“There is nothing quite like it!” Every enthusiast I know has that attitude towards their car. But rarely is it actually true. Platforms are shared. Engines and transmissions are modified and tossed into whatever else can accommodate them from a cost perspective. Compromises are made. Only sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes you can buy something so unique, so timeless, that you can appreciate it’s qualities even twenty or thirty years later. The Lexus SC400 is one of those rare, outstanding machines. Let’s start with the door hinge.
That’s right. That usual flimsy piece of metal that’s supposed to keep the door open and closed through the ages. On most cars, as the car ages, the bolts holding the hinge to the frame will eventually get a little loose, and the welds can actually wear out over time. At some point, you will eventually hear a popping sound when you open the door. Some owners fix it. Most ignore it. But Lexus SC400 owners will never face the choice.
The SC400’s door hinges were an absolute engineering monstrosity, as over-engineered and built as those of any similar era—or earlier—Mercedes-Benz. Lexus built in quality trying to make this car eternally seamless and genre-compatible silent. The bushes and flanges that make up the SC400’s über-hinges are as thick as a brick. They’re triple-welded into a geometric design that can hold the SC’s door at any angle. No other car from that time period can do it. None.
Of course, many folks will think I’m nuts to mention the quality built into a simple component, one that most manufacturers simply glaze over. But this website has long argued that quality will out; time makes you appreciate the care and attention lavished on a methodically engineered and assembled vehicle. For reliability freaks, the SC400 has “it.”
The 4.0-liter V8 engine in the 1992 SC400 has specs suitable for today’s car market. 0-60 in 6.9 seconds. 32-valve engine. 250 horsepower. It’s pretty fast for today and amazingly quick for then.
But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Combined with the four-speed electronic automatic transmission, the engine is just plain unkillable. It can literally out-diesel a diesel when it comes to longevity, and it’s infinitely more quiet. When you can find one at the auctions, they will almost always have odometers far north of 200k. I’ve seen many with over 300k that still sell wholesale in the $1500 to $2000 range.
In nearly all cases, the SC’s dashboard and real walnut trim will be devoid of any cracks or wear. Even in the south. It’s incredible. Getting into one of these cars is like entering a time warp.
Speaking of which, when most people enter the SC400, the first things they will notice is the amazing material quality. The soft leather on well bolstered bucket seats and generous use of wood contrasts well with soft surfaces on the door panels and armrests that were rock hard and plastic in other competing models. Lexus today has a long history of coddling their occupants; this model certainly helped give rise to that rep.
Unlike today’s luxury cars, Lexus kept everything simple and straightforward inside the SC400. There’s no need or desire for multiple displays of the same information. No need for buttons ad nauseam (knobs work very well, thank you). The SC simply gives you all the information you need when you need it. Today’s designers could learn an awful lot by reconsidering the SC400’s more driver-focused, less gadget-laden cabin.
The Lexus SC400 is a strikingly comfortable and simple vehicle to drive. A short dash overhang and plain Jane interior ergonomics makes this large coupe surprisingly agile and dare I say it, safe. Nothing exciting stock. But aside from the IS-F, anesthetized is how Lexus rolls.
The Lexus coupe does have a few expensive wear “issues,” but they’re not what I’d call cataclysmic. The red needles on the dash wear out and turn black; the entire display may follow. A couple hundred bucks will fix it, without visiting the clock-is-ticking dealer. The SC400’s electronic luminescent displays for the radio and temp will also wear out, although the simple knobs will control both.
And like any other power antenna of 1990s vintage, the one on the Lexus will be sheared off given enough encounters with a garage door. Otherwise the fluids to maintain the car are dirt cheap. Maintenance under the hood is surprisingly owner-friendly, and the opportunity to customize and modify the car make it one of the few that can keep an enthusiast’s interest for a long time.
If you find a well preserved one with less than 150k. Buy it. If you can find an SC300 with an all too rare manual tranny in it. Call me first. I’ll buy it and be your new best friend.
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I like this car a lot. Too bad the second generation hasn’t been updated in forever (perhaps won’t be). Wasn’t it the first production hardtop convertible?
The trick with these is finding one that hasn’t been sullied. Like the Supra, too many people FNF these cars, and it’s sad. You stand a better chance of finding a mechanically similar, if less sporty, GS of the same era.
But yes, the durability is amazing, especially for a luxury car in this class (I recall the GS of the same era was pretty tough, too, and the LS was unbreakable). The W124 and Vovlo 240 seem almost this good, but the parts and upkeep aren’t cheap at all. The Legend is similar, but much more pedestrian. I think the closest you could get, outside the GS, was the oddball Infiniti J, and people didn’t seem to part with them, either.
How’d you know I was mulling this over…..creepy-weird. Is the engine flat-plane or cross-plane, full counterweights ?
Better yet…an SC300 that has had the 2JZ-GTE Supra turbo swapped in. Makes the car with the mondo door hinges capable of blowing the doors off anything else it encounters!
I like those cars… specially since you can build a true MONSTER with the SC300.
Enjoy =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGG00btQvFg
Sick engine sound:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dCLUEzM0cA8
Have seen the SC400 in the highway… and the thing is FAST :thumb:
Toyotas can be cool… sometimes… and I can dig them. Go figure.
Another Toyota I like is the ST82 Celica (I love the style of this car), AE86 Corolla (fastback please), 1992-95 Camry (I think it’s the best one).
Yes, this is the car that introduced me to Lexus in the Caribbean (I believe down there, it was called the Toyota Soarer). It beautiful then and it’s still a thing of beauty now. Lexus should take a step back and look at what made this car such a hit back then.
I really wanted to have this car then…but then again I also wanted to have a Mitsu 3000GT VR4. Oh well…
Great review!
That exterior is a cure for insomnia if I’ve ever seen one.
Great minds think alike…and you know the rest. My first thought upon viewing a similar car (SC450) was the design of the door hinges. A sculpture of art to a head full of nuts and bolts. Casting creativity. A truely marvelous marketing tool: semi-hidden but open to those who know. What a wonderful way to say that this vehicle is built like a tank. Time has proven it, too.
You missed the whole point of the door hinge. It is not a hinge, but rather a 4 bar linkage. The door does not pivot, it moves in a curve that pulls the front edge of the door inboard several inches as the door opens. Thus the long door doesn’t take up as much space when open as a simply hinged door does.
When I worked in vehicle development at GM, I used one of these hinges on an Eldorado as part of a proposed product upgrade program. It worked out pretty slick, but as usual, at GM, nothing came of it.
I was tempted to buy one of these cars, but I bought a used Mark VIII instead. Perhaps a mistake.
Bob
The late 1980s engineering teams that were drawn together for 1UZ-FE, 2JZ & 3S-GTE (square 86mmx86mm Yamaha aided engines), A340E and the cars of the day; Cressida, LS400, SC300/400, Supra, Celica GT4 had the words “Leap Ahead” in the areas they worked. In Japanese obviously.
I think they succeeded.
This car was a sleeper – it could embarrass many a overconfident Mustang GT owners, while dressed in a tuxedo. Cool, confident, and relaxed was the M.O.
How come the rear wheels are different from the front wheels in that first picture?
Very cool review, Steven. Every time I bitch about my Mark VIII I cite this car as reference. Course some parts of the Lincoln are hot roddy enough to make me not care about white bread Lexus’ superior engineering.
like.a.kite: Mercedes was Lexus’ benchmark for the hardtop convertible when the R129 body came out in 1989. But MB took the idea from the 1957 Ford Skyliner.
relton: You nailed the hinge design, that dual-axis motion is only surpassed by today’s Aston Martin hinge. And why am I not surprised GM did nothing to the 3rd tier Eldorado? You gotta start writing for TTAC editorials again.
like.a.kite :
“Wasn’t it the first production hardtop convertible?”
Pretty sure you can go back to 1957 for that title.
@Sajeev:
Mercedes was Lexus’ benchmark for the hardtop convertible when the R129 body came out in 1989. .
I think your history is a tad off. As far as I know, the first modern folding HT convertible was actually not until the Mercedes SLK came out in 1997, much later than the R129 of 1989 (which had a lift off roof). If I recall correctly, the first model year for the Lexus SC430 with folding hardtop was 2001.
Very soon after the SLK was the Peugeot 206 CC in Europe, and of course since then the segment has been on fire with models from Lexus, Pontiac, Chrysler, BMW, Ford, Cadillac, Renault, VW, Nissan, Mazda, Opel, Mitsubishi, and whoever else I’ve forgotten.
poltergeist :
quoting like.a.kite :
“Wasn’t it the first production hardtop convertible?”
Pretty sure you can go back to 1957 for that title.
Actually even further if we want to get technical (and I never really like to get technical, because I’m usually setting myself up to be shown wrong), Peugeot had a folding hardtop convertible back in 1931.
Yup, I screwed that one up.
Did they all come with matching wheels like the one in the pic?
I never forget my first two rides in one of these.
One was in 2004 in a ~1993 SC300 automatic….it started at the slightest twist of the key in the ignition. It purred to life. The leather looked and felt brand new. The electroluminescent gauges were magnificient still. The guy had just traded in a ~1995 volvo 850 5-speed (non turbo) and it was a great move :)
The next was in 2007. It was a silver ~1992-1994 SC300 5-speed with about 220,000 miles of hard-driven new york city living and terrible maintenance.
The exhaust was rattling, the clutch was on it’s last legs, the brakes felt about as mushy as brakes get before they fail….and the engine purred it’s siren song.
The interior was beaten to crap.
It still felt special.
I’ve never felt that way about any other lexus product, but this one had “it”.
Joe
I always loved this car. Almost bought used ones twice. One of my favorite car designs from the 90s.
I owned a 1992 SC400 for sixteen years. Put 240,000 miles on it. Loved the car. Everything still worked when I sold it. This article is bang on.
One thing you might add – the Nakamichi sound system was fantastic. Add a cassette adapter for your iPod and you have a system that far exceeds most factory sound today.
Best thing about this review – it’s a used car. Do more of these! As we all conserve cash, it will be important to know about used cars.
Consider reviewing these, I am curious if they are a good used buy for the car nut:
C4 Corvette
Focus & Contour SVT
Olds Intrigue and Aurora 3.5
Previous-gen BMW M3s
And any other sleepers like the SC400. Nice job!
Ford Skyliner was the first folding hardtop, although really it just retracted.
Mitsubishi beat Mercedes to market with their folding hardtop 3000GT SL & VR4 spyders of the ’90’s. They were absurdly expensive, heavy, and poorly built, but they were the 2nd FHT’s.
i love the bling-tastic front wheels on the lead image. The problem is that that’s what awaits all those well cared-for SC300/400’s – stupid owners who throw giant chrome wheels on it. Urgh.
rice them out?
At 1500$ that’s a hella car for a kid. I’d pick one over a Civic any day of the week.
Steven…
http://tinyurl.com/btn4bu
:)
I always wanted one of these or an SC300 with a 5 speed manual transmission but could never afford one. Even as they got old and piled on the miles, the famed resale value kept them out of my grasp.
I saw a SC430 convertible at a car show this past weekend, what a snore. A way over the top gimmicked up car; I’d hate to have to fix all of the electronic stuff on that car in about five years. (It didn’t help that it was finished in turd brown!)
I am awaiting a SC 300/400 return but I think I’ll have a long if not infinite wait.
A Japanese fellow I worked with in Japan had the Soarer, the Nihon market version. Great stereo, quiet, fast, comfortable, an amazing ride. Too bad most are mileaged up to the hilt today.
Find one in some old farts garage with 50K on it and your in.
I have long thought the SC3oo with the MT would be sweet. A (not particularly) poor man’s Aston.
Bunter
The SC 300/400 was an homage to the Porsche 928, which was the only good looking street car Porsche ever made. (The RS 550 was a racer).
Every Lexus sports tourer since the SC has been a step backwards.
The Ford Skyliner was quite impressive for the 1950s. A neighbor had one. The whole trunk lid came up front to back and the whole roof slid in to the trunk. Part of the roof folded when the roof retracted, check the picture at the link. There was a small compartment for luggage in the trunk about large enough for a big gym bag. The neighbor also had a daughter, but that is a different and sadder story.
Um, why does that speedo show 14mph? Don’t tell me you’re taking pix WHILE YOU DRIVE! Either this thing has a problem, or we’re gonna see “The Truth About Car Accidents”.
I owned a 93 SC300/5 speed for about a year and a half. I agree with the comments about the interior. It was a sublime cruising car.
The front brakes were extremely expensive to fix. You had the buy the entire assembly from Lexus.
The gas mileage was rotten for a car of this size. The worst part of car and what ultimately made me get rid of it, it just wasn’t that engaging to drive.
Even with the 5 speed, it had no personality. It was just too quiet. I probably would have kept it longer if I had cut off the rear mufflers!
They are very cool cars and look bad ass with certain body kits/larger size 17″ wheels.
I was at UCLA in ‘94 with a guy who’s SC300/400 had come out with him from New York. 4 of us were heading out one evening and passing through an underpass near a parking structure. The right lane of this road has 2 or 3ft curbing pieces, around 3 or 4 inches tall, in several helpful “right turn only” patterns for each of the structure’s entrances.
Four people talking, we’ve all at least walked this way many times before… The driver took the car right over two of the curbing collections and I could hardly feel a thing from the back seat. Certainly no crashing or squeaking. My first encounter with real (abused) luxury car suspension.
The red needles on the dash wear out and turn black; the entire display may follow.
That’s the thing about these Lexus electronic displays. It happened to my b-i-l’s ES300. (he hasn’t spent the $$) to fix it. It probably will happen to my parents’ ES330. When it first came out the ‘wow’ factor was nice, but that’s all.
This is my capsule review (ha!) of the ES330. I’ve studied the Lexus dashboard design for some time now (having spent a lot of time riding shotgun) and I strongly dislike their use of ‘reverse’ LCD displays (black digits on a greenish background). I really hate the reddish, plasticky wood used on the dash.
Why does the Toyota-ish ‘automatic’ climate control automatically revert to external ventilation mode when you’ve previously selected the recirculation mode every time you’ve restarted the engine? I don’t know about the current models but my folks’ 330 came with both a 6-CD changer AND a cassette player. How 20th century.
Next time I take a ride in the 330 I will have a look at the door hinges, but given that this is a restyled Camry I have no great expectations. (I suspect, however, that a very favorable yen/dollar ratio of the era allowed the engineers to indulge themselves.) I will say, however, that the ES330 is a very poorly packaged car for its size. It is cramped inside, imo. Toyota/Lexus should figure out a way to squeeze the thickness of front seatbacks a couple of inches–would do wonders for the sense of airiness in back.
The styling of the previous ES300 was/is superior to this car. It is bloated and there is a fish face-quality in the nose–not attractive at all. I don’t get Toyota designers’ fascination with a low roof coupled to a high beltline. It doesn’t look good on a Tacoma and it doesn’t look good here.
Whatever. My parents don’t give a sh*t about cars, so this thing is perfect for them. (Though I keep urging them to go for the Jaguar XF when the stock market rebounds. )
Here’s one on Craigslist – nice wheels too ; )
http://tinyurl.com/byfdzz
I’m a big fan of these cars, even down to the door hinges. Thanks for the review!
50 years from now, I think these will still be looked upon as among the all time greats. It was truly awesome when new. And makes me feel old realizing how long ago that was.
Yup, a great car. Friend of mine had one and about 2 years ago bequeathed it to his bro for 10K and 110,000 klicks, not miles. What a deal. It’s all black and extremely gracefully styled.
In fact, why aren’t newer cars styled as well as this? Modern cars strike me as generally, plain ugly. They look like startled bullfrogs these days. I give all the current stylists except the Jag and Aston boys a big F-.
My supervisor bought an SC300 with the manual transmission when they came out. It was black with a tan interior – absolutely gorgeous inside and out. I still remember Prince on that great Nakamichi the first time I heard it. Very smooth ride – maybe the first true luxury car I’d experienced – same for the excellent stereo. It really gave me my first taste of what Lexus embodied.
He got the SC300 instead of the SC400, simply because it had a manual transmission offering. The sound of that V6 was like ripping silk. Brings back memories. Thanks for that Steve. To hear that they were engineered that well and hold up like they do only reinforces my first impression of it.
I bought a ‘96 SC300 in 2000 with 69,500 miles on the clock, sold it a few years ago.
The good: It had by far the best steering of any Lexus until the IS300 came along. Very nicely weighted with nice feel. The driving position was great, thanks to plenty of seat travel and the electric tilt and telescope steering wheel. The thin pillars and low dash allowed for great visibility. The center stack ergonomics were brilliant, with the large temperature and volume knobs within very easy reach.
The bad: The transmission was awful. Even if you booted the throttle to the floor, sometimes it would kick down and sometimes it wouldn’t, so you never really knew how much power you were going to get. The four ratios also simply weren’t enough. It couldn’t make it up a hill in 4th, so it would kick down to 3rd and you’d get to listen to the sound of drone at 4200rpm until you reached the crest.
My car developed large cracks in the vinyl trim under the windows, and a large crack in between the center air vents, common SC problems. Another common problem – the rubber gaskets around the headlights failed, and they filled with water when it rained, eventually ruining both headlamps. They were replaced at a cost of $450 each. Less than two weeks after I bought the car, the check engine light came on – bad O2 sensor. This was foreshadowing of things to come. It burned through O2 sensors at a rate of 1 to 2 a year. Those things ain’t cheap.
I love these cars. I don’t like the tacky chrome strips they added to the taillights of the later years, or the faux grille (!), but it’s got such purity of line.
A lot of the odd, bespoke engineering was not done out of a Mercedes-like obsession with perfection, so much as the fact that the shape was nightmarishly hard to produce. For example, engineering the headlights and other under-hood ancillaries to fit under the low, curvaceous fenders and hood line was a real challenge. But management loved the look (one of the first products of Toyota’s CALTY design center), and they didn’t want to compromise it for production.
This car is Exhibit A when I hear people saying the Japanese companies don’t create designs as radical and attractive as the Europeans or Americans. (They often don’t, but, as GM constantly reminds us, there’s a big difference between can’t and won’t.) I think it’s a future classic.
@James2, It’s really not fair for you to compare the entry level ES330 (super nice Camry) with Lexus’ flagship vehicles. For its time, the SC300 and 400 were the most thoroughly engineered and developed vehicles you could buy at any price.
Today, that honor probably falls on the LS600h. Everything on that vehicle has the attention to detail that you’d expect after seeing an SC400.
James2: Why does the Toyota-ish ‘automatic’ climate control automatically revert to external ventilation mode when you’ve previously selected the recirculation mode every time you’ve restarted the engine?
Just about every modern electronic climate control system does this now. Plus, they switch to “fresh” when you change to defog. It’s asinine, but some engineer thinks it’s the right design. I’d rather run the A/C on recirc with the temperature set to whatever’s comfortable. That’s always defogged the windows pretty well for me.
I can vouch for the longevity…a coworker who commuted ridiculous distances bought one of these to ease the pain. He got rid of it with over 400,000km. He anticipated that at some point something big would go and he’d just dump it for whatever he could get. Instead it just kept going and going and eventually he sold it because he wanted a change (a sharp contrast to me…I’d have driven it ad infinitum).
There are several of these in what appear to be very good condition on eBay. If I only had a little extra scratch and the garage space for another car…
One thing you might add – the Nakamichi sound system was fantastic.…
Ah, the Nakamichi. I still own a Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck. With a Nakamichi ZX tape, I can make copies of CD’s that are virtually indistinguishable from the original. It was pretty cool owning such a killer deck in college.
Plus, they switch to “fresh” when you change to defog. It’s asinine, but some engineer thinks it’s the right design. I’d rather run the A/C on recirc with the temperature set to whatever’s comfortable.
…
The windows defog much better without recirc and the A/C compressor running. That is why virtually all manufacturers disable recirc in the defog mode. You would think that high humidity outside air would be worse than inside humidity, but often it is not. Picture four people wet from rain, plus moisture expelled with breathing…much worse than your typical rainy day. I had a coworker who groused that her new Accord (this is 10 yrs ago) didn’t clear the windows like her prior GM car did. Her old car automatically engaged the A/C and used outside air. Her new Accord had a very flexible HVAC system, but you had to push the A/C button in those days or the compressor didn’t run no matter what. She no reason to use the A/C in cool weather so she suffered until I showed her how to properly use the controls. I think most cars today automatically engage the compressor with the defrost/defogger on.
Everything from Lexus during that 1st generation era just screams that they had to lose money on each and every one they sold.
Case in point, besides the SC in this article – I have some family members that purchased one of the first Lexus LS400 models dropped off in Ohio. I remember being a 15 year old car nut riding in that Lexus for the first time and thinking to myself that this Lexus was quite possibly the best car ever screwed together and that they would have this car for ages. I’m 2 for 2. They still have the car and drive it on a part-time basis in Florida…and it has well over 200,000 miles on it. The ONLY glitch it had over 200,000 miles was a faulty coolant level light, but that was traced to old glue that kept the sensor in place. That’s it. Gas/tires/oil.
When I drove it last, I noted that the leather still felt soft and looked great (especially for SW Florida), there were NO squeaks and rattles, the stereo was still powerful, and the engine and transmission was as smooth as anything built today.
Of course it’s still wierd to see an analog odometer buried under the steering wheel and having only four gears to shift through with a luxury car, but it was par for 1990.
I still think that 1989-1993 was probably the high water mark for Japanese makers with amazing cars like this SC/LS, Maxima, 300ZX TT, RX-7, Lexus-like Camry, Integra, Legend, and Supra. They were loaded with soft touch plastic, great engines, and lasted forever.
It’s a crime to see what Lexus has done with the SC now.
@Flyersfan:
RF’s interest in an IS-F made me wonder what my own current wish list looked like, and like you, I found an inordinate amount of excellence in the early 90’s stuff from Japan. Here’s my llist of worthwhile whips:
ls400 90
prelude 2000
nsx early model
mr2 gen 1
crx gen 2
tsx gen 1
93 camry wgn
93 es 300
09 accord coupe
93 altima
crossfire
08 pontiac g8
miata hardtop
first gen fit
suzuki cappuccino
If you can find an SC300 with an all too rare manual tranny in it. Call me first. I’ll buy it and be your new best friend.
http://www.houston-imports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=503115
Less than 100k miles as well. Stock.
I believe Car & Driver called it “possibly the most perfect sports car on the planet” or something similar (sorry–can’t find a reference on the web easily). Lusted after one for quite a while.
Funny..I saw a particularly nice one of these on craigslist and was trying to convince my mom to trade in her snoozy 1.8T Passat for it..she’s definitely got quite a bit of “automotive intertia”, and the crummy MPGs of this car doesn’t help, but maybe this will help ;)