Sc 300 For $5950 - Here's The Details On It

[TMaxxTim]

A Local SC 300 popped up at a local dealer this week so I went today to take a look and test drive it. It has a spoiler with LED lights on it, 150k and its $5950. Its a local trade in and the KBB shows trade-in at $3400, so I'm thikning I could get this car for maybe $4500-$4700 from the dealer.

Overall the interior is in GREAT condition, no cracking leather no rips in the leather AT ALL! The last owner put a nice wood trim kit on the inside and a big L on the cup holder lid, it looks nice!

The engine needs a new serpentine belt on the front (its cracking). There was some oil residue on the cover thing below the distributor and some areas below it, not bad, but what could be doing that. The guy said it could be a headgasket leak and they haven't had a chance to take it through their normal inspection company to let them know what needs to be fixed.

The real "different" part on this car is it has some 19" or 20" Lexani rims on it.

When I test drove it, it had a vibration at idle, I'm thinkint transmission/engine mounts. How hard are these to replace and could it be the problem? I changed a transmission mount on my accord, wasn't the hardest thing, but itw as the front mount so it was pretty easy.

Actually when I drove this car, I found it not to have as much kick as I thought it would. My dad's escape seems faster than it. I hammered the gas from a stanstill and it gets up there but it just seemed to go through 1st gear forever.

When I opened up the oil valve on the engine there was a little bit of sludge on it, not much but is this normal for a toyota engine at 150k or should it be completely clean looking?

The last part is convinceing my dad this is a safe car, which has proved hard being that there's no real crash-test ratings for the SC coupes, let alone any Lexus car. Anything I can refer to or use to let him know its safe?

[DrifterX27]

hmm

i personally dont trust cars that have rims n aftermarket stuff on it. i jus get the feelin that they were beat on during their time wit their owner. as for the leakin of oil, doesnt seem the person took care of their car, if they allow oil to leak in the engine n not fix or clean it. if it really is a leakin head gasket, that could be the reason the car felt slow when u were driving it. check around for another lexus sc300, and see if u find one that is stock. if its stock and clean, it most likely was taken care of. you really dont want to buy a car that has problems.

[SC4Million]

not so good...

It sound to me like you would be spending a lot of time and money trying to get the car in the condition you would like. My suggestion would be to keep looking, there are always deals out there (more so if you are willing to travel to get them).

Most importantly it sounds like the previous owner payed a lot of attention to the apperance of the vehicle and not much to the mechanical. If I were you I would walk away...

[TMaxxTim]

I think I'm going to call him and ask the previous owner about it, see if he really knows about what he's done like timing belt, etc. or if he's clueless as to the last time the oil was changed, that should give me a good idea.

[llama]

What year sc 300 is this? Aesthetically the car sounds clean and from the pic, it looks good. Mechanically, I would check a few things for maintenance. How did the oil on the dipstick look? Are there any service records available? Did you get a look at the antifreeze in the RADIATOR? If a headgasket is the case, oil can seep in to the radiator and coolant can seep into the oil. A broken headgasket also usually will burn the coolant off so that you will see a lot of white smoke with a caramelized smell to it coming from your tailpipes, also resulting in a rough idle and misfiring.

The acceleration is something else I would look at. When you were accelerating, did you have the ECT power on or off? On will push you closer to the redline. If it was off and the first gear held for a while under normal driving conditions (non-spirited), that is a good indication that the car was raced a lot, for the ECU learns the drivers habits!

The oil on the distributor heat shield is probably a leaky seal. My car has had the same problem since I've owned it, and it has been well taken care of prior to my owning it. However, you may want to be aware that this seal might possibly kill the alternator, because I now need to replace my alternator and I think that this may have been the culprit. (oil dripping off the shield to the poor alternator below).

For the Excursion feeling faster, take into consideration that the Excursion has a considereable amount of torque (especially the turbo diesel!) above the SC. This can 'feel' alot like moving faster!

If you can get below the $4000 mark, it runs well, and the accessories +AC work, it would probably be a fair deal.

[TMaxxTim]

The Escape feels faster...not excursion. The escape is the small 200HP V6 SUV, not the huge monsterous tank one. I'll see if I can get my dad to look at it again, his first impression wasn't good, mainly because he thinks the SC coupes are not as safe as a 4-door sedan, like a Taurus would be, any tips for that front?

[bartkat]

What year is the car?

What size tires are on those big rims? If the tire aspect ratio wasn't adjusted to keep the same as original tire diameter, then the speedo could be reading low.

Re the Esape. SUV's have a higher axle ratio and usuallly a wider range of gearing, so they usually have more intial grunt than cars.

[TMaxxTim]

Its a 1993, I'm nost sure what size the tires are or if they had been adjusted.

[bartkat]

You can go here and get a True Market Value based on your zip code, and the data you have on the car.

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/usedmatrix/Use...x.research..1.*

[SC4Million]

I did some reasearch for you on the "Safety" Front...I came up with exactly nothing. Your best bet would be to try to find some foreign crash tets under the Toyota Soarer name. Or see if a modle in the US shares a platform with the SC (EX the GS?)

Best of luck

[llama]

ANother place you could look and see for safety data is Consumer Reports. If you go to a library that carries the mag, they will probably keep the old magazines or at least have record somewhere. Another source to check would be the reviews from Automobile magazine or Motor Trend. The SC has many awards, try this link http://www.lexus.com/about/awards/sc.html and maybe you can pull some info from the link magazines listed. You could also call an insurance company for direction. ANy way you want to look at it though, the SC is a very well designed and engineered vehicle. Happy hunting!