How Rare Is The Lexus SC 300 & Did It Come With A 2JZ Under The Hood?
The underrated Lexus SC 300 was produced for the U.S. market from model years 1992 through 2000 and was one of two Lexus SC models. The SC 300 came with an inline six-cylinder engine, while the SC 400 was equipped with the same V8 engine that was under the hood of the Lexus LS 400 sedan.
Lexus built the SC 300 and SC 400 to complement the range-topping Lexus LS 400 luxury sedan with a two-door luxury coupe. The LS 400 was Lexus' first stab at taking on the high-end German luxury sedans, adopting many conservative styling cues present on its Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi competitors. Lexus approached the SC coupe differently, with Toyota's Calty styling studio in California being given the styling assignment for this vehicle. Calty used a computer program to modify shapes based on plaster-filled balloons, turning them into the sleek coupe shape that became the Lexus SC 300 and SC 400.
From 1992 to 2000, Lexus built 33,000 units of the Lexus SC 300 for the U.S. market. Of these, only 3,883 came with the manual transmission installed. This compares to a production run of 49,538 for the V8-equipped SC 400, which means that there were only about two-thirds as many SC 300s as there were SC 400s. In contrast,196,595 LS 400 sedans were made during calendar years 1992 through 2000, making the SC 300 about six times rarer than its sedan counterpart.
Did the Lexus SC 300 come with a 2JZ under the hood?
The SC 300 is one of the few Lexus models with a 2JZ engine. It had the same 2JZ engine found in the non-turbocharged Toyota Supra Mk4, with which it shared a platform. It was a 3.0-liter naturally aspirated engine that produced 225 horsepower and could do 0-60 mph in 7.4 seconds, with a top speed of 146 mph.
While the Lexus SC 300 never came with the twin-turbo version of the 2JZ engine that made the Mk4 Toyota Supra such a highly valued performance icon, the naturally aspirated Lexus SC 300 established a reputation as a well-designed luxury coupe with features that appealed to buyers in that market segment. These included real wood on the dash, plush leather seats, a quiet interior, and comfortable seating for four people, thanks to a wheelbase that was more than five inches longer than the Mk4 Supra. This demonstrates the ultimate versatility of the shared platform, which could be both a luxury grand touring coupe in the Lexus SC 300 and an all-out, high-performance sports car in the Mk4 Toyota Supra.