... rounded at the front, slim in the middle , and the rear rounded as well !
In my opinion most Toyota's look great from the front , but they lost the plot on the arse end ! , not so with the supra.
Fit and feel.
*************
Getting into the car is a bit of an operation, especially ... Read review
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A review by cashman44 on Toyota Supra 3.0 Turbo June 15th, 2004
Author's Car rating:
Safety
Excellent
Comfort
Good
Road Handling
Excellent
Security
Satisfactory
Looks
Excellent
Advantages:
Performance, rear wheel drive, brakes, handling .
Disadvantages:
Expensive parts, inner body panels not protected .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full car review
I bought this car in 1996 , after being left a few bob by my lovely Gran ( god rest her soul ), this was another one of those "man things " I just had to have ! . I'd always noticed these cars passing by in the opposite direction, and was always impressed by their almost female shape, ...... rounded at the front, slim in the middle , and the rear rounded as well ! In my opinion most Toyota's look great from the front , but they lost the plot on the arse end ! , not so with the supra.
Fit and feel. *************
Getting into the car is a bit of an operation, especially if you're a fat bugger, ( unlike myself ), being so low , and the driving position, you physically have to bend yourself into the thing. Once sat in it , first impressions are that everything fits around you nicely, all the controls, clocks, gearstick, pedels, are spot on . There is a control button to squeeze the seat around you, holding you firm while driving hard, push the same forward , and you'll find the seat will push a nice support into your lower back !!, this button is easy to reach without taking your eyes off the road, as with all the other controls.
On the road. ************** Once underway the car feels very competant, the steering is light , and has a lot of feedback , the suspension is firm, the grip is fantastic, from the 225/50/16 standard tyres, Original spec tyres were Goodyear eagles. You can pay any were from between £70 - 150 for the tyres of your choice. Motorway crusing is a breeze as this car is fitted with 'cruse control ' as standard. I often used to travel up north to visit relations, ..... flick the cruse button to on , hit the ' set' button on the steering wheel, and whatever speed you were doing , this will be memorised. The car would speed up on hills , and slow down to maintain the set speed !. This will be cancelled by application of brake or clutch.There was also a nice foot rest for your left foot, when not using the clutch. I often had both knees up by the steering wheel, and impressed my passengers by pressing the ' Acc' ( accelerate) button, again on the steering wheel, while overtaking other cars at high speed!. The car turns into slow tight bends very easily in the dry, some times , when the roads are wet , slowish roundabouts can have the back end sliding out,( I've heard the turbo version is even more hairy in the wet ) but is controllable with the throttle, and much fun !!, Very high speed cruising, ( private roads ,of course ! ) feel stable and safe, unlike other cars I've driven at a ton +, lesser cars feel as, if you moved the steering a bit too quick, it would roll and crash! not so with this one.
The brakes !! *************** My god, this car had some superb brakes. One of my party tricks was to accellerate up to about 110mph, ( private road ! ) then, without warning , stamp my foot , full force , on the brake pedel. This resulted in all my escort driving mates shitting a large brick .... due to the massive G forces induced on their collar bones from the seat belts. The car pulled up straight as a die, no skidding, no wandering, total safety. Once a dog ran out in front of me , and if weren't for the superb ABS system , I'd have surley killed it.
The engine. ************** A superb piece of engineering ,early ones had 204 BHP ( non Cat ), I know it had a reputation for head gasket probs, ( when it first came out the factory used the wrong torque settings to bolt the head down) this was later revised , also the recomendation of a copper head gasket was included in the fix. At first glance the engine looks complicated, but the Japs are very logical in their design of things, once you remove all the pipes out of the way, the engine is very easy to work on. Even the cam belt is easy, only prob' being crank pulley nut , which is a bastard to get off ! ( I've got a nack for this ! ) . Changing the spark plugs requires removal of the inlet manifold twin tubes ( no probs' ) . A mod' was done on the oil filter, early ones had large type, now are much smaller, to help oil pressure on start up. Higher milage engines like 15w/40, or even 15w/ 50 oil, they'll sound sweet on cold start up. Standard 10w/40 or thinner oils ( eg Magnatec) dont bother, you'll hear knocking noises and start panicking !!!. I've also seen a few Supras start blowing on the exhaust manifold, near the bulkhead, closest to the driver, sometimes the stud will break off due to corrosion. Other points to watch out for are front lower swivels, these are MOT bread and butter fail points, dealer will charge around £130 a piece for these, and are not usually available through motor factors. Standard antifreeze is 'Red' type, dont mix with the usuall ( blue/green type ) as they are not compatable. Another point to remember is... ( as with all cars ) make sure to use the air con , all year round , to keep the seals lubricated. This will save you a small fortune when in the summer , you use the air con' for the first time and find only hot air coming out ! . ( because all the R132 gas escaped up into the ozone layer ! ) You'll soon find that , because it's Supra , you'll be paying a premium for bits , this is why many second hand examples are pretty ropey.The body. ********** These cars were designed to be on Jap roads ,so anything over 3 years old has to be got rid of !!, ( we see them over here as 'grey' imports) so very little under seal is used to protect the inner body panels, so older models will rot like buggery, especially around the ( female) rear end, inner and outer wheel arches will suffer, spare wheel carrier, and steel brake pipes will be on your mot fail sheet . Early examples used to have steel inserts to the centre plastic trim strip that runs around the whole of the body, the steel will rot causing the trim to buckle, and look crap. Later ones were solid plastic. ( for example ..... the very front trim, which includes the repeater...... about 2ft long will cost you around £50 . ) And as with all Jap cars..... Dont let them stand around , out of use for a long time, as the brakes will seize on leading to more work for people as myself, luvly jubbley !! . Boot space is very limited, due to the spare wheel ' hump ' which intrudes into the small boot area. The seats do fold down though which helps a bit if you need to carry something more than the shopping. Rear tailgate can rattle on higher milages due to the 2 rubber bump stops wearing out, next to the sharpest rear corners of the rear 1/4 lite windows.
Summary. *********** Fantastic car , despite a few problems, If you want to carry 2 adults in the back , make sure they cross their legs , when sat in , and bend their heads down to fit in , 2 kids will be OK . The back seats look so inviting, but this is only cosmetic, ...... but then , it IS a sports car. Will soon be a classic I'm sure , so if you've got one, look after it !!!!.
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