Sid

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Drove the car home yesterday arvo.

I'm in love with it!

My first time driving a car with more than 4 cylinders; and I love the engine note (even though it does sound a bit ambitious, as the car is fairly slow).

However (and this could very well be just me, but) the gear change feels a bit, I dunno, 'clunky'

(atleast when compared to the MX-5 I drove earlier).

Plus, putting it in reverse is sometimes an uphill battle, and at other times so easy that I end up missing first gear.

Is this normal as well?

my is200 is my first car but cost me $10,000 / 155,000km's

Did that price include any sort of repairs required for RWC, rego, etc. etc.?

If so, then you got a damn good deal right there...almost on par with mine :P (newer model, far fewer Ks, etc. etc.).

Hey all.

Been shopping around for my first car for about a week now.

With a budget of only $10,000 I wasn't expecting to get something overly awesome;

so I was kinda settled with getting like a MX5 NB or an E36/46 323/325/328i.

Then I came across a nice clean '99 IS200 for $5,500 at some dealership...and decided to take it out for a test drive.

Needless to say, I fell in love with it!

The car was originally from SA and had only one owner, had ~230,000KMs, and was serviced regularly every 20,000-40,000 KMs.

So I haggled the guy as best as I could, and ended up securing it for $7443;

$4500 for the car, $1900 for 4 new tyres + windscreen + tail lights + bushings + complete service + RWC, the rest for 12 months rego and the stamp duty and all).

In retrospect, I may have gotten a bit ripped off on that $1900; but I loved the car so much it doesn't really bother me.

Plus, they seem to go for upwards of $8000 with private sellers these days...so I guess it's not TOO bad.

I've only put down a deposit so far, and hope to pickup the car later this upcoming week.

Will def. be posting some pics once I get it home...but I doubt you'd find a bone stock car all that interesting.

Cheers!