Someone Else's Problem: The £480 Lexus

Brotan

was saved by Spezi
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
36
Location
Helsinki
Car(s)
E46(sold), GXE10(sold), SW20 GTi
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Some of you already know the story. Inspired by the 2018 Slushmeet UK-beaters I started browsing Autotrader, Ebay.co.uk and Gumtree for a reasonably priced rwd.

Late autumn an ad had popped up on Gumtree for a 2002 Intensa Blue Lexus IS200 SportCross:

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(Pics by Peter3gh, note the electricity plug and the weird hitching/trailer mechanism in the bumper)

96 or so thousand miles, priced famously at... £480!!, a few dents and scratches with a fairly unknown service history but all in all in great nick for the price.

I asked around which UK FG-ers would live close enough to Manchester-Liverpool axle, where the car located. Peter3hg was up to the task.
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He went to see it and reported back the condition and to quote: "I put the deposit in and if you won't buy it, I will" (which he then did).

On Black Friday I came about an idea I'd book cheap plane tickets to UK and roadtrip the Lexus to Icetrackmeet.

Few months and pubs later:



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(Finnish män smiling, häpi Leksus ouner)

Then in sequence: France-Belgium-Netherlands-Germany-Sweden-Finland

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Picked up a set of LHD lights from Michi's friend (a fellow SportCross owner NLZW735) in Lübeck. Front lights had already made their way to Finland in Public's TT. A "quick" installation by/with Peter3hg later:

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Then it was time for the new timing belt and the aux belts and water pump:

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After a careful installation (brute force and ignorance):

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After a total Hail Mary attempt at pouring Radweld and hot water by the bucketload into the system we managed to plug the leak (somewhat) but it did make it to Pudasjärvi to the meet without any drama.

The next morning after arrival, after relaxing in the sauna and having eaten well and slept it was time to take it out on the icetrack:

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I almost forgot to mention the fact that all UK spec SportCrosses came with limited slip diff as standard <3 (awesome, right?)

Quick rewind to today, photos by Public:

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Jalopnik famous! https://jalopnik.com/how-much-does-your-car-cost-in-england-1830386771

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Serviceheft 2.0

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<3

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All in all, £480 well spent.
 
The better Stagea.

APPROVED
 
I'll admit that other than the LS400, Lexuses (Lexi?) pass me by. Not any more. I can't stop staring at that speedometer and its hilarious mpg scale that goes up to 80. :LOL:
 
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GOOD amount of bang for your buck and a good adventure ontop. I will never not be jealous that you got the stock LSD but i'll be forever glad that i got a LHD daily :p You are kinda forcing me make a write-up of mine aswell ... :oops:
 
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I'll admit that other than the LS400, Lexuses (Lexi?) pass me by. Not any more. I can't stop staring at that speedometer and it's hilarious mpg scale that goes up to 80. :LOL:

I do like the optimism, yeah :D
 
ossum car!
 
Helped with the pics today. I think the car is a total steal for the money: cheap straight-six RWD with a manual gearshift and LSD without looking totally beat. 100k miles and change and the rust/dent situation looks perfectly acceptable for a Gumtree find. I enjoy
 
I prefer the sedan, but this is just too good not to be a bit jealous.
Great find! (y)
 
GOOD amount of bang for your buck and a good adventure ontop. I will never not be jealous that you got the stock LSD but i'll be forever glad that i got a LHD daily :p You are kinda forcing me make a write-up of mine aswell ... :oops:

About damn time!

RHD-LHD, doesn't make much of a DIFFerence to me ;)
 
Looooove it. That price, how could you not buy it? :D
 
Awesome. The Sportcross fits in my list of cars I didn't fancy at first, but is now growing on me.
 
I prefer the sedan, but this is just too good not to be a bit jealous.
Great find! (y)

Thanks! I did set out on finding sedans and quickly found out that the desirable Sport versions with the leather-alcantara seats, aluminum pedals.. oh and LSD! They were quite under the rock and many advertised as one didn't have the spec to confirm that.

As Davetouch (I think) Matlocked that all UK spec IS200 SportCrosses came with LSD as standard.
 
I gave this a flick around on the ice track, it is seriously nice for £480! Holy crap!

I hope it gives you many many miles of reliable enjoyment and I hope we see it at Ringmeet 2019 :-D
 
I don't usually say this about Lexuss..... but color me jealous.
 
Finally got around doing this:

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I see you've been polishing your knob.
 
I've always liked these things. Only downside is the engine. It's a bit like me, refined but somewhat wheezy and partial to a drink! ;)
 
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