I'm thinking about getting rid of my Subaru WRX (cvt) within the next year. I had a Infiniti G37x before it, and honestly I liked it a lot more. I kinda got sick of it because everyone had one, and while I do like the q50 and the q60 I'd like to try out another make that's always caught my eye. One thing I've read but never fully understood is that the IS300 is very similar to the IS350 but nerfed by Lexus and can be tuned to its full potential? I did read around before writing all this, but couldn't draw a concrete conclusion on how safe it is for the longevity of a daily driver. Obviously if I were to go that route, I would want to do it the right way.

Secondly, I would love to hear from anyone who previously drove a wrx or g37x/q60 what they like about their IS300 over the former cars, or even what they miss that the IS300 differs on.

 

The RWD Is300 is a 2.0L turbo engine. But the AWD IS300 is the same drivetrain from the AWD IS350, just 'detuned'. After 4K it falls flat while the 350 keeps climbing in power. It's essentially the same exact car but with the detune, and lack of AVS.
When I was looking for a AWD 350 F-sport, I could not find any nice pre-owned ones in a 3 state radius that were not at 'no credit no problem scamerships'. As such, I was pretty much choosing between a brand new 350 FS, and a few pre owned ones that were kind of beat up. But I knew about the whole 'tune' thing and one of the two good Lexus dealers by me Rally has a super clean, low mile AWD 300FS. (Rally and Ray Catena Lexus are the good dealers in the area, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhatan Lexus are all scumb&%$ of the same owner). And that is exactly what I ended up doing, getting the AWD300FS and the RR-Racing tune.
I had them make me two tunes, a apparently bone stock '350' tune with the stock rev limit in place, and the regular full RR-Racing 7200RPM tune.
I ran the 'stock 350' tune for a few months, but one day threw on the full 7200RPM tune with the increased rev limiter and have been running that for almost two years. The RR-Racing tune has a great track record of reliability; and I have has no mechanical issues to speak of after just short of two years of the full 7200RPM tune and driving a average of 25K miles per year. It's also been serviced at the dealer a bunch of times and they have not mentioned it. Only issue I have had is with the full 7200RPM tune, if I floor it while the eng/trans is still cold soon after starting, it has a tendency to not upshift and bounce of the rev limiter. I've only experienced this when playing with my friends just leaving work. I normally go very easy on the car until everything is up to temp, and when doing that it is issue free and upshifts in auto/manual at the increased 7200RPM rev limit.
I have not really driven a WRX besides taking my friends 'around the block' kind of a thing, and riding in my friends a bunch. Personally I hate the seating position and IMO feels like a hopped up economy car, what it is essentially. As well both the Q50 and IS are much nicer to commute/daily drive while having a much nicer interior in both.
I did drive a 3.7 Q50 around for a couple of month when it was still new. To me at least, the IS fells much more like a 'drivers car' with the lack of the fully electric steering of the Infinity, while feeling much better & planted on twisty roads. Although there is no denying the 3.0T Q50/60 are faster in a straight line, especially with some bolt ons.
But after having my IS for a while, I still love it, and plan to get the 500 sometime this year. I could trade it in right now for a 500, but I am oddly sentimental with cars and still love my 300FS so I might just want to hold onto it as a daily.

 

What Rhydg1 above has posted is a great review of the 300 tune. Thanks for that.

Below is an image from our site that shows the gains on the 300 vs: 350. You will basically be matching the 350 stock output and then adding a little more. Aside from that, I would like to add that I owned a '19 WRX STI for 48 hours and returned it. It was a cool car but there is no comparison at all to a Lexus IS. I think you would love the way the IS drives in comparison.

-Justin

 

Numbers for IS250?

 

 

Thanks for such a detailed response! I think another important factor I need to consider is how well these cars hold their value. One reason I sold the G37x despite it being such a great car for me and being such a great bang for the buck, it depreciated quite a bit. I’m not super concerned about what cars faster as I’m not looking to race anyone , but want a reliable, smooth car with some kick for when I do need that acceleration.

 

I was browsing your company last night, I saw the modules only go up to 2017. Will there inevitably be the following years?

 

We do have the ability to tune 2018+ but we would need a car here to first develop the tune. It would have to be a local car and that hasn't happened yet.

Justin
RR Sales

 

I was looking for the same exact thing when I got my IS. I had a B8 S4 for a while that blew it's valve springs at 42K driving down my block. It was covered under warranty, but I was terrified of something like that happening outside of the warranty that was soon about to expire. I panic traded it when I got the car back for a Acura; but that felt just like the optioned out accord I had a few years ago and I missed the feeling of a actual 'luxury' car. I've loved my IS since getting it; It's a great daily, is very comfortable just cruising to work on the parkway with my long commute or being stuck in traffic, while feeling great pushing it on a offramp or a twisty road. With the RR-Racing tune, it feels 9/10th as fast as my stock S4 did in a straight line but feels like it handles better; plus I beat on it every now and then without worrying about something blowing up. The S4 felt some what FWD on hard corning and plowed the front end out a few times. I have yet to experience the same thing with my IS.

 

I have had a 05 c6 and a 370z.. Now I own the 300is. The 370z has the same motor as the g37, and I had the 370z in a 6spd. I havent tuned the 300is yet, but I plan on it soon. When I test drove the 3i, I was suprised about how fast it feels. It is by no means a fast car, but it definitely isnt a pig (i think it mostly comes down the gearing). IMO it feels a little bit faster then the 370z (even though it isn't) because of this. The 370 had all of its power up top, so I always felt like I was beating the pissed out of it anytime I wanted to keep it in the power band.