Newbie question-supra mileage

Hi all,

will hopefully be joining the Supra owners ranks soon in an N/A.

Just had a quick question about the Odometer seeing as its digital.

I've found quite a nice NA near me (except for the VS front bumper) with a fairly low mileage of 70000. Unfortunately its got no history or paperwrok (apparently) but i was wondering if theres a button that can be pressed to test/show all digits on the Odometer (so that i can confirm the cars not actually at 170000)

any ideas?

thanks

Iain

beware of mileage on a car with no history Odometer can easy be unplugged at low miles and reconnected anytime after i would want proof of mileage mate

Any car can be clocked, there is no 100% guarantee with any cars mileage, lots of service history mots etc backing up the mileage really helps but most imports seem to have none and usually have less miles on them than 70k miles or kms ?

The trouble with the supra mkiv is it can do lots of miles and not show it like a lot of other cars do.

How nice is the car your looking at, how much is it, when was it imported, is it being sold privately or a trader, if its been here a few years why no mots, service bills etc

There are plenty to choose from so try to find the right one and look at everything meticulously

thanks for the responses chaps.

From memory the guy said they imported and sold it on in 2006 (trader) and its now come back to them. I do remember checking the radiator cap for any residues etc and the water/coolant was brown (not been serviced in a while i guess)

Weirdly (i did have a brief nose around the car) the engine its self looked new, even the sensors going into the manny looked new. The car its self is clean with no rust, has been resprayed at some point as the engine bay and under the boot carpet are red (cars black).

I admit though i am tempted to run from it seeing as they have no history (even though its been in the UK for 4 years). I might pop back up there and have another rummage and question them some more, unfortunately theres not many supras available down my neck of the woods.

Brown coolent means its been run on toyota red, which is a good thing.

No history dont mean alot. I brought all my n/a cars with none. My current car has not had an engine service in two years. Showing 160k mixture of miles and km. Still runs fine.

I guess it comes down to price. How much he want for it?

Hi and welcome.

Personally speaking if there is zero proof of mileage then I would completely discard whatever the odometer says - infact it counts as a negative as the car could well be clocked.

I would factor this in should you want to make an offer to the seller.

BTW: as Toyota Red is Red, doesnt it turn Brown as an indication of a potential problem with the car....

Turns brown with age iirc

As mentioned above, it is difficult to get service with an import, and even if you did...can you read Japanese?

They could easily have given you leaflets and stamps from a Toyota Yaris and you wouldn't know!

I spent a fortune on my first service as I wanted the car to have a fresh start and then I'd know how its run. Buying a car can always be a gamble, I've brought cars with full dealer history & they have caused problems and I've brought 15 year old cars with no history and they have been perfect. I mainly look at the condition of the car and the engine. If it is a well maintained engine then it should start cleanly, should purr and idle nicely with no hunting. If it doesn't have a loud exhaust then you should hardly be able to hear the engine, when driving it should pull smoothly.

Good Luck in your search

IMO i'd go completely on the condition of the cars suspension, body and interior, so long as it's an NA auto or 5 speed manual and it's fairly cheap. Replacement engines and gearboxes can be had for peanuts for these, but paint/bodywork (as with any car) can be expensive, especially if theres rust.

BTW: as Toyota Red is Red, doesnt it turn Brown as an indication of a potential problem with the car....

As nev said it will turn brown with age, atleast its been run on red, which shows someone knew what they where doing with it. However they have not serviced it for a while to allow it to end up like that.

thanks for all the info chaps, the price of the Car is at £3995 heres a link in fact

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201042371064605/sort/priceasc/usedcars/model/supra/make/toyota/page/1/postcode/bh88nd/quicksearch/true/radius/30?logcode=p

the body work looked good, no noticable rust around doors/sills/arches.

As i said, i'll probably head back there this week end for a ride in it. He started it up last time, sounded good, no horrible noises or knocking for the engine, quite smokey though, but it dispersed fairly quickly (probably just down to the cold weather)

i understand what your saying about the mileage and Jap imports not having much paperwork, but considering its been in the uk for 4 years and still has none...bit odd

thanks

Smokey on start up could be valve stem seals which at 70k it shouldnt have, depends if it was burnt oil smoke though, worth checking as thats not the cheapest job to do and with the head on its over £500 in labour

£4k sounds a lot to me for an NA with zero history

Isn't that a bit pricey for a NA

As nev said it will turn brown with age, atleast its been run on red, which shows someone knew what they where doing with it. However they have not serviced it for a while to allow it to end up like that.

I don't think the presence of Toyota Red means much, either good or bad. Any ethylene glycol based coolant is just as good, and the Toyota workshop manual states this.

As i said, i'll probably head back there this week end for a ride in it. He started it up last time, sounded good, no horrible noises or knocking for the engine, quite smokey though, but it dispersed fairly quickly (probably just down to the cold weather)

What colour was the smoke? White? Blue?

Smokey on start up could be valve stem seals which at 70k it shouldnt have, depends if it was burnt oil smoke though, worth checking as thats not the cheapest job to do and with the head on its over £500 in labour

 

£4k sounds a lot to me for an NA with zero history

doesn't look like the kind of smoke which would suggest an engine/oil burning issue. i know this as my first celica had valve stem problems and was a full on dense smoke machine. As i said, the smoke does disperse fairly quickly. You could do smoke signals with my old celica

But yes, something to be wary of

 

£4k sounds a lot to me for an NA with zero history

You could almost buy a 6 speed NA for that. I'd want £1500 off that price ideally, though IMO if you've got the budget, i'd go for a 6 speed as it'll hold its value much better, and have better potential for tuning.

There have been alot better cars sold on here recently for around the same money.

What colour was the smoke? White? Blue?

white smoke, from memory it was pretty much odourless also. But again, if i go see it this weekend i'll double check

There have been alot better cars sold on here recently for around the same money.

i agree (i've been lurking for yearsd ) but most of them have been at the other end of the country from me

i agree (i've been lurking for yearsd ) but most of them have been at the other end of the country from me

Its worth traveling to get the right one, i waited 8 months and did a 200 odd mile round trip for mine.

Dont just buy the nearest one matey they are worth the wait and the travel, just think of the nice long blast back you can have

Is nobody from here selling anything that would be suitable for you?

If you're not 100% then it's best to leave it alone. Personally, I think the best first option is to check the cars being sold on here - they have a better chance of being looked after properly by people who know what they're doing!

Alternatively, are there any club members near you that could be 'persuaded' to have a look at the car with you (in exchange for a beer voucher or two!)

I'd come with you but I'm waaaay too far away!

To much money, for what it is.

Yep i do regularly check the cars in the sale section on here (nearly day in fact )

My budget is about £3500-3750 max, so not the greatest (adding insurance changes and travel etc on top of that will pretty much nuke my bank). I'm looking at the veilside kitted one at the mo thats listed as its pretty easy for me to get to, but we'll see how that goes.

thanks again