Never have I been as disappointed with a car as I was when I tested the IS200. the model I drove was the “Sport” with around 20k miles on the clock. My overall first impressions were good. The car has good lines and when you see them there’s a certain “in your face” characteristic about the car.
It is as you would expect built to a high quality by Toyota. As you open the door to get in side you can feel the weight of the doors. Again when you close them there is the solid clunk that you associate with quality.
The overall picture the designers have tried to create is one of sport. Coming with 17” alloys and ultra low profiletyres – 215/45Z17 – this is carried over into the cabin. The Speedo dominates the dash board and to be honest the three auxiliary clocks – fuel economy, battery voltage and engine temperature - in the centre of the Speedo work well. The rev-counter is positioned to the left and can sometimes be obstructed by you hand which is not a good thing, for this is after all a drivers car. There’s plenty of polished aluminium and carbon fibre splashed around the cabin again to try to create a sporty impression.
The engine itself is a straight six 2.0 litre unit. Which sounds awesome all through the rev range. But unfortunately that’s all it does, it sounds good. I was fortunate to have the car for several hours and tried a good mixture of roads, from dual carriageways to windy country lanes.
Performance from this “sport” model is best described as adequate. On dual carriageways the IS200 will quite happily sit at speeds over the permitted limit. But getting it there can be hard work.
The IS200 comes with traction control as standard. A simple push of a button disables this feature. Which in turn this makes it a bit more fun to drive!!!!!
Now for the embarrassing thing. While out on my jollies I came to some road works out in a remote country lane. Sat in front of me was a MKII golf Gti. As the lights turned to green the golf accelerated away. Now’s my chance, lets get these six cylinders singing. YER RIGHT. The old golf completely destroyed the IS200, accelerating away as if I had left the handbrake on!!!!!!!!!
After returning the car I can’t say that I was disappointed to get back into my own car. On the whole the car has potential, but Toyota / Lexus have for some reason decided not to release it.
The latest billboards for the IS200 ask: Going somewhere?? My answer? Yes, but not very quickly!!!
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Nice one, nothing like the traffic lights grand prix to highlight a cars real world performance or lack of. How did it handle through the twisties though ?
wilsam00 31.03.2001 16:40
I would also expect much more from a car which has a exspensive price tag gr8 opinion :) Sam
Advantages: Lexus is good looking, jam packed with extras as standard, quite exclusive Disadvantages: Not as fast as a BMW323, doesn't have quite the Snob Factor
Mar 31st, 2001
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