The Lexus IS200; My story and experiences.

I used to have an EE101 Corolla hatchback. I loved every moment I drove that thing, but as is the way with cars, she started to suffer badly from rust and I couldn’t justify dumping 1000 euro’s in it in rust repairs, so Carey had to go.

To replace her with, I wanted something bigger, faster and it had to be another Toyota. Criteria were 4 doors, More power, manual gearbox and bonus points if it was rwd. If you add all those things up, you get either the Lexus IS200 or the Toyota Chaser. And since the latter wasn’t sold in the Netherlands, I set my entire Autismus Maximus on an IS.

But that was 8 months and 23.000km’s ago. So, for your Friday entertainment, a review of my own IS200.

Now, on to business.

1 - Interior and Comfort:
It’s actually really comfortable! Even with the Eibach Prokits I’m running on it now. It’s very quiet inside, the seats are nice to sit in, the driving position is spot on, the aircon is good, and the heated front seats(as standard) are comfortable to sit in, even with long drives. The heated bit is the best thing ever in the morning when you just came out of bed, and rolled into the car to get to work. It’s quite a good daily driver as a result.

The only downfalls are the steering column adjustment, which isn’t telescopic. I’d like to have the wheel a bit closer than it is now. Also, the rev counter is a bit small for my liking and the lights in the center console and gauge cluster are a red-ish orange. It would feel a lot more fresh if it was white, so that’s a mod I will so sometime in the future.

The car will also sit happily at 140kph or 88mph and even after 890km’s at that speed, it won’t wear you out fast. I’ve done that distance from the Czech Republic to The Hague on the west coast of the Netherlands in less than 11 hours and even though I was tired, I just knew it would be a lot worse(I would probably be dead) had I done the same with my old Corolla or the Renault Megane convertible my parents own.

2 - Audio:
The original radio and speakers sound good enough to justify NOT replacing them. If you do decide you’ve had enough of the 6cd autochanger and the lack of USB plugs and an Aux input, kits are available to put in a conventional 1 or 2din radio. Your best bet in wiring it up, is getting 2 Toyota Landcruiser ISO plugs and make those into one. This method bypasses the OEM amp, but any proper stereo will sound much better than it. You also need to replace the rear OEM speakers as the impendence is too low for a normal headunit. If you turn the volume up too high while using the OEM rear deck speakers, the headunit will go boom.

3 - Styling.
Though it looks a bit dull at the front, it’s a bit timeless. When I was fitting my Double din head unit, I was approached by 2 older guys who asked if it was “one of those hybrids”. It’s 15 years old…

4 - Dorifuto?
Yes, it will slide. Even with an open diff. Mind you, you’ll need a wet road and a heavy foot.

5 - The engine:
Even though it’s a 2L 155bhp straight 6, it feels fast if you don’t use all of the throttle or are inside the power band. The power delivery is really smooth, response is nice and quick, especially if you adjust the throttle cable accordingly. (I really recommend you do that. It transformed the entire car). You can also feel the ACIS kick in at about 4.200RPM. But best of all, is that this engine has done over 280.000km’s and since my first oil change 20.000km’s ago, It hasn’t used any oil! Not a single drop. ( Don’t worry, I changed the oil about 4000km’s back.) The only thing I think is wrong, is the time it takes to rev. The stock flywheel is a dual mass system and weighs about 13,5kg’s. it makes the engine feel really lazy. So I will probably be fitting a solid/lighter flywheel in a while. The car will vibrate a tiny bit more, but the responsiveness will more than compensate for this.

The noise is nice , Even with the stock system on. It’s lacking power low down, but the kick and noise change you get when the ACIS opens feels more than adequate to compensate for it. Power wise, It’s fast enough to quickly have your license revoked. on windy roads it’s encouraging you to keep it high in the revs by heel and toeing and it really wants you to give it a bit more throttle when entering a corner.

And if you’re one of those madcases that insists that 155hp is “slow”, it doesn’t matter. You’re faster than about 78% of the cars on the road if you live in Europe.

6 - The economy figures:
On basically every forum I visited, everyone was talking about the fact the MPG is poor with these. I can sort of get where they’re coming from, but it’s not that bad. I got 10,9km/L (9,2L/100km) during my 2300km vacation to the Czech republic with 2 of those runs(in both directions) I described earlier. During normal commuting I get 11,7km/L(8,5L/100km) and last Thursday I got 12,5km/L(8L/100km) by hypermiling the commute for a week.

7 - Handling:
Come on, it’s an FR Toyota which has been developed with the same guy that did the suspension development on the AE86. How can this possibly be bad? It turns in really well, the feedback through the steering wheel is good and makes you feel confident that it does what you want it to do. Grip while chucking it in corners is exceptional if you’re used to front heavy hatchbacks. If you’re pushing it, it rolls around quite badly but for a 1.4 tonne car, it’ s not bad at all.
Traction is better than one would expect. I’ve tried to initiate a drift more than once on a wet roundabout and found it to just grip instead of slide.

8 - Serviceability:
Everything in the engine bay is very reachable, changing both air filters requires no tools at all. Changing engine, diff and gearbox oil is very doable. Only the oil filter is hard to get at, as is tradition with Toyota Straight 6 engines. Information about various jobs is very easy to find if you know how to google, and you can take almost the entire car apart with a standard spanner and ratchet set.

9 - Moddability:
There are quite a few parts available to make it the way you want. From complete body kits to subtle lips, you also have stock and TRD options. The 1G-FE Engine in mine doesn’t have a lot of aftermarket options compared to the 3S or 2JZ, but has enough to consider keeping it if you want a bit more power. For example, there are lots of British turbo’d ones around that run about 240bhp on half a bar of boost. If you fancy, TRD also has a very sought after Supercharger kit that brings the power up to 210-230bhp. If you want big power, you can always opt for a 1JZ-GTE, 2JZ-GTE, with manual gearboxes and there even is a Dutch fellow around that shoehorned a 1GZ-FE 5L V12 in one. So many things to choose from! Suspension wise, you can lower it with just springs, change swaybars, add struts in various locations, have coilovers, camber compensation kits, different brakes including Supra brake kits. In short, lots of modifying roads to drive in making it your own.

10 - practicality. It’s a 4door sedan but even so, there is less space in the back than a comparable 3 series BMW. The leg room is a bit lacking. Maximum usable capacity with the stock suspension is 4 people or 3 with some luggage. That drops to 3 without luggage, 2 with on the Eibach Prokits I’m running on it now. If you put any more people in it, it will scrape over speedhumps. And for that reason, I’m switching to coilovers asap. I have far too many responsibilities for its current carrying capacity.

The boot is big enough for a weekend away with 4 people, the weekly shopping, or a weekends worth of food for 20 kids and 6 adults. Under the boot floor is a full sized spare wheel and a plate with some tools and the stuff you need to change said spare, although I like to keep a few wooden blocks for the jack in it as well.

In conclusion.
The IS200 is THE car for people that want an indestructible sporty 4door rwd sedan, but wouldn’t want to be found dead in a BMW. If you value power over handling, the IS300 is the way to go. Rather have a wagon? Look for an IS Sportcross or Gita.

I hope you all enjoyed it. I secretly hope to have convinced at least one person to consider getting one. Thanks for reading, CT. And have a nice day.

I’ve also done a guide to buying one. Check it here:
https://www.carthrottle.com/post/w35p6mk/