farkas

iTrader: (5)

From what I saw of the cars that you showed us, the one the stands out to me is the White one with 66k on it. I ran a Autocheck on it and it is a clean car with no accidents. Carfax is not a good source for car reports as they do not report current activity, only old stuff. Autocheck is current and backed by Experian. The car is at a dealer so you can most likely get the price way down as dealers a hurting right now! It pays to shop and get what you want...Also, as far as plates are concerned, If you buy from a dealer, you can get a Temp from them or you can just bring your valid plates with you and put them on the car to bring it home. Be sure to have a Bill of Sale with you in case you get pulled over. Unless you do something REAL Stupid a Police officer would most likely let it slide if you got pulled over. I buy and sell all the time and have never had a problem with this. The SC430 is a sweet car and I am amazed every day on how much fun I have in mine. GL!!!!

Scott R

Thanks for the input! Just out of curiosity, why do you like this one better as compared to the other white one? The other one was a year older (2002), but slightly less mileage (62k). It wasn't a larger new-car dealership (used cars only), but they're asking $3000 less ($22k vs $25k).

farkas

iTrader: (5)

The one I choose is newer, The interior looks like it has less wear on the leather. It is a 3 owner from the NY/PA area all its life versus the 02 that is a 4 owner and has been in PA,NJ,FL and then NJ. Both have clean Records but I would go for the 03 by the looks of the pictures. BTW, the 02 has OEM Lexus wheels off of a 06-08 SC430. They are not aftermarket. They look better than the wheels on the 03 but you can always get a set of them on this forum and you will be with a newer great looking car! You can probably get the 03 for 22k.....All you have to do is ask! Stick to your offer and you would be surprised by the outcome.....But....Be prepared to make the deal right then if they take your offer. Put a small amount of money down until you can see the car in person. If you would like to see the reports, PM me and I will email them to you.

Scott R

Thanks for the added insight. The added complication for me is my trade-in. I've got a '99 Lexus RX300 w/about 166k miles in fair to good condition (the exterior looks pretty good, but the power locks are pretty much all broken, the ride is rough over bumpy roads, so it probably needs new shocks, the driver's side mirror has some minor damage, etc.). Because of the cost to repair these things, and the fact that I really wanted to get a car, I haven't fixed them, so I'm not sure what it's really worth as a trade-in. Of course, dealers will play games and adjust the trade-in value vs what they'll lower the new car price to, so I'm worried that someone will tell me one value over the phone, and then adjust it lower once they see it. This wouldn't be a big deal if more of these used SC430's were nearby.

Depending on which "blue book" site I use (KBB, NADA, etc.) I'm seeing estimated trade-in values as low as $3100 and as high as $6000. If I knew that a dealer was only going to give me $3500 or less on the trade, I'd probably opt to keep it as a "beater" for the winter, but if they were going to give me $4500 or more for it, I'd prefer to get rid of it, since I only have a 2-car garage, and I'd rather not have it just sitting around in the driveway most of the time.

farkas

iTrader: (5)

This is a no brainer than......Buy your SC430 and put your RX300 up on autotrader or your local newspaper. For what you want out of it you should have no problem selling it. A dealer on trade will give you close to nothing for it as that is how they will want to make their money. Which is alright if you don't care! A 99 on Autotrader is getting the lowest I saw was 5995 and it had 244k+ miles on it. Price it at 5500-6000 and you will have people all over it!

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Here's the car you should look at! 2006 for 28900.....It has 58k on it and it is the white/saddle combo that you like. It has a clean record and has spent its life in PA. Car is in MD between Baltimore and Newark NJ. They also have a 2004 for 22900 with 46k , Black/saddle combo which is nice too.

Scott R

Yeah, the black/saddle looks very nice, too, as does blue/saddle. In fact, I think I'm more "stuck" on getting a car with the saddle interior than I am with a particular exterior color. I think the ecru is too light (and reminds me too much of what I've got in my RX300), and I'm worried that the black will be too hot when left out in the sun. The saddle is possibly a bit more orange than it ought to be, but all the photos of it still look very nice IMO.

As for my RX300...trading it in would be nice since I'd be free of it in my yard, could just switch my plates over to the new car, and I could save a bit on the CT taxes (since I believe you're taxed on the sale price after trade-in deduction). Plus, I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of selling it to a private party. One thing I should possibly think about doing is calling a few local dealers to see if they'd have any interest in buying the car outright, then taking it to them to see what they'd be willing to give me for it. If it was worth my while, then I could deal with the SC430 dealers strictly on the basis of seeing what they're lowest-possible-price for the SC430 would be, rather than having to dicker around with what they'd be willing to offer me for the RX300 as a trade-in.

Anyways, thanks for everyone's help thus far. Hopefully it won't be time wasted and I'll end up going with an SC430. I do tend to change my mind from day to day.

Scott R

That may be a bit higher than I want to spend. I've run some numbers on some certified used Lexus' ($36K asking price) and have entertained that idea due to the extended warranty, low interest rate, and hope of getting them to come down a few thousand (or getting them to give me more for my trade), but I really like the idea of staying in the low 20's.

I just did a search on cars.com and autotrader but didn't find this. Do you have a link? This one sounds very appealing.

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Here you go!

White one

http://www.autotrader.com/dealers/dd...er_id=63719703

Black One

http://www.autotrader.com/dealers/dd...er_id=63719703

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

^ I will take one too please!! haha one for the other member and one for me. I can pick it up at the meet

Scott R

Thanks farkas. Actually, I do recognize those now. I missed it on my search yesterday because I limited my distance search to 200 miles. That dealer is about 250 miles away, so that would definitely be a bit of a haul. Something to think about, though.

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Hell, 250 miles is nothing! I just drove 740 miles to Boston to buy my newest addition to my fleet. A 2007 Audi A4 Avant Quatro! Had 15k miles on it! The wife LOVES it!

Scott R

I think I touched on this previously but didn't get an answer (and the answer is probably somewhere in these forums, but if someone knows and doesn't mind telling me, that would be great)...

1) On a 2002, is the stock nav system useful at all nowadays, or is it so poor usability wise and/or so out of date map-wise, as to be of very limited value?
2) If it's not so hot, can it be upgraded?
3) If not, can the screen still be used for something useful (e.g., playing DVD movies)?
4) At what year (if any) does the nav system become useful (or upgradeable to something that can be useful)?
5) Does the 2002 nav system have a touchscreen? If not, did it become touchscreen-based at some point and, if so, when?

430-4-ME

You can always upgrade the software, a simple DVD swap in the trunk. you can save some $ by buying an older version, but make sure you have the right "generation". As the cars got newer, the generation's changed. All are touch screens.

Good luck and BTW the auto trader ad that was in the link was less a $3k d/p or t/i if you didn't already notice.

Scott R

Is the latest version of the GPS software (for whatever generation the 2002 would have) decent or is it a far cry from a Garmin standalone GPS? I'd be willing to give up a little bit of usability/accuracy for the convenience of not having the sloppiness of wires hanging all over the car and the GPS stuck to my windshield, but I'm hoping it's not too awful.

And thanks for the heads-up on the $3k down/trade-in fine print. I may have noticed that, I can't remember (I've caught that sort of thing on a few ads). You would think that cars.com and autotrader would have some rules against that sort of thing. Here's the fine print from one ad I saw which seemed especially confusing and/or deceptive...
...followed later by...