1SICKEDITORIAL- Lexus Enthusiasts, give yourselves a round of applause
02-14-12, 09:02 PM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
1SICKEDITORIAL- Lexus Enthusiasts, give yourselves a round of applause
I humbly 
joined this site fall of 2000 like many of you, looking for somewhere to find a Lexus "Club" to talk about our cars. Which quickly turned into a place to spend major money modifying your Lexus. Back in 2000, we were not the first to modify Lexus, just the first to know about it on a global scale due to the power of the internet. I had put rims on my ES 300 back in 1997 for example. So before CL there were thousands of people who modified Lexus vehicles who were the O.G's before us CL O.GS. The quiet but numerous.
Understand before L-tuned that debuted August of 2000, there was no official aftermarket parts for Lexus by Lexus. You got a nice Coach ediiton, Amex edition or some other edition. With different wheels. Mind you this write up isn't to say Lexus going sport is going to dominate or is the greatest thing in the world. It isn't. What I want to do is acknowledge the strides made by Lexus and its all due to Lexus enthusiasts.
We have seen L-tuned, Sport Designs and cars like the SC, GS, IS but to me it was clear Lexus was finally FINALLY listening when they debuted the F-sport brand and the IS F. They finally were listening to people like us who modified cars and wanted more from their Lexus. I cannot begin to name the people here who were ahead of the pack with modifying their Lexus and I cannot name every one of you who have modified their cars from full engine builds to swapping out a LED bulb.
Its amazing to see so much passion by people into a brand and cars that the media called passionless and who trolls dismissed as boring (the same idiots who then say Lexus should not do sporty, the LFA is dumb etc etc when Lexus does what they asked)
The LFA is the pinnacle of this, a showing of perseverance and commitment to the Lexus enthusiast. A car that won't made a dime but was made with the highest levels of passion to show the best that could be produced from Lexus and have this passion run down to other vehicles. I don't think most really think of how ****ing crazy it had to be to produce a car like the LFA from a brand like Lexus. Its about as crazy a production car and story as it gets. As the story said, the last car produced from the brand that was a sports car was the Supra and their F1 efforts were not very eventful. We are lucky to have some CL members here who share their LFA vehicles with us and it was just amazing how Lexus extended an open invitation to people to try the vehicle out.
Today we continue to see F-sport expanded (Imagine a RX F-sport!) and promises of more true "F' marque products. We should even mention the amazing FRS/BRZ/FRS triplets who were no doubt inspired somewhat by the passion of the LFA. The new GS is now arguably best in class in regards to sport. I'm just happy to see Lexus become an entrant in areas usually reserved for European entries. The IS F debuted in 2008 and its still the only entrant from Japan in that class.The Auto World needs diversity and its great to see Lexus interpretation of sport added to the mix.
It surely wasn't as easy road for Lexus or us enthusiasts. Lexus is probably the most trolled and insulted brand I've seen around. even with its vast history of success The general ignorance of Lexus vehicles shows who the real enthusiasts are many times. Anyone can figure out and be an enthusiast of well, an enthusiast car. It takes a special enthusiast, someone TRULY TRULY enthused to go against the grain and modify something most wouldn't think of. Lexus could have easily, I mean EASILY said to hell with us and focused on cushy and ES/LS cars. They could have made the GS this generation more cushy, bigger, heavier and more boring to appeal to a more traditional Lexus customer. Lexus could have easily thrown in the towel, we see so many other brands do it. They didn't, they kept rebooting and rebooting and using the Kaizen philosophy to improve the sport that needed improving within the brand. They moved on from L-tuned and introduced F-sport. They went past F-sport with the "F" marque. THEY DID NOT GIVE UP.
Over the past 11+ years I've attended countless meets, organized countless meets, thousands of PMs, E-mails, texts, over 60,000 posts, thousands of pics and interacted with so many Lexus enthusiasts that I felt compelled to write a THANK YOU to you guys and gals. Without your passion for the brand we would not see the products we are seeing. They are a DIRECT RESULT OF YOU!. Thank you to those that go above and beyond for the Lexus enthusiast and thank you to all the companies that create products and support the Lexus enthusiast community. If we all bought Porsche's tomorrow and got rid of our Lexus, we can say we helped pave the path for the Lexus enthusiast today (you guys don't know how good you got it) and the next generation of Lexus enthusiasts.
So this thread is for you guys/gals.
Thank you all for being awesome so Lexus could see the passion and respond in kind. Lets continue to modify our cars with passion, support the product and hope Lexus continues to respond in kind. Lets also remember to pay respect to the brands that paved the way for Lexus and remember whats important is the enthusiasm and love for the car.
Mike
P.S-Trolls...
you
joined this site fall of 2000 like many of you, looking for somewhere to find a Lexus "Club" to talk about our cars. Which quickly turned into a place to spend major money modifying your Lexus. Back in 2000, we were not the first to modify Lexus, just the first to know about it on a global scale due to the power of the internet. I had put rims on my ES 300 back in 1997 for example. So before CL there were thousands of people who modified Lexus vehicles who were the O.G's before us CL O.GS. The quiet but numerous. Understand before L-tuned that debuted August of 2000, there was no official aftermarket parts for Lexus by Lexus. You got a nice Coach ediiton, Amex edition or some other edition. With different wheels. Mind you this write up isn't to say Lexus going sport is going to dominate or is the greatest thing in the world. It isn't. What I want to do is acknowledge the strides made by Lexus and its all due to Lexus enthusiasts.We have seen L-tuned, Sport Designs and cars like the SC, GS, IS but to me it was clear Lexus was finally FINALLY listening when they debuted the F-sport brand and the IS F. They finally were listening to people like us who modified cars and wanted more from their Lexus. I cannot begin to name the people here who were ahead of the pack with modifying their Lexus and I cannot name every one of you who have modified their cars from full engine builds to swapping out a LED bulb.
Its amazing to see so much passion by people into a brand and cars that the media called passionless and who trolls dismissed as boring (the same idiots who then say Lexus should not do sporty, the LFA is dumb etc etc when Lexus does what they asked)The LFA is the pinnacle of this, a showing of perseverance and commitment to the Lexus enthusiast. A car that won't made a dime but was made with the highest levels of passion to show the best that could be produced from Lexus and have this passion run down to other vehicles. I don't think most really think of how ****ing crazy it had to be to produce a car like the LFA from a brand like Lexus. Its about as crazy a production car and story as it gets. As the story said, the last car produced from the brand that was a sports car was the Supra and their F1 efforts were not very eventful. We are lucky to have some CL members here who share their LFA vehicles with us and it was just amazing how Lexus extended an open invitation to people to try the vehicle out.
Today we continue to see F-sport expanded (Imagine a RX F-sport!) and promises of more true "F' marque products. We should even mention the amazing FRS/BRZ/FRS triplets who were no doubt inspired somewhat by the passion of the LFA. The new GS is now arguably best in class in regards to sport. I'm just happy to see Lexus become an entrant in areas usually reserved for European entries. The IS F debuted in 2008 and its still the only entrant from Japan in that class.The Auto World needs diversity and its great to see Lexus interpretation of sport added to the mix.
It surely wasn't as easy road for Lexus or us enthusiasts. Lexus is probably the most trolled and insulted brand I've seen around. even with its vast history of success
The general ignorance of Lexus vehicles shows who the real enthusiasts are many times. Anyone can figure out and be an enthusiast of well, an enthusiast car. It takes a special enthusiast, someone TRULY TRULY enthused to go against the grain and modify something most wouldn't think of. Lexus could have easily, I mean EASILY said to hell with us and focused on cushy and ES/LS cars. They could have made the GS this generation more cushy, bigger, heavier and more boring to appeal to a more traditional Lexus customer. Lexus could have easily thrown in the towel, we see so many other brands do it. They didn't, they kept rebooting and rebooting and using the Kaizen philosophy to improve the sport that needed improving within the brand. They moved on from L-tuned and introduced F-sport. They went past F-sport with the "F" marque. THEY DID NOT GIVE UP.Over the past 11+ years I've attended countless meets, organized countless meets, thousands of PMs, E-mails, texts, over 60,000 posts, thousands of pics and interacted with so many Lexus enthusiasts that I felt compelled to write a THANK YOU to you guys and gals. Without your passion for the brand we would not see the products we are seeing. They are a DIRECT RESULT OF YOU!. Thank you to those that go above and beyond for the Lexus enthusiast and thank you to all the companies that create products and support the Lexus enthusiast community. If we all bought Porsche's tomorrow and got rid of our Lexus, we can say we helped pave the path for the Lexus enthusiast today (you guys don't know how good you got it
) and the next generation of Lexus enthusiasts. So this thread is for you guys/gals.
Thank you all for being awesome so Lexus could see the passion and respond in kind. Lets continue to modify our cars with passion, support the product and hope Lexus continues to respond in kind. Lets also remember to pay respect to the brands that paved the way for Lexus and remember whats important is the enthusiasm and love for the car. Mike
P.S-Trolls...
you
02-14-12, 09:13 PM
#2
Lexus Test Driver
pfffft. The equus is the same car for $20k less....
j/k
I also must give Lexus props on stepping up their game over the past few years. If gas was a bit cheaper i'd still have my SC400. But the new lineup is definately going to appeal to both traditional Lexus buyers as well as the newer buyers who want something a bit more sporty and aggressive. Big Thumbs up to ToMoCo.
j/k
I also must give Lexus props on stepping up their game over the past few years. If gas was a bit cheaper i'd still have my SC400. But the new lineup is definately going to appeal to both traditional Lexus buyers as well as the newer buyers who want something a bit more sporty and aggressive. Big Thumbs up to ToMoCo.
02-14-12, 09:28 PM
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
pfffft. The equus is the same car for $20k less....
j/k
I also must give Lexus props on stepping up their game over the past few years. If gas was a bit cheaper i'd still have my SC400. But the new lineup is definately going to appeal to both traditional Lexus buyers as well as the newer buyers who want something a bit more sporty and aggressive. Big Thumbs up to ToMoCo.
j/k
I also must give Lexus props on stepping up their game over the past few years. If gas was a bit cheaper i'd still have my SC400. But the new lineup is definately going to appeal to both traditional Lexus buyers as well as the newer buyers who want something a bit more sporty and aggressive. Big Thumbs up to ToMoCo.
Agreed. .
Last edited by DaveGS4; 02-15-12 at 04:39 AM. Reason: Quoted post was removed
02-14-12, 09:30 PM
#4
02-14-12, 09:36 PM
#5
Awesome post Mike. Have to say getting my IS back in september of 2008 with no prior history, I had no clue what I was getting into. Today I find myself with literally 100 new friends from CL from meets and shows over the past 4 years and meeting more new faces everyday. Such an awesome feeling to be apart of a community that cares about the people involved and a passion for what "drives us" hah. I've helped CL members move, install car parts to their Lexus, celebrate birthdays, BBQ'd, and been a shoulder to cry on for CL members going through divorces and other hardships. Stumbling upon CL has been a great highlight in my life thus far! Thank you CL!
Last edited by DaveGS4; 02-15-12 at 04:40 AM. Reason: Quoted posts removed
02-14-12, 10:25 PM
#6
With the various meets, dialogues, and events I have attended, it is clear that Lexus has a strong following. Regardless of the trolls and haters and nay-sayers, this is a brand geared toward its customers. Every facet of luxury automotive I haven't been on the forums that long, but to see the evolution of Lexus products over the generations has more to do with the input and info gathered at these meets, dialogues, and events than simply creating a product that hopefully consumers would back. The inception of F and F-sport has changed Lexus' reputation of not only being a luxury brand, but now evolving into a sport luxury brand. And there is still so much change and progress to be made, not for a comparative sake but for Lexus as a brand. The pursuit of perfection continues, and we as Lexus enthusiasts and loyal customers are at the heart of this pursuit.
Trending Topics
02-14-12, 11:02 PM
#9
Nice post! I haven't been with Lexus too long, but I'm glad Lexus has the following that it does now. Seen some crazy modded cars both here on CL and at the local meets and shows. Nice to see that Lexus has such a strong following of enthusiasts and that there's a great aftermarket for Lexus today. I'm glad Lexus has become what it is today!
02-15-12, 01:07 AM
#10
Pole Position
02-15-12, 05:49 AM
#12
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 932
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great post, OP! Is Lexus REALLY listening to the members of this site? If so, I just want to let them know that I appreciate the direction they are heading. They're "almost" there! I also want to let them know that they should also listen to the trolls and haters, because as annoying as they can be, they do have a point that no one is willing to listen to. The greatness of a car is measured by how close its execution is to the company philosophy, how well it stacks up to its competitors, how salient its fan base is, and how much it is criticized. I was losing my faith in Japanese cars, but I am proud to say that Lexus has rekindled and revived my love for them. As I've stated earlier in this post.......they're "almost" there.
