Swapped out the Lexus for an IM

I am surprised you would switch between those two vehicles. THe level of luxury is quite different between the two.

Yeah, some of the luxury loss feels a bit awkward at the moment. That cloth feel... But, soon I imagine leather kits will be out and I'll toss in the heated seats and such at work. Plus, my IS250 was a base, so the iM has some high points the Lexus didn't have. For example, back-up camera, bluetooth and navigation.

I'm so glad current standard features have met some slightly older luxury standards. If it makes you feel any better, just remember how sitting on leather is like a sizzling skillet in the summer and a block of ice in the winter xD

Ikarus said:

If it makes you feel any better, just remember how sitting on leather is like a sizzling skillet in the summer and a block of ice in the winter xD

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lol, this is true. I think I'll still be dropping a few bucks and installing leather, but mostly for the easy clean-up of my 4 month old in the back seat

Luckily for me, we had a campaign a while back where the Toyota Matrix had to have all the fabric replaced for water staining reasons. After that, I've become really quick at stripping down Toyota seats and re-upholstering them so I'll just have to pay for the kit once I get the money together. Oh, if anyone else is thinking of doing the leather themselves, I'll see if I can remember to take some step by step photos along the way ^_^

Toyota Tech said:

Oh, if anyone else is thinking of doing the leather themselves, I'll see if I can remember to take some step by step photos along the way ^_^

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+1 that be cool! I'd like to eventually do a suede or a leather suede combo but I never had luck with upholstery. Never tried it in an automotive sense because my attempts with a storage cube resulted in a need for replacement haha

Ikarus said:

+1 that be cool! I'd like to eventually do a suede or a leather suede combo but I never had luck with upholstery. Never tried it in an automotive sense because my attempts with a storage cube resulted in a need for replacement haha

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Lol, I see Well, nice part about automotive upholstery is that everything locks into it's own unique place on the seats via hog rings. So it's pretty difficult to mess up. It's just really difficult to slide the leather into position on certain parts.

I chose the Scion iM because it is affordable but comes with a nice array of standard features. I find it funny that someone would buy the Scion iM and then pay a bunch more money to make it more luxurious. Why not just go with a more upmarket model in the first place?

Gotcha said:

I chose the Scion iM because it is affordable but comes with a nice array of standard features. I find it funny that someone would buy the Scion iM and then pay a bunch more money to make it more luxurious. Why not just go with a more upmarket model in the first place?

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Some people want to customize their car to their likes and don't like to have the same thing as everyone else (stock).

ToddMS said:

Some people want to customize their car to their likes and don't like to have the same thing as everyone else (stock).

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Yeah, it's all about personalization and customization.

A more expensive vehicle can be bought but with that comes higher recurring costs for maintenance and parts. Plus these mods are just a one time cost and can be recouped to some extent if you were to sell it in good timing.

ToddMS said:

Some people want to customize their car to their likes and don't like to have the same thing as everyone else (stock).

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Exactly.

To some people their car is much more than a point A to point B vehicle. It's a reflection of their personality and individuality.

Gotcha said:

I chose the Scion iM because it is affordable but comes with a nice array of standard features. I find it funny that someone would buy the Scion iM and then pay a bunch more money to make it more luxurious. Why not just go with a more upmarket model in the first place?

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Good question! I like the looks of the iM and the feel of it, just wish it came in leather. Actually, scratch that... I'm somewhat glad it doesn't because if I got a more luxurious car, the dealer leather option would be more expensive than me installing it and I wouldn't be able to select items like the stitch colour or centre leather colour, etc... And as some people have mentioned, I don't want to drive a stock car pretty much no matter what it is, lol ^_^

That being said, this car will be a bit more mild than my previous cars. I'd like to try all TRD components and see how it feels... when they come out... lol.