Scott R

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it and will take some photos as soon as I can (though there are some dealer photos in the other thread I started about tires/wheels). Everything seems to be coming together and it looks like I should be taking possession of it on Wednesday. My wife noticed some brake squealing during the test drive and they determined today that the rear brakes were in need of replacement, so they're doing that (they said that the front brakes looked like they had recently been replaced). So, even though I probably didn't get as great of a price as I could have if I was willing to travel farther, it looks like I'm getting new tires and brakes, so I'm happy with that. Hopefully they do a decent job touching up the nicks and buffing out the scratches.

The wheels that are on it are attractive enough that I don't expect to rush out to change them any time soon. I probably won't drop it or do any performance tweaks immediately, either, though I'm still interested in hearing how much those things cost.

Short-term things I may want to do will probably be to upgrade the GPS map data and maybe add iPod support (and/or an AUX input).

Scott R

So my wife came home from work concerned about me driving around with my 10-year-old daughter in the front passenger seat. Someone at work told her that if the car has a passenger-side airbag then it should be disabled or would be dangerous. A search here turned up very little...nothing about disabling it, but one suggestion for moving the passenger seat all the way back so that the airbag won't reach her.

SteadyEddy

iTrader: (1)

Go the other route, move the passenger seat all the way up and have her sit in the rear seat. Does the seat sense weight? If so the airbag might not arm, because she is too light. If it does arm then she would need the airbag protection in case of an accident. I don't remember if the SC has that feature of telling you the airbag is set or not, you'd have to look and see and have her sit in the seat, and look for the light, to either go on or go off.

Scott R

For anyone else who cares about this sort of thing, here's an article I found which suggests that for children between the ages of 9-12, sitting in the front seat with an airbag is roughly equivalent safety-wise as sitting in the rear (in both cases, with seatbelts on):
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/pre...s10302000.html

I personally think that age is a poor gauge to use. Height and weight are probably better.

At this point, I'm sort of thinking that keeping her in front, seatbelt on, all the way back, with an airbag on seems safer than having her in the back. In the back, she's likely to want to sit sideways and/or not have her seatbelt on tight enough.

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Scott.......Your holding out on us! We have been talking about this car for some time now so you have better get out there a shoot some pictures of it for us!

Scott R

Sorry, I'll try to take some this weekend. The day I took possession the weather turned gray and has stayed that way every day since. There have been some moments where it at least hasn't rained, so I could take it for a spin with the top down, but otherwise pretty crummy weather. This weekend looks hopeful, though.

Avarec

sc430 is great but with family its different story

i personally love the looks of new 3 series coupe, it has great design and more back room, so give that a though if its in your budget range

Scott R

Now that I'm no longer a "potential" SC430 owner I'm going to let this thread die (unless another potential buyer wants to make use of it). I'm a big believer in having threads stay focused on a particular subject, so I'm going to start up new threads for my specific questions (or make use of existing threads that are pertinent). Thanks to all of you who helped me in making my decision. Hopefully the car I got is a good one (I'm about to start up a thread about a vibration issue which may either be normal or due to tire balancing - hopefully nothing major). You'll definitely be seeing me around the forums for a while.

Scott R

OK, one more post to this thread. I posted these photos to the "Show your most recent photos" thread, but I figured I should add them here as well.

OK, I've finally taken some pics of my recently purchased black/saddle '02 SC430. The wheels were already on it when I purchased it and are nice enough that I will happily live with them for a while before considering swapping them out.

Let's see if these photos attach well (I may need to rescale them to a more reasonable size)...





Sadly, on my way out today I passed not one, but two, black SC430's. This was all within 10 miles of my house. So much for having a rare car. I could have dealt with that if they were at least a different color. Oh well...hopefully they were travelling thru from out of state.

Harold57

Scott,

Looks nice. Welcome to the owners' club.

Harold

TooCoolSC

Sounds like you're wanting a Bentley. You don't see those much.

Scott R

Well I was semi-joking. The SC430 is definitely rare...much rarer than any other car I would have otherwise ended up getting. Prior to today, I think I saw a couple of SC430's in my town. One was a black one I saw driving through the center of town. That may have been one of the ones I saw today. Prior to that time, I can't remember when I last saw a black SC430 in my town. I believe I had also spotted a dark blue SC430 one other time in my town.

Yes

you see a car much more often once you own one. normally, cars don't register. if you want to be unique, get some custom wheels, and debadge the front emblem. gives it a totally different look.

tromly

Custom wheels are the first thing you do to be unique. Believe me, with or without the wheels your SC is in a league of its own, envied by 99% who don't own one !! You have a great looking car, you made a great purchase at a fair price. Welcome to the club

farkas

iTrader: (5)

Looks like all your questions were worth it! Nice choice and finally officially welcome to the SC430 Group!