H3XME

Everything can be done. It's not plug & play, but it can be done.

Yeah, but he checked the plugs, if that was the case the spark plugs would be wet from fuel.

Ignore that, doesn't happen. Never seen this problem in the UK. Change your oil every 5k, put decent fuel in, red-line it every now and again and you won't have any issues. I see, worth a try I guess, but who knows if they'll accept it.

If you can stretch your budget to £4200, my mate is selling her facelift SE-L in white pearl with black interior. 83,000ish miles auto. FSH, no issues with the car.

This shouldn't be a deciding factor. Putting better fuel in, like Tesco Momentum99 works out to only £5 more per full tank. It's a better fuel overall. You can use E10 sometimes, it doesn't affect how it runs, it's only the fuel system as a whole that doesn't like a continuous use of higher ethanol. VVTi very easy to check. It doesn't happen to every car, but most higher mileage cars have this "problem".. I use quotes because the whole thing is basically just a 1s rattle upon start up. Nobody ever ended up with an engine failure because of the VVTi rattle that becomes more common on cars over 100k miles. My old one that was on 180k miles only did it after a hot start. My mates does it on cold start sometimes, but like I say, it's not a deal breaker. There's nothing to fix it but it never gets any worse. If anything, it's a great bargaining chip if it happens when you view a car. Water pump, you can see it when you open the bonnet, this shouldn't even be listed as a problem because it's a serviceable item on every single car. They tend to go around 80-100k. Easy early signs to look out for - check for leaks around the pump. Toyota coolant is pink, so it's easy to spot when it's all dried up. Brake caliper SLIDER PINS get stuck if not greased up regularly (every 2 years is fine), especially the rear ones. Calipers themselves are fine. Everyone tends to change calipers because they cba to replace the slider pins, but it's a £25 fix with a bit of elbow grease. Not sure what you mean by engine slushing up.. As for insurance, try to call people instead of doing online quotes. I'm 28, no accidents etc. I pay £480/year with all mods declared. Try companies like Adrian Flux, Keith Michaels, Brentacre, Greenlight etc. Companies who aren't on comparison sites. As for finding a car, I advise travelling further for the right car. There isn't many of them so if you stick to brum area, you'll struggle. Also, I wouldn't be buying this car from a dealer, not with your budget anyway. You can get a far better deal buying privately. oh and mirrors are electric and folding on every 250, just not automatically with locking the car.

Just to add to the above, higher mileage cars would've had stuff like water pump, alternator etc already replaced, so in theory there's even less to spend on in the future.

You can use them as they are. They will fit without spacers or any modifications, but as a rule of thumb, it's better to have a squared setup on an AWD car. However, people put staggered wheels on them, you shouldn't have any issues, but in the future it would be good put 235s on the rear once the 255s wear out. 255s will also have a negative impact on fuel economy.

'55 plate and early '06 manuals cost as much as autos to tax 🙂

It's like any car. If you take care of it, they're great. If it's been abused and not maintained, it'll be a dog. IS250s included. IS250s, unlike many other cars, are problem free if maintained well. If you pick some IS250 competitors from the same year, with the same mileage and same service history, the IS250 would have had significantly fewer "faults" over the course of its now 19 years of life. (If we look at a 2005 example). Alternator, Water pump, spark plugs, aux belt, thermostat etc are normal service items at higher mileage.

Hey dude, I'm around Brum too. I've had multiple IS250s over the years. Keep going back to them after I make a bad financial decision like JZX100, 300ZX etc.🤣 They are very reliable, and running cost is low too on a grand scheme of things. It doesn't matter what year you go for really, but given your budget you'll be looking at pre-facelift cars (2005-2008) but the changes on facelift were negligible anyway. Send me a message and I'll be happy to help you look for a car. As for what you can expect for 3k.. I would say cars around 100k miles. Don't be put off the mileage as these cars are good for 300k with regular maintenance that involves just fresh oil every 5000 miles. I would look for cars with a good service history. I wouldn't be bothered about bodywork as much because panels are cheap. They are easy to work on. Here's mine.

Finally got the coilovers on a couple of days ago. That meant I was able to put my new wheels on. I got them last week, so I spent my Saturday painting the black parts of the wheels as the factory finish is half and half. Shiny spokes with black spokes. I wasn't a fan of that. Black wheels lose all the design details and I just don't like it personally. They're factory forged wheels off the new MK5 Supra. I had to use PCD adapters as Supra, as well as probably all German cars these days are 5x112. So the specs I managed to squeeze on are: 19x9 ET7 and 19x10 ET15. Still need to roll the arches to stop it from rubbing and then I'll be able to lower the front a bit more. Only got one decent pic at the moment, but more will follow.

Facebook marketplace. The grey one has now sold i think. Can't see it anymore.

rear section yes, but not the entire system.

Having been in that boat, I considered a 200t, albeit RC. My thoughts on it, after a 45min test drive were.. mixed. Ignoring the tuning potential, out of the box it didn't feel much faster than my IS250 (08), probably due to its weight. The sound wasn't anything to rave about either, and fuel economy was worse/same as my IS250's.. I literally saw no point in it. Especially since we're talking IS now, that you can still buy with an already proven V6 version or the 300h if you do a lot of city driving. The best thing to do is to go out and drive it, see what you think.. 10 people / 10 different opinions and all that. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404128595259

Btw, why import one? You won't be able to get it much cheaper than buying one here. There's 3 for sale on the marketplace atm. One of them is for £5k in Grey.

It will disable the speed limiter altogether. If you any questions, I'd contact Torque GT. They've been importing cars for a very long time, they know what they're talking about. They even provide a kph to mph conversion with odometer recalibration.

GS300 Calipers you can pick up for £150-200 for the pair. Pads / Discs are pretty much the same money as IS250 stuff. I think the only extra you'll have to buy is the dust shield if you want it. That's comes up to £18.50 each on Amayama from japan.

Sounds normal if you're due pads change. While you change the discs and pads, grease up the slider pins and you'll be alright 🙂

Yeah, they’re almost flush on stock suspension. You’d need +25 front and back to be flush on stock wheels and suspension, so you’ll be fine 🙂 don’t have any pics of them on stock car I don’t think

Fills you with confidence that doesn't it! Managed to damage 2 of them already.😁 Good luck John!

Depending on how much you're looking to get out of it, I would seriously consider getting the scrape fixed, even if it's a few hundred quid to repair. And a new armrest is going to be under £100 surely. Check eBay. You're up against the scrape and the fact that private sales over £10k are generally difficult as people would need finance.. Might be worth considering fixing it and checking what Motorway, WBAC and Arnold Clark offer if you were to get rid that way.

No, I've installed 3 sets of Vland headlights now and none had issues at all. I keep the battery connected etc when putting the extra fuse in for the DRLs.

You're best off looking on eBay for a mirror in your colour Oz. As your car is 2007, you shouldn't have issues finding the right one. It's only the facelift cars with indicators on the mirrors that a bit harder to come by.

Again, depends on the insurance company. Some don't care about a windshield, that's not classed as a claim in everyone's books. It's not so black & white and that's what's so fkin confusing about car insurance in this country. This week, I called 8 different insurance companies to get a quote on a 2013 Toyota Mark X G's (2GR lump, IS platform). All of them were import friendly. 4 of them refused to insure it because they don't have "tables" for this kinda car. Maybe that makes sense as there's less than 5 in the UK, I can see the logic, fair enough. The other 3 were happy to insure it but differed in quotes. £2100, £2400 & £1000. All policies included protected NCBs, modifications & 8000miles. They make stuff up as they go. It's frustrating. Was considering a PCP deal on a facelift RC300h too, but the new Lexuses get stolen left right and centre, so the cheapest quote I got was £2700. Who would've thought that insurance would price me out of having a regular car at the age of 28. I pay £480 for my IS250 atm. It's brutal these days.

Consider yourself lucky Malc. I didn't have issues with slider pins on my 1991 V8 Soarer, but the piston within the caliper itself was seized. I believe early LS400 shares the same brakes. It was a major PITA to remove the seized piston. Dust washer ruptured and the piston was seized solid. I had to weld a bar to it to get a better leverage to hammer it out. Never again🤣