Car titles are weird. They’re pieces of paper that grant you ownership of a car, but not necessarily control over its fate. If a car gets damaged to the point where an insurance company says it’s not worth fixing, the title gets a mark on it, and you don’t really have any say in that. Can you still fix the car and go back to driving it? It depends where you are. In some places it’s easy; in others, it’s not possible at all. The whole system feels arbitrary, and it can be maddening when you find an otherwise nice example of a rare car. People can overcome the misadventures of their past; shouldn’t cars be able to, too?
Yesterday was all about overlooking former-owner shenanigans, as we looked at two Toyotas in generally good shape, but with a few yellow flags. The overall condition of that Camry seems to have won over the majority of you, giving it a frankly surprising win over the RWD Cressida wagon. It was the rust on the Cressida, wasn’t it?
And since a couple of you asked in the comments, I’ll tell you what my issue is with motorized seat belts: I don’t need them. I wear my seat belt religiously, unless I’m just maneuvering the car around my own driveway. It only makes sense to do so. But apparently that’s too much trouble for some foolish and stubborn people, so some folks thought it was a good idea to require complicated systems to make them wear one. It’s a bit of complexity, and a potential failure point, that I neither need nor want in my car, that’s only there because someone else can’t be bothered to act properly. It’s not the operation of the system that annoys me; it’s the fact that it has to be there at all. I don’t need to be reminded of other people’s stupidity every time I get in my own damn car, so I simply don’t even consider cars with automatic seat belts.
Whoo! Got a little soapboxy there for a minute. Moving on. If you’re looking for a specific hard-to-find car, especially within a certain budget, you’re probably going to have to accept some compromises. You might not find the color you want, or the right set of options, but it’s worth it to get That Car. But what if the best example you can find has a salvage or rebuilt title? Is it still acceptable? We’re going to look at two rare coupes to see which one you’re willing to accept as “damaged goods.”
1992 Lexus SC 400 – $4,750
Engine/drivetrain: 4.0-liter DOHC V8, four-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Bellevue, WA
Odometer reading: 197,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
No car category is more ostentatious as the personal luxury coupe. “Look,” it says, “I can afford to drive a big fancy car that’s just for me and maybe one other really special person.” It was only fitting, then, when Toyota launched its luxury Lexus brand, aimed at taking on the best cars in the world, that the lineup include a personal luxury coupe. And like its sister model, the LS400 sedan, the Lexus SC was just about perfect right from the start.
This is the SC 400, featuring Toyota’s 4.0 liter 1UZ-FE V8, a smooth and powerful engine that seems to last forever. You could only get this engine with an automatic; if you wanted a manual SC, you had to settle for the SC 300 with its inline six. This one is on its second owner, and just a little shy of 200,000 miles, with maintenance records going all the way back to the beginning. It runs and drives beautifully, according to the seller, and has had a lot of recent work, including a transmission rebuild, suspension work, and new brakes and tires.
It has also received some love inside, with a reupholstered driver’s seat and a refurbished gauge cluster. No annoying dead dashboard lights here. The seller also says the air conditioning has been “upgraded,” which I assume means a conversion to R134a. It’s a nice contrast to the poorly-maintained cheap cars we often look at. The seller really cared for this car, and it shows.
The salvage title was for rear quarter panel damage, which was repaired so well that I can’t tell which side it was on. And it sounds like it happened a long time ago, so any shoddy repair work would have reared its ugly head by now. As it sits, it’s a nice clean car that anyone could be proud of.
2006 Honda Insight – $4,850
Engine/drivetrain: 1.0-liter OHC inline 3 plus electric motor, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Odometer reading: 192,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
There are a few ways to make a hybrid car. You can connect both a gasoline engine and an electric motor to the same gearbox and have them work in harmony, like Toyota’s system, or you can not connect the gas engine to the wheels at all, and only use it to generate electricity, like the Chevy Volt or BMW i3. Or, you can make the car primarily still gasoline-powered, and just use an electric motor to provide a little boost, and restart the engine after shutting it down at red lights, like this Honda Insight. The advantage of this system, if you like to drive, is that it still allows the car to use an ordinary all-mechanical manual transmission.
The engine in the Insight is a 995 cubic centimeter three-cylinder, with a big, flat electric motor on the flywheel. That motor provides another 13 horsepower during acceleration, then switches to generator mode to recharge the batteries when you slow down. Stop at a red light, and the engine shuts off to save fuel, and then restarts as soon as you put it in first gear. I’ve never driven an Insight, but I’ve driven a Civic Hybrid with a similar drivetrain and a manual transmission, and while the auto start/stop is disconcerting, it really is a nice car to drive. I can see why these early Insights are still sought-after. The seller says this one runs and drives well, and its nickel-metal hydride battery pack holds a charge like it should.
The first-generation Insight is a two-seater, like the CRX and Del Sol before it, and despite being a hybrid, it still weighs less than two thousand pounds. That’s the Geo Metro school of economy: be small, be lightweight, and efficiency comes naturally. This one has air conditioning, and the seller says it works fine. Everything works, in fact, except the interior remote release for the hatchback, and an aftermarket cruise control system that a previous owner installed.
There’s no mention in the ad of the reason for this car’s rebuilt title. It might be important, however, because the Insight’s body structure is aluminum, which is trickier to repair than steel. It’s worth asking what happened, and who repaired it, just to make sure it was done to your satisfaction. It sure looks just fine, though.
Neither one of these cars comes up for sale very often, so if you’re dead-set on finding one with a clean title, you may be waiting a while. But if these are both as clean as they appear to be, I don’t think the title status should dissuade anyone from buying either one. As for the price, I kind of feel like they both should be cheaper, considering their title status, but again, they’re rare. If you want one of these, you have to be willing to pay what someone is asking. So which one of these seems worth it, branded title and all?
Love the first gen SC300/400! Easy one for me today.
A running manual Insight? Yes. For $4850 with that title? No. If it was 3K, sure, thats what I paid for mine.
That SC.
On any other day I’d pick the SC but I’ve wanted a manual Insight.
One of the biggest dings against the Insight is its sub 400 pound capacity. Back when my brother was over 200lbs he pointed out that he couldn’t drive around a similar sized friend without exceeding the cars limit.
Lexus, all day every day.
“if you wanted a manual SC, you had to settle for the SC 300 with its inline six”
You mean the Legendary 2JZ?
Don’t get me wrong but even though the 1UZ is also legendary, the 2JZ is way more so.
I’ve owned two of these first generation Insights, one which survived a couple of accidents including a rollover before my ownership. Not afraid of a branded title.
Wonderful little cars, very easy for the hobbyist / mechanic to work on (including the hybrid system). Insights did not have cruise control as a factory option, so aftermarket systems were available. The original NiMH batteries often respond well to DIY reconditioning, and there are replacement batteries in both NiMH and Li flavors. There’s a large, knowledgeable support community that can supply the 3-D printed part to fix that hatch latch.
This is low mileage for an Insight. Both of mine were approaching 300k miles when I sold them and going strong. The price seems a little high to me, but easy choice – give me the efficient, slow-car-fast fun of the Insight.
The 1st-gen Insights are among the best cars ever made, but I just wouldn’t trust one with a salvage title to have been repaired correctly. It’s entirely possible it was taken to a shop that knows how to work on aluminum, but there’s just no way of knowing unless the owner saved receipts. That, and you will have to deal with the battery pack at some point. I know some people just remove the hybrid system entirely on these, which is a way to go.
The first-gen manual Honda Insight is a personal favorite car, and one I’d love to own, so it gets an easy win for me!
It’s such a cool combination of light weight, high engineering, classic Honda goodness, and enormous fuel economy!
Plus aluminum to help with rust
Lexus for me please. It’s infinitely more repairable with my shade tree skills. Good thing it’s on the opposite side of the country from me. I’ve been looking for a nice project that’s running but can be tinkered on with my daughter.
Hmmm….
Aluminum repair(?), battery pack at 200k miles, clutch at 200k miles of use, no explanation of branded title, aftermarket cruise(?), seems in good shape otherwise, owned by someone who seems to care. Well written ad, but Montana registration on California car makes me wonder.
Versus:
Lexus with most of the expensive bits replaced (ad mentions starter and trans rebuild), explanation of damage, unreliable timing belt (not sure if done), that red colour and style.
Brain says Insight because it would likely be used more as very efficient commuter locally (which I kind of already have in the driveway), heart says Lexus because that style and comfort on the 400 mile highway journey this weekend would be nice.
Screw it, listen to my heart. Lexus.
The Lexus is the right design, right color and right condition.
No brainer.
The SC400 is such a gorgeous, timeless design.
It is criminal what they came up with when they redesigned that car.
I really think this is the single worst redesign in automotive history, at least in terms of styling. Talk about a glow-down for the 2nd gen.
The Insight. If you are going to sell a coupe with limited seat capacity it should be a small, efficient commuter. Also it is a rare and very special car that was a technological masterpiece at the time.
Like you said, giant coupes scream to the world – “Look at me, I’m so rich I can afford to waste money”.
To be fair, at less than $5k you’re not really shouting that anymore.
The Lexus is more repairable for me in my driveway and by my hands so it gets my vote.
18 mpg. Yes, you are still shouting I have money to burn.
Lexus for me.
For essentially the same money, the Lexus is SO much more car.
You can blame automakers for motorized seatbelts. For a window of time they had the option to either install airbags OR install motorized seatbelts. Some chose the seatbelts because it was cheaper.
Did anyone pick the car with a battery that has 200k miles on it? Even if you’re looking for a bit of economy beater that seems like it’s hitting replacement time any day.
I agree, but the ad doesn’t say it’s the original battery. The replacement cost might have written off the car, hence the salvage title. This is just a guess, but I’d be surprised if the battery was original and still “works well”.
A battery replacement won’t give a car a salvage title. But yeah the battery has almost certainly been replaced at least once. The question is just how recently since 10 years is considered a really good run for those Honda HV batteries.
You don’t buy an Insight as an economy beater. You buy it because it is a historically significant car with a bunch of cool tech.
Plenty of options for replacement batteries. You can drop much better aftermarket lithium battery for cheap.
Great price on the Lexus, especially for a car that clearly has been well cared for.
You down with PLC? Yeah, you know me!
Personal Luxury Coupe ftw. I think the Insights are super cool, but a 2-seater is a non starter for a commuter car as I can a kiddo that requires shuffling and she’s too small for front seats.
The Lexus. That’s a nice example and a good price.
Also…
“I don’t need to be reminded of other people’s stupidity every time I get in my own damn car”
You can ignore the active restraints and be annoyed that they were mandated if you want, but remember those idiots every time you pay your healthcare premiums and taxes. It’s one of those situations where the gains are privatized and the losses are socialized. People who get more hurt than they should, had they been properly restrained, cost us all, and then remove themselves from being societal contributors.
Eat your vegetables, wear your seatbelt.
And don’t forget the sun screen.
Look, K-Swapped Insights are great. But Lexus, wheels, Vertex body kit, maybe coilovers if you’re feeling daring. If the salvage title means it’s not streetable, full competition drift build. That’s my vision for If I had any skill and decent income.
I like you.
I want both. Insight for a commuter, and the lex for a night out or long distance travel.
Gimme the Lexus SC.
Lexus all the way. Generally speaking, I wouldn’t buy anything with a salvage title as a daily. The SC would absolutely qualify as a “fun” car and the salvage title matters little.
A friends dad had one when were young in the late 90’s/early 00’s. With the way he took care of his cars I wouldn’t be surprised if he still had it.
As an old millennial now, 10/10 would love to have one.