Well I sold my 97 SC400 with 139k. Car was in great condition and excellent shape.

I drove out of town 4 hours to buy a 98 SC400 with 92K. The car is the same color Blk with Tan with some added goodies that the 98 up comes with. Best one is the 290 HP VVTI motor.
I really looked for Blk/Blk but could not pass up the deal on this one owner. It had every record done at the Lexus dealer and had recently had the Timing belt serv, 90k major service and Lower control arms replaced along with all the engine and trans mounts. I put my wheels on the 98 that I kept.

I can feel a diffrence in the power especially up top and I have plans to mod with minor changes, the SMT7 or Unichip ECU and the new EK tunning headers, and direct port 150 shot Nitrous for those times needed.

Interestingly we ran my 97 SC4 againt the 98 SC4 from a dead stop. The 97 ran away up to 60 MPH from the jump almost a full 3 car lenghts. The 97 had many mods, Header, full mandrel bend exhaust Ported and Matched intake manifold, and tunned Unchip. Same result 2 times running.

Boy what a nice smooth ride the stock, quite 98 VVTI SC400 is. Rides like a Lexus. Will post pics soon.

 

Congrats.

Likely the 98 has not been driven the same as the 97 and will take a few days for the ECU to be trained to your liking. That likely helped the low punch takeoff a little also when you raced him.

 

awesome dude, glad to see more people modding 98+ sc400's.

 

hint hint sly haha, congrats on the buy jgscott