Now this we simply couldn't ignore. In amongst the Audi deluge (sorry Michael!) in yesterday's
£100K Garage
was this Toyota Supra. To the untrained eye it appears just a regular Supra, a car probably imported from Japan and ripe for some wild turbo upgrade.
Toyota toughness has seen it last this long
But this isn't just a regular Supra. It's one of the officially imported UK cars, of which there are believed to be fewer than 500. More than that it's a manual car, making it even rarer. It looks great actually, a point we've
discussed previously
in relation to manual Supras.
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
What can we glean from the advert? A few things. Yes, the wheels are scruffy and the driver's seat is worn, but there have been cars looking worse with fewer miles on. Apparently it's only had one owner too, plus there's a full service history. As cars for taking on at this sort of mileage the Supra must be one of the best.
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.