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Greetings from AZ. Took the Amtrak to LA this weekend and drove our pearl white 2003 SC430 home to Arizona. Saddle interior, 63K miles, 2 owner car (we're the 3rd owners), clean carfax, pretty outstanding condition, really. Truly enjoyed our trip home. Got out of LA alive, went to Victorville to re-visit the Route 66 Museum, then took the desert backroads home, keeping off of the interstates. I'm an American 60's-70's car enthusiast but REALLY enjoy the small v8 power in this car! If only it had some sort of exhaust tone... Handles great, runs out nicely, comfortable seats. The Nav system, though really something in '03, is a dinosaur, as is the vestigial remaining cassette, but hey, it's a 15 year old car. My patient wife drove her 2003 Honda Element 230k miles since new, and she wanted an Audi TT. I wanted to avoid the maintenance costs of BMW's and VW's and a sales guy on a lot in AZ showed us the SC430. Theirs was black and had 130k miles on it, but we became enthused about the car. Started looking and found this one in California, worked a deal and drove it home!
Been thinking about removing the back seat and headrests altogether to create some useable storage room, maybe add some cool looking rollover protection like the TT.... Just thinking out loud, figure someone has already done that. That and much-needed stereo updates. This is a really cool car and we love the quality. See you on the road.
Welcome to our little forum and to SC430 driving, very nice car find!
As you probably surmised the back seat headrests are in fact the rollover tubing protection, although I’m not sure how much real protection they’d provide in a rollover. I don’t believe any of our members have done any sort of modification regarding the rollover bar, as it would be difficult considering the proximity of the convertible roof.
There are several radio upgrade threads for you to peruse for ideas and pitfalls. The Advance Search tool is very useful. Also, if you haven’t already, we always suggest reading through the “sticky” threads above. They have a lots of info regarding the SC430 flaws or problem areas, which, as new owner, you may want to address. Finally, using the Lexus Drivers website and the VIN of your car you can see the dealer maintenance history. Obviously it would not include independent maintenance unless it was entered manually by the previous owners. I do it with my car as a method of keeping track when routine maintenance is done.
Welcome to the SC430 club! Awesome find and glad you're enjoying her so far! In terms of V8 exhaust note, I added a full custom Borla catback exhaust system to mine as I needed to hear that V8 scream. Sounds great, kind of like a mustang or camaro but more tame. If I added some headers, it would definitely turn into another kind of animal.
Thanks. M1's? Yes. I was up to 14 of them in the safe once, I'm a collector, builder, shooter. Down to the three finest. The rifles, NOT the carbine. H.
Thanks. M1's? Yes. I was up to 14 of them in the safe once, I'm a collector, builder, shooter. Down to the three finest. The rifles, NOT the carbine. H.
lol, I was thinking BMW M1. That's cool though, 14 is a lot of them.
Congratulations and welcome to the forum !!
Nice color and I always love the saddle leather in the SC430
That saddle interior is what caught our eye first thing. Saw a silver low-miles car but it had the light, white-ish interior and it looked grubby. Hard to keep clean, I'll wager. Since we live in Arizona, black is completely out of the question. We saw one of the Pebble beach white cars with the RED RED RED interior, scared the hell out of us.
The car is at the best detail shop in town right now and I can't wait to see it.
Thanks to everyone for the tips and encouragement. As I've said, this car is for the Mrs, but I want to drive it as well! Maintenance and inspection tomorrow morning, then door speaker repair is next.
Here's what I drive. Don't hate me! :
06-10-18, 10:32 PM
New Guy, Bought an '03 SC430
