RyansSC

I am looking to buy my first Lexus SC430 and I am trying to learn about these cars so any advice would be more than welcome here are a few questions I have

1. Seems most cars are loaded but is there a place I can find what added options where available on these cars ?
2. Is there a better Year model to look for ?
3. At what Mileage do you have to do a lot of maintenance ?
4. are there any major problems I should look for ?

Thanks from a newbie

Guess everyone has to start somewhere

levie

iTrader: (1)

welcome to the club man. but if your looking for sc430 advise your in the wrong section. Go to forums, hover over sc then it should expand and give you the option of selecting sc 300/400 or sc430.

es30000000

I don't think many guys in this forum will have any SC430 advice for you. Might wanna try the 430 forums...

VVTiBob

Welcome... and it depends on your budget. If you go back to the index and find the 6th "sticky" thread ( I linked it at the end of this thread) from the top, you'll find the definitive SC430 buyers guide put together by one of our moderators, SCDROPTOP. Almost every question imaginable gets answered in the thread.
But to give brief answers on your 1 thru 4 questions:

1. Seems most cars are loaded but is there a place I can find what added options where available on these cars ? Yes, http://www.toyotareference.com/lexussc#SC the site is slow...but you find every sales brochure from 2002 - 2010.
2. Is there a better Year model to look for ? Depends on what you mean by "better". Major revisions were made in the 2006 model year. (typical Toyota life cycle refresh) But overall the car's outward appearance remained pretty static during its lifetime.
3. At what Mileage do you have to do a lot of maintenance ? Major maintenance intervals are at 30, 60, 90 and 120K. If you find a car you're interested in, grab the VIN and go to http://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/home sign up for a free account, enter the car's VIN and viola' it's Lexus factory/dealer Maintenance history is displayed. (maintenance done at independent shops only appears if the owner entered it) Additionally, the owners manual is online there so you can read it and decided for yourself what "major maintenance is"
4. are there any major problems I should look for ? There's no short answer here....go to the sticky thread and its all covered. But you should know the SC430 is a VERY RELIABLE car, but does have some quirks.. One for example is its speakers...most have been blown out by their owners there is a real issue with quality there.. But the best answer is to go to https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...ned-sc430.html

talison24

Best bang for the buck is probably the 2006 with some moderate changes. If $30K or so is too much I would go all the way back to the 2002 and save some money, very little change from 2002 to 2005.

RyansSC

Thank you all very much for taking the time to post on this tread. I think I like the 2006 and up but like many here I am looking at all years and "kicking tires" I am trying to find one with less than 50k miles and that is not quite as hard as I thought it would be. So far I like what all I have read about these cars and I am a real car nut. I have owned somewhere in the area of 350 cars been buying cars and messing with cars like crazy since I was 16 and at one time I had 7 cars when I was 16 and my mother said if I did not get rid of some of them she was going to hurt me haha. I have only lost money on 5-8 cars so I am very careful to research cars I am going to buy and then find out what they are worth so I know I wont get hurt if the car turns out not to be what I want. I like the idea this is a mild sports car, convertible hardtop, luxury car and that's what I am looking for.

I will keep reading about these cars and let everyone know when I pull the trigger and buy one.

Thank you all again for your information, links, and advice

IcEnPinKi

iTrader: (1)

06+ saves u the headaches from trying to upgrade from the previous years. nicer front bumper, headlights, tail lights, bluetooth blah blah blah..

KBALL

I remember my service advisor saying that MOST of the sc430's he sees are very low miles...and this in scottsdale AZ where the sun shines even at night

JerryB

Hi IcEnPinKi,

I have not upgraded my '02 and it has never caused me to have a headache.

Jerry Baumchen

deathstar

if you want Ipod integration Grom audio supports 05 and up and it's way cheaper than the Vais unit for older models, 05 also has blutooth but 06 is the most bang for the buck if you can find one. if you find a 06 with the spoiler it's got every option.

IcEnPinKi

iTrader: (1)

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