Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. LOTS of things going on lately! What with the sweet items in the schwagmart and the brand new forums opening! With all these cool new additions to the Webridestv community, it’s easy sometimes to miss out on some of the cool things that slip in onto the site under the radar. One of these was SO cool, I decided to deviate from my normal adventures and do an exclusive Auto Adventure Profile. Introducing:

The 5 Axis designed, Lexus IS-F.

Some of you may remember the webridestv exclusive video a few months ago during SEMA, profiling Lexus’ entry into the luxury sports car market. The base IS-F is a performance version of the IS line, sporting an enlarged naturally aspirated 5.0L engine capable of o-60 times only 0.3 mph slower than a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. While the IS-F is the fodder of some intense controversy on many online boards, no one can deny that it is a powerful initial offering from Lexus to the performance scene. One of the controversies surrounding the IS-F is that it just doesn’t LOOK like a sports car, adhering closer to its luxury heritage than some tuners and racers would really like. In that respect, Lexus tapped a relatively new company by the name 5 Axis to design a Concept Model of what a customized IS-F might look like.

5 Axis is a relatively new firm, but it has a long rap list and is among the usual suspects when Toyota, Scion, Lexus, and other import makes with a large tuner following need a decked out concept model. Their vision of the IS-F is unique, refreshing, and damn cool. The IS-F they customized is an interesting blend of sedan and ultra modern stealth jet. Using both 1-0ff creations for the body kit and prototype parts that will eventually go into production, like the rims, the car comes together beautifully.

The first thing that caught my eye was the matte black paint; this wasn’t a 5 Axis design decision however, but something that Lexus pushed for whatever reason. Either way, Axis pulled it off well, due mostly to the angular but flowing body lines that the IS-F has. Most sports car’s are either too smooth and streamlined or round and curvy to pull off this look well, but the sharp angles of the IS-F that flow horizontally around the body mimic the lines of a modern B-2 or other stealth jet. The overall look is subtly menacing, like a panther hiding in the bush. The car doesn’t have any frills either, opting for a matte bronze scheme on the accents closer to the road, like the rims and exhaust pieces. Axis didn’t stop there though, they also customized the engine by building custom twin throttle bodies to replace the stock single. Lexus didn’t want to turbo or supercharge the engine, preferring to keep the engine naturally aspirated.

The end result is very sweet ride. Although there isn’t any plan to make such an example for production, it leaves the door wide open for people to interpret and use the IS-F as a base platform for their own designs, and the 5 Axis iteration shows that the door is more like a hanger bay. Make sure to check out the gallery shots on the 5 Axis IS-F, courtesy of user Faatafuna, and to check out the webridestv exclusive video on the IS-F with an interview of the owner of 5 Axis, Troy Sumitomo. Leave me a comment, I get lonely. And don’t forget to head down to the forums, where I’ve started some discussion on the IS-F. This is Dr. VW…out.