ChrisIS200SportTTE

Stay as close to ET50 as you can. On my old 200 I ran 8.5j 18's ET 42 with 225/40/18 tyres. No rubbing or arch work needed on standard sport suspension but if you're gonna slam it on coilovers then I think you'll need to roll the arches to avoid rubbing.

Tank is 70 litres Pete ;)

Hi and welcome to LOC. I never managed more than 25mpg in 2 years of ownership with my IS200 manual day to day driving (town+ motorway mix) My average according to my fuelly account was 24.something mpg. Maybe touched 28 a couple of times on long motorway runs. This is not a fuel efficient car.

Yeah low coolant or trapped air in the system. Check your coolant level

Hi and welcome :) I just directed you to the Facebook IS200 page. You might get some more help there. :)

For me it's the looks Pete. Nothing from the same age range looks as good as a first gen IS to my eye. :)

Good stuff mate :) Ganesh (lexIS200Sport) did a road trip around Europe in his taking in 5 countries or something and his didn't miss a beat either :)

Hi and welcome to LOC :)

What system is installed mowcedes?

That's what I'm thinking and that's prob what it is. But we had somebody ask the same question on another forum and we told them it's normal steam from condensation and a couple of days later his CAT collapsed.

Tough to say mate, so if you drove say 50 miles the smoke would still be present and quite thick when stationary? Does the car drive ok? Does it sound ok? Does it sound as if something is blocked? I'm thinking CAT? If you are really concerned mate then take it to be looked at by a mechanic and if you know a friendly garage that does MOT's you could ask them to quickly put yours on the emissions tester to see if it passes or not. You'll know then if it's ok or not. Maybe post a quick vid up of your smoke? See what other members and other 250 owners make of it.

It's normal to always want more. Myself and my wife have taken a new look on life in the last couple of years. Before we were obsessed with money, we bought a house and saved like crazy. But we were not happy. So we sold the house, I became self employed so I could work as little or as much as I like. My wife is still in her job as she likes it. I got rid of my new car (08 plate honda at the time) and bought a 10 year old IS200 to free up more funds. So we now enjoy life, we take 6-8 holidays abroad per year, I bought an IS300 as I'd always wanted one lol, she buys shoes, handbags etc and we live with the philosophy that as long as we have a roof over our head and food in our cupboards/fridge then we are blessed and life is good :)

Hi and welcome to LOC :) If it's performance gains you want then you need deep pockets I'm afraid. Forced induction so turbo (£5k+) or supercharger (£2k but they are getting cheaper, saw one go for £1600) Other engine mods won't increase your power. Lots of things you can do cosmetically such as TTE/TRD body kits, halo lights, lowering (coilovers aren't cheap and watch the lower ball joints, lot of strain put on them when lowered) Nice set of wheels etc etc :)

6 cylinder cars do give off a lot if smoke/steam when the engine is cold and it's cold outside it may appear more. If it's a clear steam then it's pretty normal, just water evaporating off the exhaust. if it's thick white or blue then it's time to be concerned. Does it disappear after a good run in the car and it's warm or is it smoking all the time? My IS300 and my 200 before it smoked/steamed loads in the winter but after a few miles and the car is warm it completely disappears.

Why do you think you need a new rack? I see they go for anything between £50-150 on eBay but that's second hand or refurbished. I dread to think what the cost would be for a new one fitted from Lexus, quite a few ££££'s I should imagine. Swapping it isn't a massive job, couple of hours labour I should imagine

Hi mate and welcome. TTE didn't do side skirts, just front and rear bumpers. Side skirts are TRD. Enjoy your car :)

That's good to know Ian cos I was gonna do my rear lights same as the front! Thanks mate!!

Don't have anything else on your car key? I don't anyway after I had a key snap in the barrel once on a honda. Got told it was because if all the other keys attached to it weighing down on it

Yes you can. Involves putting them in a low heat oven to soften the glue.... Bit tricky but not too hard

I want a ride in the ISF lol

Just get a new cluster from a breakers mate.... Cheap enough nowadays and 5 mins to swap them over :)

Hi and welcome :) Common probs :- Leaky boot (as you know) Leaky windscreen if not original so stress to the fitter doing your new one these a prone to leaking after replacement and it'll leak into your footwell fuse box totally messing up the electrics. Sticky/seizing front callipers (very very common so check for any steering wheel vibration under braking or any hot smelling brakes or your front wheels getting stupidly hot) Lower front ball joints. I've had to replace these on both my IS200 at 90k and my IS300 at 76k

Hi and welcome to LOC. £200 is cheap for a cambelt, normally around £350 with tensioner and idler (you really must change these at the same time, seen a few brand new cambelts chewed up by old tensioner) £1800 is about top whack for one if these with your mileage, even a sport. I've seen some go for as low as £1000 with less mileage than yours. But so what? You're happy and you have a great car :) hope you enjoy the forum.

eBay and bypass mate, it's easy. Do a search and there's loads of info in fitting a double din. :) Oh and Gruntfuggly, swapping the buttons around is on my to do list. Apologies for late reply, missed your post :)

Can't argue with that^ spot on. People go stupid over diesels here and let's face it....nobody makes a diesel better than ze Germans