2008 Lexus IS F

I've gone back and forth between reliable safe cars and.. less reliable sports cars. I would try to do make the sports cars reliable and make the reliable cars sporty. I uncovered a love for modifying regular traffic for the sake of functional novelty. After doing this for my entire driving career- I decided I should shoot for some combination of the two. I looked around for a couple years for low-key overlooked performance cars that held a reputation for reliability and aftermarket support that still had a pulse. Enter: the Lexus ISF. 5 liters of Japanese n/a glory, four doors, rwd, and a gentlemanly swagger like a three piece suit and a snapback. It had higher miles (186k) when I picked it up, and it was the first production year so it was lacking some of the desirable updates that came on later models like LSD, improved suspension, face lift headlights, and special color interiors. It had already lived a life as a fairly fleshed-out show car in Chicago for the last 6 years. Fortunately, the owner had gone back to stock visually but left on all the performance parts- a perfect fit to my preference. In March 2024, my wife and I drove to Chicago and picked up my full bolt-on 93 tuned wonder car and drove it back. It's one thing to have the new car zoomies, but when it's the fastest car you've ever had AND you're navigating Chicago freeway traffic to the song of a throaty high-revving V8? Irrevocable giddiness. Unbridled adrenaline. Somehow more than 20 mpg. To keep this thing running for years to come, I did lots of reading in the time before buying. I joined owners groups, scoured forums, and watched marathons of YouTube reviews and maintenance videos. About 2 months after purchasing- I scheduled the ISF some well-earned major maintenance with a new timing chain, chain tensioners and guides, valve cover gaskets, water pump, a/c condenser, and lightweight crank pulley, coolant change, and oil change. There are numerous ISF with high mileage (the highest I've seen is a bit over 440k on the original motor) and I feel like getting the big stuff out of the way early on leads to guilt-free modifications and confidence that future shenanigans won't cost me a motor. As of 2026, it has PPE UEL catless headers, Joe Z dual exhaust (sorry the OEM quad tips are just for show), RR Racing intake, RR Racing 93 tune, RR Racing lightweight crank pulley, RR Racing catch can, RR Racing poly engine mounts, FIGS Engineering spherical bearing rear arms, FIGS Engineering poly USRS, SPC front upper adjustable ball joints, and HKS Hipermax S coilovers. The only visual mod is the 18x9.5 +38 Eternal Blue Pearl Gram Lights 57DR wrapped in 265/35/18 square Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02s (courtesy of Martini Works) orbiting Ithaca Verde powder coated Brembos. I also installed some Precisionworkz bi-LED retrofit headlights, but they're just function- no RGB or custom colors or etching- purely OEM appearance. It's been a little over 2 years and I still haven't stopped smiling- don't send help. Every time I start it or roll down a boulevard, people's heads swivel around to find what car is making that noise. It's never what people expect- and that's exactly what I love. You can be as conspicuous as you want.