/Aerostar\

iTrader: (2)

Hey, Im 15 now and soon I'll be turning 16. And basically I want to know if anyone would recommend about a 1993 SC400 as a good first car? I think I will have about $5-7k from my grandma, and then I will have about $1.5k of my own money for mods (non-rice of course )

I want to get one with about 70,000 miles on it, but I'm probably gonna have to settle for one with like 100,000 miles. The mods I want are Borla Exhaust, Injen Intake, and Tokico Gas Shocks.

I would really like a SC300 with stick shift, but since those are so rare, I would probably have to settle with automatic so I might as well go with the 400.

Thanks for your opinions.

Peace

jet864

Hey, I'm 16 and after learning to drive on a '95 Suburban and a '93 Volvo i got my license and had the suburban as my first car for about four months. I got a '96 SC400 in November and I've driven it ever since. I got it with 98,xxx miles, and today I hit 106,000. As you can tell I love driving it and do whenever possible because I know having 106,000 miles isn't even halfway through the life of the 1UZ-FE. Good luck on finding one with that mileage and if you can, I hope its in that price range. Go to KBB.com or NADA.com to find out how much a car with those specifics could cost you.

James

/Aerostar\

iTrader: (2)

i know that these cars are very reliable, but have you had any really expensive problems? I'm only going to have a part-time job and I will probably have to pay for repairs.

Thanks

One HoT

iTrader: (5)

Owning a SC400 is not expensive if you use the search function in this forum for any problems you may have...There are many solutions to the common problems if you can just search...

Being a part of Clublexus has helped me save hundreds of dollars, so make sure you do your research first before buying ANYTHING...I

Overall, the SC is a great car and I recommend it to anyone...Since you are 15, I highly recommend you drive responsibly...

sc40094

The common problems you will encounter with the SC400 will be Power steering pump, altenator, fuel pump ecu, window regulator, cd changer. Those are a few problems I saw people have on this website. Overall, the SC400 is still a very good car.

SCLEX

I got my car (93 SC400) last year, and it was my first car, I'm 17 now and no major problems whatsoever, just get oil changes, filler up with gas, 93 of course, and wash her, and she'll be good to you! Have fun with the insurance though...
-Richard

legendary

Yes, that's right...insurance on a sport coupe at your age might make you .
Just make sure to do your research...alot to be learned over at www.intellexual.net as well
thanks lex400sc and others who contributed to his site

/Aerostar\

iTrader: (2)

yeah, i already read the entire FAQ..like twice, IT RULES

and the insurance will be like $206/month, my parttime job should pay for that, and gas...and thats about it oh well, atleast ill have a lexus!

One HoT

iTrader: (5)

I couldn't say it better..

Lsportline43

I'm 15 also and want a SC 400. I keep thinking I should get a SC 300, but by the time we get our SC 400 maybe there will be a turbo or supercharger kit. NO doubt I would rather have the 1UZ-FE with forced induction than the 2JZ-GTE with forced induction. Even though the 2JZ-GTE has proven to do its thing with forced induction. I would think the 1UZ-FE could make more power. It would be funny if there were to have a forced induction kit for the 1UZ-FE and everyone who has the 2JZ-GTE has to swap to the 1UZ-FE.

NathanWesterfield

im 18 w/ a 400 and i love it

TopSCecreT

i second that, im keepin mine for life.

sarita911

If there's no incident, the SC400 is a great car; V8 power, luxury, etc. But replacement parts are costly and used parts difficult to find.

Dare I say, a good alternative, but less exotic, would be a Mustang GT convert.

lex400sc

Hehe, read it again, it changes almost daily

Speaking of which, I just got an email from Overboost.com's Store Ops Manager. He is generously giving FAQ readers special pricing on all products in their online store. And just from browsing the site briefly, they carry nearly all the brands that support the SC aftermarket, so it's all good!! Check it out!


Trust me, if you have real money for mods, you can be kept busy upgrading the SC400 and enjoying your upgrades for years before you run out of things to do and get bored! If you need guidance, just look at what Manaray is dong to his SC. Forced induction isn't the only thing to be bought for these cars. In compiling the FAQ, I learned of so many things that I want to buy for my car. Give me about $15,000 for mods before I start looking for new alternatives like turbos and such. BTW, there's already a supercharger ready-made for the V8 .

Idle hands are the devil's playthings. Being the broke *** student that I am, all I have is time to think about extravagant blueprints for my dream car. If I only had an income, I would be able to focus on real life mods and enjoy them as they come. For me the style and prestige of driving an SC is satisfying enough until I get my finances in order to enhance it further. I figure my car in stock form still looks better than a '92 Civic with $10,000 dumped into it----and he already dumped $10k into it! Point is no matter how frustrating it is, at the end of the day our cars are still better than a good 90% of what I see on the freeway today. I've come to accept that I won't have a 12 second car, but hey I'm pragmatic and high 13s are good enough for me!


To answer your question above, the SC is a great first car to have. Very relaible car, no matter how many things break on it, I can always depend on it to start and drive away . If you have any basic mechanical experience, it's also very easy and cheap to repair! Every major problem that you may encounter on the car has already been discussed on the forums, so you won't be left hanging in case you do have car troubles. The most expensive repairs you'll have to worry about are user-end ****-ups so be loving to your SC and it will return the favor.

danielribo

I bought an SC300/Soarer as my first car (I got the 3L because I thought insurance would be cheap) but as it turned out I was very wrong. Maybe things are different in the states, I don't know. But it's something you should research before hand.

I'm now selling the Soarer and buying a Ford Fairlane and I tell you, it's going to be a very hard goodbye.