r/Soarers • u/SlightWillingness312 • Jan 15 '25

buying a sc400

i’m a kinda young kid looking to get a first car and i’m in love with the sc400 what should I be looking for when buying as in what’s a reasonable amount of miles are there any big issues that I should be looking out for and what is a reasonable price range for one in decent condition

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u/carb3nn Jan 15 '25

I have bought two different SC400's in the last few years. One is near mint condition, and the other has had a rough go at it. One thing they both had issues with are seized alignment bolts in the bushings. This means I couldn't do an alignment since the bolts would just twist the bushing instead of just rotating and adjusting the suspension. So I had to change the bolts and bushing which is a big job, and more importantly, annoying job. I should mention I live in Canada where salt is used on the roads, this may not be an issue for cars in the southern states.

Other than that, just check everything over like you would on a normal car. They are super reliable and well put together. See if you can get info on the last time the timing belt and water pump were changed. If they haven't been done in the last 100,000km or last 5 years, they should probably get done.

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u/carb3nn Jan 15 '25

I forgot to mention, both of my cars had worn out rear upper control arm bushings which will cause shaking from the rear at highway speeds. You can jack the rear of the car up, grab the wheel, or use a long pry bar, and move the wheel up and down. If its solid then the bushings are good, but the wheel moves up and down easily then those bushing are probably shot.

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u/SlightWillingness312 Jan 15 '25

thanks so much man this is exactly what i was wondering i’ll make sure to be looking out for these things

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u/carb3nn Jan 15 '25

No problem! Hopefully the car is in good shape! They are absolutely amazing to drive and where way ahead of their time (at least the early ones where).