sunblinds

No deposit - Just his word (Whatever that is)

Carpe Diem

Ok, well I'm sorry you lost it. In an earlier post you said you were negotiating so I just thought I'd ask. You know that money talks in car deals.

Keep looking. It will be worth the effort.

Good luck,
George

GA400

sunblinds,

Not sure where you are in South Carolina (I used to live in Charleston and my parents are in Folly Beach), but an autotrader search showed almost no sc400's in S. Carolina, but a search over here in Hotlanta showed several http://www.autotrader.com/findacar/r...sort_type=year
We have a master tech on the forum that works at an excellent Lexus dealership, and several independent shops that specialize in Lexus that could check out any car you were interested in. PM me and I will be glad to help if I can.

Good Luck!

GA400

p.s. by the way, I am driving a 1991 LS400 (same V8 and transmission as the SC400) with over 227,000 miles and it is still smooth as silk, don't be afraid of high mileage ones as long as the common problems have already been fixed.

sunblinds

I've made up my mind. This the car I'm going to buy. I got two cars so it's not a thing I got to do yesterday. I can take my time. I'm looking for for my last car and it's got to have all the options I want and be in the shape i want it to be in. I'm very picky when it comes to investments.
Myrtle beach, SC by the way.

BigD026

340,250 miles and my 97 SC400 is running strong! No major repairs.
MemphisDave

MMCtuner

almost 10 years old since las response!! Now we´ll have to wait again...lol
Nice mileage, my ´92 has "only" 149k miles.

Aviator66

Just bought a 1996 SC300 with 80,000 miles. I Already know I'm in love with it after just a few hundred miles on the clock... I will post on this thread again when I hit 300K!

Speedboat7

I have 297k miles on my 97 ls400. I've replaced some noisy pulleys and new seals on the power steering. It leaked on my Alternator making it go bad. I had the driver side front wheel bearing go out, but I'm sure it was because of a pot hole. ( Kansas roads are terrible). I got the car 2 years ago in SoCal and drove it to KC in one straight road trip. It took me 26 hours and all we did was stop to get food, gas and monsters lol. Went through snow in northern Arizona and blasted thru The deserts. Haha. I had a 92 sc400 that had 187k on it when I sold it. The trans was slipping on it. But I'm sure it's beacuse I towed a trailer that was WAY too heavy. Made the car squat big time! Anyway. I've owned a lot of cars and they are by far the most reliable

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

235,000 miles and counting. Runs like a top. Repairs, services and upgrades have come up here and there but it's been nothing but reliable since I started with it at 189k. I don't really want to put miles on the car just because I can but with normal use I'm very much wanting to see if I can go to 600k-700k or even 1 million miles eventually. It's not as if 200k+ is low mileage any longer!

Studiogeek

iTrader: (6)

Up until a few months ago I had a 95' 5 speed 300 at 68K, A 400 at 128K and a 97' 300 at 230K. They all ran about the same...... pretty much perfectly... I will be driving these for the foreseeable future. We will add a Land Cruiser eventually and be DONE!

Biddles

iTrader: (2)

Just got back from the junkyard, they had one with 512K on it. Another with 313K. Crazy high numbers I hope to reach one day.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

I'm at 212K right now. IMO, in most cases, other parts in the car will fail before the engine does. With all the high mileage cars, this leads me to believe toyota engineers must have tested these engines upwards of 2-3 million miles

Barbary

I posted this in my thread 2 wks ago

"A word about the SC I've had it most of its life, I've never had a problem. Its got over 250 k miles on it & it just went up and down 10,000 ft twice without a hiccup. I clicked on the after burner more than a few times a/c was fine. I don't mind driving the hell out of it. It doesn't mind either, it loves to run.
I get comps all the time like you guys. I got a thumbs up at a Ghost Town, Bodie (of all places). I can't see ever getting rid of it"

It's pretty amazing 10 yrs after this thread everyones motor is sill running

"All Hail__________ SC 300/400" my odometer 1 yr ago

Ramblerman

I drive my 96 SC 400 at least 150 miles a day and have been doing this for 3 years now, I now have 226k on it now with no sign of this engine ever going to give up. Compression readings are all still well within range, and other than a small oil leak which I'll fix when when I do the timing belt and water pump,there's no oil consumption. My biggest problem with the car is no time to put all the new parts on her(I have quite the stock pile now) as I have to keep driving it till I get a second car together. I'll miss it badly while she's down for the build.

texan_176

iTrader: (5)

My 98 SC300 is at 230K miles now.

Last month I did a 1600 mile round trip interstate drive. It ran flawlessly at 80 mph for sustained 10-12 hours of driving to stop only for food/gas. When I returned home the oil level was still right meaning no burning oil. Well, every car burns some oil but no excessive oil use. The color of the oil was also like new. Newer GM cars tend to cook the oil and darken in in a few hundred miles.

I even ran it in 100+ degree heat where the traffic was crawling for 1-2 hours. The a/c kept me cool inside and the engine temp did not rise even a tick above where it stays when you are running 80 mph and have a nice flow of air over the radiator.

Biggest expense for me on this car was lower control arms but that's it. I think stock parts support will dry up and this will kill these cars before they die of mechanical problems.

You should buy a 98+ if you just want a nice reliable daily driver to cruise around in and leave all stock. These cars have all of the more modern features like gated shifter and distributor less ignition. The styling of the 97+ is more desirable and the cluster display on those cars is less prone to burning out like the earlier cars are plagued with. 99-00 gets you perforated seats and a reliable 6 disc cd changer instead of that POS 12 disc changer in all other years.

I've had Mercedes E320s and the Lexus is better in every way except how quickly the Mercedes takes off from a stop. The gearing in the Mercedes made for very brisk 0-30 mph acceleration whereas the Lexus requires you to really get on it to match. The transmission was the only thing superior in the Mercedes.

If you find an SC with under 75K miles, all stock, service history, etc then jump on it.