Toyota Supra: You Know You Want To
£10K for a UK, manual Supra? Tempting, even at over 200,000 miles...
Toyota toughness has seen it last this long
This car is again different though. Where that red Supra had 80,000 recorded miles, this one has 216,000. Two hundred and sixteen thousand! On any car, that's very many miles. On a sports car, the very kind of thing designed to be driven hard, alarm bells may well be ringing.
But should they be? The Supra legend is built on its bulletproof mechanicals, the ability to take big power upgrades on standard engine internals, gearbox and differential. Therefore doing a lot of miles at the normal power level is surely less stressful. The Supra is described as "a quite extraordinarily strong car mechanically" in Autocar's old Buying Guide, with specialists suggesting that not a lot goes wrong even on cars with over 150,000 miles. You have to assume there aren't many cars beyond 200,000 miles...
The specifications helps here too, the manual made bespoke for the car and "heroically strong". Moreover, the turbo internals are stronger in the UK cars than the Japanese ones. So it's a tough car, and this is the toughest spec.
It wears its mega mileage very well
But it's still 10 grand. £10,995 to be precise. Certainly the UK manuals are desirable cars, and this is a decent chunk less than the £17K red car, but is it sufficiently less? It's perhaps reasonable to assume that Supra values have strengthened since then, and that car would be a little more today. And how on earth can you price something with so many miles?
The favourable way to look at Supra values also is to compare it with UK versions of those other Japanese sports car heroes of the 90s. A UK R34 Skyline is £40K, you can't get into a manual NSX for less than £30K; lower miles admittedly, but it goes to show how much less revered the Supra remains.
Despite its tough nature, this Supra still seems a brave move. Will it pay off? We would love to know if a PHer does take the plunge...
TOYOTA SUPRA
Price: £10,995
Why you should: If there's a sports car that can take 200K well then this is it!
Why you shouldn't: Price still looks quite a bit
See the original advert here.
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This one in particular has only done 6k miles in the last 5 years and has no MOT.
With this mileage and being a UK spec it will likely be very rusty underneath. When the radiator supports are rusted you can bet the radiator cross-member will be severely rusted as well. To even be considered this car it would need to have had the following parts addressed: radiator, intercooler, turbos, sequential system valves, valve stem seals, all suspension components and bushes, crank pulley, coil pack clips and breather hoses, brake lines under the car(specifically where small covers are over the lines). Otherwise the new owner could be info a very expensive ownership experience.
I'd also want to see this "full service history", as I'll guess it's not been serviced since it's last MOT in September 2010.
If it was going to pass an MOT surely it would have one?
Plenty of other chronically overpriced japcrap for sale with them too -
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/dealer/7372...
The price on this car is ridiculous.
This exact car was for sale for the same price a year ago and with the reputation from the dealer I wouldn't touch it.
So a bit over this budget, but that was the first I came across. I reckon with some digging around, £10k could bag you a better example than the OP.
The longevity of many cars today is impressive. This one, already averaging 10,000 miles a year for 20 years, is astonishing.
In living memory, cars became worn out at well below 100,000 miles. Chronic engine problems. Bad rings and crap valvetrains. Trim falling off. And, my god, the rust. Some rusting from new!
Recently I spoke with the owner of a performance garage who said that, over the years, their world has turned upside down. It's because of the cars: they just keep going and going.
In the past, it was "Fix 'em and send 'em home." Now, however, the garage is likely to go a step further. They or the aftermarket have pioneered a number of parts, work-arounds, hacks, and maintenance procedures which often have no relevance for cars below 100,000 miles.
I vividly remember a group test in Performance Car Magazine(?) did in 1993 if I remember correctly and the Z32 came third. Think there were the likes of Mitsi 3000GT, Lotus Esprit, Porsche 968 and even a Venturi of all things.
I love the sound of that 2JZ Supra engine though, in fact, I've seen/heard a Youtube vid of a Zed with just that engine which I believe would be a brilliant combo. The Nissan just never got the Fast and the Furious boost the Toyota did.
I've just always hankered after the Nissan - the styling (with those Lambo lights
) alone made it a dream car of mine as a kid alongside the F40s and such. A manual, SWB TT is meant to be the best of the bunch too so if I had £5k and a garage, I'd snap that one up 
EDIT: That SWB I linked to is even 20mins down the road from where I stay - pondering a bank loan right now
Fully forged internals (pistons etc.) will allow you to push for big power and is an expensive mod in the first place.
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