My new ride

Hi all

Thought I would post up one of the better reasons why I havent been getting involved on here lately.

My BA Fairmont Ghia started giving me more grief than it was worth with diffs, suspension, steering after only being 9 years old so I bit the bullet after my trip overseas last year and decided to get into something fairly new.

I had a budget, wanted something RWD, wanted to steer clear of the holdens and fords after the BA and this only really left 4 options. BMW (which I dont really like), Mercedes (which I really really like), Nissan 350/370Z (looks like a sports car but in my opinion really isnt) and one of these......





Its a 2010 Lexus IS250 Prestige. It is the base model but has the factory fitted sunroof, 17s, leather etc. It had 9000kms and was a Sydney City Lexus managers company car so I became the first registered private owner which was a bonus. It took me 3 and a half hours to haggle with the guys at Sydney City Lexus on a Saturday afternoon to get it for the price I was willing to pay and got it cheaper then I could find a 2008/2009 model privately. I couldnt go wrong.

I did test drive the Beemers and Mercs but for the money I had I couldnt get any better than a 2007 325 or C220. This one has the 2.5L V6 which actually has some get up and go for what it is and still has the factory warranty for another 2 years which was a big deal for me, and in my opinion I couldnt find much difference between this and the german cars. You may find this hard to believe but these cars are engineered magnificently.

Anyway, my plans were to keep this standard and not touch a thing, but after a couple of weeks I couldnt help myself and had to do something to make it different to all the other silver IS250s I started noticing in the area so I took a drive to see Hus at Ozzy Tyres in Hoxton Park and it came out looking like this.......





Much better. The wheels are 20inch Lexanis with 255/30 Yokahamas and it got dropped 2.5 inches at the rear and 2 inches at the front. I think they are the right choice as I wanted to avoid the stupid looking dish and multi spoke rims that seem to be in fashion at the moment and keep it looking simple but half classy at the same time. I need to do something about the camber on the rear sometime in the near future because I am not really keen on spending a fortune on rubber every 6 months if I actually start driving it everyday. Now that I am working from home I am lucky to put 40kms on it a week which isnt a bad thing I suppose. I bought it in September and have only put 2500kms on it. Dont get me wrong it looks really good with the negative camber on the rear which you cant really see in the above pics, but I need to think about functionality more than looks with this one I think.

And may I say that Hus at Ozzy was a pleasure to work with. I strongly recommend speaking to them if you are in the market for wheels. He was patient enough to pull out at least 12 pairs of wheels to see what suited best, starting with brushed silver wheels, going to black wheels, and then waited for me decide on chrome and was looked after the price too.

Unfortunately now that I have done this, I am starting to contemplate some other mods. Red Leather, a new stereo, but i will just have to wait and see how finances go. Im not going to do anything mechanically for the time being as I dont want to void warranty and by the time warranty is over I am hoping to be in a position to upgrade to an ISF. This is the 5.5 litre version of this car and is absolutely awesome.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Cheers

AJ

I forgot to mention the reason why the car has been keeping me away from the Forum. I cant help but wash it at least twice a week and being the compulsive bastard that I am it normally takes 3-4 hours each time.

I need get over dirt. LOL

Cheers

AJ

Nice, a little bit envious too, all i could afford this week was an early model P/T Cruiser, love your wheel choice too.

Thanks DeeCee

Any plans for the P/T? 360/727/Dana 60 perhaps? hehe

Cheers

AJ

One can only dream mate, just wheels ,tint and a bit closer to earth, it will be my daily run around, keep the VC as the toy as 2 toys become very expensive. ( this was meant to be renovation money, will have to do the labour myself now)

look's good but if ya keep washing it,it will go rusty.

Dont know about that Lexus going rusty. If they are the same as the early one's, all the body work were galvanised. Nice looking car! The jap's do it well.

allan wrote:look's good but if ya keep washing it,it will go rusty.

lol. I hope not. If it does, as long as its while its under warranty.

Cheers guys.

AJ

nice, i hope you enjoy your flexus.

Looks great and it won't go rusty.

Glad you put those 17's on it mate, gives it a bit more attitude.
I've tried to buy local cars all my life, Holdens and Valiants, but I know what you mean about the BA's. My good mate bought a BA GT new back in '03, I think, and he's had quite a bit of trouble with the diff, sunroof and other things, so now he blasts around in his XA GT beast more than the BA.
Buying something that new is not really on my availability radar, but I'm so glad I still have my 50yo Val, blasting around in that thing is REAL fun and still a head turner.
One day you'll have to "West Coast" that beast and bling up the colour a bit eh?
TJ