Finally found a Supra, picking up this saturday (Pics!)

Well, pretty soon I'm going to be a Supra owner, can't wait!

It all kicked off again a few weeks ago I went to have a look at a couple up at Vine place,

TBH initially my biggest problem was the fact that I currently have an '07 Corsa VXR, it's a cracking little car but I always hungered for more everytime I went out in Chris' car (Chris and Alana)

I bought it last June as at the time I'd just started a new job with a better salary so instantly thought "I'll get myself a better car" I sold my previous car (Vectra 3.2V6) and used the money as a deposit for the Corsa, 9 months later and the tedious finance payments and ridiculous insurance costs are getting me down so after trying to figure out ways of saving myself money the best idea was to get rid of the Corsa, there wa only one car I could think of to replace it but didn't think it would be cost effective to what I was trying to achieve, after a quick search on the net I spotted a couple of TT Sup's up at Vine place in Newcastle upon Tyne.

My mate Chris bought his from there around 3 years ago and has never looked back, so I decided to drag him along to take a look.

When we got there the original one I went to see (a facelift RZ with 19" chrome wheels, UK brakes, TRD spoiler, Veilside skirts and Top Secret front bumper) had already been sold

They had another though, a 1996 Pre-facelift GZ Auto in black, has a pretty good spec too, BPU with a front mount intercooler, stainless hard pipes, induction kit, both de-cats, Nur spec exhaust, HKS BOV and a Greddy boost controller, it also has a Kenwood CD player, 18" Veilside Andrews racing split rims, Top secret front bumper and Veilside skirts.

I spoke to the salesman Dave and got a few details on it, it was originally imported by him just over a year ago, Chris and I checked the whole thing over, underside, bodywork, engine bay, fluids etc. everything seemed to check out ok, so we got the keys and started it up, no smoke on startup, purrs like a kitten on idle, really clean interior, all electrics seemed ok, it even has fold in mirrors!

Before I even took it for a drive I decided to see how much they could offer me for my Corsa VXR to see if it was even doable, to my surprise they offered me enough to clear the outstanding Corsa finance and give me a good chunk of equity on the Sup, he couldn't offer me finance for the Sup but recomemded Tesco finance for a personal loan, he did some rough calculations and estimated I could save myself about £60 a month on finance payments, as soon as I heard that it was game on, so I arranged to come back for a test drive the next day.

When I went home that night I did some digging on insurance quotes for the Sup, to my surprise I found that insuring it with Elephant (who I'm surrently with anyway) I'd actually save yet more money over my Corsa premium (unbeleivable!) went back and test drove the car (again with Chris) got back and I was really pleased with it, Dave asked if I'd like to reserve the car pending the loan coming through, I agreed. He then gave me a pen and pad and told me to go round the car and detail anything I wasn't happy with, he said providing it wasn't out of the question he'd have it sorted prior to delivering the car, so me and Chris listed a few things:

passenger A-pillar trim was loose and "Jesus christ" handle was missing (probably reason a-pillar trim was loose)

Steering wheel looked tatty as did auto shifter

Clock was not working

Storage compartment in armrest wasn't "clicking" when shut

Boot rubbers were shot

spare wheel, boot blind and jack etc. were missing

Rear seat belts were missing?! (Possibly previous owner had removed seats at some stage and not bothered re-fitting the seatbelts for trade in?)

front bumper was catching on FMIC and was causing a rattling sound on idle.

Power steering pump was found to be faulty (Loud screech on startup then diaappears)

Gave him that list, he checked all of it said, "Right, no problem at all, we'll get this all sorted for you" I left thinking they'd probably just sort the obvious stuff and leave the rest but I went back last night for another drive and most of the stuff has already been done, new steering wheel, auto shifter, boot blind, spare wheel, tool kit, jesus christ handle and a pillar sorted, they've even got my original "Snag list" on the dash which they're checking off as the go!

I have to say, as far as customer satisfaction is concerned, thus far, I am EXTREMELY impressed, every time I've called with even the most trivial questions they've been there to answer comprehensively.

I just had to nervously wait to see if was loan got accepted, waited for a letter since last week, then went to the cashpoint yesterday morning and there was the money! got back home and had a letter to confirm that I'd been accpeted, the loan is of a shorter term than the Corsa (From 5 years down to 4.5) a very competitive APR rate and payments which sure enough, save me around £66 a month!

Been on the phone to Dave Rowe from Vine again today and he said the only thing that would be outstanding if I wanted to pick it up this weekend would be the Power steering pump, it works fine, just the screech on startup then it disappears, he's told me that if I still want the car at the weekend he could have it ready for saturday afternoon then he'll give me a ring as soon as the P/S pump comes in, he'll then take the car back to do the work and provide me with a courtesy car, he also said if there was anything else I'd found that needed sorting in the meantime then it's get done with the P/S pump.

To same I'm happy is an understatement (Hence the length of this thread :embarassed: )

I also get 6 months warranty with this too!

Anyway, I'll not waffle on any longer, here's the beast in question....

Note in the pics the dash has been popped out, this was a later visit where they had replaced the steering wheel, auto shifter and clock.

Initial plans are:

Paint speaker grilles black

Paint silver mesh in front bumper appetures black

Paint inside of headlights black and polish plastic covers

I've also already spoken to Ibrar regarding having my wheels fully refurbed

Enjoy...

That looks like a nice Supra. Enjoy it

Nice looking car, could do with a new set of headlights though.

Looking good bet you cannot wait even better with new set of UK glass head lamps fitted

Nice looking car, could do with a new set of headlights though.

Indeed although some Meguiars Plast-X will bring them up a treat in the meantime.

Nice looking car, could do with a new set of headlights though.

Initial plans are:

Paint inside of headlights black and polish plastic covers

Very nice mate, T-Cut works well on the headlights too. Genuine Veilside splits, you have quite the rare set of wheels!

Looks good, you'll have to get yourself to some NE meets!

I've heard mixed reports about Vine Place, but they actually did stuff you asked them to, wow. Everytime i go to a garage they tell me there going to do something, but always try to hide the problem or just forget! lol

Tidy.

looks nice mate i hope you havent paid the top whack prices they ask???

shame its auto lol

Nice car,sounds like a good garage(as long as youre not paying over the odds as jurgen says)

Looks good, you'll have to get yourself to some NE meets!

 

I've heard mixed reports about Vine Place, but they actually did stuff you asked them to, wow. Everytime i go to a garage they tell me there going to do something, but always try to hide the problem or just forget! lol

TBH mate, I've been to Vine quite a few times just looking around and they've always been really helpful, I did a search on here the other day and couldn't believe some of the things that were typed, they've been nothing but good to me this far so I've no reason to complain, I think it's like most things though, alot of good things they probably have done have probably been dismissed or forgotten as it's the shit that sticks...

looks nice mate i hope you havent paid the top whack prices they ask???

PM sent mate

Nice car

How muchski mate?

N i c e . . .

Nice looking car, as Jamie and Lui said some nice UK glass headlamps will go down a treat. Look after her

Wow, congrats mate...

:thumbs:Love those wheels

very nice, the whole car looks really tidy, enjoy!

Looks good mate, enjoy and take good care of it.

Liking the wheels....

Lovely car

Cheers for the comments, if the weather stays fine then I'll get it cleaned and polished properly and get some better pics up, think I'm going to go down the facelift light road rather than UK specs, I think they'll suit a black car better, going to paint the insides of the standard ones temporarily though

It looks like a good 'un Clean and tidy engine bay usually a good sign. Take it easy at first, thats a big power hike after driving a FWD Corsa VXR around Watch it around islands

Your in for some fun!! Enjoy!! Oh, and welcome to the club!

Linda

x

Hi Kev, was looking through some posts and came across yours, i think i might have bought the car you originally went down to look at. Black supra with 19inch wheels with the 3 round headlights etc. Hopefully im picking it up wednesday/thursday, hows your supra going that you got? How is the car generally, peformance, interior condition, and running etc? Im trading in my astra vxr cos i always wanted to get a supra to have some fun.

Daz