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On the streets their are a variety of fast cars for a reasonable price. The question is would you prefer speed over looks? With the IS300 you get an excellent luxury and import look, with a pleasing amount of power. Of course you could go with cars like the Subaru STI or a Dodge Neon SRT-4 and have more speed, but its not going to compare with the extreme comfort of the ride or the favorable looks of the IS300.

My first IS300 was purchased at Cherry Hill Lexus in New Jersey when I was 16 and it was a wdp 02 e shift. It was such an incredible feeling when I purchased my first IS. I cherished it with all of my heart. I wouldn’t let my friends eat drink or smoke in it. I was so attached that I actually contemplated sleeping in my car. About a month after I got the car I found out about is300.net. I started researching mods and other additions for the IS300. I figured I would do a simple exhaust and intake set up after wheels and tires. I chose a set of chrome 18 inch wheels, and the metallic paint complimented them well. After a few months I decided I wanted a little more power and sound, because I felt the stock exhaust wasn’t loud enough for me. So as a result I upgraded to the greddy evo exhaust and an aem short ram intake.

Then the spring came around again and it has been a year I have been with my car. I was at the Lexus dealer getting service done, so I decided to take a walk around the lot and look at the 2004 models. I end up going into the showroom and I see my salesman who sold me my car. After talking for a few minutes on how my is300 has been going for me, I start asking him questions about the 2004 IS300. He walked me over to an 04 ggp 5 speed. The car had the Sport Design package which includes the euro tuned suspension, the sport design exhaust tip, and 17 inch graphite spoke wheels. When I saw this IS300, I said to myself I have to get my hands on one of these cars. The Sport Design Package puts a great new look into the IS300. When the salesman saw how much I loved the car he offered me a test drive. Of course I accept his offer, and he goes to get the keys. When I pull out of the parking lot onto the high way the 1st gear is just such a drastic difference then driving my e shift. I asked the salesman if he could find me one in black. He came back and told me that one will be coming off a ship next week, also that its black on black. I thought perfect, I definitely will enjoy the 5 speed transmission. I then went ahead and purchased the car. A week went by and of course I got a call from my salesman Scott. The big words hit me, Brandon your car is here and ready for pick up. I was at the dealership that night picking up my new IS300. When I got to the dealership and first saw the car I was astonished. I really thought the wheels looked great on the black. When I got up close I noticed the interior was grey, I opened the car up and seen it was a 2 tone grey and black interior which I actually liked a lot. I told Scott that the interior that came with the car wasn’t what you told me, but I like it so much that I want to keep it. Then I started the car up and it has 2 miles on it, what a nice sight. When I drove the car off the lot, I took it for a long drive down my local interstate, because I wanted to start to break in my engine.

As far as mods for this car I wanted to do a few more then what I had done in the past with my 02 IS. I Swapped the exhaust and intake over to my new IS. Then I purchased ox header and race pipe. What I noticed with the header and race pipe was a gain in high end but a decrease in low end. My friend also from is300.net came over and helped on the install. At first I liked the sound of the exhaust, but after a while that sound just started to get all of my nerves. I thought the stock height of the car is a little to high. Which made me lower the car with a 2 inch spring kit made by Tein. After the springs were installed, the car looked so much better, getting rid of that big tire gap made a huge change. I wanted to see what kind of power these mods added so I took it up to turbo trix to put it on the dyno. It punched in at 196 rwhp and 186 torque. I thought it wasn’t worth the money for the those parts that only gave me so little extra horsepower.

The most unforgettable time with my car would be my accident. It happened after sitting in 4 hours of shore traffic. I was on the home stretch about 15 minutes away from home on interstate 295 traffic started to open up. Then around a turn near the entrance ramp I started to accelerate too fast and I hydroplaned and sideswiped the curb and ended up on the median almost onto oncoming traffic. It was awful, my rear right tire and rotor was completely ripped off on the impact with the curb and my rims were cracked. I was devastated, I was so mad at myself for accelerating to much on that turn, especially when the road was wet. A few days later I get the appraisal and total cost of the damage came to $8,000. The roof kinked a little, the rear had to be replaced, and the trunk moved a little. Two of the four rims were cracked also, the only good thing was that insurance would buy me new rims in the price range of my old set. So I called the Lexus dealer and got referred to this Toyota body shop in Lumberton New Jersey. I dropped the car off to them and they tell me 2-3 weeks and this was in early June. They told me they have to order in parts. The 3 weeks pass and still no call from the body shop, so of course I give them a call. The manager tells me that they are still waiting for the parts to come in.

I’m a little mad because I was told 2-3 weeks but you never know when your dealing with a body shop. 2 more weeks go by and still no call, so I give them a try again. This time the manager tells me that they are waiting on one last part. That night I took a ride place by the shop and saw that my car was still sitting in the same spot in which it was delivered outside on the side of the shop, not even behind locked gates. At this time I was furious. Not only was there no work started on my car, but it was waiting to be broken into. The next day I gave them a call giving orders to have my car locked up behind their shop or inside until they start work on my car, and also asking why no work has been started. Now he tells me that they got the shock that they were waiting for and that it wasn’t the right one. I figured there is nothing I can do besides sit and wait for it to be done. I’m sick of this shop. I ended up picking up my car 3 and a half weeks later from the body shop. I dropped my car off in early June and get it back in the middle of August. The next day I notice an oil leak in my drive way, I cant believe it. I take it right up to Lexus. It is the rear differential that s leaking. So now they tell me I have to leave the car their because I shouldn’t be driving it until it gets fixed, and the part will be in tomorrow morning and ill have the car back the next day. I made sure that the manager who referred me to that body shop knew about what happened with my situation with the body shop. I told him I would never do business with that shop ever again and not to refer customers to them.

Another 3 months roll by, and I decide to do some more exterior and some interior styling. I had gotten the rims replaced by insurance, and now I was to add some more to the exterior. I ordered the Rod Millen front lip and the VIS Invader carbon fiber hood. Both of these items added such an aggressive look to my IS. As for the interior I added a flip out Dvd/Tv Combo by kenwood in the front. In the back I put a 10 inch clarion flip down screen with an xbox console in the trunk. Lastly I wanted to add a little more joy to the ride, so I start to research forced induction. Man is there so much good information with this! I was debating on SRT and TBKO. After watching the tuner transformation show with Jeff and Sean doing the install, it leaded me towards them. Also a lot of members on is300.net gave them great feedback. I figured I would like to be a little over 300 rwhp. So I wanted to do their stage 1 turbo kit. I went with the TBKO Gauge Pod with Autometer Carbon Fiber gauges, Turbo East Custom 3 inch exhaust, and the Apexi N1 muffler in black. I had about half of the money for the kit already. So I figured I would be able to get the kit installed in the summer. I give Jeff a call and set up a drop off date. He tells me what the stage 1 kit will do for my car and when I need the car back. I gave him the due date and he told me that it would not be a problem. A week and a half later just like Jeff told me my car was ready for pick up. The install was very clean. When I drove my newly transformed IS away from Turbo East it felt like a totally different car. When I hit that gas there was nothing but smiles for me.

A few weeks later back at home I take the car to the track. I want to see what it will do with the turbo kit installed. I got the track around 9 o’clock unfortunately so I only got 2 runs in. I ran a 13.6 the first run, and a 13.4 on the 2 ^nd run both on 7 psi and a stock clutch. I would like to do a lot of more things to my IS in the future. One would be the brakes, now with the turbo in, I definitely need to upgrade the break system, get a new clutch flywheel setup, and cam gear.

Ever since I purchased my first IS300 it has been nothing but an unforgettable driving experience for me. The only thing I would have done different was to skip the Naturally Aspirated parts, and just spend the extra money for a Forced Induction kit. One of the bad experiences I have had, is my local dealerships service center. They are not mod friendly at all. Their attitudes completely changed when I added a few mods, but that’s nothing to make you dislike the IS.I feel that every nickel and dime I have put into my car was well worth it. I’m very proud of what my car came to be. If I could go back in time and be able to purchase my first car again, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be the IS. In my eyes overall there will be no better luxury sedan like the IS300.

While looking around for a car in 2002, Chris was informed about a good friend that had traded in his '01 IS300 for an incredibly desired, '02 Escalade. What he knew about the IS was concise- 2001. Blue-Purple. And clean. Well nobody wants a purple car, but perhaps this one was worth looking at. He took the drive away from the shore area and headed to Atlantic City only to be introduced to a 2001 Spectra Blue Mica IS300 with black interior and graphite polished wheels; LSD for those who were wondering as well, and under 7,000 miles. Only a few of these have survived the test of time from what he's learned, so this one stays treasured in his garage for weekend getaways and cruises to meets, races, and shows.

He daily drove the car for about a year and threw on a quick 10,000 miles; too many for his eyes. Acquiring the infamous 'beater' car, he put the IS in the garage and began work on it. Performance was enhanced first through an SRT Intake with the R-ECU, a good modification, but the 'mod bug' began for more power. Staying normally aspirated for now, the exhaust was modified with a Toyomoto header and y-pipe, a DTM motorwerks b-pipe, and bringing up the rear was an HKS Dragger II rear-section. Not to mention that power was added through his Titan Motorsports Exhaust Cam Gear installed and tuned by Swift Racing Technologies in Maryland. The grounding system was improved through the Teck 12V cables.

Now that the engine was where he wanted it to be for now, he claimed fame inside with five screens, all custom fitted into his headrests, visors, and one for himself sitting in the top of the dash via a JDM dash tray. All of the screens are wired to a PlayStation 2 mounted on the passenger side atop a PLP passenger footplate and sound can be heard through his Radio Frequency modulator in his head unit. The interior was also dressed up with a set of Sparco Clubman 3-point harnesses for the front. These installations were sponsored partially through Dynamic Productions in Jersey.

Moving along to the outside now, this is where Chris takes his pride. Personally detailing the car for every show and walk-through, Chris has taken extra care in the paint and its deep blue metallic paint; a complement to the car in itself. After all, it is where he got his idea for his license plate, reading: INTNSIS, or to you: Intense IS. He says it was a compliment he got on the paint being "intense blue" and he never forgot it. Dressing up the paint more however are the custom painted lights. Chris wanted to take away from the "clear" look and deepen everything. Through the IS forums, he delivered his taillights, headlights, fog lights, and sidemarkers to California where they were painted a flat black with chrome rings around the border of the lights; a touch Chris says that without, his car would be "off". After everything was painted and shipped back, he got the fog lights wrapped in Yellow 3M film by Vigg Designs in Freehold, NJ; just to throw that 'touch' in the front end. Swapping the grille for a darker 2004 grille,the front end of the car can be mistaken for an earlier edition, but have no wonders because this color was only offered in '01.

The front is also spruced up with a Wald front lip and a custom painted carbon fiber VIS hood. The wheels were chosen through a deal on the IS forums, and are 18 x 8" TSW Catalunyas wrapped in Goodyear Eagle F1 tires.

Finally, stopping this garage queen is the Rotora sponsored cross-drilled rotors, Axxis Ultimate brake pads, and stainless steel brake lines; a mod Chris personally loves. Besides the ultimate power in braking capacity, the look that the cross-drilled rotors set off on the car was phenomenal.

Altogether this garaged car sits pretty with less than 37,000 miles on it and still going strong on 5+ years old. He has had no problems with this car and only success has been achieved through five trophies throughout north-east car shows. He plans on boosting this dream car to a moderate power throughout the next couple of years and finishing the kit (sides/rear) along with a roof spoiler and/or trunk spoiler. Anyone interested in buying this car better have a 1995 RX7 in hand, because he is not parting otherwise.

Special thanks to my family, friends, and the whole northeast crew…you all know who you are.