Addiction2

Hi all,

To come clean I am not currently a Lexus owner but I am strongly considering my first Lexus purchase (a 2005 SC430, most likely a Pebble Beach). I’ve typically driven a SL500 or SL600 for the past 8 years with a S500 for my service days. I actually went in to get a new 600 and after the price totaled up to above $150k I thought it might be time to explore other alternatives which puts me here.

I was hoping I could ask you guys a few questions that have been rattling around in my head that I don’t trust the dealer to answer straight for me:

- I have never seen a high mile SC430. SC430 owners seem to really pamper these cars and it looks like you guys average something like 10k miles a year. I am typically not a pamperer of automobiles preferring instead to drive them and spend no time thinking about resale/trade-in value. So my question is this: Anyone out there putting 20k miles a year on their SC430 and how is it holding up?
- I also like my cars to get a stamp of individuality. I’m not quite talking about a “Pimp My Ride” kind of set up but you don’t cross the $60k line on a car because you want to blend in, you know? So where can I get an idea of what types of customizations I can do that WON’T void my warranty?
- Can someone tell me what the largest size wheel is the SC430 will take without any “customization” is? I’d really like a nice lipped 20’ whell and I’m not ure I can do it on the car.
- If someone owns a 2005 can you tell me if the Bluetooth works with any Bluetooth phone or is it specific to the phones that they list on the Lets Talk site? I know that there may be features that I don’t have access to with other headsets and I’ll live with that shortcoming but I just want to know my options.
- And for bonus points can someone tell me if they have actually ever gotten a childseat in the back of the SC430? Having SL’s its always been a little annoying to my wife that I don’t have room to pick up the kids. My wife will love it if this works out, well that and the $80k we hang on too.

Thanks in advance.

peaceful97

Hi Addition2 and welcome!

My wife is small( 5.2") and we have a son who is 10 months old now. And we go to our parents' house every weekend on our SC430 and they both feel very comfortable. So the answer is yes, the childseat fits in the back seat perfectly with my wife is in the front.

Addiction2

Thanks, I appreciate the info!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

- the sc430 is a strong car, the v8 unit is a proven super strong unit from lexus, and you will have no problem putting 100k+ miles on the car easy
- customize the car? well, the law says they can only void warranty on stuff you change. so even if you lower the car you just void the suspension, but engine and tranny are good. maybe you can lower it, put on body kits, and wheels
- 20s is the max i would do on the sc430
- no clue on bluetooth, dont' use it
- no clue on child seat, dont have one

and btw, the 05 PB? good luck finding one, it's very very rare

Joe Peters

We are not puting 20k a year on the car but the previous
owner put 33K in 18 months on our 2002 it now has 48K
With no problems except the battry went bad about at 47k
and they replaced it with no charge at all and gave us a new
Rx330 to drive while the fixed it. WOW I've never had service
like this before. The did say the brakes only had 3 mm left
on the pads and we should think about a front brake job.
My 99' Vette only made it to 27k before it had to have front
brakes. I dont "baby cars" I drive *** that's what they are for.
Look on the Wheel Forum on this site. There are some SC430s
with 20" wheels. Also do a search for coil over shocks thi will
lower the car and give better handling at the same time.
Well that all I know

lexuslover

we put 15k annually on the SC, and it is holding up well. it has some minor rattles that are common/acceptable to convertibles, and the runflats are rough. but those are my only complaints, and i am a lexus freak and demand perfection when it comes to noises. other than that, the car is still very unique and turns heads pretty much anywhere. the hardtop is great, and the car looks great with it up or down.

as for bluetooth, the letstalk site is not 100% inclusive. most BT phones will work, only a few have reported total inability to sync up. (but some models may be more "compatible" than others in terms of features like phonebook transfer, etc)

p.s. i don't pamper our cars too much either. the extent to my pampering pretty much ends at hand washes by my neighborhood detail guy every 3 wks, waxes twice a year by a detail shop, and full interior detail once a year. oh, and paying $$ every 5k to be serviced by Lexus

Addiction2

Thanks all for the feed back this gives a lot of the answered I was looking for.