IS 200 enough?

Thanks Lance, encouraging too hear for an aspiring writer (working on my debut novel at the moment :D). Great first Lexus to get my teeth cut into too. P.S I like your car!

Here's the link - - Also as you can see in the video it changes up early first to second at about 5.5k rpm.I'll try the throttle cable mod and see if that makes a difference, also been recommended to clean VVTi solenoid and MAP sensor which I'll give a shot when I've got some spare time and the car's at home (I have a company car so the wife gets to drive it during the week).

Thanks for the link, definitely a worthwhile mod but I think my issue is a little bit different. If I put my foot anywhere from half down to hard on the gas taking off then it revs a little bit and starts to move before hesitating at about 2.5k rpm for a second or two like it's choking (not getting enough air or something, definitely not a misfire, no popping or anything like that) then it shoots up and starts to take off. Also ACIS doesn't seem to kick at all in first gear (not sure if this is normal or not). It only kicks in when it reaches second gear at about 5k rpm (I'm told by some posts I've seen that you should get the kick around the 4k mark?) and then there have been a few times where it hasn't done it at all on WOT. No CEL comes up and it drives fine otherwise. I'm with you on the styling and the handling! The Corolla was a boat compared to this thing, had a lot of fun on the weekend throwing it round corners at steadily increasing speeds... :D I'm uploading a video to youtube of the issue, I'll post the link here when I'm done.

Yeah well I wasn't even expecting to have to jack the car right up to do an oil change, in the Corolla you just slid the oil pan under, undid sump bolt and the filter you could get to easy from reaching down into the engine bay (might start changing the oil every 15kms now instead of 10 :D ). All good its a new learning curve, and apart from that (and a random hesitation issue I'm getting in first gear) it's a great car. Re the sump plug: Damn, that's why I always do my own oil changes. The story above was the first fail I've ever had. Your comment reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me a few years ago, his boss had bought a brand new SS Commodore and at the first service someone forgot to fill it with oil once they'd emptied it... It was never the same again, even after they rebuilt the engine twice and in the end they had to put a new one in, rather reluctantly. I dare say someone got fired for that mistake.

You'd think they would've learned from the dozens of other cars they designed before this one though, right? I guess people make decisions behind the scenes for all kinds of illogical reasons.

Hi guys, All week I had been hanging out to head down to my friend Luke's place show off the car to him, and get a few maintenance jobs done. It turned into a bit of a nightmare, but it wasn't the cars fault. No, no, no. You see normally when I go to Supercheap Auto ahead of an oil change I buy Ryco oil filters, I have never had an issue with a Ryco filter before and they cost a couple of dollars more than a Supercheap one. Because I've never had issues with them I always buy them, simple right? However last week for whatever reason I had a massive brain fart and decided that I would try a Supercheap filter. The box said it was compatible with the same numbered Ryco one that was recommended for the IS200 with the 1G-FE engine so I thought 'hey it's a few dollars cheaper why not give it a shot! They wouldn't be selling it if it didn't work right?' Well boy, was I ever wrong! We spent all afternoon slaving over the car, changed the ball joints, discs and brake pads (which I was going to take photos of and do a write up on but the nasty flu my wife had last week caught up with me. I was lucky enough I could keep my eyes open while underneath the car). Then came the 'easy' part, I say easy because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to change the oil in a car right? I mean you could probably teach a five year old to do it blindfolded as long as you gave him an air gun to undo the sump plug (yes it would be messy but this creates a somewhat satisfying image in my mind). As I discovered for the 1G-FE you need hands as small as a five year old to undo the stupid damn oil filter that a 'kind' Japanese engineer sitting at a nice clean desk (who probably never changed an oil filter in his life) decided would fit nicely underneath the inlet manifold - completely inaccessible by any normal person with hands larger than said five year old. By some miraculous contorting of my arms in ways and angles I didn't know they could move or bend I managed to get the old filter out OK, and then put the new one on without cross threading it (yes somehow I managed to stay awake too). I made sure I tightened the sump plug and then topped up the oil, so far so good. Fortunately my friend was outside watching the car when I was about to leave, the brakes felt spongy so when he started yelling "stop, stop, stop the car!" I thought it was brake fluid and we must've accidentally ruptured something. "Turn it off!" I turned it off pretty quickly and found that most of the new oil that I had put in my engine was now streaming down his nice clean driveway... "Uh-oh!" Friend climbs under the car, I crank the engine, oil spurting out from where? Can't be? The SCA oil filter... Took the SCA filter off and put the old one back on, topped up the oil. Started the car, no leaks! Memo to self, never buy another @#$%@$% SCA oil filter again! The box says they'll either replace it or give me a refund if I'm not satisfied, guess which one I'll be taking. Aside from that new pads, discs and suspension mounts feel great, cars off for a wheel alignment this afternoon. Now I've just got one more issue to fix...

Here's some pictures of my new completely stock Lexus, incredibly tidy car for the age and mileage. If you want some more pics and and an entertaining read my write up on how I came to purchase the IS200 is here (I won't be offended if you don't read it all): http://au.lexusownersclub.com/forums/topic/13191-a-pleasant-accident/?p=49262

My name's Steve and I've just joined the Lexus owners club, all thanks to my darling wife. You see about two weeks ago she went out on a quiet Saturday afternoon with a teacher friend of hers on a visit to Kelly Tarltons (which is like a mixture between an aquarium and a penguin farm, but also with sharks) ahead of a school trip (she was scouting it out to prevent the children from swimming with said sharks). As she was merrily chatting away to her friend and not looking at the road ahead while driving (a skill that females seem to be well versed in) an innocent Holden Commodore with a huge towball appeared in front of her. Her friend (let's call her Sue) said "lookout!" My wife slammed on the brakes but it was too late and she unintentionally caused some extensive modifications to the front end of our 1998 Toyota Corolla (see photo for reference) Not really the kind of modifications one usually appreciates, however there are exceptions to the rule (like when your insurance company pays out more for the car than what you think it's worth). This was one of those exceptions. Barely ten minutes after they had left it seemed like they returned home again, my wife looked rather sheepish and said to me "Do you want to go car shopping?" first thoughts through my head 'Oh no, please don't tell me something's broken. Maybe the power steering belt has finally snapped...' "Why?" I replied. "Well, I may have had a little accident..." My eyes lit up at this new revelation, I had been forbidden from purchasing a new car at the start of the year due to saving for sensible grown up things like a house (I'm told you need one of these before you have those things called children), this despite the fact that our Corolla was heading for 300,000kms quite rapidly. A door of endless possibilities had just been opened up, and my hopes were dashed as I remembered the car was only insured for a paltry $4,000. In reality how much more could I convince my wife to spend over the insured amount? I was hoping beyond hope that the car would be written off, but when I took it to the panel beater he told me all the parts that had been damaged were bolt on and it may not be written off. I tried to hold back tears as I digested this devastating news, but it turned out that thankfully he was wrong. Once the quote for parts and everything came back the insurance company said "We'd rather give you a check than fix your car!" To which I jumped for joy and continued scouring the web for cars within my limited budget. My Lexus was actually on Trademe for more money than I was permitted to spend by the boss, however it did say 'or near offer' on the listing and that gave me a some hope that I might be able to procure this fine piece of automotive engineering. It's a 1999 Lexus IS200 2.0 with the 1G-FE. It has 191,000kms on the clock and it has been looked after superbly. The first thing I noticed when I went to take a look at the car was the condition of the paint (although it had been valeted), ooooh it was shiny! The headlights looked perfectly clear, no oxidization at all which for a car of this age is surprising, but the reason for this is that the previous owner had garaged the car for the seven years he'd had it. I had a chat with the owner and found out that the cambelt hasn't been changed yet and it also hadn't had an oil change for a while (so she wasn't quite as perfect as she looked). Then I took her for a test drive, she drove smooth and firmly planted on the road. The straight six in this beauty is a really nice engine, however there are two faults that I notice almost immediately with the car: 1.) One of the brake discs up front shudders lightly under braking at neighbourhood speeds and more noticeably on the motorway at higher speeds (I have bought new discs and pads to replace the front discs and pads this weekend which I will post on later). 2.) More concerning for me (as I have lead foot's disease - I don't think it's heriditary?) was that the car has some hesitation in first gear when you put your foot down (got it checked by my mechanic, he doesn't think it's the transmission which made me happy enough to purchase the car). The interesting thing about this problem is that it's only when you put your foot flat on the accelerator in first gear that it happens, it just sits there for a few seconds as if its being choked from behind and then it hits 4k rpm and she's off into the sunset. Also first gear changes up early at about 5.5k rpm whereas second gear will keep going up to just over 6k rpm before it changes up. Although when I took it on the motorway I noticed that it feels underpowered in second gear until you hit 5k rpm and then the VVTI kicks in and snaps your neck back into the headrest like an angry bear (after you've just touched one of her cubs). This leads to a potential third issue which I believe must be connected to the second issue - poor fuel consumption. My wife doesn't drive very far, only to school and back each day, and maybe to the gym (so that she can stay strong enough to keep me in line), or the supermarket. I brimmed the tank full the other day and after 50kms it was already below the top F line, now this may just be due to the way the fuel gauge reads in this car or it could be that she's got a serious drinking problem (the car I meant, not my wife). Overall I'm very happy with the purchase, I bargained the guy down to $3,500 an extra $200 over what the insurance company gave us after they'd taken out the excess (this is a steal as similar cars on trademe with higher mileage were around the $5k mark) and the car is the tidiest I have ever seen with this kind of mileage. Yes there are some minor issues but I will be working on fixing them and I will aim to keep you updated with the progress and any learnings I make during the way. Today I will be replacing the lower ball joints, brake discs and pads and doing an oil change with my good friend Luke, (he likes Hondas but please don't hold it against him) and if I still have time I'll change the fuel filter and check to see if the cat is clogged (might take the exhaust off inc the cat and take it for a drive just to annoy the neighbours - I mean all in the name of troubleshooting... I know that cars don't run great without the exhaust but if it's the cat that's causing the hesitation/flat spot then taking it off might just illuminate the problem). I'll also take some pictures of the work and a short video of the hesitation problem and upload it to youtube. If you've read my entire longwinded post, well done! I've uploaded some photos of my new IS200 for your viewing pleasure. Steve.