Hey guys I currently own a 2008 Lexus IS250 6 speed but it’s almost paid off so I am going to buy a TC this month! My neighbor has one and said cost of ownership is cheap and there is incredible amount of aftermarket parts available for it. Before a buy one is there anything I should know? Meaning like is any years better then others performance or styling wise? How reliable are they once modified? I plan on boosting this car from day one and planned on going with the full descendant kit. If you guys can give me as much info about anything on this car it would deeply help!

P.S. This will be my third Toyota first car was 97 celica GT then the lexus now the Scion

Thanks,
Ryan

 

Styling has not changed as far as the body is concerned. The later models only changed in headlights changing to projector headlights, tail lights changing to ugly tails, and the grill changing to an uglier grill. I also think they added like 1 or 2 more hp lol. So no performance changes worth mentioning.

Older tails:


Newer tails:


Older heads and older grill:


Newer heads and newer grill:


Pulled the above off google for you.

 

Welcome to SL! There aren't many differences between 05-10. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are the 07+ have oil squirters and a different MAF sensors. The 08+ have different headlights and tail lights, different grilles, and painted interior door accents. There were additions and removals of exterior paint choices throughout all years. There have been 5 Release Series models to date (special color, some have special wheels, grilles, and lip kits, all have special seat fabric)

Oh and pretty much every tC has an interior rattle in some form or fashion. One of the downfalls of having a lot of plastic. You can either attempt to fix them or just crank the music up. I prefer the latter.

 

Oil squitrers is a great thing to know! This will help tremendous with boosting my car. Do you guys know what type of EMS is most commonly used I was planning on going with AEM F/IC for I have used this on my celica and have tuned many of my friends cars that us it also.

Ryan,

 

well if you want power for the tc you muct turbo it. Aint no power to be had from bolt-ons. But the AEM F/IC is very good for tuning a turbo kit on the tC.

 

Yeah I figured so. I am still deabting between F/IC or GReddy EMU. AEM is great if you ara running there AF gauge because you can actually incorportae in with the piggy back and dataloging with it which is very nice for doing fuel tuning on the street. I like that GReddy EMU allows you adavance and pull timing though where AEM only allows you to pull timing.

 

im pretty sure i read on one of the post that the 07 and up tcs when bosted tent to have 10 more whp when dyno'd . pretty sure i read this on one of the p tuning threads.

 

false ^^ its all relative to many things

my prefrence.. best year (06) > 07+ ... theres alot of things u worry less about when it comes to boosting and tuning and tech when it comes to 05-06 then 07+ ... the new tailed and headlights look tacky

alot of the motor upgrades are decent for the 07 but honestly.. its not a hugeeee dif.

 

When you get ur tC start a build thread please! And go with the F/IC

 

Isn't the rev limiter up to like 6,400 from the 6,250 or whatever?

 

Oh I will be and Still not sure this will be my daily driver trying to keep miles off my lexus so I am going to prob go with AEM for it has been tride and true so far so most likely that is the route im going. Plus they have great customer service say if anything were to wrong with the box where GReddy has next to none .

Ryan,

 

Go ptuning. Youll be happy with them.

 

For what? Sorry just new to the scene not sure what they do or make? If you could fill me in I would deeply appreciate it sir.

Ryan,

 

They make the best turbo kits for our cars.

 

Ok I just looked at there site they are actually really close to me which is very nice to know. There stuff looks like quality but I need to read up on there kits more first.

Ryan,

 

lol youll find out they are number one

 

There dyno facility looks ver nice also I may have to give them a call when it comes time to tune the car. I think they use a mustang dyno correct?

 

No they dont. They use Dyno Dynamics so that means you get what you get. No inflated horsepower.

 

DynoDynamicsa nd Mustand Dyno are best IMO just becasue they are both load bearing style dynos which is great for tuning midrange power. I have only acess to dynapack and dynojets around here unforuantely . I have had good sucess tuning on these dynos but mustang and DD dynos are just much nicer and easier to use IMO.

Ryan,

 

Welcome to the site and I cant wait to see what route you go with the tC.. Since your new ill be nice and help you out. Just click on the link below on threads about PTuning and there AWESOME products they provide us with, just make sure you have time because once you start reading you wont want to stop. Hopefully that helps you out...

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sea...earchid=992126