New IS350 Fsport Member

[81DOB]

Hi, 

Just purchased my first Lexus (2013 IS350 FSport). Absolutely love the car. Have always wanted to own a lexus. Have been a long time car enthusiast including buying and selling cars as a hobby in the past. Previous to this car I owned a few Aurion's and fell in love with the super reliable and very capable 3.5 V6 so it was a natural progression to upgrade from an Aurion ZR6 to the IS350 Lexus. 

I flew to Canberra to buy this car and drove it home to the Gold Coast. Still getting used to the smaller seats but it's worth a little daily discomfort for the stability they give you when driving spirited. Anyone else find the seat a little tight ?  Anyway that is literally all I can fault with the car. Love the silky smooth 8 speed. Comes into it's own when manually shifting around a nice twisty mountain.

 

Anyways looking forward to asking lots of questions and hopefully getting lot's of answers...….Cheers, Dan

 

[pearlisf]

Congrats Dan! I also came from a ZR6 Aurion when I initially purchased my 2011 is350 f sport. It did feel a lot smaller coming from an Aurion. You get used to it quickly. I owned my is350 for 7 years before upgrading to an ISF a few weeks ago. 🙂

I had a Takeda intake on my is350 which made the car sound amazing above 3500rpm. 

All the best with your new car!

[81DOB]

Thanks mate....  love the ISF...…  already planning the next Lexus…. hopefully a an RCF in the future. As well as improving the intake sound did it help with performance at all ?

[pearlisf]

RCF is a great car also. Nicer interior too. 

The intake makes a great sound but I didn't feel any power difference to be honest. It does turn a few head though haha. 

Have a listen to the clip below. Almost has a V8 like sound in higher rpms. 

 

[81DOB]

Wow sounds great.... was concerned that doing such a mod would detract from the in cabin sound pipe they have standard but this seems even louder...….

[pearlisf]

The intake is pretty loud, but only when you want it to be. It would definitely be louder than the cabin sound generator one. Just food for thought. The only reason I kept my car for so long was because of the intake sound haha

[Waaahahaha]

Nice! I had a 2013 IS350 too and I still think the pre-facelift model looked better. The lower bumper area looks more sophisticated. Congrats!

[JayLexin]

On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:12 AM, pearlisf said:

Congrats Dan! I also came from a ZR6 Aurion when I initially purchased my 2011 is350 f sport. It did feel a lot smaller coming from an Aurion. You get used to it quickly. I owned my is350 for 7 years before upgrading to an ISF a few weeks ago. 🙂

I had a Takeda intake on my is350 which made the car sound amazing above 3500rpm. 

All the best with your new car!

Nice one, I plan to one day to buy a ISF. How does the ISF feel after driving an IS350 for so long, is there much of a difference vs. 350? From a engine sound, engine response, interior and overall experience?

I own a 2IS 350 F Sport and have been driving it for 5 years, love it, I have all the bolt ons (PPE Headers, F Sport Intake, Custom Midpipe, High Flow Cats, Dual X Force Exhaust & RR Racing Tune 7,200 RPM limiter) It is fun to drive, I am keen to upgrade one day to a 13/14 ISF....Do you think it would be worth the change over?  

Follow me on Insta - ISF350

[pearlisf]

My is350 had a cat back Xforce exhaust and a Takeda intake. The car was a lot of fun to drive and sounded amazing. 

I've read a lot of forums where the owners compare the is350 to an IS F and everyone says they are very close in acceleration etc... 

My ISF has full bolt-ons - PPE headers, Joe Z exhaust, AOS, springs etc. The V8 sound is contagious, I want to drive it day and night for no reason haha. The amount of attention and people staring and trying to figure out what it is is crazy. The car has a very loud v8 rumble at idle.

The difference between the two cars is night and day in my opinion. The IS F pulls hard!

Interior wise they are pretty much the same except the carbon trim look bits. 

I've owned Evos, supercharged cars NA v6s etc. None of them compare to the ISF imo. The car is rare, unique, sleeper look and very fast. 

There is a guy on YouTube "ISFASTER" with a 2012 ISF, with only an Xforce exhaust. He takes his car on the strip and has beat a lot of powerful cars. Helps to be a good driver also haha

[JayLexin]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 1:18 PM, pearlisf said:

My is350 had a cat back Xforce exhaust and a Takeda intake. The car was a lot of fun to drive and sounded amazing. 

I've read a lot of forums where the owners compare the is350 to an IS F and everyone says they are very close in acceleration etc... 

My ISF has full bolt-ons - PPE headers, Joe Z exhaust, AOS, springs etc. The V8 sound is contagious, I want to drive it day and night for no reason haha. The amount of attention and people staring and trying to figure out what it is is crazy. The car has a very loud v8 rumble at idle.

The difference between the two cars is night and day in my opinion. The IS F pulls hard!

Interior wise they are pretty much the same except the carbon trim look bits. 

I've owned Evos, supercharged cars NA v6s etc. None of them compare to the ISF imo. The car is rare, unique, sleeper look and very fast. 

There is a guy on YouTube "ISFASTER" with a 2012 ISF, with only an Xforce exhaust. He takes his car on the strip and has beat a lot of powerful cars. Helps to be a good driver also haha

Thanks for the feedback - have you owned or driven a IS350 with FBO's ?

I have been thinking of trading up from 2012 IS350 F Sport to 2012 / 2013 ISF but I still have a love for my car, however want more power and I am already FBO and a supercharger doesn't make sense because I would be close to a purchase price of a ISF. In OZ now they are $50k for around 70-90 kms on the Odometer and the engine can go forever. I might do it in a couple of years, but keen to get a view on someone who have driven both FBO IS350 and ISF... 

[pearlisf]

I haven't driven an IS350 with FBO unfortunately. The closest I got was a cat back and an intake. I'm sure the headers improve it a lot. 

I know the feeling. I loved my IS350 too much to let go so I gave it to my parents. I picked up my F with 46000kms for around 50k. There are good deals out there but you have to be quick. 

I've never driven a stock ISF so it is hard to say what the difference is compared to mine with FBO. From my experience so far, both IS350 and ISF are great cars. ISF is a bit quicker, has a great V8 sound and is rare. I think my favourite part is the car is the rarity. Feels like you're driving something very very special. 

All the best with your future purchase!

[JayLexin]

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 3:59 PM, pearlisf said:

I haven't driven an IS350 with FBO unfortunately. The closest I got was a cat back and an intake. I'm sure the headers improve it a lot. 

I know the feeling. I loved my IS350 too much to let go so I gave it to my parents. I picked up my F with 46000kms for around 50k. There are good deals out there but you have to be quick. 

I've never driven a stock ISF so it is hard to say what the difference is compared to mine with FBO. From my experience so far, both IS350 and ISF are great cars. ISF is a bit quicker, has a great V8 sound and is rare. I think my favourite part is the car is the rarity. Feels like you're driving something very very special. 

All the best with your future purchase!

Pearlisf $50k for ISF with 46,000 kms with FBO..is a steal for a 2012 ISF how long ago did you purchase?  Did the FBO come with the car, can you list them? I have never driven an ISF but I envy them and agreed it's very rare to see one on the road....  

[pearlisf]

The car popped up on sale about a month ago in NSW. I contacted the owner the same day the car was advertised on carsales and organised a time to meet the following Saturday. He was very fair and said there was a lot of interest but he wouldn't sell the car to anyone until I see it as I was the first one to enquire. I flew to Sydney at 6am he following Saturday, purchased the car by midday and drove it back to Brisbane the same day. The car is in absolutely immaculate condition. Still has the new car smell. Looks as it was just driven off the showroom floor.

All the work was done by the original owner. All the aftermarket parts were originally sourced through Lexus and fitted by Lexus, which gave me a peace of mind that it was done properly. The car has PPE headers, joe z exhaust, swift springs, f sport forged wheels, few steering mods and a flat bottom carbon steering wheels. The owner also included all the original parts in the sale; Original BBS forged wheels, headers, steering wheel etc.

[JayLexin]

3 hours ago, pearlisf said:

The car popped up on sale about a month ago in NSW. I contacted the owner the same day the car was advertised on carsales and organised a time to meet the following Saturday. He was very fair and said there was a lot of interest but he wouldn't sell the car to anyone until I see it as I was the first one to enquire. I flew to Sydney at 6am he following Saturday, purchased the car by midday and drove it back to Brisbane the same day. The car is in absolutely immaculate condition. Still has the new car smell. Looks as it was just driven off the showroom floor.

All the work was done by the original owner. All the aftermarket parts were originally sourced through Lexus and fitted by Lexus, which gave me a peace of mind that it was done properly. The car has PPE headers, joe z exhaust, swift springs, f sport forged wheels, few steering mods and a flat bottom carbon steering wheels. The owner also included all the original parts in the sale; Original BBS forged wheels, headers, steering wheel etc.

That is such a good series of events to secure a car that is in top conditions with Lexus fitted quality aftermarket bolt-ons... I hope I can replicate this series of event when I decide to get into the market for an ISF. I want do it just yet, not for the lack of money but more so because I still love my IS350 and don't want to let it go just yet....

Did you get someone to look over the car, or you did it all yourself? ISF are good cars, all ISX are, I have seen YouTube clips of stock ISX with almost 200,000 kms that are spinning the factory quoted numbers! Amazing....

Once you settle in on the power and the drive, I suggest jumping on RR Racing website and look at purchasing a flash tune for the ISF..

 

 

[pearlisf]

The owner was happy for me to visit his Lexus dealership to go over the car. From my inspection there was nothing of concern. The car has obviously been looked after. The log book showed a service history every 5,000kms with Lexus. Like you say, I have also see people abuse these cars on YouTube and they have over 300,000kms on the clock. As long as the service is carried out regularly these drive trains are bulletproof. RR racing have a 700hp supercharger kit and no engine/ transmission mods required. This tell me that Lexus have over-engineered these cars.

Thanks for the tune advice. Think I'll leave the car as is for now. I hardly get traction in first and second gear on 275 Michellin SuperSport tires haha. The owner says it should be making around 300kw at the wheels as is. I'm keen to do a few dyno runs soon and see for myself.

[JayLexin]

On 11/22/2019 at 2:19 PM, pearlisf said:

The owner was happy for me to visit his Lexus dealership to go over the car. From my inspection there was nothing of concern. The car has obviously been looked after. The log book showed a service history every 5,000kms with Lexus. Like you say, I have also see people abuse these cars on YouTube and they have over 300,000kms on the clock. As long as the service is carried out regularly these drive trains are bulletproof. RR racing have a 700hp supercharger kit and no engine/ transmission mods required. This tell me that Lexus have over-engineered these cars.

Thanks for the tune advice. Think I'll leave the car as is for now. I hardly get traction in first and second gear on 275 Michellin SuperSport tires haha. The owner says it should be making around 300kw at the wheels as is. I'm keen to do a few dyno runs soon and see for myself.

Yes, thanks again.. I am itching to buy a ISF or RCF in the next 2 years, just need to enjoy my IS for a few more years. When I trade up, if ISF is the choice I will target minimum 2012 upwards. I know Lexus' and ever more so ISF engine and gearbox can take a beating with several hundred 000 on the dial.. good idea for piece of mind, get a Lexus dealership o give it the once over... 

300kw at wheels sound right, jump on to RR Racing and u will see dyno results with similar set up to u. So sounds about right... 

ISF will go down as a cult car similar to GTR etc, prices are trending down but eventually a time will come when prices go the other way, when they become more rare and then "bro tax" comes into play....

 

 

[ilv1004s]

as for cheap mods

contact up Toms racing Australia

for Super ram II airfilters for 3IS and also Toms start button and other parts