matt-c

I think that's actually a replica of the Legana bumper (like the one in my avatar), not the TRD, but good find anyway!

I wish I'd held off buying one till I'd seen that go up and see what it finishes for. I bought one at the beginning of the week from Ormi (a user here and on OJC) and should be getting it Mon or Tues after someone is very kindly bringing it back from JAE this weekend. Hopefully to make me feel better, this one will sell for more than I paid :D (on the plus side, although I paid a fair bit for the one I bought, I know it's come from a decent member, rather than a random ebayer, will be in great condition and have every nut, bolt, and part I need for it)

No offence to Martin, because I haven't seen his car, but here's a 54k IS300 LE (2005) for under £4k - http://www.autotrade.../1500?logcode=p 2004, 89k, IS300 LE for £3900 - http://www.autotrade.../1500?logcode=p Or £3250 for a 59k 2002 - http://www.autotrade.../1500?logcode=p

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-IS200-99-05-Armrest-/230848422677?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35bfa36315 Not mine, just spotted while browsing. Has the 12v socket in it too

The other option is to buy a 1G-GTE lump (2L twin turbo from an old Supra or Soarer, which are 210bhp as standard, and from what I've read, more or less drop straight in (since the IS200 has a 1G-FE as standard, it's the same mounts, etc), and then tune that up - I'd say easy 300bhp from a few not too hefty upgrades. That'd still cost you a few grand, but probably cheaper than a turbo conversion on the stock lump. Alternatively, sell the IS200, buy an IS300 (211bhp N/A as standard). And if you already have an IS300 (which you might as I just noticed your location is not UK and you linked to eBay.com, then you can swap the stock 2JZ-GE N/A engine for a 2JZ-GTE twin turbo engine from a Supra (again, more or less drops right in) and we know how far these engines can be pushed! Although that depends on how deep your pockets are. But again, 300bhp is pennies on a stock 2JZ-GTE, since they are more or less 280bhp as standard

^ This. More people would be chipping, and breathing the IS in and out if they offered noticeable performance mods. The IS engine is a pretty inefficient engine and doesn't respond well to tuning, which is a shame since it's a pretty strong engine (turbocharging a stock IS200 1G-FE lump can yield results of 280bhp!) Problem is, as Ben said, turbocharging and supercharging isn't cheap; a TTE supercharger kit costs about £2k used, and only gives about 50bhp - not much of a result for the money. Turbocharging gives better results, as mentioned, but costs more. For that 280bhp, don't expect much change from £5k But man would 280bhp be fun in an IS!!

The direction a sub faces shouldn't make a difference, since a mono bass speaker is omni-directional, unlike a mid or tweeter that is directional and has to be placed correctly for focus. If changing it's direction changes the volume, then the amp or crossover settings are wrong. Still, looks very cool with it peeping out the ski hatch

Shoot them a mail and ask them? It's a nice looking kit, and if it delivers the 56% power increase (~85bhp, taking it up to 230-240bhp) that'd be nice. I'd leave the dumpvalve off tho...

I'd agree with that. For example, take Rage Against The Machine's debut, self titled record. Renowned by audio enthusiasts and pro engineers the world over as one of THE best recordings ever. I know many engineers that use this record as a bench mark for setting up both live and studio speakers, desks, amps etc. I was working with one guy doing FOH, and we were playing something or other through the PA getting the levels right, and he says to me "It sounds like somethings not there, I wonder if this system has an in line compressor?" So he put this album on, and within three seconds said "Yep, there's a compressor turned on somewhere". 5 mins later, compressor found and turned off ;) But compare that CD to a 320k mp3 rip, and there's a huge difference - the same difference we were hearing with the compressor turned on. But records like that aren't common place, especially these days, where the trend is now to compress the hell out of it and "brickwall" the dynamics. Good examples of this are the Chili Pepper's "Californication" - which was one of the records that sparked the "loudness war" - the 1997 remaster of The Stooges "Raw Power" and Metallica's latest album, "Death Magnetic". Add to that, that even if you spend top dollar on transport, processing and speakers, you are NEVER going to get true audiophile status, or even close to it, in a car. It simply will not work. True quality comes not just from the components, but also the listening space, and a car with it's badly placed and angled speakers, improper airspace for those speakers, blunt soft obstacles and panels of glass to bounce the sound back, is not the proper environment to listen to music. You can spend thousands on an amp, thousands on transport (such as a CD deck or top level turntable) and twice as much on speakers, hundreds and hundreds on cabling, set it all up at home. But a system that costs half as much, in a room suited to it, will perform twice as good.

Well, back from WIM and impressed with their service. Nice bunch of guys, nice clean workshop. Took the car in straight away and got it in the air with the gear on, measured it and called me through to explain what the findings were, and then explained what they were going to change and why. Then they cracked on with it, and just over a half hour later it was on the floor again. Gave me a printout, showing before and after measurements, and again explained what they were, what the ideal is, and what they got them too. By the looks of it, only one measurement was left in red on the after measurements, and was told this was still fine as it's in tolerance of the specs they use. Can't say I noticed a difference in feel or handling on the way home, possibly a little extra smoothness, as it wasn't far out to start with. I did notice the steering wheel is, as far as I can tell, bang on centre now (it was a teeny bit off to the left prior) and the faint left pull it had when you let go of the wheel seems to have gone too (this was explained by incorrect camber on the right wheel, which makes it want to pitch left a touch, prior to having it adjusted) One thing though - went to the super market on the way home, and for some reason thought I was excessively having to rotate the steering wheel when making turns inside the car park (which are mainly 90deg right angle turns as you'd expect). I just caught myself thinking "I don't remember having to turn the wheel this much before" - but I can't remember if it was like that before or not. I'm a windscreen fitter by trade, so I fully understand that prior to having work done, the average motorist doesn't really pay that much attention to the specifics, but either consciously, or subconsciously, "looks" for them after having work done (in my line of work for example, it's so often a customer calls back to say there's a wind noise issue, or a rattle/creak, that wasn't there before - even though it was, and they never noticed it. But having had a screen change, they are now looking for something related because it's at the front of their mind. Or another example is looking at the trim around the glass - something they'd not looked at or paid any attention to before, then suddenly finding it's sitting up at both sides. Then I go back and explain that is how the trim does sit, it's moulded that way, and the reason the top is smooth and the sides are raised is to catch water being push off the screen by airflow. They disagree, adamant it wasn't like it before, then I point them at another identical car which they look at and then sheepishly concede ;) ) Point is, it might fully be my imagination, but I don't remember having to turn the wheel more or less an entire revolution to make a small 90deg turn inside a supermarket? Is it right, or has something changed?

Interesting. Mine has the two symbols as per the pic above. Ran it for an hour today and kept putting the back of my hand against the mirror glass when coming to traffic lights etc, and no change in temp. Then on the way back, pressed the button and noticed a change in temp in less than a couple mins. Maybe the later cars (maybe post '02?) had a change? I presume my heated from windscreen runs off the same button as this, even though it doesn't have a symbol on the button for it?

I do like those wheels, but don't particularly want them myself (if that makes sense?!), but am really after some 16's to shoe some winter tyres onto

^ Same as my 2002

Minidisc, for the most part, has less bass, and less high treble, than MP3 due to the frequency cut's the ATRAC codec imposes (the idea was ATRAC would cut the frequencies you couldn't hear; the high treble (I think 17-22Khz from memory?) and the low end of the bass freq - the problem was that didn't completely work as on paper, and changed the dynamics of the music). And yes, I have a good stereo at home - although, nice as the system in the IS is, you're never going to get audiophile reproduction from it, or even swapping speakers and amps in it, so it's not going to make a discernible difference (likewise, there's little point filling an iPod with the highest bitrate FLAC, or other lossless, codec, when you won't hear a difference over 320k MP3, even those with the Wolfson DAC, when playing it through itty bitty headphones or down a piddly 3.5mm audio cable, or dock connector audio out, to an AUX in on a car stereo. On a good home amp, you will hear a difference between 128k and 320k mp3, and likewise FLAC or OGG vs MP3, but not on headphones or a car system...

Don't need to tyres (unless they are winter tyres of course)

How can you tell?

I'm confused - you said you realised they are heated all the time? So are they constantly heating or not?

Shouldn't be heating all the time, should only come on when you press the heated rear screen / mirror button on the AC unit; How did you determine they are constantly heating?

Better than Lexus Woodford - they wanted £550 for just the fluid changes. Timing belt, waterpump, plugs, etc all extra

See if/how far the IS' geometry is out. More precautionary than anything else, as it drives and handles fine (to me), but I'd rather spend a little now to ensure it's fine, than fork out easily double that in a little while on a pair of new tyres, especially considering the ones on mine are so new...

Let me know what you want for them - I'm thinking of buying a set of 16s to run winter tyres on if it gets snowy again this year (probably will)

^ Good find!

^ Someone over on OJC managed to pick up an IS200 owned by someone important at Janspeed, complete with Janspeed supercharger kit (which is a TTE kit rebadged), swapped it all over to his own 200, then sold the Janspeed car off for £800 less than he paid for it - £800 for a full S/C kit!

What did you do with your 16's?

IF you come to buy it - not an easy thing to find ;)