scionlife

Someone recently asked how I, a simple website developer, could afford an SC430. Well, as with all cars it comes down to age and miles on the vehicle. The SC430 came out in 2002 and although most are creampuffs, there are the lease returns with high miles.

Mine was a three-year lease return from the Great Lakes area that was shipped to L.A. to be auctioned. I actually found a used car dealer that had a silver 2002 on Craigslist for $37,000... well, that was a little too pricey for me, but I was pre-approved for $33,500 through Capital One Auto. I talked to that dealer and he agreed to find me another at an upcoming auction for that price... so we had agreed on the price and color combon BEFORE we even knew about the car.

He called me a couple days later to get the car. It was my silver SC with 60,000 miles and saddle interior, the exact combo I wanted. He later told me that he should NOT have sold that car to me at that price, but he was an honest guy. There are a few similar SC430s for sale here in Portland at around $40,000.

A silver 2002 with almost 100,000 on it just went on eBay for $26,999 Buy It Now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-Le...QQcmdZViewItem

I financed the entire car with nothing down for five years. My monthly payment is about $650. Since my home is a duplex and my tenant pays $650 a month it covers my car payment.

I am planning to keep it for a couple of years and hopefully sell it before it hits 100,000 miles for around $28,000.

There ya go, now go search for one and buy it!

taek

coool

swap a jdm supra engine into it

scionlife

Hehe... well, I was thinking about the Blitz twin supercharger kit... til I found out it lists at $10,000! It would probably drop my resale by another $10,000, so I would basically gain 100Hp for $20,000. No thanks.

lexusfanboy_canada

Great deal!

Be like what now 390-400 hp.



I can just picture it eatting the gravel from the highway.

One thing it be more expensive than the M3 and CLK55, but way cheaper than a DB9.

The 0-60 with the extra 100 hp, probably be now like 5.1 - 5.5 seconds, rather than the 5.9 - 6.0 seconds (rough calculations).

Would now be near the 0-60 of a BMW M3, Mercedes Benz CLK55 and Aston Martin DB9.

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Not sure if you saw this before, if you havent its a BEAST!

SC430 Turbo

Approx. 460 HP

scionlife

Something like that. But what about a 100-shot of NOS. That would take me from 300 flywheel HP to 400. On an engine that robust it should be fine, I would think. I had a 125-shot on my 1.8L B18C in my Civic and it was fine. Hmmm... but where to put the bottle?

lexusfanboy_canada

____ true, I totally forgot about the NOS, its a great thing but you use it to much, have to refill it. Atleast you get a turbocharger the power pretty much always there, without worrying :p thats the way I see it. True its always there.

SC430 + Supercharger or Turbocharger + NOS = scary ride.

Bahaha just thinking of this... I so have to go play Gran Turismo 4

Actually I was wrong the dude SC430 tuned to 535 bhp. You add NOS.

This would for sure do a number on the BMW M3 and any tuned MB from AMG.

But Lexus is refined, they make the owners go seek the extra power. Anyways I should shutup now, because I for sure can keep going.

One thing would be nice to see Lexus come out with only like 50, high powered SC430 before they switch to the GT. Thats my two cents, or atleast have an authorized person that knows their stuff from HKS and Blitz come in and tune it for you.

Just the thought of the SC, eatting anything from major car company's
One thing a 400 hp SC430, would be really nice to have or atleast 420hp Would be probably called the SC460 - SC500. Would be a very huge leap from 290-300 hp to 380 - 420 hp. Would be nice to see this in a stock version. Would be a nice 0 - 60 in like 4.2 - 4.6 seconds most probably. Within range of those high powered monsters from Mercedes, AMG 63 line.

for this type of SC in 2008.

One thing I have to say. The Infiniti G35 is 1/2 the cost of the SC430, yet it performs the same on paper pretty much, which isn't really nice. True its not the same craftmanship.

One thing be interesting to see like a 550 - 600hp Lexus SC430. *Dreams* Would for sure do a nice number on AMG 63 line and Lamborghini.

Thats the thing between Lexus and Mercedes, Mercedes crazy about horsepower. Lexus just doesnt really care. Lexus shouldn't either, too be honest its nice to see Lexus not going insane with horsepower, but would be nice to atleast a couple modified and for sale from Lexus.

One thing Porsche and Lexus I find are the same, they just keep on working at something slowly and they know it will work probably! +1 Yet Porsche still gets heavilly modified from RUF and other companies.

Blah blah blah... ____ I just keep going on and on, about the same thing. Sorry.

scionlife

Yeah, a brand new SC is about $66,000... $70,000 with options, etc. The engine is now rated at 288Hp with 317 lb-ft and the car weighs in at two tons with a driver. That does NOT make for a fast car, but it is a quick car. I am happy with the speed, I grew out of stoplight races a while ago.

To compete with the big boys Lexus definitely needs some cars with more ooomph. The IS500 is being readied, and that should provide some fun for a while, but I think we are going to be very happy when the GT500 comes out!