I'm going to check out this SC300 tomorrow:

Its an original 5 speed with 98,000 miles. It is completely stock with everything working as it should. I wouldn't like to pay too much, but clean 5 speeds are getting hard to come by.
It looks quite clean with low miles and no rust, but the price seems a little high.
What would you pay for this?

I've searched everything, but I can't find an accurate number besides KBB.

Thank you.

 

Craigslist links aren't allowed buddy...
Anyways, most I'd pay for that would be around 3-4k. But thats if it works fine. The clear coat fading really bugs me...

 

He could have at least spent an hour to wash the damn car and clean the inside if he is going to ask that kind of money....

 

Ha, I saved that one as well!

 

Sorry! Link removed.

I've got him down to 6500 on the phone and hopefully more when I'm there in person. It is more than I'd like to pay, but I want a clean, low mileage, stock 5 speed. Am I being irrational at this price?

 

Im just a cheapskate...but think about it, it is almost 20 years old. The car is worth what you or anybody else will pay for it.

 

If you want the 5-spd (who doesn't?!), then the price seems reasonable for that low of mileage and what looks to be a well taken care of car (no driver's seat rips?!). It would be at least a $4k car as an A/T, and probably $5k+. Then look at the cost of doing a Manual swap and you've got yourself a pretty good deal.

 

No rips or tears! The interior looks great besides the carpet. That a cheap job though.

 

Any pics??

I paid top of the mark IMO for my 1992 SC300/5 speed about 2 years ago. Gave $9000 for this car, it had 60k miles on, one owner, always garaged, stack of service records from the dealer. Only thing it needed was a new set of tires, the old ones still had good tread but were 10+ years old and had a shimmy on the highway. Oh and the center dash vent had the typical crack. Otherwise it looked like you were buying a Certified Pre-Owned Lexus in 1993.

 

mjegan, $5k-$6k is a normal price for an SC 5-speed in very good condition with under 100k miles. Less if the car overall has issues that need to be addressed. Just depends on how the car looks in person and how it drives. *IF* everything is in good shape (and you can't fault cracked A/C vents because ALL SC's have that unfortunate design flaw) then it's not unheard of. As t2d2 mentioned, adding the cost of doing a full W58 manual swap to a hypothetical automatic SC in the same condition gives you a rough idea about the true value of the car.

Four years ago I paid $5,000 for my '93 SC300 original 5-speed in totally stock condition with zero accident history and a one-owner title. Mileage was 189k. A little high but not a deal breaker for me given the overall condition). The seats were all in excellent condition, OEM stereo and speakers working perfectly. There were a few interior door cosmetic parts that needed replacing and a worn clutch and brake master cylinder to replace but once taken care of the car was just fine. The price was perhaps slightly high given the few issues and I wouldn't have paid more but the rest of it checked out. I've never lamented my purchase price.

 

Actually I just looked at a 95 SC that was in really really poor shape but the center vents were not cracked. I almost bought the car just for those lol.

 

^^ LOL. Well, it really depends on how the car was used and the climate it was used in. I recently picked up a spare center vent from a junkyard SC and it still has cracks. I've yet to see one of these cars in person that doesn't. The only way to avoid it is to not use the A/C at all It is such a minor flaw though...

 

I picked up the car!

There is an issue though that I thought would be an easy fix. The CEL is on and the previous owner said it threw an O2 code. I tried to pull the code today, but my scanner would not communicate. The device gets power, but fails to connect. I saw that someone has experienced this before, but no solution was found. Any ideas?

 

The OBD2 implementation for 1996 might be different from what the scanner is used to.

An O2 sensor is an easy fix if that is the problem. You can do that yourself in 15-20 minutes. Use two Denso P/N: 234-1054. I think it's the same part for 92-95 as it is for 96-97 cars. Take it to a Pep Boys or Autozone and see if their equipment can pull the relevant codes.