5 Likes vs 5 Dislikes of my 2008 Lexus ISF 

Have been enjoying your ISF content so far! Great review. 2010 Matador ISF owner here: What I've noticed over 2 years of ownership is the transmission takes a little bit of finesse to drive it effectively. When cruising and the car is in 8th gear, press the paddle once and it'll drop from 8th to 6th gear and then I switch to full manual mode and the downshifts come much quicker. Downshifting from 8 to 7 to 6 in full manual mode seems much slower for some reason.

More lexus is f videos please. Just discovered your channel. Keep up the good work

Hey man your videos have inspired me to modify my accord euro I’ve just done a cl7 euro r gearbox swap in it. If your ever in Australia let me know if you wanna come see it

great review, i own one of these cars so a little insight in the gearbox. Firstly get your gearbox oil changed and reset your adaptations. Secondly when downshifting manually let of the throttle then downshift its quicker! Also your already aware that hi speed shifts occur at high RPM.

I was thinking to do review of mine as well and this is pretty much spot on I would have said lol. Transmission thing is really annoying, especially coming from over 15 manual cars (this is my first automatic ever) and it left me "stranded" in really tricky situations couple of times. You either have to have it in sport and manual to keep it all sharp and cocked (and then it's extremely harsh, especially when it locks TC) or just treat it as average corolla when in normal D. No in between like you said. Apparently, stepping on the throttle fully while pressing the "kickdown" button behind gas pedal will make it drop few gears instantly but most of the time you don't want that much throttle, just responsive and appropriate shifting. Kickdown button has quite a resistance and you really need to step on it. Seen some people have modded the button to be easier to push. Apparantly the remedy for lag when switching to manual mode is to hit the kickdown button and then quickly switch to manual. Haven't tried it much though as I can't get used to it all yet. Plus, I'm affraid I would destroy that fragile plastic shifter gate if I would to start throwing stick like it was manual lol. Another annoying thing with transmission (and I never saw anyone mention this) is downshifts. Any form of automatic downshifts it does but especially when you are pulling to a stop and it slams it into 1st gear. Super unnecessary, makes it hard to drive smooth and it causes a lot of unnecessary wear. You would obviously never do that in a manual. It also seems to be dependent on how much brake pressure you apply so every time you realease brake a bit to compensate it actually doesn't downshift as strong so you need to quickly press more brake. When this 2nd to 1st downshift happens in manual mode with torque converter locked, I feel like it will drop tranny on the floor or something. Then the throttle deadzone... Where when you want to take off smoothly, step on a bit of throttle, nothing happens, then you add a bit more and almost pop a wheelie lol (especially when in sport mode). Wonder if throttle controllers would solve that issues. Other is, when it's holding a throttle for you. Like you're smoothly cruising behind cars with a bit short distance in between, cars in front of you start slowing down a bit.. Slight release of throttle and engine breaking would be more than enoguh in this case but when I release throttle completely it just keeps going under almost same throttle and is keeping that speed. You can clearly see it if you are monitoring throttle opening, injection and other parameters but can also easily see it with current consumption screen. Sometimes in those situations I try to compensate by hitting downshift pedal (while in D) and downshifting to slow it down so I don't have to tap the brake every few sec... But what happens then is that it will engine break just for that brief moment while it's changing gear and then it just continues holding same throttle. Then other times, in same scenario it would shut off injectors and start engine breaking quite violently. Very annoying and unpredictable. Another is very strong creep, especially at night with lights on when the idle raises. It's not as bad with lights off when it idles around 500rpm. So in traffic jams here I constantly have to ride the brakes as traffic is moving slower than my creep speed. I find it very hard to drive smoothly in traffic jam situations due to these reasons above. All of this is very easily noticable at slow speeds you normally see in Japan. Might not be as bad if elsewhere, where average speeds are a bit more normal. Also surprised nobody mentiones reversed shift logic, as in, pull to downshift, push to upshift. No performace vehicle ever has it this way. This one is easy to reverse though and it's like first thing I did on mine, the very first day I bought it (need to swap position of 2 wires on shifter connector). I know most of people use paddles but I actually prefer using stick and on road / course with a lot of tight turns, you have to. Not to mention drift. I could write more but it's getting a bit of a long read for youtube.

Good points! :) Basically the same as i felt about mine :)

What kind or brand of gearbox is on it? With some cars it is possible to tune the gearbox as well. If its possible you can really change the character of your gearchanges etcetera. Could be very interesting for you to look into! It could be a nice upgrade. Hope it is possible. Btw I love all your honda content. I really enjoyed al lot of your reviews. I love the vtec experience. I have to do it with lift from the 2zzge (celica t sport) toyota which is also a very nice car to drive and a grat engine. Chears!

Cool to see car videos made in Wellington! How many ks do you get to a fuel tank in real world use? Looking at getting an ISF, I had a C55 AMG which would barely get 300ks to a 60 litre tank around town. Also you can turn off the ETC message in Japanese in the settings

stick language LOL! electric seats are so good. Im glad my Lib GT has 2 seat memory settings, one for myself and wife. The great thing esp when going on track, lowering the seat for helmet clearance. I'm only 5'9 and my helmet just clears!

That gearbox quirk is something that would eventually get to me after so long

I bought a 2010 ISF earlier this year. My biggest complaint is that the seat does not get as low as i would like. I have to lean the seat back to fit with a helmet and in normal driving the rearview blocks some of my view looking across the car. The factory tire sizes are pretty small for such a heavy and powerful car. a set of new wheels with 295 square tires really solved that problem. I hear RCF seats sit lower but they aren't cheap. Also why these cars were ever sold with an open diff is beyond me. I had to get a 2010+ for that alone.

Hi, late to the comment party :) Ive had my ISF for 4.5 years and driven 43’000km, mine is also 2008. For me there are only two annoying things, transmission in comfort mode and the fact that you cannot lower the back seats. Otherwise absolutely love the car and do not plan to sell it. 7 months ago bought also C63 w204 wagon with long tube headers and full custom exhaust, but I can say ISF is till my favorite, and I do prefer the sound of ISF with addictive induction sound.

I think you can even change the language of the menu. Maybe use something like google translate to guide you through the stick language :D Regarding the gearbox, i noticed that it is more sluggish and slow if you dont smack it in manual mode with the shift lever and just pull the paddles. It also needs to be up to temp to work properly and lock the torque converter all the time. Just cruising around its nice and smooth and under wot and high revs it feels fast and aggressive, so i can forgive the old slushbox its sluggishness :D Great videos btw 👍

Regarding the car speaking Japanese, you are able to disable the voice prompts in the navigation screen settings, as well as adjust other related volume settings. (My Fuga 450GT also had similar voice prompts but I know Japanese and was able to disable them) Might require a friend who knows Japanese or Google Translate, and doesn't help with the screen being otherwise not very useful, but it is possible!

Rear view mirror being a "fancy" auto dim, I've found with mine really annoying driving at night with cars behind. The high stop light is at the height where it blocks the bright lights from the car behind to the rear view mirror auto dim sensor, so basically there is almost no such thing as dim 😂

My TSX has a boot lockout switch in the glove compartment, is that possibly the case? My friend's TL doesn't have a boot latch on the exterior whatsoever though lol

Decided to get an F10 M5 because of your reaction to it while driving

I heard a throttle controller is a really cheap and very effective mod on these. Perhaps install one and give a review. Have heard only good things. I've installed a Cusco lsd in mine which was necessary as I couldn't get out of my driveway in the rain with the open diff as mine is an early 09.

you can open the trunk by pushing the button on the trunk it will unlock it takes 2 seconds. Of course with keys in your pocket the other two options is from driver side and on the key.

Love your videos, what suspension is on your F?

For a young fella like yourself, your taste in cars is interesting. I'm a fan of the oddball stuff and it appears so too are you. I've been curious after seeing that you've driven both the W8 and the Legend with the J series v-tec. If the w8 were an auto what would likely be your preference?

Thought about getting one of these but settled on a facelift E63 m6. I don't really like the transmission on that either but it is amazing at full tit. Will eventually manual swap it and convert it to nbt Idrive to sort the only 2 things that annoy me about it. You may be able to do something similar with your ISF.

Beautiful car!!!

Trunk can be opened without the key( why would they put a button on the trunk), there may be a small black button in the glovebox, push it and you can open the trunk. Same happend to my 250, went to the dealer and was ready in 2 minutes!

The accelerator pedal has a kickdown switch. After flooring the pedal, pushing harder against a spring loaded switch will force the car to kickdown to lowest gear possible faster.

Silvear Accord drives next to you @2:09 , coincidence? 😁

Im on the look for a isf

Just bought an ISF this past weekend in Canada. 25k CAD for a 2008 with 177k km. Loving it so far but the 8th gear acceleration is something I already dislike, just gotta drop a gear and disappear 😂

2nd dream car if I could get my hands on one. One problem compared to the m3. My mates got one and his words...it keeps breaking down evertime I drive it..Guess what..he sold it. Great choice.

Can the transmission be improved with ECU mapping or a software upgrade?

Anyway to get the transmission tuned?

I've always loved mark levinson

had to pause and double check that wasnt earl the accord at 2:10 haha

Im deciding in one 2011 53k miles on it for 37k car is like new inside is clean no rips or teared seats outside blue paint is like new everything stock ... to expensive??? either that or the new Nissan Z400 manual 🙆‍♂

Was watching Ross reviews video on one earlier

2:09 Accord passing by 😊

i picked up a 2009 sp25 mazda 3 hatch and it takes 14.8L/100kms and that fuel consumption is rubbish and aswell i cant open my boot unless the cars in park

2:09 a ghost suddenly appeared back stage 🤪

At 2:10 it looked like your old Accord driving past.

Did you import it from Japan? they are so dear in Australia

Could the gearbox issue be fixed or are you stuck with it?

Hi there, new to the KiwiCarLife channel. Currently have a 2003 cayenne 3.2 automatic… it’s dreadful… it’s called a “porsche” and it’s as slow as my old Yaris… only makes lot’s of noise scaring the birds and burns fuel like I own a fas station… Can’t do any maintenance by myaelf without a computer or some exotic tool…. Bought it because I’ve got 3 kids… So… my question: what car should i buy? I want a car that has charisma/sex appeal (to make me actually want to drive) I need 3 REAL individual seats in the back and it MUST NOT be a van (I’d rather pull my kids with a carriage “chinese taxi style”) Please help!!!!

HAHAHA at 4:31, everyone one of us who don't understand Japanese be like. Also I was reading through the comments of this video and there were some people saying Erl was present at 2:09, while it may look similar they didn't notice that it did not have a spoiler.

Honestly isn't not at all a simple v8 like say a Merc m113 5.0 v8, but it's executed in a near perfect way where it's as reliable as gets.

Is your Lexus lowered ?

I think it's a major job to change out the starter motor on the V8,and it still has a cambelt.Sounds cool though.

I recommend u try the skyline 350gt sedan g35)

CL7 would be way better right ? Can’t beat Honda

accord chassis setup is loos as crap, especially the front end. When you put thick rsb, fender bracing and strut tower bracing than it behaves as you are describing lexus. Dont know why honda did that to cl9 when tsx had some things done from factory to make it a bit bearable for sporty driving.

If the car let you open the boot with the key in the cabin anyone else could come up from behind, open it up and take whatever was inside... Now that would be even stupider

She sounds so calming I wouldn't disconnect her voice, only option is a ' doll ' in the passenger seat. Lol

@4:27 push the button on the far left and the voice will turn off.

are you considering sell it sir'

Kiwi

i loled at stick language

2:10 you got gapped by your old accord 😂

You can turn off the lady talking in the menu options

The first thing I love about it is the v8 engine... The first thing I dislike about it is the v8 engine... 😂

2m10 sec, you see an accord passing … surely you smoked him 😎

What things I like with the Hyundai Tucson is the comfort

Damn! Wish this was in Aus! How much does this go for in NZ?

Time to learn Japanese

If your a Honda guy why buy this V8 Toyota product ? Go get a Acura 😂😂

I have a GS460 ( only 342hp mind 🥲) with the same gearbox and I have that delay. I think it's a Lexus thing. I have to try out a GSF to be sure. I wonder how the LC500 gets on with 10 gears