robby

I've wanted an sc300 ever since I can remember seeing one and now is my chance to get one as my first car. I've been looking up info on it for a while now but still have a few questions I was hoping to get answered.

1. I found intellexual.net that showed the yearly changes with the SC400, is there one for the SC300? I couldnt find much info via search.

2. I need this car as a daily driver so I need it to be reliable.
a) When are the scheduled maintenences? (75k,100k,150K?) Are they expensive?
b) Reliability in the snow:
I'm up in rochester where it snows a lot and rains plenty. Through search I've found opinions in both extreme, would this car be a reasonable all season car? Do I need have to have snow tires?
c) I understand its relative to the driver and Toyotas are supposed to be dead reliable, but how reliable are these at 85K Miles and beyond?

3. I got lucky and US Air tossed me free tickets for taking a later flight so I can pick up a car anywhere in the country. The thing is I dont want to get there and find a bum car. How reliable is it to pay a local( to the buyer )mechanic to inspect your car for you? Is this one any good:
http://www.autotrader.com/hornav/ins...&doors=&fuel=& ? Are dealers a better choice?

4. This is probably a stupidly easy question. I'd like to tint my SC for a little privacy, is that expensive/hard to get done? I've noticed a few actually have the factory tint option but it seems rare.

5. I've never driven a rear wheel drive. There are a few stories here of the rear of the SC losing traction on turns, would this be something I have to look out for while turning in the rain, snow, etc or does it just happen when you're going fast?

6. I live in Queens, NYC and go to school in Rochester, are there any good places for maintenence I should know about?

7. I know the differences but what do you guys think ~'95 sc300 or sc400? The reason I want to get an SC3 is so I have the option to drop in a turbo ( just like everyone else ) later down the line. For now I'm fairly inexperienced so no racing just yet. I'll probably just try to mod in some angel eyes .

Sorry if these are repeat questions, I've done some searches and havent come up with much decisive information. I really appreciate any help you guys can give.

Stevenem

Edmunds has this info under "Overview" for each year.

http://www.edmunds.com

As does Lexus' Certified Preowned Model Library http://www.lexus.com
every 30k minor service and every 60k major service. This is how I remember it, check the manual to make sure.

Get snow tires if you want to drive in the snow. RWD cars are the worst in the snow, but most drivers are the limiting factor. I got more places in my 1985 thunderbird than SUVs could, because of skill.

85k and beyond depends on service. Service the cars and they last. 200k is easy, 300k is acchievable. Keep in mind that patching the car up after crashing won't be as cheap as other cars.
Have a dealer the buyer isn't affiliated with check it. Or have someone like www.magoos.net check it out for you. Ebay motors has a service too listed on their "services" page. Both of them will send you pictures of everything they do and don't find.

These cars don't really have anything unique that would make tinting difficult. I'd wouldn't recommend getting tint until after you are familiar with your car. Tint could block your vision when you neglect to see a car in the blindspot, and without tint you would catch a hint

RWD has unique handling characteristics. give me two cars on similar platforms, one FWD one RWD. I could go faster in almost all circumstances with the RWD car. Give them to the average driver and RWD is going to be slower/more likely to crash. It's all in how you use it. I recommend driving a beater car for a bit, then taking a performance driving class at a race track.

Learn to drive first I don't know your background so no offence if you have been racing cars on the track your whole life or something. But I suggest you don't worry about mods, and worry about making yourself fast. Some of the miata drivers out there can kick the poop out of just about any other car in the twisties because they focus on their driving skill. Both are nice cars, but it's more a choice of transmission. If you are going to go Manual, get the SC300. If you want auto...get the sc400. I was less than impressed by the way the I6 worked with an automatic tranny.
Hope that helps.

pcmw

robby,

If you have patience you will find one in your area.

Like Stevenem mentioned, RWD is a tough first car in the snow. I would suggest finding an SC with traction control if you do get one.

Stevenem,

Nice job....


MW

Stevenem

Note that only automatics were available with traction control...

robby

Heh by inexperienced I meant that I never had a daily driver. I'm young, 22, but I have been ferrying friends and parents around for a while, nothing really challenging ( driving in the snow with a RWD ).

Now I'm leaning towards an auto, traction control sc3. Option for turbo down the line and less HP at the moment to tempt me. They're also cheaper so I'll be able to get a more recent year.

Stevenem : Thanks for the great answers, they help a lot. I actually stopped by that Lex Certified Gallery a few days ago and completely forgot about it.

Off topic but interesting. I was just reading a mag where they mentioned the Supra might be coming back as something called a 5000GT, not sure if they were serious or not.