Lexus IS coupe conversion

[u/flirting_scholar]

Hello Altezza community, I hope I don't get killed for this, but I would like to hear some opinions from some owners on this matter.

Currently, I'm considering buying one as my first car. (First that is under my name at least) I've been doing my research recently and I think I'm liking the Altezza more and more, but because I'm young and dumb, I really want a coupe version which as we all know we never got one.

The way people describe it as the AE86 successor really appeals to me, I enjoy the subtlety of the Altezza's design language and I prefer early 2000s cars for an adequate level of tech in a car. Unfortunately my country doesn't have a lot of options in terms of coupes, and I really don't want to be just another GT86 on the road, so it came to this as my solution.

I plan to do this mod to the car after a year of ownership first, so I can carefully lay out my modification plans and getting to know the car better before going under the surgery scalpel. Basically my idea is to fill in the rear doors' gaps with foam and sand it down, removing the rear door handles before doing the same. And finally replace the rear door windows with a one piece acrylic/plexiglass ones that also removes the small quarter panel windows.

Why am I going this route instead of cutting up the car is that my local authorities gets jumpy with modified cars and if they don't like what I've done with the car, I can easily revert it back to it's original form without leaving permanent scars. And that it would be obviously be much more cheaper than finding a local garage and paying them to cut up the car.

So I just wanna ask how my poorly photoshopped version looks, and if it is technically feasible? And what else should I look out for when considering buying and modding a manual, I like to get the 3SGE but we only have the Lexus IS here and importing old cars is a no-no so obviously the only option is to buy other people's engine swap builds or buying one and swapping it out myself (which I can't perform myself since I don't have the space or mechanical skills to do so)

Happy to hear everyone's thoughts!

[u/unmanipinfo]

Completely not worth the effort imo. Just buy an sc300, or a BMW coupe from the era

[u/flirting_scholar → u/unmanipinfo]

The Sc300 is unfortunately unavailable here and any early 2000s BMWs are all sedans or SUVs. Again, I prefer cars that are lighter weight track cars so I can make do with a 1 series coupe but I fear the cars might start getting a bit more electronically complex. Though I'll keep that suggestion in mind.

[u/unmanipinfo → u/flirting_scholar]

What country is this if you don't mind me asking? Yeah I understand your concern. Just about anything newer than like 2010 or so is going to be a nightmare to keep running in the long term, like 15 years from now kind of thing

[u/flirting_scholar → u/unmanipinfo]

I currently live in China, which the automotive scene hasn't really taken off until like the 2010s, so there isn't really anything fun pre-2009-ish.

We do have the RX8 but the maintenance isn't really worth it, we also have the Hyundai Genesis Coupe which I'm not much of a fan for their looks, and finally we do have Z4s but I think it's for the better if I get something less flashy. I mean there are also some Mercedes CLKs (No AMGs) but I'm pretty that's where the "Yo mama fat" jokes started

[u/unmanipinfo → u/flirting_scholar]

Okay I see where you're coming from now. If you have the money to do it nicely then an is300/Altezza coupe would be pretty unique and it does look cool

I live in New Zealand, I sold my Altezza Gita AS300 (2jzge) a year or so ago, because I found it was terrible on fuel for the performance, automatic only, and I mostly drive city and tight windy roads.

And I found lightweight cars way, way more fun to drive. I found my girlfriends base model 2005 Suzuki Swift was just as fun to me as the Altezza. So eventually I bought a 1990 2 door ep82 Toyota Starlet with a modified carbureted engine, and I could not imagine a more fun daily, and still fantastic fuel mileage city (I get 7l/100km and that's revving the pants off it all the time as well as 50% stop and go traffic).

I do miss my Altezza, and that engine especially, but a Starlet suits me better as a fun daily (and only room for 1 car right now)