Hello to all!

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I live in the PNW, late 30's (still a kid though), electrical engineering degree (power engineer), and definitely a car enthusiast!

Someone ran a red light and totaled my benz () so I thought it would be a good time to go back to Lexus after 10 years of bimmers & benz'. Figured the first thing was to join the club as I'm a big fan of talking to actual people, getting real-world advice, how-to's, etc. and not just spamming my dome with ye old you tube videos (yes they do still come in handy occasionally).

I've had (3) SC-400's back in my pre-college years and they were great cars. had a '92, '95, and a '99 and they were all fun to drive, decent power and super reliable so I figured why not go back. I drove 6 hours last weekend to pick up a black-on-black 2014 IS 350 F-sport AWD w/ 62K miles and has all factory maintenance intervals completed. I thought long and hard about getting an IS F but ultimately needed to go with AWD due to rain 8 months out of the year and trips up to the mountains in the winter. I WILL own an IS-F someday though.

I had a pretty big smile on my face for the 6 hour drive home as I did 85-90 almost the entire way and the car handled great. F-sport seats are definitely not as comfortable as my benz but I do love the hugging feeling they give you. My back is messed up from the accident and I did not realize the issue with the heated seats not getting very warm, specifically on the 2014 models, but you cant have it all.

Have had the car for only 5 days and have done the following:

• Royal purple injector cleaner, seafoam in the intake and in the crank case (~30 miles before I changed oil)
• Oil change w/ filter with amsoil boosted+
• Denso iridium plugs.
• Ordered K&N air filter, intake tube, axle back exhaust and tune from rr-racing
• Carbon fiber center console cover: car has nice texture trim covers around the power window and mirror buttons but black on the center consoler, not sure if that's standard or not but I found very similar textured center console covers and figured I'd see what that looks like.

List of items next month:

• Darker window tint for the back and rear side windows,
• Powder coat the rims black
• Add fogs lights
• small amp+sub ( I do have the surround sound but I always like to have 10/12" single sub as well).

Any other items I should look into doing relatively soon?

Lastly, I cant seem to find a solid answer pertaining to octane for the rr-racing tune. I know its designed for 93+ but in WA we only have have 92. Does anyone know if the KCLV numbers will stay much lower with this tune running 92 or will it just not quit take full advantage of the tune. Any other motor heads running that tune with 92 octane? Do I need to keep a case of octane boost in the trunk?



Anyways, sorry for the long post and again just wanted to say hello (and maybe get a "welcome to the *****#$%king club!" ?)

 

Welcome to CL!

You car will run just fine with the RR racing tune on 92 Octane, I also have the RR racing tune and normally run 93 when I'm at home, but I travel quite a bit and have ran 91 many times when I was out of town when that's all they had. I assure you 92 is just fine and the tune will auto adjust to it and make no noticeable difference

 

A few things. Congrats on the new car. 6 hours home is a lengthy drive. It looks like you're not afraid of a good maintenance system. That said, lots of people keep octane in the trunk for fill ups. However, it is not necessary just because you have 92 fuel. The car will adapt to that without issue. Anyone offering a tune will always recommend the highest available octane for the most benefit.

PS, I had a '95 SC-300. Those were some really nice cars.


-Justin
RR Sales

 

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to Lexus!

Fog lights were on the top of my list as well when we got the 3IS. See my writeup/review of the Winjet fogs in post #90 in this thread:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...glights-6.html

 

Welcome! Post photos of the ride!

Also, you might consider doing a build thread on the car as you install all those items!

 

PJSnow, Thanks! I was hoping someone would point me in the right direction for some decent fog installs. I will definitely give your post a read through.

arentz07, Sounds like a good idea and I always like to contribute information for others to read about for ideas and suggestions. I will start one this weekend!

Justin @ RRRacing, thats exactly what I wanted to hear! You are correct in that I am big on a good (and preventative) maintenance program. Comes with the territory being a power engineer in charge of my facilities maintenance testing program lol. Now hurry up and ship my order!!

Thanks for all the replies.