Tell me about Lexus Is200 ?

[New POD]

I'm currently applying man maths, and "think" that a petrol car, and an giffermatic one, which is 15 or so years old with be a better bet than a diesel and one previously owned by a retired civil servant named Richard bucket would be perfect for my needs.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-LEXUS-IS-200-2-0-SE-AUTO-with-FSH-/381348130249?hash=item58ca1eadc9

 

 

[mrbenn]

Mate had one years ago, main thing I remember is him forever putting fuel in it!

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I drove into the back of one once. I remember it being quite an expensive claim.

[New POD]

Mate had one years ago, main thing I remember is him forever putting fuel in it!

 

I'm thinking LPG ?  

[406V6]

Check the year of the car and the annual tax that applies as you might be liable for serious ker-ching. This is despite the real world mpg not being so far different to cars with much lower road tax.

[Lord Sterling]

Never driven one but all I've ever seen on those Is200s is that the alloy wheel paint crumbles for fun.

[billyboy406v6]

Think Top Gear rated them for reliability, but found them boring, nothing boring about being reliable ?

[New POD]

Check the year of the car and the annual tax that applies as you might be liable for serious ker-ching. This is despite the real world mpg not being so far different to cars with much lower road tax.

 

I was looking at a 1999 car. Best to avoid post 2001?

[Ghosty]

Y or later is OMGTAX (based on CO2 emissions) - on X or earlier it's £230 for everything over 1.5l, £140 for everything below.

One of many reasons Old Man's Civic was shifted on as the tax was £225, if the car was registered a couple weeks earlier (and as such on an X) it'd have been £140.

[Lacquer Peel]

They are nice to drive and I don't find them boring, you probably won't unless you're one of those dullards who thinks all Japanese cars are boring.

They do like a drink, indeed, and aren't very quick.

[Dead_E23]

I once had a lift in an IS200 sport.   It had a horrible jiggly ride when going slowly, but was tolerable at speed, and a minicab interior.  Wouldn't. 

[Slappy]

Growing up in a Toyota family I was willing the IS200 to do well. I only remember 1 particular sentence in a Top Gear Magazine group test, and they felt that it was alright, but the looks will date quickly.

 

Light cluster manufacturers thought differently so it seemed!

 

Still like their looks, but can imagine it's quite bland to live with

[dave21478]

The ratio of fuel consumed for performance offered is poor.

[Lord Sterling]

...and a minicab interior. Wouldn't.

 

Proper, just had a look at a couple of examples on eBay. Kin' ell, what were Lexus thinking?

[Ghosty]

Linglongs LOL

 

It's a 90s Toyota in all but badge, so it'll be reliable. RWD 2.0 straight six - 150bhp. Interiors tend to be half leather half alcantara, or full leather. The dash is a bit fussy cluttered with more knobs than Pistonheads, but there's a lot of equipment. An awful lot of them are that champagne colour, but other colours such as BRG and doom blue exist. 

 

There's a 3.0 version too, but 210bhp from a 3.0 is so-so, and besides they're £2k+, and are probably even worse on fuel.

 

I like the exterior styling of them, though.

 

£1500 can get you a lot better car in that market sector, Old Man's A4 for example.

[warren t claim]

I actually quite like them, certainly more than the LS400.

[cort16]

I don't like the Corsa rear lights on them.

 

My brother in law bought a V reg one for 800 quid and has been using it to do 60 miles a day to his work and back for a year and other than brakes it's been faultless. He was getting 30 mpg and liked it so much he's just replaced it with a new IS250. . They're not very fast and the interior is somewhere between a 3 series and a toyota corolla. Shiny plastic but with a few nice details on it.

[John F]

I've driven a 2.0 from about 2000,

 

it needed plenty of revs to do anything. but it was OK in a 'would be a taxi if it was economical' sort of way.

[barefoot]

Instruments look shit.

 

If there was a row of cars with shitty looking instruments, 

this would stand out as having the shittiest.

[Cavcraft]

Think Top Gear rated them for reliability, but found them boring, nothing boring about being reliable ?

 

 

You try buying an Avensis and saying that. You could drive for 7,000 miles non-stop in one of them, park it in an empty car park and still forget what it was.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

So it's really just a RWD Avensis with a chip on its shoulder?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I've never driven one,sat in one or know anybody who's had one.

 

Based on that level of knowledge and expertise, I think they're shit.

But, how difficult would it be to fit an old LS400 engine ? Then all the slammed,be-stickered, matte painted ones with bits of old seatbelt hanging off the towing eye would have something other than a nice smooth straight six power delivery to back up the ' Dude I almost had you' RIP Annie Walker decal.

[John F]

Instruments look shit.

 

If there was a row of cars with shitty looking instruments, 

this would stand out as having the shittiest.

 

Nope. That's the "tissue box on a shelf" instrument binnacle found in the miserable Austin Metro.

[cort16]

If anyone wants one my brother in law is going to be selling his. He just spent 500 quid on the brakes, motd until sept but seems to have suffered a bit from sitting for a month. I'm going to go up to his and try to coax it back to life one night and I'll get pics and some more details .

[NorfolkNWeigh]

You try buying an Avensis and saying that. You could drive for 7,000 miles non-stop in one of them, park it in an empty car park and still forget what it was.

I'd had a Merc C Class hire car for 2 months when Mrs N went shopping with a friend in it. She phoned me to ask what colour it was and what it looked like, they'd come out of shops and forgotten what it was,all they knew from the key,was that it was a Merc.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

The exterior of them is quite handsome to my eyes - the interior less so. Just how bad is the economy? Surely it must be  mid-twenties at least?

[Lacquer Peel]

About that on average. The one I tried scraped into the 30s taking it easy.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 more knobs than Pistonheads

 

 

Sorry, now I know you're a liar. That's simply not possible.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Then all the slammed,be-stickered, matte painted ones with bits of old seatbelt hanging off the towing eye would have something other than a nice smooth straight six power delivery to back up the ' Dude I almost had you' RIP Annie Walker decal.

 

 

FFS, it's Johnny Walker.  

 

 

Around here the IS200 seems to have escaped the Fast and Furious wankers. It's mainly Asian lads with wanked Civics with loud exhausts and Vin Dieseal talent levels as they drive flat out in second and third along busy main roads through town.

[J-Rod]

One of my neighbours has the estate version. I think it's got a stainless on it but that's about it. Seems well looked after, unlike most. 

 

They've always seemed like worthy cars to me, which have somehow attracted the Wrong Sort.