brerrabbit

I did a little research myself, and found an interesting guide on Consumer Reports.com...

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...-300-400-2.htm

Made for some interesting reading...

BlakOnBlak

Great Thread! A buddy / Mechanic of mine sold me a black 92 sc300 with a 1jzgte for 5,000. I thought it was a hell of a deal considering he also added a K & N air filter, new fuel pump, new big intercooler, Black tint, Greddy Blow off Valve, New map sensor, and 19" Zennetti's just to name a few. The paint on the car still looks good and I received a free buff job to bring it out. The engine was also polished. The leather seats could use replacing, but I bought a nice set of truck seat covers for 40 bucks; I could use a dual exhaust set up; that will cost me about 500 bucks; I got a good deal for a sound system ( 2 10's in a box, 800 watt AMP) and double din radio for 350 bucks. Car runs and looks great!! I think I made out pretty good

Kris9884

iTrader: (7)

FIrst post lol. I've got about 4k sitting in my hand and am shopping for an SC. I just want to do as much research and shopping as I can before I buy one. I see the main idea of this thread though, "do it once, do it right". I'm all about that but I'm very hands on and think If I get one around 3k I'll have some extra cash to fix the little bugs myself that would otherwise drive me nuts. Thanks for the thread..

TechGreek

iTrader: (4)

I just referenced this in a local forum, as I've had an influx of people asking if (insert craigslist link here) is a good buy.

Duck05

Sort of a "bump" but there is a lot of truth to what it takes to fix these cars up.

I am at around $4K so far (for mechanical fixes) and will soon be doing a re-paint with a body kit for around $5-6K.

New head unit with speakers will likely run $1500 or so and have budgeted $2K for wheels and tires.

Struts, brakes, and intake/exhaust systems are on the list but have yet to be estimated.

But I KNEW THIS from the start and wanted to fix up the SC versus buying another car for $25-40K..... and it would not have been an SC.

Update as of 4/23: I am around 6k for repairs and 7.5kfor repaint, body kit, and head unit. The long term budget may extend to 25k total once it gets to where I believe I want it.....

Update 11/2: Added Tein coilovers; needs LCA bushings which will be next week; wheel/tire budget is now $2900 which will happen in Dec.

Biddles

iTrader: (2)

The reason I chose my used SC which needs various fixes over any other car is simple though. I actually really like driving the SC. I enjoy the looks, the comfort, and the speed if I ever so need it. I rather buy a car that I like and spend extra to maintain it opposed to buying a car that's only plus is it's "good on gas". My car isn't even that nice and I've received a bunch of compliments on it...

I don't have the money to fix everything all at once, I wish I did, so that does suck, but for my first car I will say I am happy. This upcoming month looks to be full of work for me and the month after that I'm back in business.

Studiogeek

iTrader: (6)

Well stated!

I generally say "if I gotta' buy 4 tires and brakes anyway, it may as well be for a car I love".

2BENVD

iTrader: (1)

Comes down to two things... Either get a cheap non cared for sc and spend an arm an leg to fix/maintain it, or fork out the extra dough for a well taken cared for sc and have peace of mind. Period!

I had my sc now for 3 years an I spent $0 on fixing issues, just standard maintenance an she rides like a dream. Our cars can be extremely reliable or the complete opposite if the previous owners didn't care about them.

ekletecka

I have always like the SC400's and I just came across one that is going for 1000 and has 171,000. The guy says the transmission is going to need to be replaced, and this is understandable for the price. I currently have a dd but am considering selling it to get out of the loan. I am not going to get rid of my other car until this one is reliable enough to be a dd. Tax returns are coming up so I'll have money to put into the car but trying to figure out if this car is going to be worthwhile. I am going to see it on Tuesday. Anything I should look out for to steer me away from it? He claims it's in great condition body wise just has cracks in the seat and the speedometer doesn't work. Just looking for some advice on whether I should get it or not, and I do understand that there will be work that needs to be put into it and I am ok with that.

jakebot88

This thread along with a few others have made me realize that in 4 years, 2 years after I pay off my es300 i'm going to get a white sc400 with black interior. Do a manual swap and some wheels and go from there.

Lexman4375

All of this is true. About two years ago I bought my 95 SC400 from a gentlemen. The leather was perfect, carpet and mats were great and it even had an upgraded DIN stereo..the drawback..the front driver side and hood were destroyed. He wanted $3000 for the car,which had high miles. Instead of fixing it, he spent the money the insurance gave him to fix it, thus I managed to talk him down to $1700 after haggling for two weeks. It only cost me less than $600 to fix it myself on the course of a year. It was an eyesore for awhile,but I could always see the beauty of potential behind it. Now the car is probably worth over $4grand..and a dealer would probably sell it for $5000. My advice is that if you are not too mechanically inclined, buy a 97 and up with no issues as opposed to an older one that has been beat up. Always use discernment when buying nontheless

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

Up for newbs

travi19

i picked mine up for $1500 with a messed up front end with 106k when everything was said and done i only have about 3500 in it and probably looking to turbo bad thing is its salvage but hell that only matters when its to be reselled and plus i know why it was salvaged because i fixed it ha

picodroid

This thread scared me off the SC initially. It made it seem as if any good deal would equal thousands in work. While it's true that some parts are relatively expensive, it isn't that much more than a lot of other higher end or sporty, older vehicles.

That said, this is quite an old thread and times have changed a lot. Many people are letting theirs go as it's becoming an older car but they've done the maintence mentioned. Mine has new front seats, new PS pump and rack, rear struts, and a handful of other common higher mileage items.

Keiffith

i bought my 99 sc 3 years ago due to how meticulious it was maintained, and havent had to put any major work into it, but a few of the things mentioned are starting to show their face. the paint is still great, but the seats are getting a bit rough and a few little things need attention, but the car is still in awesome shape.