Lexus SC430 Road trip Review Vlog Best Cheapest V8 Luxury Reliable Hardtop Convertible Laughlin 2020
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- Since being stuck at home has been the norm lately, when I heard that Laughlin having something to do like Las Vegas but on a budget was actually open. I asked my friend if he wanted to get out of the house for a bit and go on a bit of a road trip and explore a couple places. He said absolutely! So we booked a suite in Laughlin and headed out with no real plans. I decided to make a video about a few things we did on the trip and the car. I hope it's interesting. I wanted to make this video since a lot of people don't know anything about Laughlin and a lot of people don't know anything about the SC430 convertible. They are alike in a lot of ways... lol
Just in case you want to get to the meat of it...
11:26 Conclusion
12:38 Fuel Economy
16:01 Convertible Top Action
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![Lexus SC430 Hardtop Convertible Review [Z40 Toyota Soarer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SfB3VshPerA/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice job on the review. I’ve had my 2002 SC430 for 4 years now and as much as I love the car it was a very harsh ride over bumps until I ditched the Dunlop run flat tires last year. The Micheline Pilot Sport A/S 3+ completely changed the ride and handling of the car. It’s not a convertible rigidity problem you are dealing with it’s the tires. The SC430 was purpose built as a convertible unlike even the new LC500 convertible which required extra bracing after they removed the hard top from the car compromising the structure. I did considerable research before choosing new tires. ClubLexus Forum and TH-cam were helpful research tools for this and many other small repairs I’ve done to the SC like replacing the dried out foam on the door speakers. Pretty easy fix with a little research, patience, some tools and a few hours time. Unusual speakers to replace at 8 Ohms, just refoam your factory speakers. Good as new.
Chris Lang Thank you for the comment and advice! I appreciate it, I don’t have run flats on there but definitely when I need new tires I’ll give it try. I’ll be a believer if it works, just coming from other convertibles I would never think that tires would make the edges of a windshield jiggle independently of each other and be able to feel it move independently with my elbow on the door. That’s always been attributed to a bit of a flexible foundation. I’m always open to try things. I don’t at all feel the jigglyness is a problem or a defect, it’s just different and a few miles behind the wheel I don’t even give it a second thought. I had the same thing happen to the speaker foam on my GX470 with the mark Levinson I thought about just redoing the speaker foam but I was working a lot of hours at the time, I ordered new speakers from the Lexus dealer. I saved old ones if I wanted to replace the foam. I’m looking forward to putting some good miles on the SC, I just got back from a 700 miles round trip to the sequoia national park in it, the car was amazing.
I hope new tires help you. Thanks for the reply. I too work a lot of hours and purchased some of my speakers and repaired others. Bell Lexus AZ. was almost half the price of my local Lexus dealer. Team at Bell Lexus were friendly, helpful and shipped to me. I walked into my local dealer where I purchased the car and they had no interest in matching the price. I only called Bell because previous owner had a winter home there and the car had their service sticker under the hood. I took my SC on a trip to Duluth and along the North Shore this summer. One of the best things I like about the car is the questions I get about it and the conversations it starts. Happy trails.
Chris Lang thank you, it is a wonderful car, it’s definitely not one you see on the road a lot. Have safe travels yourself too!
Shock absorbers make a huge difference, I replaced the ones on my SC430 with some modern gas units and they transformed the cars ride and handling. Great review, the car is a very comfortable, economical long distance cruiser. The engine is a gem, smooth quiet and powerful and the interior is fabulous, the woodwork by Yamaha wears really well and is beautiful, and the all leather interior is truly luxurious. I love mine.
Thank you and thank you for watching.
Love the Lexus sc430, but not at 1st, it's looks have grown on me. Wifey wants one now as she's also out grown her Z4. Now looking for a comfortable long distance cruiser. Btw, how'd did those size 15 feet of yours fit the pedals??
Thank you for the comment! I certainly would recommend one if you can find it in good shape they are a dream to drive. As far as the size 15’s they fit better without my work boots on! Haha
Nice review! I also have an 04 SC430 that is exactly like yours with the exception of having the chrome 5 star wheels. Mine currently has 63k on the clock, and I see myself as keeping it for many years to come. I think many people below have also commented on the "jiggling" that you mentioned. That could be the run-flat tires like others have said. However, I still drive with run-flats on my car and I've never had that issue with them making any kind of noise or vibration. They just won't ride as smooth as say, Continentals or Michelians. I also own a Miata and a Tacoma, so you know that the Japanese cars, in my view, will always serve you well and for a long time. I used to own a Jaguar many years ago, and it spent most of its life at the mechanics. This won't happen with your Lexus. However, I did have 2 large expenses with mine this year. I live in Orange County California, and an oxygen sensor went out on the car. So I took it over to Westminster Lexus to have replaced and repaired. It was $700.00 which I thought wasn't to bad. But the sensor ended-up being melded onto the Manifold. They had to drill it off. The cost, $3200.00. I could've died! If I wouldn't have had it fixed, I would've been driving with an Engine-Check-Light on. I won't do that, so I paid. My second big cost, I used a "polish" on the hood of the car about 6 weeks ago and it and screwed up the clearcoat, so I had the clearcoat on the hood re-done a few weeks back - $980.00. Cars are cars. Stuff can happen. When stuff happens on an expensive car, you can expect a higher bill as you well know from owning a BMW. Yet, all in all, I still love my SC430. I think she looks very expensive Japanese to me. Ageless in some ways. Some call them a Baby Bentley because of their beautiful interiors. SC's are starting to appreciate a bit in value and I think they will continue to go up in value and be collectable in the future, but in the meantime - enjoy your car!
Thank you for the information, the comment and definitely thank you for watching!
Great video, I love these big cars! I own a 2004 SC430, in the UK it costs me £67 to fill the tank and it lasts me about 3 days but I love it
Thank you for the comment! I am subscribed to you and I’ve seen your video it sure is a nice find you have!
Really good review /Road trip 👍😁
Thank you!
Hello.great video,beautiful Lexus Sc430 ,own this car and love it
Thank you for watching!
great video, soo useable in winter and summer
Hey guys - looking at a 2002 with 40k miles. I’ll need to replace the timing belt/water pump I assume, give the years regardless of miles, the brakes and tires also haven’t been replaced, so I assume they’ll need to be replaced as well. They’re asking $18.9k. I’m thinking about offering $12k, hoping they’ll go to $15k.
I’m a 34 year old single guy. Do you think this could be a practical, daily driver for the next 5-10 years? I’ve always had Honda sedans, but I’ve bitten the Lexus bug...just want to make sure I’m
Being somewhat reasonable/responsible, and also not driving a “grandpa/girl” car, haha.
Devon Peters hiya! I dunno if I’m the best person to answer this question, my car had the 100,000 mile timing belt service done at like 54,000 miles. So hopefully they have records if they did it, if they didn’t I would probably be better safe than sorry and get it done as the belt has rubber to it, it would be a bummer if the belt broke. The brakes, if they are good, I would consider a good flush of them. The tires that old I would definitely replace them just for safety reasons. My thoughts on a daily driver a car of that age and milage is it is possible to have worry free miles but I had the chance to buy a 1998 Toyota Camry with 2800 miles on it in 2020. The shocks were bad, the brakes were mushy and the pedal needed a little pumping to feel firm, the power steering pump seemed a little moist the refrigerant in the air con probably leaked out because the air con didn’t blow cold. I’ve found low milage cars although they could have been very well kept after some time all the little things start to deteriorate after getting it when daily driven and you end up with oil leaks, power steering leaks, valve cover leaks, diff leaks, wheel bearing since the grease has sat and separated and haven’t been touched sometimes needs attention. Not always but sometimes. I think a 2002 with 40K miles would be great but I wouldn’t go into it not expecting to have little age related issues down the road and set a little money aside. I plan on driving my SC regularly but I plan on little age related things and I have other cars just in case.
As for “Grandpa/Girl” car that’s a preference thing 😅. I’ve always been of the feeling that I don’t care what other people think of what I drive, I’ve had other convertibles, newer, sportier less comfortable ones. At the end of the day, I have to drive it and live with it, comfortable is comfortable and reliable is reliable, top down is top down. I’ve also found when I had JUST a convertible it was a little hard here and there, if family comes to visit you rent a car, if you need a new water heater you rent a truck. So I have other vehicles to meet those types of needs. I could see a single person maybe in an apartment type situation where they didn’t need a home improvement vehicle and family visits with their own vehicle this working out. That’s all up to if you can live with a convertible.
As for the price, it is summer where I am and convertibles tend to fetch a premium in summer. Looking at the prices of these cars on Autotrader I would think 15 would sound reasonable. I think I got mine for around 12,500 but mine had a few more miles and it was winter/spring, still a bit rainy. I know this didn’t directly answer your question but it’s just my take on things, maybe good for thought. Check back in, let us know what you did. There are keyboard warriors everywhere who will tell you that you made a bad decision or you should have done something different, but as long as you thought it out, things happen, prices change, trends change and most decisions are a gamble anyways.
Bmwryder thank you for taking the the time to share your advice and thoughts. That is REALLY helpful! I may wait until the winter to try to get an even better deal, and while I know every used car is a gamble, I almost feel like this engine and transmission with 40k miles is a better shot at lasting 5-10 years than some 3 year old cars. Thanks again for the insight and your experience. This is a green with saddle interior, and when I try to talk myself out of it, I keep coming back to it, haha. Good luck with the channel! I’ll look for more vids
Devon Peters Wowee that sounds like a beautiful color combination! I’d be willing to figure that you’d probably have pretty good luck with it, you usually don’t end up with all the other nuisances of some other brands like electrical issues, plastics falling apart, window motors, stuff like that, and even then I’ve found Lexus and Toyota factory parts sometimes to be more reasonably priced and often times it’s easier to find a competent mechanic if you go that route because Lexus and Toyota is a little more straight forward, especially in these cars than a comparable year Mercedes or BMW. I have a car buying addiction and when I get my sights set on a car I can’t take my mind off of it and usually go get it. So I’d be willing to go figure you might go get it. I bet that green is a really deep beautiful green, the Lexus paint finishing of the time was really excellent too. They were still trying to make a statement then of being the best.
Bmwryder absolutely! I completely understand and that seems like a good assumption. I had offered him $8k, haha, just to “ask”, and he got really upset, so I hope $12k won’t be offensive. I just think the timing belt/water pump can be an expensive repair, and with wanting to get new wheels/tires, I don’t want it to go too high in price...and yes, the green is really nice. I think I’d ideally like the blue, but the green almost looks vintage Aston Martin to me. I really like the saddle interior, and while I’m not a massive fan of the orange hue on the wood from that time period, it definitely has a vintage look with the green and saddle leather. I’ll try to make a video if I get it!
Bmwryder though I will say, I’m a little concerned that $12k may “shut him down” from future talks...I just can’t start at $15 knowing about the other repairs. We’ll see!
Nice review... Love the SC430!
You’re right, the reviews are a bum rap. Their biggest complaint is that the car is too comfortable - not a bad thing in my opinion!
Thank you! It’s definitely a gem of a car! I just took it to the sequoia national park too this last week. It was like a 6 hours drive each way. It was beautiful.
They are nice cars
I just bought a 2006 SC & love it.
They certainly are wonderful cars!
are you using premium gas for your road trip, I've read in forums people are using regular gas and getting over 300k miles with no issues.
Thank you for the comment, I try my best to use what is recommended which is a yes I put premium fuel in the car. I’m pretty sure with as stout as these engines are that some people would have good luck with other fuels but I wouldn’t want to chance it.
GREAT car!!!!!!!!
Yes it is thank you for watching!
Nice video. :)
Would you pick this car over a C5 corvette?
I haven’t driven the C5 corvette so I can’t comment on if it is any good, BUT I have family that tends lean towards Chevy products and although nice sometimes they don’t usually hold up this nicely over time. If I had an open budget and could replace my cars often sure why not, but if I want something that I am fairly confident I can just pile the miles on, I would prefer this. I’m not out to win any races, or win any contests with the appearance of my cars, it’s all about comfort and reliability for me, there are some people who just want power and put that in front of everything else. So I guess it’s just down to preference. The closest example I have is my brother owns one of those hemi powered Jeep’s, it’s a 4X4 too but it’s always broken, he’s got around 110,000 miles on it now and it just blew the head gasket, prior to that he had to have the transmission rebuilt and he has all kinds of problems with the transfer system, I’ll take my 230 something horsepower Lexus GX470 any day, the only problem I’ve had with it is the gas cap failed and triggered the check engine light. BUT my brother talks smack on my GX every time we see each other, he still calls my GX junk, he asks me why I don’t get a “real” suv and he is still doing that while his Jeep is broken and he is driving his wife’s mini van. If a Lexus isn’t a real car, I don’t want a real car. I’m pretty sure the C5 is great fun, it’s just not something I think I would even really look into. I hope that makes sense and doesn’t sound like I’m bashing any brand, it’s just all preference and what someone is looking for, apples and oranges I guess.
@@alexsystems2001 I agree with you, I think we both think alike, we both want reliability and comfort, while looking cool at the same time. I love the GX, if I had an open budget I’d definitely get a brand new one. As for your brothers opinion, I think some muscle cars are more of a weekend toy than an everyday car. At least that’s how I’d treat them if I ever got any.
C5 will smoke this off the line and handle way better in the twisties. But this would be way more comfortable on a road trip, and will appreciate more. It's a much better place to be in - that's for sure. MPG is probably better on a C5, though. The fact I can cram my 2 kids in the back is nice too.
Ps I have a video of my sc430 on my channel if you wish to see it?
Thank you! I have seen your video! I even subscribed when I did.
@@alexsystems2001 thank you