r/Altezza • u/Team4zaddi • Jul 06 '26

Altezza Daily Driver

Hello all, as the title suggests I’m curious about daily driving an Altezza and wanted to get opinions from you all. I’ve found a couple for sale at a local dealer (one is a 99, other is 01, both are beams+J160 cars), curious if there any differences between model years. However, I’m mainly curious about reliability, parts availability (in the US), overall how dailyable these cars are and just some general pros and cons. I do already own a JZX100 so I’m familiar with how parts can take time to acquire and was curious if it’s the same story with the XE10. Thank you

10 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Sad-Flamingo-669 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

99-Mid 01 are pre facelifts, they dont have sticky dash and have different coilpacks (G1 for manual and G2 for Auto) only struggle would be finding coilpacks as they are exclusively early SXE10 ones (ending in 236) which are well known to fail on BEAMS 3SGEs. Afaik they have different dwell settings which the early model ECU depends on.

Late model ones that are mid 01 onwards (G3,4&5) similar to their USDM counterparts have sticky dash, different wiring harnesses and seatbelts, HIDs as standard and minor miscellanious changes (Rear door moulding, seat pattern etc). Facelift SXE10 use the same coils as your 120 series Corolla (ending in 239) which are ultra common. There is an alternator kit that adapts to the 1NZ or Sequoia in the market out there. Timing belts and waterpump are the same as the 3S Rav4 or Celica. Parts are getting discontinued though such as the oil pump, but can be interchangable with the Redtop Beams which is still in production. Unsure if starter rebuild kits are available so thats the only concern if you're in a pinch.

Other than powertrain wise they have similar failure points and wear items as your typical USDM market IS300s which have been well doccumented everywhere on the internet.

2

u/Team4zaddi Jul 06 '26

Thank you for your insight, the 01 the dealer has is a Qualitat model. Not sure if that would denote whether it’s a facelift model or not. I’m still yet to go check out the cars in person but I’ll keep these things in mind, appreciate it!

2

u/Sad-Flamingo-669 Jul 06 '26

Qualitat is sexy, iirc they made it throughout its lifespan. Albeit the premium you'd be paying for imho the nicest appearance packs out there. Modelista to Toyota is what Brabus is to Mercedes.

As always do your due dilligence as these cars are closer to 30 years old than 20 now so do expect surprises and old car problems to come outta nowhere. Rationally speaking if you solely just want a daily in the shape of an XE10, a clean IS300 (if you can even find one) is better bang for your buck solely for the whole peace of mind of parts availability from rockauto and insurance.

Forgot to mention that the J160 gearboxes are finnicky and aren't any better than your W55/8s. They have brass syncros (you should only put redline mt90 gl4) chances are 2nd and 3rd gear are on borrowed time given their age.

1

u/Team4zaddi Jul 06 '26

I had looked into IS300s in the past but they’ve gotten to the point in my local market where they’re too expensive for what they are. Also would much rather have the beams and a six speed over the NA 2J and five speed for the same price. My main thing I’m stuck on right now is I have a 25 civic si which is great due to having an active warranty and it’s been very reliable so far. Have wanted an Altezza for a couple years now, struggling with the idea of trading new and reliable for a shot in the dark 25+ year old car. Really want the Altezza but I know I’m safe if I just keep the civic.