Has anyone got one or owned one? Due to my situation now of having a kid on the way I need a bigger car as im pretty sure a new born in an mx5 with solid suspension is frowned upon. I just want to know what these like fuel consumption wise, what are parts like them for (availability and price) and what's the tax like on them? I know I could probably Google all this and get some shit survey done on them by top gear but I'd much rather talk to people the can tell the elbow from their asshole Cheers guys
I had one for years great cars reliable and parts are easy to get now with loads being broken see Ricky in birmingham if you need parts, but the fuel economy is dire for the power made out of the engine if it had a bit more poke it would of been fine, you can get supercharger kits second hand for around 2k but there is a guy doing turbo convertions for just over 2k now the guy goes by the name simon 'squint' . so sum them up great cars need more power to be enjoyed properly
I've owned one once, fuel consumption was that bad, considering it's just a 2.0L pushing 153bhp, that i sold it 3 months later and bought a R32 Skyline. Think i used to get around mid 20's from mine just daily driving. If you're after a rwd family car with a bit of poke and half decent mpg then a e46 330i can be had for around the same money but has 78bhp more and averages around 32mpg daily. If you're set on the IS200 styling and your budget allows for it then opt for the Altezza RS200. 57bhp more than the AS200 and around 32mpg daily.
Altezza's have crossed my mind infact I thought of those first it's just the initial price putting me off at the minute. I have looked into e46's aswell but I figured with them either being 2.8 or 3 litres they economy would be abit shitty, and they may not be great on insurance for me as im only 23. Cheers for the input those bud appreciate it
Is200s are one of the most mind bafflingly slow cars with even worse mpg! It literally makes no sense how they got so little power out of that engine and still managed to make it drink fuel. Gs300, heavier car with a bigger engine is still better on fuel. Altezzas on the other hand are absolutely awesome. Power may only be an extra 60bhp or so but feels three times as fast! And is much better on fuel.
Get an IS300 instead, better on fuel (marginally), more powerful and have better spec, or buy an Altezza if you don't mind pleb interior and insuring an import. Cheap enough to do an interior swap from an IS anyway, you will just have to bodge wire the heated seats.
whats pleb interioer? altezza interiors are way nicer than the horrible is200 half leather stuff, that just attracts grime
To be honest I think I'm just going to suck it up save some money and try and wait for a decent altezza to turn up. An is300 would be awesome but to me a 3 litre just doesn't seem like it's going ti be great on fuel by any stretch if the imagination, where as a 20l atleast in my mind makes me think i could get some decent figures from it
completely wrong there. Even though that should be the case, it isnt. The 2jz used in the is300 and gs300 is better on fuel than the is200, despite being bigger and producing far more power, its better on fuel. The stock is200 engine really is one of the wankest engines every made!
The half leathers are shite, yes. I was thinking more the full leather you get in the IS300/top spec IS200. I ended up putting the tez cloth seats in my first IS rather than the half leathers, definitely preferred the full leather in the 300 though. Arm rest is a bonus as well.