Pamperme

I just saw the latest Consumer Reports Used Cars magazine and to my shock and horror, the 2006 sc430 has a full black circle for ENGINE MAJOR and a white circle for ENGINE COOLING. Anybody know what the problems may be? Peculiarly, the 2005 SC430 has a full red circle for ENGINE MAJOR. Clearly something went wrong in 2006. But what?

OBP

2006 was the first year of the 6 speed trans. My 2005 still uses a5-speed. Not sure we have heard many 2006 owners here complaining about major engine related problems though.

Pamperme

I beleive the transmission got a full red circle, so no problems with that area.

JohnnyCake

I agree with OBP. As the owner of an 06, I'm pretty tuned in to stuff mentioned in this forum regarding the 06. The Consumer Report is a survey of owners, not repair facilities or other data sources. This is a low-volume car to start with and I bet a review or two could skew CR's conclusion. Of course, people with problems are more likely to fill in the survey at CR.

I suspect that there is better data here in this forum, and engine is usually something that is praised for being problem free.

Besides, 06 is the same engine as earlier years, right? There is a separate category for transmission.

Pamperme

Maybe it's quite possible that it's a typo in their article. Because it just doesn't add up. That same engine has been flawless in other years and in all the years it was used in the LS 430. And I can't find much info online about wide spread engine problems in the 2006 SC430.

rudyH

Disconcerting but I'm not going to worry about it. My car has 125k miles. I've only had it a few months and driven i pt very little. For as little money as I have in it, if it blows up on me, I'll just buy a 2010. That's what I wanted anyway but people wanted too much moneyfor them. Now that I know I like the car, I'll pay to get a 2010.

Bgw70

I agree with Johnny, and let add to this, engine major and engine cooling.

Think about this, if I never changed my oil or my timing belt broke, I would have a major problem with the engine.

If I never changed the water pump or hoses, I would have a problem with the cooling.

Pamperme

Of course. But why the 2006 year would have such a drastic decline isn't answered by your scenario, per se. It has to be a typo in Consumer Reports. I remember seeing a mistake before. It was a half filled black circle with the top half filled instead of the bottom half (or a half filled top circle with the incorrect color of black — depending on what the typo was).

kjcole

I think that this forum might be a better sample than CR for such a low volume vehicle. We'd know by now if there was a systemic problem. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

Bgw70

In my mind it does, Johnny pointed out that people are more likely to report negative vs positive. The squeaky wheel scenario.
I saw a sales report of these cars and every year, the numbers decreased. I believe the 2010 sales numbers were about 10% of the 2002 numbers.

Now I could be totally wrong and you may be correct! CR Made an error!

Bottom line, the main engine is the same from 2002-2010. They are built very well!