Great review!! Look fwd to seeing more of this car or this car vs rx8. You forgot to mention that the fact that it's a wagon means you can likely haul a whole other set of tires to the track. that and maybe a cooler and an ez-up? Or not. Maybe some combo of those things. lol.
What kind of suspension setup have you got, I head that on the SportCross (I got an IS200) the rear, being heavier than the sedan, needs a more aggressive spring setup on the back, over 10kg/f. I saw you got some good KW, what spring forse are you using both on back and front?
Here's a mod list for anyone who wants to build an awesome suspension setup for an sxe10 chassis: - figs mega arm kit in the rear (the spherical motorsport version) -superpro poly bushings for the differential mounts, the front control arm bushings, and the steering rack -superpro caster bushings on #2 control arm for 7 degrees of caster, -2.5 front camber--1.5 rear, .1total toe in both front and rear -3m window welded oem trans mount -kw variant 3 coilovers with remote reservoirs -Brembo plain rotors with hawk hps(?) pads and goodridge lines -m98 torsen lsd with 3.91:1gearset (oem auto lsd, nice upgrade, 2900rpm(?) @65mph iirc) -is250awd wheels 17x8" +45 offset (pretty heavy) with 245/40/17 michelin pilot supersports (too sticky at this power level but quiet (at limit too), with tons of grip, good wet traction, and so far fantastic wear characteristics (3000 aggressive street miles and 40 laps of limerock park). -weight reduction (most of these mods since shooting this): no bags of any sort or control modules, suede momo wheel with custom leather horn button (made from oem medical kit), and carbon column end cap (to hide ugly exposed area where wiring for srs/shift buttons/cruise passed through), rear center overhead belt and buckles removed and replaced with a custom carbon block off plate, front sound cover, hood mat transmission sound deadening mat, drl module, tool kit, med kit, spare, factory subwoofer deleted. - manual transmission swap: oem manual ecu, trans, driveshaft, cluster, center console, shifter, clutch line with figs clutch damper delete, mkiv na supra clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, and slave cylinder. -trac off button rewired for memory function -k&n pannel filter -usa spec iPod integration, alpine amp with type r 12" sub added to oem premium audio Coming soon! -SRT turbo setup with haltec standalone. Installation has begun! Thanks for watching and subscribing! More to come!
ryan king I have an 02 sportcross. I just put on the is250awd wheels. They look amazing, great taste my friend. I am planning on swapping it to manual, I've owned 3 is300s and one was a 5 speed, I need 5 speed in my life but I wanted the "dadmobile" sportcross. Would you suggest just finding a 5speed sedan and part out or possibly take on the AR5 swap? I'd love to get some help on what to start buying to prepare for the project. I can't believe I finally own a sportcross. Time to do it right
Wesley Meyer Ar5 is cool, its basically an r154 only newer. I guess I'd base my decisions on weather you need to retain obd2 compliance and keep the cel out. There's great swap info on myis, but my finding was that there are some differences between the production years as far as wiring goes. The part out worked well for me but if that's for you is going to be heavily dependent on finances, I think it's a better way to do the swap but it's probably more expensive for most. I was able to make out pretty well on the shell and I dailyed the manual sedan for years while looking for a suitable sportx so it owed me nothing.
Great review guys. I have owned a sportcross for 4 years now and it's the best. Elegant, functional, sporty, and rare! Plus, the aftermarket world is huge for this platform!
IVE had my sedan for almost a year now and im def getting a sportscross asap. neeed both lol. great platform and amazing handling stilll at 164,000 its been fun learing to drift. i drive her hard and nothing but my outer tie rod has broken but i hit big pothole so not the cars fault. im in love with the sxe 10 platform
the car was designed in 1995 so it actually was meant to be a competitor to the e36 but by the time it was released the e46 was already out and they marketed as a competitor anyway
Was the sportcross really called a shooting brake or is it a new meme word for every rare wagon? Too bad these are very rare in my country, I don't think that many people even realize that a IS wagon exists.
I think shooting brake has been used for many types of sporty wagons over the years. There is a good wikipedia article explaining the origins of the term.
Every forum, every video, wiki, nowhere does anyone state what is the actual code for the OM/factory manual transmission/gearbox in an is300. Endless vids & chats on what ppl drop in them. Never what is in them. I thought for sure this guy would say it. But no. Is it just a w55? A j160? Or something else? Where I live I can drop into them whatever was from factory, without any engineering cert. required. But will I? Who F'n knows? So lex us know! Will ya!
Interesting car. Cant wait to see it up against the rx8. I dont want to sound like a fan boy but i like the rx8 for this one. My brother in law owns one and i have driven it serveral times. Its just so much fun to drive although it is a little under powered. The balance is rediculous and very forgiving. Hell it makes look like a much better driver than i am. Another good video fellas
What a sneaky Hoonmobile! I would've never known about what it could do (yes, tweaks required!), but, he put the time & effort into it to make an outstanding daily mommy mobile! We did a horrible Sienna XLE for a decade- so much pain, for so long! Quinn- Look, now I have regrets! I hope you feel awfyl! But, thank Ryan for 'coming out' and letting all of us see what CAN be done, with time, effort and a donor car! Dave P.S. Keep the day jorb- the acting in the beginning....Hmmm.
Fellow Sportcross owner here, I love mine! i wish mine was manual and had an LSD, but you nailed it on the head: its a great daily! Love this one as well!
I recently bought my wife a 2004 IS300 SuperCross and she loves it. I drive a Maserati and sometimes I get to drive her car and I am amazed at how sweet of a ride it is. It handles almost as good as my car. We sold her Audi A6 to buy this Lexus and she could not be any happier. BTW, her car is not for sale ;o) They only brought in 3200 of these in 5 years so they are pretty rare. If you find one . . . grab it!
Beautiful build! Thanks for sharing. It's exactly what I wanted to see. This is what I've been considering building. You've sold me! Now I need to know more details. What stage is the IS300 sport cross now?
Calling the Lexus IS200/IS300 SportCross a shooting brake is ridiculous. This is ABSOLUTELY NOT a shooting brake! This a sports wagon, just like Alfa 156 SW. Shooting brake is a coupe and a hatchback at the same time (let's say: a practical coupe), and has three (THREE) doors! Some examples: Volvo 480, Aston Martin Virage, Jaguar XJS based Lynx Eventer etc. Learn more: www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/g6678/ten-of-our-favorite-shooting-brakes-ever-produced/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_brake
Hey Ryan - What settings are you running on the KWs? I also have a sportcross with KWs and FIGS parts. I have it set on the KW recommended starting point so far. Your's looks "dialed", so I am curious to your settings. Thanks!
Shouting at the deer haha. I am looking at getting a 2002 with 216k miles. I think that's not too many and even if it is, I can replace the engine with a supra engine for not that much.
Inline 6's always sound cool. There is a guy on instagram with a built all motor ITB'ed Mk4 Supra that sounds really good. I think his name is NA Hero or something along those lines.
Quinn, I love my miata a ton and really have an affinity towards it. Its gonna be one of my first real projects. BUT, I would like your opinion on another more comfortable, daily drivable car that won't make me want to sell my miata. I'm 21 years old, 6' 2" 220 lbs muscular build. Driving the miata daily is starting to wear on me.
I am not sure what your budget is, but honestly, an IS300 or RX-8 would be my first pick for a nice comfortable daily. However, if you don't like either or don't want to deal with the required sorting of the RX-8, you can also look into a 350z or G35. Those are roomier, cheap and pretty reliable while still offering sports car athletics. If you want something small or not a lot faster than the Miata, you can look into an MR2 Spyder or NC Miata. Both have a lot more interior room (especially the MR2) and won't make the Miata feel slow when you get back into it.
Funny you should mention it, I spent the last couple days dd-ing my buddy's 1jz powered sc300/soarer with that trans, his has some serious issues to sort out before I'm convinced. I hope it works out, but at the moment, the shift spacing is crazy close and it's nearly impossible to not get 5th instead of 3rd, and it's got some mystery leaks that it's been out of the car twice and still not resolved. I'd love to have it as an option because of the cost and 6 ratios but we'll see.
