Picked up my SC 430 from Elite Motor Company on Thursday morning. Drove from Croydon to Newcastle on Thursday, Newcastle to Edinburgh on Friday. I've also had a little blast around some local roads today. I had a little concern about water coming from the bottom of the engine bay but it turned out to be nothing to worry about - just the A/C condensation pipe working as expected.
I'm impressed with the car. It's very smooth, very refined. For reference I have previously owned a 996 Generation 911 C2 and a V6 Hyundai Coupe which in some ways the SC 430 reminds me of but it is in other ways very different. It takes very, very little effort to go from 50 or 60 to 80 mph+ if you are not careful. Compared to a 996/911 it is very quiet even with your foot to the floor, but it is not as 'nibble' round the B roads which in fairness is what you would expect as the SC 430 is more a cruiser type of car than an all out sports car. The slightly poor (if I'm honest) turning circle reminded me of my V6 Hyundai Coupe, but you can tell the built quality of the Lexus is vasty superior to the Hyundai of the same age / vintage.
I would prefer if the exhaust had more 'note' considering it is a V8, but I fully understand that was a design decision from Lexus to make the car as quiet as possible. I have been pleasantly surprised at the MPG (28 ish) on a motorway run which is actually the same as the 996/911 would do. I love the 'LEXUS' lights on the floor when you open the car in the dark. I find the hopelessly outdated sat nat adorable, and the seats and steering wheel feel great.
I do have some niggles that I have spotted in my first 500 miles with the car:
- The dreaded 'ERROR 4' message. I can it to bugger off by using the 'SHIP' mode reset but it's annoying as it always comes back.
- The tape player sounds like my tapes are being played underwater (dirty tape head?).
- I can't get a very good visual angle from the passenger side mirror, when I try move it electronically closer to me it 'springs' back to a middle / far away visual position. Is the motor bad, or is a clip behind the mirror glass possibly broken or something like that?
- The passenger door foot level speaker (behind the fluffy cover) 'pops' during big bass noses which is annoying. I'm never going to enjoy Groove Armanda like this. I suspect that speaker needs replaced.
- The brakes are fierce / work great, but they do make a squeak sound from cold that seems to go away once they have warmed up a bit. However, there seems to be a lot of life left on the pads so I don't know what's going on there.
So, I'll get the brakes checked professionally when I get the timing belt and water pump done in a couple of months.
I need to replace one speaker and the cd changer unit, and find some sort of fix for the passenger side mirror.
All in all though, really not too bad for a car that has done 167,000 miles and is 19 years old.
Looking forward to getting to know the car better and going on more adventures 😃