tourque at the wheels as IS300 around those mid range speeds of 60mph but will continue to make torque all the way to 6100rpm were it peaks. hence i was able to keep up from that speed of acceleration when we both strated. but I am under know illlusion to definately think a 3 litre will kick a 5 litres with 4 more cylinders azz when it comes to accelaration so at some point I knew IS300 will run out of puff if we still carried on but we were both sensible to slow down and not to endanger anyone else on the road. hope this clears things up guys..

pop into your local Toyota garage and they might read ECU for free if you ask nicely will save you the hassle of tryna second guess what might be wrong. might either be a sensor or fuse as the car is still drivable but best to check...

just had a look at thier website and not too sure to be honest. for starters there is no contact phone number to speak to someone if you have a query only e-mail. There is no company registration number or a form of VAT registered number on the site either so you will have a tough time getting a refund should something go wrong with your order. you can take the chance on them but i personally will try these guys http://www.cheaptoyotaparts.co.uk/latest/buy-toyota-lexus-parts-and-save if they are unable to help then try ebay or as an end result bite the bullet and go with Lexus dealer.

Hi robbie although i dont know the prices of fitting a new head gasket you can maybe take the chance on the cheaper option by just having a new thermostat fitted and see if the engine will hold together. but if not then head gasket will be the way....

Jamalaya is happy :hocus-pokus: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=77570&pid=780616&st=0entry780616

well said... Sterling I would say drive both maybe ask the dealer if they are willing to let you have each car for a week so spend a week with the diesel and week with the petrol then you can make up your mind on what best suits you. at the end of the day its your money. hope this helps

hi Gordon check this out. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=is200+key&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Hi Kenny, Diesels will always save a bit of money compared to its petrol equivalent but there are other things to put into consideration. Diesel cars are more expensive to buy than their petrol equivalent, am guessing the IS220 will not be as refined as the IS250 in terms of cabin noise on day to day driving. IS220 only comes with manual and IS250 could have manual or tiptronic(manumatic). Deiseld are slightyly more expensive to service than petrol and if things like an injector fails on a diesels could cost around £500 to £1000 to replace which wipes out any savings made from fuel expense. Petrol powered cars tend to perfom better top end than their diesel equivalent. Diesels tend to shine only on motorway driving so if 80 to 90% of your driving will be town driving then you might not save as much by driving a diesel as their heavier than petrol engines. Turbos have to be replaced on a diesel at some point which cost around £1000 to £1500 put will not have to be replaced on a naturally aspirated petrol(IS250) So there are other factors to consider when deciding to go petrol or diesel other than the stated combined MPG figures, like initial price of the car, servicing cost, refinement of the car, performance, repair cost etc …

We never buy a 6 cylinder highis revving engine to get 50mpg. The maximum one can get from any 6 cylinder petrol engine is 35 – 38 mpg on combined cycle when driven sensibly i.e 50 to 65 mph on motorway. If you want a better fuel economy you might as well have the car lpg converted but you might have to work out the initial cost against how many miles you do or how long you looking to keep the vehicle. You could also improve your mpg by making sure the car is running on good clean engine oil e.g Castrol magnatec, Mobil , Shell 5W 30’s , make sure the air filter is nice and clean if its dirty replace it, get new spark plugs if the ones you currently got our past their best as by giving the engine a good air flow and big spark doesn’t put strain on the engine which results in less fuel being needed to get the car moving, use good fuel. No matter how cheap super market fuels are I personally stay away from them. I use Esso(Mobil) or Shell religiously and run it on higher octane for a full month every now and again to clean the engine, injectors and fuel system. make sure all four tyres are well balanced and are inflated to the correct psi (33 - 35) as under inflated tyres causes imbalance to the car and can drink fuel. I achieve around 24mpg in town driving and 33mpg on combined driving in my IS300 which is higher than what the book state of 18mpg in town and 26mpg on combine cycle. But if you really want to achieve any thing in the region of 40 – 50 mpg then a 6 cylinder petrol won’t cut it. You might have to look at diesel or hybrid for that.

Like they always say Lexus engines are like fine wine they get better with miles so even a car with 150,000 miles on it has only done about half its life. People say manual transmissions break before Lexus engines so long as one changes the oil every 10,000 miles they can do an equilvalent of trip(distance) to the moon 234,000 miles on same gearbox, clutch and exhaust (if maintained). Mine had 104,000 miles when i got it and doesnt struggle to hit 130mph which is the max i have taken it but I sense it can go past the stated 140mph as at 130 the revs was at 4750rpm so it still had 1500rpm to go... mileage is nothing on a Lexus engine if maintained.

some Vanilla ice will do me... and am not on about the 90's r&b star for those old enough to know him lol

Hi mate, although i have stopped tampering with whats under the bonnet of my cars and tend to leave my engines standard these days, all Lexus engines are good and built tough the 1G-FE in the IS200 can take a supercharger nicely to boost power to about 215 bhp without changing internals and transmision but will obviously cost you some ££'s or you can uprade to Lexus/Toyotas best kept secret!! a 2JZ-GE which has powered the legendary Supra and Lexus wanted some so asked for it in the IS300 and with this engine, you can send 500 bhp to the rear wheels by turbo charging it without changing internals of the engine. the stock automatic gearbox can handle 400bhp easily but might need slight changes to go further to 500 but yet still 400bhp is ISF teritory. So as you can see the engine and drive train in the IS300 is a MONSTER!! in a nut shell, 1G-FE in IS200 will limit you to 220 bhp maximum due to having an economy head and valves and engine in IS300 can take you to bhp's exceeding over 700bhp due to having Yamaha built Sports head and Sports Cams/valves if you want to go mad with it... PS. IS300 (2JZ) even in stock still rubs shoulders with some high end performance cars which has surprised both myself and the drivers of those cars..hope this helps with your decision!!

Though i dont own an LS, It depnds on what you are looking for. if you put comfort first before performance then LS400 will be the way forward and I think the MK4's were 5 speed box compared to the earlier ones. but if you put performance/handling first before comfort then GS430 will do the job as both cars are similar in performance but the GS has been setup towards handling and LS for comfort and quiet drive hence GS's have low profile tires were as LS's dont.

would advise booking it into an Independet Lexus specialist to have it code read and also change the gearbox oil fluid. cost me £209 at Albin B motors to have transmission oil , differencial and brake fluids drained and refilled when i bought mine for peace of mind. if you are using any other garage for this make sure they use Toyota Type T IV fluid as any other oil will damage the transmission. If possible buy the fluid fropm Toyota yourself and take it to the garage to have this done. £62 I was quoted for a 5 litre from Toyota Luton. http://www.albinbmotors.co.uk/html/about_us.html speak to Kevin

mine did this for a while and had a full wheel balance and geometry done by wheels in motion and has cured it. £129 all in.. so i would get the balancing done first and if this does not solve it then look into throwing money into doing the warped discs or seized calipers etc..

I think essential care service will not include somethings that a full service would hence the price difference and a Lexus Stamp will phycologically look better to the eye than a toyota one when you come to sell it on but effectively will be the same service as both dealers will use the same parts. so I would first find out from dealers the extra I will be getting if i went for full service over Essential care service and you can then make that decision. hope this helps

you might have bought the odd IS250 with problems as anything from toyota are of good quality but from some stories i've read about the mark 2 IS makes me think the Mark 1 IS was built better and over engineered than the Mark 2... I think Toyota is trying to go down the merc and bmw route by trying to cut cost to shift more sales which is a shame!! think I might also keep my mark 1 IS300 as long as possible as it looks like they are better built than the Mark 2's ... if you get bored of the ford you can always get a late(2004) Mark 1 IS200/300 as thier engines are really strong and can handle very high miles.

though I dont own any of the Lex you interested in, every car has its problems be it electrics or mechanical but some manufacturers are worser than others so you cant escape bumping into an issue at some point in a cars lifespan. an IS is geared for a more sporty drive where as a GS is for more luxury so it really depends on your initial budget and running cost. I think a hybrid will not be cheap if anything fails but then again Lexuses hardly go wrong anyway (if maintained). the GS450h will be more powerful than the IS250 being a 3.5 litre so if performance is really your thing the GS will hold its own but am guessing the 250 will hold its own aswell. the GS450h will be more refined than the 250. so if you not worried about 0-62 times or top speed but want something nice to cruise in then IS250 will do the job but if you want something which can keep an M5 in sighte the GS450h can and will also return good MPG...Its your call really!!

All the best mate, fords are good reliable cars had a 1.25 fiesta zetec and run it for 2 years and this thing never broke on me.. also had a 10 yr old Ford Cougar 2.5 V6 for about a year and 8 months and the only major issue it had was alternator but besides that it never broke down and had some guts(performance) aswell. although thay dont have the luxury as a Lex fords are easy cars to live with if maintained well. ST220 is in my books if i decide to go back to ford but am loving IS300 at the mo.

oh ok..i misunderstood you there!!

try ringing Lexus near you and get the belt part number and maybe Eurocar parts might have it in stock. but i dont think its advisable to drive or start the car with a damaged timing belt.

wow hence i take my time when buying a car these days and normally ask the seller/dealer permission for me to fuel at least a gallon(£7) of petrol so i do both short and long open road drives to see if everything is still working and holding together before i commit to buy.

used Lexus MK for my cambelt , drive belt,idler, tensioner and coolant change and came to £488 thought that was resonable but car wasnt washed when i picked it up... i'll say dependes on the job which needs doing as Lexus Bham quoted me £550 for the same job.