Rs200 Info, Need some questions answered...

So I am thinking of buying an RS200 6MT in the coming weeks and I need some info on it.
What kind of fuel consumption figures would I be looking at? Nearly all my driving is on the open motorway.
How much would insurance set me back? I'm 20, one claim on smashed windows, two speeding tickets in the last 2 years.

What is the difference between the L & Z editions?

Do all the RSs come with LSD and TC?
Do they have factory immobilisers?
What about CC?

What are the common problems with the RS200?
What should I look out for when buying one?

I heard the cd-players are really bad. Is this true? Is there a factory recall for it?

Anything anyone has to share would be much appreciated.
Cheers!

Hi Koz

Just do it. You won't regret it. I've had mine for almost 2 years now and I'm still in love with it.

Most of my driving is open road as well, and I generally get around 8l/100km. I tend to feed it 98, but will put 95 in if i have to. Never 91 in an RS200. Manuals have the LSD and the ability to turn traction control off. Tiptronics don't (I think).
There is no factory immobiliser.

I have an after market alarm with dual immobilisers fitted. Can't really help you with the insurance question as I have all my policies under oneumbrella, i.e. all three cars, house contents etc.

THe factory head unit is above average for audio, but they do have a tendency for the CD mechanism to pack up. A member on here is able to repair them, but my personal opinion is that an aftermarket HU is a worthwhile mod.

There are no real major problems to look for.

There has been a thread on this before

http://z4.invisionfree.com/lexusaltezzaclu...wtopic=4577&hl=

Buy the lowest Km, nicest looking, un-modified, RS200 manual, one that looks like it was owned by someone's nana!

or at the most, one with a Legana kit but no suspension mods!

check here for insurance http://z4.invisionfree.com/lexusaltezzaclu...?showtopic=3445

Being a 20 year old lad Im sure he'll be after most of the things you've said not to go for

Hell, even in the last year of my twenties I wanted a kit & lowered suspension.

go for it Koz good all round cars theres nothing gone wrong with mine
i've had mine for 2yrs still going strong as for the radio not sure i thru the factory one out the day i got it factory what can say but you want regret it

PLUS YOU GET TO MEET US GOOD BASTARDS!!!

listen to greeneyes he's a salty old bstrd (who hates txt talk) just get an un modified car, the parts you want come through on trade e on a daily basis... cant go wrong with them, if you can however run it on 98 from bp, these cars love it...

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I called up toyota insurance, they quoted me between 900-1300 depending on the excess. Which is quite good, imo. For an agreed value of 22k, that is.
They dont seem to care about if the car is alarmed or if I park it in the garage, which seems abit strange. Is it me or is that abit strange?
Any experiences with them?

I am not planning to go and get one from a private trade (some bad experiences in the past), I'd rather go to a dealer, even if i end up paying slightly more.

How much should i expect to pay for a decent one from a dealer?

The ones I looked at Fast4s and such, all seem to have modified suspention...

Is there are particular reason why I should stay away from ones that have their suspention done?

I would like to get a decent set of shoes for it... Not a big fan of anything bigger than 17s though. I am guessing the car would need to be lowered for it to look and ride decent, no?

And no, I am not planning to rape the crap out of the car. It will be my daily runner, 650km a week. And I always fill up 98
Thanks again.

Modified suspension generally means higher insurance premiums.

I bought mine at 21 (last year) and pay $450 odd for insurance through State. And the excess is only $750 iirc. (Oddly, my premium went down $30 coming from a 1992 automatic Primera to a 1999 RS200 6MT). I am in Dunedin which I assume means it's cheaper than Manurewa or something..

As far as price at a dealer - I'd aim for something with around 70,000km on the clock, and depending on features/condition/age $16000-$18000 would be reasonable. I paid $17k for mine with 70k on the clock. Really tidy, stock standard. I got them to throw in a warranty for next to nothing, and a reasonable alarm at this price. And I get free WOFs for life!

Also if one thing is modified on a car you have no idea of knowing what else has been done or to what standard.

Vehicles that look like "boy racer" cars have generally been raced and/or thrashed to within an inch of their lives (which is the reason they're being sold...) so you're much better off getting a car that is unmodified and unmolested, that way you get to make the car the way you want it to be without having to undo someone else's mess first.

Private sales are fine as long as you do your homework first. Get an AA check (or similar) for your piece of mind and for an extra bargaining chip too.

Since no-one else has said it yet, 'Z' and 'L' editions refer to the level of trim and accessories. Both come with LSD, 'Z' generally comes with satnav, floor mats, 17" wheels and the bigger brakes, 'L' has leather interior + various other flash bits, closest you can get to Lexus trim you can get without buying a Lexus. There's a post covering it somewhere here, I'll post it up when I find it again...

Oh yeah, other trim levels available are Qualitat and Modellista, rare though...

http://z4.invisionfree.com/lexusaltezzaclu...p?showtopic=981

TFS (toyota financial) are all good! yah the alarm thing threw me too but ohwel... I only had to get glass stuff done and they were all good about it...

IMO don't go to fast 4's way to over priced and all your getting is a car with a cheap body kit...

Go and check out the bigger car dealerships like buy right cars and the such... they are bigger so are more flexible on price if you pay cash... and never pay the window price

I was looking for an altezza for over year and finally found one that had the right modifications and looked clean enough (i.e. looked like it had been taken care of rather than thrashed). I've found a whole lot more than I bargained for later down the road so I'm one happy chappy. I think if it's been modified here in NZ, watch out, there are a lot of wanabe racers over here. Most of mine was done by some Jap tuning company.

I paid for this though, so be prepared to fork out if it's what you really want. I remember someone posting a really cool quote. It went something like this:

Fast. Reliable. Cheap. Pick 2.

I bought mine through Tony Richards Toyota in Paeroa.. He was coming up to Auckland for a meeting at Toyota HQ & bought it up for me to look at. It had 23,000km on, and he & his wife had put on 8000 of those.


So, a small country dealership worked out well. It was a Signature car.

The Toyota guys told me that they are getting rid of unlimited glass replacement soon. One replacement per year.
Insure direct forced me to pay 100$ to get new windows, per windows.

Fast4s have cars with low ks, and thats whats attractive.

Unfortunately, I dont have much cash to give upfront. And buy right had an issue with me test driving one of the cars because when they asked me if I was going to buy today I said I will buy only after a week. They didnt like it, I gave them my number and told them to call me back in a week. They did not get back to me. I did not like it. (I guess its my fault but still.)

Little money = no bargining power.

Hey, don't feel too bad about that. Before I bought the Tez I was thinking of buying a WRX. I walked onto Winger Subaru's Greenlane lot, found a car I liked the look of and asked for a test drive.
"Are you going to buy today?" was the question I got.
"Hell no", I said, "I want to drive a few of these before I settle on one, even if it is this one in the end."
"Well you can't test drive the car" came the reply.

I had $35k cash to spend.

I will never EVER buy a car from Winger.

haha!! Patrick the Panelbeater is a mate of my brother.. he did very well with Boss Motor Bodies and was not short of cash. However when he won $800,000 in Lotto he went to BMW (in his work clothes) to buy a car.

They were typically shitty & queried his bank account. He demanded the Big Boss, sat in his office & phoned the bank manager, told him to tell Mr BMW how much was in the bank, then walked out & went to Jaguar!

They were quite happy with what he wore & he drove out in a new Jag.

Awesome story, and I hope those snobby beamer dealers learnt a thing or two about manners

actually, its not the first time bmw snobby sales got done-

one of my dad's mate is a rich ex-army general (or something like that). his typical dressing standards however, are crap as hell (lazy, untidily dressed and doesnt care about clothing brands)
one day he walked into bmw looking to buy his daughters new cars as as one had just graduated from uni with honors, and the other had won some prestigious acedemic award.

he spent 30 mins in the showroom walking around where he was completely ignored by the snobby sales, so in the end he went to the young sales to ask for the manager, told the manager he had been snobbed for the last 30 mins, and that he had the cash (literally) in the suitcase he was holding, showed them the cash, and walked across the road to merc, where he bought a brand new C280 and a new A-class on the spot.

^^ nice to see people winning lotto and teaching dealers a lesson. Unfortunately I guess its in human nature to be like that.
I am sure most of us, while selling a car, would be weary of "gangataz" coming round and asking for a test ride and saying they arent sure of buying on tha day...

Anyhow, I called up state and asked for a quote under my parents' umbrella. Still quoted over 2600, for an estimaed value of ~17000.

AA would not value an altezza over 16.8k unless blah blah blah, and they werent too keen on my age and my two speding tickets (since they were within 5 years), so I decided to end it there.

Edit: Nice to also know that people DO win lotto and that an army career pays well

I'd stay away from State anyway. They have a reputation for being hard to get money out of, to the extent that I have had panel beaters tell me that if I was insures with State (I'm not, and never have been) they wouldn't be interested in the job.

I'm with state got my windscreen replace in 2-3 days due to smith and smith not having the correct windscreen for me but was happy over all.

im with tower $1200 a year for RS200 with no alarm no garage, havnt had a claim yet

wow, guess I got it good! I pay $450 yr, full cover for $17k. Guess it must be the perk of being female over 25!! Not that im complaining after reading the above posts! My WRX prior to my Tezza was $700 insured for $15k. Was stoked when I insured the Tezza and saw the differance!

hay go for it dude i have had 3 toyota's my last one was a gtt and i can say that mt tezza wood eat it up i never had one f out on me a and all of the have been ringed out a part from my tezza

OK, one more time in english I can talk txt, I can't talk that.