6 Reasons Why the Lexus IS300 Is Such a Great Car to Modify

Careful Development

The Lexus IS300 has long been a popular target among the tuner crowd, a trend that continues to this very day. As for why that's the case, the YouTube channel MartiniWorks recently took a bit of a deep dive into the aftermarket-friendly sedan and made some interesting discoveries. First off, the channel is quick to note that the IS300 wasn't some mass-produced machine, but rather, the product of careful development and a large investment that makes it quite reliable - not to mention capable of handling large amounts of abuse, to boot. 

Row Your Own

Manual transmissions are about as common as hen's teeth these days, and are basically non-existent in luxury sedans. As such, the IS300 is a bit of a rarity in that it was offered with a manual, and it's a darn good one at that. As such, those who prefer an older, more traditional sporting experience gravitate toward this particular model for that reason alone. 

Solid Powertrain

Given the fact that the early IS300 is essentially just a Toyota Supra underneath its skin, the Lexus coupe could be had with the 2JZ-GE inline-six-cylinder powerplant, which is a beloved engine to this day - not to mention one that can be easily modified to generate massive amounts of power. 

Rear Wheel Drive

These days, drifting is as popular as ever, and rear-wheel-drive Japanese sports cars make for fantastic vehicles in that sport. As such, the IS300 has become a very popular base for drift builds in recent years, and given the fact that it can also be modified to generate a lot of power easily and relatively cheaply, that only makes it more enticing in that regard. 

Easy To Work On

On top of all that, the IS300 is quite easy to work on, and parts are readily available - whether they be OEM or aftermarket. There's a pretty good chance that the affordability of parts will ultimately erode as values also rise, but for now, at least, those parts aren't terribly expensive to purchase, either. 

Value

In a world where pretty much every older vehicle worth collecting is selling for big bucks, the IS300 remains a solid value. Of course, prices have risen over the past couple of years along with enthusiast interest, but finding a nice example for a decent price is still fairly easy to do - for now, at least. 

>>Join the conversation about the first-gen Lexus IS300 right here at ClubLexus.com.

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