What other cars can surpass the longevity of the mk4 supra.?

Hi Dudes, I am struggling to beleive that the car i bought new in 1995 is still drawing attention, it's 20 years, it is still like new and going well, just needs some more horse power to catch up with the new car technology.

Mine is a na with 5 speed manual box and limited slip dif.

The car is a lovely drive and very stable at high speed on m/ways, even in windy wet weather.

I only have 42,000 miles on the clock and no rust, "waxoil" every three years.

Anyway in mid to late august it it going to dr jekyill for a NA/T conversion, circa 400 bhp, i had to do this as some of you may have experienced, due to the macho looks of these beasts, we are not supposed to be taken out by the current golf gti's etc.

The na's have, the, before their time aerodynamics, and high speed stability, but the lack of horse power spoiles it, IMHO,.

Many of you will have experienced the 400 bhp performance and more, i am looking forward to it.

I have ridden in the iom tt course on many fast bikes, fireblades, fzr 1000 ex-ups, etc, where the performance was irrelavent, it was up to the skill and experiece of the rider, and most of all, the size of your balls. This still applies to cars, but without the power supply, which others have, you are out of it.

How do you other members feel about your NA's.?

Debating selling mine but they go for so much now I wouldn't be able to justify buying one again in the future at the prices they now go for.

I enjoy it for what it is now and not try to make it keep up with modern cars in performance and features. I appreciate it a lot more that way.

I think that's the best way of keeping it as an investment.

Hi Supra-aero, I think the supras now surpass cars like the jaguar e-type, austin healey, etc. and unique for it's appeal all over the world. You can get involved with them, tune them, race them and for some get a buzz out of people asking,"what is it", and what a good looking motor, and we will soon see boring high tech cars which drive themselves, for many and me included, that is the end of motoring.

You need to "drive" the older low tech cars, bit like motor racing used to be, we also now have the electric motor bikes coming into the IOM TT races, no exhaust ringing out, no gear changes, and like the formula one some remote high tech guy telling you what to do.

I understand your ethos re just enjoy the car for what it is but i will get a buzz out of matching the performance of the modern day mostly lease hired super limos, where the owner is never the owner and do not know how the thing works, many don't know how to change gears or how to park them. lol.

Na sucks. Nat is where it's at. Which is why I have my bits and pieces coming together nicely[emoji1]

Admittedly I haven't had it very long but I like mine as it is. I'm not really into trying to race people, I much prefer rolling around country roads on my own which the NA is definitely enjoyable to do in. If I do turbo it it'll be in a few years.

I've always liked my NA's, I get the frustrations that it looks faster than it is and that it can't show a clean pair of heels to hot hatches etc, but neither can an MX5 and they are sold and enjoyed in there thousands. Handling out of the box it's slightly less prone to low speed under steer than a TT and it is fun to chuck around.

they are seriously good value too, £3-5k for nice manual one compared to £10-15k it seems for a nice manual TT.

I think a mild NA-T on the OP 's car makes sense but I would say don't get carried away initially and just run the boost needed to get stock tt power then you'll give your gearbox the best chance of doing the next 40k miles and it'll still feel like a rocket

I agree with OP. Supra is a very special car in a many ways. Very unique compilation of old school sports car and high speed performance machine without electric nannies and driving aids. Personally i don't care about straight line performance that much. I find it little bit of boring and there is always more faster cars coming etc but i know that TT (single turbo) -model is a beast and can be a truly super car level performer. You know, ferrari-killer lol Thats a very important thing for many people.

I personally love my n/a. It is so good and enjoyable when you are hooning in twisty roads. Stable in corners, good balance, great throttle response (mine is little bit modded), it is quite fast and so on. It 's like porsche 968 with much more charisma and more beautiful body. (And inline six engine )

It is little bit odd that new performance cars are not that enjoyable in real life, they lack driver involvement (at least for me anyway) but they are very fast. On the other hand, quite a many older cars are slower than Supra in general, so i find that Supra got a good balance of speed and driver input/involvement.

I love my na if I'm honest just love the looks you get! You always get the mercs and BMW even the Porshes go steady past you thinking there might be a beast under the bonnet and they don't want to look stupid! I met a Ferrari coming down the dual carriageway the same model from the fast n furious he was canning it and saw me and slowed right down and then went past me at over 100mph so just to make sure he got past me.

I love mine.

Na manual which means value will keep going up too.

I'm also in between the points of being a lairy car park boy racer and an older chap going through a mid life crisis, so I'm not fussed about the power either.

No one buys a 20 year old Toyota expecting to beat a 2015 model Ferrari. A lot of tt boys strangely do though.

It's a classic to look at enjoy. The shape, the cult following and the performance for the time are what true enthusiasts care about.

I loved my na engine so much I ripped it out and dropped a 1jz gte in best thing I ever did it

I loved my na engine so much I ripped it out and dropped a 1jz gte in best thing I ever did it

LOL

Great posts on this so far, many thanks. Just another bit to add: my friend at my local pub is a petrol head and has a bmw x5. 40d. 4wd, about £58k's worth, he also has a little red mx5 sports car.

He keeps asking me about my supra,so when i drive off from the village pub car park, and he, with other friends are sitting out, i can't resist occasionally spinning the rear wheels, just a bit, and the sound of the exhaust when i change into second gear with 4k revs on.

I have a large bore ss exh, but the stock rear silencer, no cats, it sounds great, just a solid burble on tick over at 700 rpm. I chose the stock silencer for the solid, not too loud burble, and i hope it will handle the imminent NA/T conversion? with, i assume, an extra flow of exh. gasses.? no doubt the "doctor" will tell me.

I am not keen on the 4 inch big pipe exh. i see sticking out from the rear end. Twin oval pipes would look better IMHO.

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Herbiemercman, are you saying that you bought your car brand new in 1995, and that you are the only owner?

If so you would be mad to do any major modifications on it like NA-T. It is probably unique as a stock-ish one owner car, and as the value of these cars goes up yours will always be right at the top if its well cared for and the mileage isn't silly.

They're popular cars granted, like people have filmed/photo'd mine a few times. But I think every car has it's own fan base, like a lot of the older guys would come over to talk to me about my British racing green Mk MX5. Odd young person asking about it too because they wanted one.

£ for £ I think the Supra is one of the best cars in the world, I think of it the same way as I do with TVR Chimaera 5.0. Supercar killers for £10k or so, infinitely exciting and hugely appealing. But obviously the Supra is a 'hero' car because of various film and video game appearances. Kinda like Steve Mcqueen's Mustang I guess, it has a large fanbase

Herbiemercman, are you saying that you bought your car brand new in 1995, and that you are the only owner?

 

If so you would be mad to do any major modifications on it like NA-T. It is probably unique as a stock-ish one owner car, and as the value of these cars goes up yours will always be right at the top if its well cared for and the mileage isn't silly.

hi jza80, I know what you are saying but i know dr jekyll will do a good job with the NA/T conversion, and with my well cared for 42,000 miles and running a relatively low boost, circa 10 psi, i have no reservations, also i get all the stock parts returned to me.

My brother and i bought two from waterford in southern ireland, both black, mine the na and his the tt. he has only 38,000 on the clock.

I've just spotted that too, you bought this car brand new yourself in 1995?

For me the supra ticks all of the boxes, looks, performance, reliability, cost and can do 99% of the work on it myself.

hi Fendoskeg11, Yes bought it new, cost £30,200, the guy also did skylines, etc, he was a real charachter my brother and i thought he was IRA, lol, I went back to see him 3 years back and he was still importing and he repaired my merc, 7 seat est car, i broke a spring mount coming off the ferry.

i have a big boat in stranraer harbour which runs on red diesel, this guy told me the irish duty free diesel is dark green, it made me chuckle, but it is true.We have a few irish members on this club and i am sure they can ratify this.

i love the irish they are so laid back and friendly, i play vocal guitar with harmonica, neil young and bob dillon stuff, so i also like their pubs.

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hi Fendoskeg11, Yes bought it new, cost £30,200, the guy also did skylines, etc, he was a real charachter my brother and i thought he was IRA, lol, I went back to see him 3 years back and he was still importing and he repaired my merc, 7 seat est car, i broke a spring mount coming off the ferry.

 

i have a big boat in stranraer harbour which runs on red diesel, this guy told me the irish duty free diesel is dark green, it made me chuckle, but it is true.We have a few irish members on this club and i am sure they can ratify this.

 

i love the irish they are so laid back and friendly, i play vocal guitar with harmonica, neil young and bob dillon stuff, so i also like their pubs.

They're great, I'm half Irish

If you yourself got it brand new keep it as it is mate!

hi jza80, I know what you are saying but i know dr jekyll will do a good job with the NA/T conversion, and with my well cared for 42,000 miles and running a relatively low boost, circa 10 psi, i have no reservations, also i get all the stock parts returned to me.

 

My brother and i bought two from waterford in southern ireland, both black, mine the na and his the tt. he has only 38,000 on the clock.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting Craigs work at all. But like I said before, your car is probably worth quite a lot of money, it will be worth less if you go ahead with NA-T.

Hi J-jz80, I agree with you but it is not the money, i just have to see what 400 horses feel like to drive, i have waited 20 years and i love the car. If i wanted another sports car like my daughter's merc. clk, amg, i would be shelling out much more money, and still not have what i really want. Several members have the doctor's NA? and they are all very pleased, they say you can still drive the car sedately and have the "rocket boost" when you need it, i would be mega disappointed if i lost the smooth running i have always had.

Some of my friends have highly tuned cars and they seem to be rough running when just cruising around and only smooth out when they are in the higher rev range, i am hoping my car, post the NA?T will be nothing like that.? i have not asked the doctor this, but just listened to other members.

I would really really advise you not to push the boost beyond 5-6 psi, you love your car and just want a bit more oomph and I think you'd be happy at near to stock tt power. It'll be kinder to your clutch and gearbox etc and you can always tweak it up in a year or two if you want to go further.

I would really really advise you not to push the boost beyond 5-6 psi, you love your car and just want a bit more oomph and I think you'd be happy at near to stock tt power. It'll be kinder to your clutch and gearbox etc and you can always tweak it up in a year or two if you want to go further.

Hi Scooter, I know what you are saying and i will discuss with "doctor Jek" when i go down with the car. I am not familiar with the turbo and the ecu and how fueling works and i cannot see why say 300 bhp would be any different to the 400bhp, if you drive normally and then have the odd power blast when required.?

I have a mercedes e-300 td and the turbo starts spooling circa 2,700 rpm you can feel the boost pressure rising, but on lower rpm just pottering about the turbo is just idleing, i am thinking the supra should be the same.?