Sorry if this is against the rules as I dont have one of these beauties yet, but Im really trying to get my hands on one... Ill delete if i must

I currently own a 2018 Honda Civic Hatch, it runs great but i've had the AC go out on me 3 times now in the 3 years ive had it and I really am frustrated with potentially needing to bring this thing in every summer like I have been to fight with Honda to get them to fix it under their warranties (or not, was last quoted 3500 on an evaporator replacement, got it down to 700 by opening a case with Honda).

I am absolutely dying to trade in my car and take the ~15k that Ill get for it to buy a well maintained, low mileage '98+ SC300 stock and drive it until it falls apart. I'm in love with these cars, and I know their reputation for reliability is good as long as I stay on top of maintenance (which I am good about).

However, I already know that it is going to be near impossible to convince my parents to let me turn in a 6 year old car for a 25 year old one, but I figure I'm only going to be relatively young once and I want to have this car as my daily before prices skyrocket over time and it falls out of my grasp (especially as low mileage ones get rarer and rarer).

my question to you all, being owners, what are some other things I can say to convince my parents that this is a decision worth doing? They helped me purchase the civic so I'm gonna need some real quality ammunition. My family has owned a lot of Toyotas built in 2000/2001 with our highest mileage hitting 280k (still running) so they know how these cars run, but I feel like I need more.

Am I completely out of my mind or do you think this can be a good decision? Please and thank you, I really want this ****ing car, lol

 

Use your civic to get you working, and save up the $$$ to buy yourself a SC that wont be your daily driver that you can rebuild and fix up and make your own over time.

When your 18+ making good money you wont have to ask them to do this

 

after considering yours and some comments on reddit, that seems to be the best course. Thank you!

 

Yeah, I would agree with @joewitafro I have 2 other back ups to my SC. There was a time I had it up on ramps for 6 months due to a maintenance issue or while I tried to figure things out. Getting rid of a relatively reliable vehicle for something that may be marginal reliable due to age will have you regretting your decision in the long run.

 

Hey flugenhiemen!

We spoke on Reddit at some length about your questions. I'm glad you could make it here!

You've already read my long thoughts and advice on this and just the same as on the other Reddit thread commenters I also agree with joewitafro and Tallyhoe on this.

I did use my SC as a daily driver for a long time-- for about 13 years until earlier this year. It was already a 17 year old car with 189k miles on it when I bought it. It's now at 268k miles.

Things were a little easier then to service and maintain SC's as daily cars and still some here use them in that way but most owners keep them as secondary cars now to enjoy without all the pressures on them that their primary cars endure.

Your 2018 Civic is still what I would consider a very new-ish car. No parts are discontinued yet and won't be for a long time yet. I had a 2000 Honda Prelude many years ago and it never had the A/C troubles you are describing.

May I suggest getting familiar with buying your parts from discounted dealers in order to take the financial pain off you a bit? This is something you would need to get used to anyway when you own an SC300/400 (or Soarer).

Within the U.S. I used to have good experiences buying from the official dealer discounted brand new OEM parts by mail online storefronts with Majestic Honda and San Leandro Honda. DensoProducts is also a good brand new OEM parts source for whatever Denso makes for your Honda including some A/C components probably.

Outside the U.S. and only for not super heavy items, not A/C compressors and not items as big as an A/C condenser you can punch in the same Honda part numbers (or P/N/s from Toyota or Lexus or Subaru or I think Mazda as well) in the Amayama OEM new parts importing website. Usually these parts will be sourced from a Honda dealer/warehouse in Japan and then will be shipped to you in the U.S.

Exploded parts diagrams can be found on the "partsouq" website.

For Lexus SC's much of the same applies only with a few other U.S. Toyota and Lexus dealers which offer nw OEM parts still in stock at a lower than MSRP discount (plus shipping and tax).

...

Depending on your local climate the summer months may be hard on your car's A/C system in general.

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Please don't hesitate to ask us for help as you figure out what you may ultimately do with an SC purchase when the time is right. There is plenty to learn from about these cars here in the forums and you've come to the right place if you want to dive into our rich backlog of threads covering just about everything you may want to know about these cars, their quirks, common issues and the general consensus fixes and modification recommendations for them.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and welcome to Clublexus!

 

Flugen,
Ive owned several Supras and an SC400 , the later supras were fairly heavy and not very nimble(compared to the very early lighter models) . The added weight of the later models made the 6 cylinder sluggish in comparison to the V-8. We had the SC400 for many years until it started to need suspension parts and got the next generation model. Unless you want the 6 cylinder model to put on a turbo etc etc, I would consider the V-8. I assume you've driven the model for enough miles to know what you want and what you would be getting. I get that you want what you want. Get a great education and or profession and pull the trigger when you are ready, there will be cream puffs out there to find.
Here is another possibility, and assuming you have garage space for the "extra" vehicle. Try to convince your folks to lend you the money and store the car in the garage while you are re-habbing it. Promise(in writing) to do well in school or getting a profession and you will pay them interest on the loan when you have attained your profession goals....if you have to , tell them NOT to leave you anything in a future inheritance, ..... what have you got to lose by asking (its a good deal for them and for you) , tell them you will support them in their old age....pull out the stops !!! You gotta think out of the box......Most guys here get the obsession w a vehicle when we were younger.... we do. (for me it was a Plymouth Barracuda 1970 muscle car)( its in the garage waiting to be re-habbed)

 

It's not the most popular opinion, but I do have to agree with Lexicon1. In stock form -- no turbo or supercharger -- the 1UZ is a much more enjoyable motor than the 2JZ. Way more power, way better torque band, and nearly identical MPG's. And to further his (?) point, I found it took removing 500 lbs from my SC300 for it to really come alive. The 1UZ can handle the heft of these cars much better than the 2JZ can. The obvious answer is to turbo the 2JZ, but so many people who go down that road end up regretting it, either never finishing the project or overbuilding the driving conditions. Or just not wanting that much wear and tear on a more delicate system.

Now that I've got my rare agree-ability out of the way, I'll dissent with the earlier posts... I daily drive a '98 SC400, which some people find astonishing. I see no problem doing so. However, I work from home and don't go places just for the sake of cluttering up the roads, so I'm only putting ~1k mi/yr on it. I have two other '90s vehicles sharing the load, probably 2500-3000 mi/yr between them, and two are bound to be running at any given time! All you need is a reliable alternative, not a new one.

So...I feel you could improve your situation by selling your new-ish Honda, getting an early '00s Accord or Civic, and putting the rest toward the SC of your dreams. Newer Hondas don't seem to be nearly as reliable as '90s and '00s ones (presumably "our" memorable youth for many of the members here), which is why the Korean companies gained so much market share.