Hoss08

I am currently looking for a second car, mainly a daily driver. It will need to make a cross country trip, ohio to Arizona where it will stay. I came across a 92 SC400. It has 274K on it. I have yet to see the car in person. The car failed an E-check here in ohio for nox levels. Where I live we do not have emissions test so it isn't such a big concern but I would still look into fixing the issue. they are asking 1200 for the car, so assuming I get there car I would still have room for repairs, which will most likely be done by myself. I have searched around on high mile sc400s and it seems its almost 50/50 on people saying go for it, they are great and still should have a lot of life left and No, look for lower miles. Any advice on the subject would be appreciated.

Biddles

iTrader: (2)

Unless the interior and exterior is in very good condition I'd say pass and wait for a better one to come along, because the cost to fix the interior/exterior will outweigh the value of the car.

grm405

Very high mileage. You can probably do a lot better.

I am in AZ and there are quite a few SC400/300's available in the Phoenix area on Craig's List. Repairs are expensive and there are lots of things to leak. The car I bought a month ago had less than 60k miles and the previous owner had still spent over $11,000 in the past year, mainly fixing leaks and replacing seals. The first owner had spend over $20k in his 20 years (on the receipts I have), mainly on things containing fluid which failed.

Buy a more expensive car which has been maintained. It is cheaper in the long run.

Gerry

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I would pass on it. A beat up SC with super high miles can be a nightmare and a money pit to deal with.

Shrugy

iTrader: (12)

The cost of maintenance might greatly go over the cost you paid for the vehicle.

If you hunt around long enough, you can find a much lower mileage car.

I had to drive 9 hours to get my beauty, but with 95k ODO and under $6,000 with replaced Timing belt, starter, water pump, etc.

If your in no rush to get a newer vehicle, wait and find the perfect deal. Or buy that thing and part it out if it has potential and make a few bucks

gtsfire

iTrader: (4)

Like mentioned before, unless it has a super nice body and interior I'd pass on it unless the owner can provide receipts for any major maintenance it's had. Go take a look and let us know.

Duck05

Find another one if possible. It is not always mileage but age too where all the gaskets and seals start to fail. Good luck....

Joey-E

iTrader: (1)

Get it for that price your paying its not that bad of a deal and of course your can negotiate some. There are some high mileage SC's here that are just fine. My old 92 had 215XXX+ miles and ran like a champ it was serviced by the previous owners and had records before i got it

scENFORCER

This is because buying a low mileage car can be just as tricky as buying a high mileage car. With a low mileage and old car - fluids sit for long periods of time (who knows, maybe the car sat for 10 years at one point in its 20+ year life) which causes seals and anything rubber to fail.
Just as purchasing a high mileage car, biggest factor when buying a low mileage car is to ensure that proper maintenance has been kept up to date. Then you're likely to have a car without issues and that will last a long time (regardless of mileage).

grm405

My car didn't sit for a long time. I can pretty much trace its history (one owner for 20 years) and maintenance. It was from Florida and was only driven around 2000 miles a year for its last 10 years. But receipts show it was driven, repaired and maintained regularly, not parked for years.

Degradation of anything rubber is pretty much a given for a 20+ year old car. Whether it has 60K or 200k miles. Most all those parts (seals, hoses and gaskets) will have to be replaced. The trick is to get the previous owner to do it before he sells it.

The second owner thought he had that as the receipts were there. It just turns out that some of those rubber parts were due for their second replacement. Looks like he got tired of pouring money into it and decided to wash his hands of the whole deal.

Looking at what has been replaced and how much it costs, buying a cheap, shot car is a very expensive way of getting a SC400. When I was looking (a month ago) there were quite a few desirable ones available, i.e. relatively low mileage (under 130K miles), original owner or traceable ownership vehicles. Being close to wealthy retirement areas where people keep them a long time and they never rust, never see snow and seldom even get wet produces prime used vehicles.

Of course, if you don't want peeling clear coat you have to find one that was in a garage. The AZ sun has its blessings and curses.

Gerry