My good friend moved to San Francisco while his daughter attended college and left his 2006 Lexus SC 430 parked at his house under a car cover for the last two years. Needless to say the battery was dead, the car was a mess and the run-flat tires have flat spots.

I've spent the last week getting it cleaned up and tuned up so when he returns next month it will be ready to go. I'll be driving it for the next 2-3 weeks working out the bugs...Literally.

After new tires and some miles on the suspension the car runs and drives great. The sound-system is so much better than my BMW as were all the stereo's in my wifes Lexus vehicles past.

I can't get over the non-existent back seat arrangement and the fact that it is estrogen on wheels. It will however, be fun to drive along the Northern California coast HWY 1 the next week or two.

MLB,

Try this on for size. My wife is driving a 1993 Lexus SC400. It was my grandmothers and when she passed, no one in NYC wanted it, so I had it shipped to Los Angeles (this was in 2003.) It had 17,000 miles on it.

My wife has been driving it since. It has about 40,000 miles on the clock now, and yes, she is ready for a new car, but I just can't bring myself to get rid of it.

The car is awesome. It's fast, handles very nicely, has a great sound system.

The worst part is, because it's so old, it has no real value. But it's in fantastic shape and has such low miles. I just don't know what to do with it. It would be tragic to sell it for the $10k it may be worth.

At one point, recently, I thought about replacing it for a brand new BMW 3 series. So we test drove the 3 series and it was immediately clear, it wasn't as nice as the Lexus.

Of course, the Lexus was about $45,000 brand new, and that was in 1993 dollars. But even a current BMW 3 series was not more luxurious.

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"When two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary" - Arliss

Yep...My wife had a 1993 Lexus SC400 which we traded in for a Lexus LS400 when it hit 140K miles. Great car and the truth is even though this SC430 is a convertible I like the SC400 better when it comes to styling and comfort. Still this SC430 is nice with the wind in your face.

The current 3 isn't really luxurious compared to anything, except maybe a Camry or Hyundai. It's just generic, heck the Lexus Is's interior blows the 3's away, as does the Infiniti's and even the A4's. The only interior worse then the 3 is the Benz's. There is nothing wrong with the 3's interior, it's simply one big sea of black plastic, with a bit of alloy, a dribble of wood, and no sense of luxury, it's simply generic and cold. The car overall however is a great vehicle, but the interior isn't the strong point. I'd check out the IS or new A4

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On and another point, the SC430 in current form has always been a favorite of mine, it's underpowered and overpriced for what you get, but it's beautiful!

One of my kids has an IS350. Really nice with cough, cough real GPS and reverse camera.

He wanted to sell it, but is upside down in the loan and I am not that good of a father....Got the X5 instead and that is really better for our purposes.

Carmel Valley as in the suburb of San Diego County?

No, the one up by Monterey, it extends inland from Carmel. I have seen the signs for the CV down by SD.