My 2 cents, buy it ONLY if you're willing to work on your own vehicle, trust me it'll save you a ton of $ cause you’ll have some maintenance work in front of you.

I bought mine approx. 2 1/2 years ago with about 200k on engine for only $1k. I drive a lot, daily commute, trips & such now it has 221k, engine is solid as is transmission! Car purrs.

I bought the repair manual on eBay like I do for all my cars, coupled with this forum I've replaced the spark plugs & wires ($80), new battery ($45) rebuilt the starter ($23 kit from eBay), alternator ($120 eBay), radiator ($125), steering wheel bushings ($46), replaced upper rear seat ($100), rear bumper cover ($100), changed all fluids ($100), new tires ($56 per), tint ($23), inner door handle ($25) & various miscellaneous things all due to maintenance. Not to mention my passenger door needed replacing after being hit while parked in work parking garage. Received a check, car-part.com found a replacement at $175. for entire door so I’m not complaining. Parted out the best of the rest, made it all back & then some.

I still have to replace all the struts, especially the rear ones then get a wheel alignment, my exterior has a couple of dings, but I enjoy the car & I feel it will last another 100k or so.

 

I bought my second SC, 1995 SC400, with 331K for $400, got a total of $705 in her and I still driver her everyday. Insurance for liability is cheap, only $34.00 a month. It misses sometimes, but the ac blows cold and its reliable. Just my 2 cents!
I say go buy it or work out a deal..

 

my sc400 has 270k and runs like a champ, recently put it in for a suspension overhaul and and bushings all that fun stuff as havnt driven it for a while but best thing about the car is 20 years almost, still prefer that car to about 90% of the new ones out now.

 

be prepared for costly repairs. everything costs big. there is also a huge market of places to get help and parts. i bought a 92 sc 400 w/ 143k 30k/2.5 years ago.i figure everything i do just brings the car closer back to perfection, and i will get my moneys worth.

 

mines a 300 but check out my signature.

 

Unless your corolla is having serious problems, I would keep it as a daily driver. Save up some money and buy an SC later with lower mileage. That way you can still get around with your daily and work on the SC when you have time. You will appreciate it more in the end. It all comes down to patients.

Also another thing to think about... you have a good working Corolla (assume) that gets you around with no problems. You buy a vehicle with almost 300k miles and it breaks down with something serious. Ask yourself how good of a mechanic you are? What if the tranny goes? Can you replace it? If not, it's going to cost you a lot of money to replace. How about the starter? Same thing, remember....its a 16+ year old car.

Drive the corolla till it dies, go to college or find a good job, buy a better car down the road. Or buy a house, take out some equity and get a mid life crisis porsche 911

 

Lotta miles! I saw a few sc's on Craigs list (Chicago) with much lower miles.They looked to be in good condition(?) too.