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These keep coming on the radar as a rwd family barge. Any experiences? Please hold the slow for what they are and thirsty comments though Positive and negative experiences? Is rust a potential issue now?
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,856
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Lexus is200adam73bgt
@adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member 58
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I've not had one but a good mate ran one for quite a while and I did get the chance to drive it once. From memory was quite comfortable and a nice enough drive
Performance was much as you have alluded to, was on a par with my e34 520i I had at the time (two decent sized exec cars both with 2.0 straight 6 engines putting out 150ish bhp, who'd have thought? 😂). The engines are pretty solid though, and make a nice noise
His did suffer from some pretty bad sill rust though, and it came back after he got it repaired the first time, though that may have been in part due to the quality of the repair..
Standard wheels suffered from poor powder coating so can look very scabby and lose air
Sport models have LSD as standard I believe, and depending on the age of the car, there are different taillight finishes. Early cars get the proper chrome "lexus lights", on later cars this is toned down for a more smoked finish
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Lexus is200ballbagbagins
@ballbagbagins
Club Retro Rides Member 164
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I had one for about 5 years, only ever needed service items.
Gear change is lovely on the manual and the engine is nice and smooth. They aren't fast but drive lovely. Mpg was ok, 35/40.
Really well built. Mine was the sport.
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Feb 10, 2021 20:53:24 GMT
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It was years ago but I loved mine. It was fast enough to be a reasonable cruiser and slow enough to be able to drive it hard round the lanes and have fun with. I thought the engine was a peach. A few times I hit the limiter in low gears because I had the radio up loud and didn't pay attention. It didn't back off or slow down as the revs went up. It just went and went and went and then hit the limiter. Nearly head butted the steering wheel. Traction control was horrid. It just bogged the engine. It did save me from spinning it a couple of times when it had Avon tyres on the back but I got rid of them after the second time and it was lovely after that.
I wouldn't call it a barge though. It's a fun little car that's reasonably posh. Apparently, back in the day, people test drove them expecting a baby barge and were disappointed. If you want "barge" look for the next gen IS250 auto.
I reckon the IS200 has the potential to become a classic amongst enthusiasts whereas the IS250 (which raised the refinement bar significantly) will just be 'another car'.
Other opinions exist but I really liked it and if I'd had somewhere to keep it I'd have kept it.
James
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ChasR
RR Helper
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Posts: 10,188
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Lexus is200ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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It was years ago but I loved mine. It was fast enough to be a reasonable cruiser and slow enough to be able to drive it hard round the lanes and have fun with. I thought the engine was a peach. A few times I hit the limiter in low gears because I had the radio up loud and didn't pay attention. It didn't back off or slow down as the revs went up. It just went and went and went and then hit the limiter. Nearly head butted the steering wheel. Traction control was horrid. It just bogged the engine. It did save me from spinning it a couple of times when it had Avon tyres on the back but I got rid of them after the second time and it was lovely after that. I wouldn't call it a barge though. It's a fun little car that's reasonably posh. Apparently, back in the day, people test drove them expecting a baby barge and were disappointed. If you want "barge" look for the next gen IS250 auto. I reckon the IS200 has the potential to become a classic amongst enthusiasts whereas the IS250 (which raised the refinement bar significantly) will just be 'another car'. Other opinions exist but I really liked it and if I'd had somewhere to keep it I'd have kept it. James I think it’s looks have kept it from being a “modern” classic. Christ, Mazda used the light design a good 10 years later after the Lexus came about in the Mazda 3! The craze of Lexus lights in the 00s was started from this very car! So in some ways, it’s a legend, an unsung hero or a way of ruining cars depending on your take on things . They also looked new for a very long time. To me, when they came out, , it’s rivals looked outdated and possibly their successors did too! The cluster inside the IS200 is something else too. I suspect they are getting thin on the ground thanks to the drifting fraternity buying them and throwing them away once they are done with them. So I doubt they’ll get any cheaper. Whether they folllow S13-5 prices is another things but I doubt it. A cool car albeit with rust issues.
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Last Edit: Feb 12, 2021 12:13:31 GMT by ChasR
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Feb 12, 2021 16:44:20 GMT
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My wife has a 2002 is200 and has owned it for about 4 years now. Quite a thirsty car being the 2.0 and this is common from what I can gather. Being toyota etc it's main issues are always brakes. Usual discs and pads but then again, the trade off is that hers has been brilliant, Has a gremlin which means that the engine management light is always on and full, multiple inspections come back unresolved.... It boils down to a lambda sensor but having replaced all of them, the same code popped up again, at the frustration of the garage. It gets reset long enough to pass the MOT as our garage knows our problem and is understanding. Never let us down except for the recent snow we have had, even in snow mode with new tyres it just couldn't handle it.
Comfy, reliable and eats up the miles without a problem, great handling and very safe. The front end is so built to handle collisions.
All in all, live it, even if it is thirsty on fuel and hates the snow.
Hope this helps.
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