SC300 or SC400

I have an early SC400 and I still enjoy it after all these years. I don't believe the economy of the 6 cylinder is that much better than the V8 (I've averaged 20.3 mpg for 170K miles). In my mind the only reason to consider an SC300 would be to get a manual transmission which was never available on the SC400.

Ted

I agree. The manual tranny option for the SC300 was discontinued in 1997, and only 10% of the production was manuals to begin with, so manual SC300s are not very common. And the inline-six and five-speed auto were never a particularly good match in the SC, GS, or IS - all these cars are unresponsive and don't shift particularly well. Unless you're going for one of the early SC300 manuals, get the SC400.

- Mark

I was lucky enough to get a '95 SC300 5 Speed Manual and I have been pretty happy with it. It gets about 23 - 24 MPG in City driving and about 27 MPG on the highway at ~ 75 MPH.

City driving for me was not really big city like Cleveland, Atlanta or Los Angeles, so your mileage may vary. I was in Dayton, OH (metro population ~ 250,000). Rush hour in Dayton only lasted 20 minutes :)

The SC400 line always had more features as standard equipment like Traction Control etc.

I agree with the posters above. You are not buying this car for fuel economy, so don't buy the SC300 automatic, you might be disappointed.

Ken - West Union, SC Population 270 + 2 (counting dogs and chickens) "If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."

- Abraham H. Maslow

I would go SC400 if you plan on buying a 99, if performance is important to you. Starting with the 98, the SC400's engine gained a larger horsepower/torque advantage over the V6 model, roughly 70HP and about the same in pound-feet of torque. I plan on buying one sometime next year from that time period, I'm curious how the 5 speed automatic performs vs the 4.

FYI some of the model year changes are listed here:

Traction control was never standard, but an option.

People, get a grip. No GS300 ever had a V6. They all had in-line sixes from the non-turbo Supra. A nice vanilla engine with bad mileage in non-turbo form and a bat out of hell in (sainted) Supra TT form.

- GRL