Any advice for a newbie?

Hi all

Firstly, apologies, I'm sure you get many posts like this, but any help would be appreciated!

Basically, been looking for an SZ for a while to replace my RS Focus (doing a fair amount of motorway miles etc.) and I've found one that I'm seriously considering....just wondered what people thought.

It's a 95 M on about 116,000 km and the dealer wants £5995. I've seen similar aged SZ's with less miles on here go for more that a grand less than that, so I think it's fairly pricey, but they're not willing to come down at all! Problem is, it's basically exactly what I'm after - very good condition inside and out, toyota skirts and spats and really nice 18" wheels, although I'm not overly keen on the aftermarket front bumper, but that can always be changed. I'm in no way a mechanic, so not sure about the mechanical condition, but there is a 6 month warranty with it.

Does anyone else think this is too expensive though? I know prices have been quite low recently - I was talking to SupraSam about his nice black one with TEIN coilovers which was only up for £4650 - but I'm planning on keeping it for quite a while (prob at least 3 or 4 years), so does anyone think prices might harden in the future? After all, I'm sure some consider supes modern classics...... Don't really wanna lose too much on this, cos I think I'm gonna lose a fair bit on the RS

Incidentally, anyone want a turboed Ford.......?

There are a couple of things that worry me though, and like I said, I'm in no way mechanically minded, so please don't laugh......

1. The wheels are Prodrive GC-05F's, which are extremely nice, but every website I've seen them for sale on says that they only fit Imprezza's. I've heard the Japs like putting wheels with the wrong offsets on their cars, so if this is the case obviously there could be problems with rapid or un-even tyre wear? Could this be sorted by simply getting the tracking sorted, or does having wheels with the wrong offset pose bigger probs?

2. The N/S headlight sits flush with the bonnet like it should, but the O/S one is raised a couple of mill above it. not that noticeable, but it did concern me a bit. The dealer reckons they must have had to raise the light a bit when they fitted the new front bumper cos it may not have been a perfect fit...not convinced though. My first thought was that it may have been in a front end crash. Had a look under the bonnet and everything looks straight, doesn't look like it's been replaced, and all the panel gaps seem even, but like I said I'm not exactly an expert. I've not seen the auction sheet yet (he's gonna get it for me - says he never gets anythig less than grade 3.5), but if it is 3.5 or above then it can't have been in a smash, right? Any thoughts? Is the dealer talking bollocks?

Phew, that was a bit more than I planned on writing, so if anyone has made it this far, thanks for reading!

Nick

lots of motorway miles in a supra???. do you own shell or are you just nuts???

just jokin mate, welcome to the forum. hope you get somithin sorted, if i were you id get a crappy 60 mile to gallon shed and find a sup in april may time.Too hart braking to see it with mat salty bodywork.

tt steve.

Well, not lots of motorway miles - probably about 80 a week. I just thought it would be cool cruising in comfort rather than relative discomfort (those seets look comfy, but after about 20 miles....) and trying to keep the turbo off boost all the time!

Hi mate, Welcome!

I would have to agree with the above! Unless you know about a special fuel supply for supra owners, id save for a supe, specialy over winter and get sum diesel heap but comfortable thing for motorways!

Whatever you choose, you'll enjoy the supra!

I cant help you with the price of the supra your looking at,

BUT, i can add 2 important things!

Welcome

And

Go single!

how much to go single from start to finish if you have all the work done by some one else???

tt steve

have a look at the Vortex site,

Think BL kits are around £3000 plus about £1000 Fitting.

My advice would be don't rush into Supra ownership - my first one was an N/A bought as an impulse buy on eBay and, whilst it was a great car, it wasn't what I ultimately wanted. I now have that! I spent a small fortune getting the N/A into a good enough condition to sell and lost a lot of hard earned greenbacks in the process. See a few cars, get a feel for what constitutes a good car and a bad car, spend many an hous on here reading the FAQs, ask the members loads of questions as there are some very clued up folk here and then, only then, part with your wedge.

The smiles per gallon quota rises in direct proportion to the amount of time spent looking!

Good luck and welcome! Oh, and check out the For Sale section on here too!

Thanks for the welcomes guys........hmmm, not quite thinking about slapping a single turbo on it at the mo - the reason I'm not going for a TT is cos I'm sick of worrying about something going wrong with the turbo and having to sit for ages after a run to let it cool down. Interesting suggestion though!

Re the fuel situation, like I said, I probably only do 80-100 miles a week, 70% of which is on motorways/good A roads, and I reckon with my grany style driving technique it shouldn't break the bank! The RS doesn't exactly sip petrol either......

dont rush to buy, find a good one with all the right bits, it will save you a lot of aggro and loads of dosh. theres a good one out there ,pay a little more and save a lot. it took me 4 months to find mine,its worth the wait

Yeh man, it took me about 7months to find 'the one'! (But then look what I did to it

agreed, wait and test lots. so easy to rush. check all ur options. have a lok at Uk spec if you want cheaper insurance. they are difficult to get hold of though.

Thanks for the advise chaps, I appreciate it, really I do, however......

I definitely want a N/A supra, and I don't wanna wait till the summer and save up, I want one ASAP!

I have looked at a lot cos I've been looking for close on a year now I suppose (albeit a lot more actively in the past few months).

The specific one I'm talking about feels like it's a good'un to me, but I would really welcome some opinions on the things I mentioned in the first post. I'm probably gonna go back and take it for a test drive in a couple of hours, and if I do that I may just be tempted to buy it there and then, but I really don't wanna get ripped off/stuck with dodgy wheels/buy a car that's been in a front end smash! If anyone can, pleeeeease

Nick

Thanks for the welcomes guys........hmmm, not quite thinking about slapping a single turbo on it at the mo - the reason I'm not going for a TT is cos I'm sick of worrying about something going wrong with the turbo and having to sit for ages after a run to let it cool down. Interesting suggestion though!

 

Re the fuel situation, like I said, I probably only do 80-100 miles a week, 70% of which is on motorways/good A roads, and I reckon with my grany style driving technique it shouldn't break the bank! The RS doesn't exactly sip petrol either......

Nick turbo supras are just as reliable so long as they have been properly maintained.....you wont need to let it idle down after a run..you can get yourself a turbo timer relativly cheaply from anyone of the traders on here...although you dont need to let it run for ages.....I have no timer and depending on what sort of driving im doing the max I let mine tick over for is prob2-3 mins MAX and only if ive been ragging the nuts of it!!!

The Supra will be a lot worse than your RS for petrol dude + you need to use optimax or ultimate....anything else is not to good for the old engine

welcome by the way

Thanks for the advise chaps, I appreciate it, really I do, however......

 

I definitely want a N/A supra, and I don't wanna wait till the summer and save up, I want one ASAP!

 

I have looked at a lot cos I've been looking for close on a year now I suppose (albeit a lot more actively in the past few months).

 

The specific one I'm talking about feels like it's a good'un to me, but I would really welcome some opinions on the things I mentioned in the first post. I'm probably gonna go back and take it for a test drive in a couple of hours, and if I do that I may just be tempted to buy it there and then, but I really don't wanna get ripped off/stuck with dodgy wheels/buy a car that's been in a front end smash! If anyone can, pleeeeease

 

Nick

Ditch the wheels, they are complete crap.......get yourself some stock 16" wheels, or even better some UK 17" wheels

You can pick up a front bumper pretty cheap to be honest if your not happy with the one thats on there.....Ive got a silver one knocking about if your interested??

2-3mins is ages when you're sitting outside work and you're late!

Nah, seriously mete, not really interested in the turbo at the moment - not too bothered about the extra speed, and it's obviously gonna cost more to buy (swapping the RS for a cheaper car mainly cos I need the money to do up my house).

Have to use super/optimax at the mo anyway, so that's not too much of a prob, but wouldn't the N/A be less sensitive to normal unleaded than a TT, if I did feel the need to use it? Is it possible to get the car remapped to take 95 RON like UK supras anyway?

Normal unleaded is fine for an NA. I've been running an NA on it for over a year, with no probs at all. So have several other NA owners. Some people find that you get better fuel economy if use use Optimax though. However, that's another debate (I don't want to hijack your thread into a "how much MPG do you get" thread!)

NA = cheaper to buy, about the same to insure and run as a Jap spec TT

Other than that, there aren't really any recurring serious faults to look out for on the mkiv. Just do the normal stuff, like if you're concerned about past crashes, take a good look at the panel gaps, take a good look around the engine bay, looking for repair welds.

Good luck with the search! I'm sure you'll enjoy whichever one you buy!

I think some people remove the o/s headlamp if they take the car onto the drag strip, to get more air into the engine. Unlikely, but it *may* have happened and it may have been refitted not quite true.

Cheers Stevie_b!

Not overly concerned about MPG cos I don't do many miles and it's mainly motorway cruising, but obviously the higher the better! Good to know normal unleaded is ok though.

Any ideas on the wheels offset/price though? sorry to keep on, but I'm gonna go and test drive it imminently and I might just lose all judgement

sorry, meant to say stevie, cool avatar! Duffman has always been my favourite simpsons character. Oooooh yeah!

sorry, meant to say stevie, cool avatar! Duffman has always been my favourite simpsons character. Oooooh yeah!

Sorry Nick, can't help you with the wheel offsets at all mate. It's not an area I've touched.

As for the price, it sounds at the top end of the correct bracket. I reckon the going rate for a NA with that number of miles on is (probably) £4500-£5000 for a private sale. Add a bit more for a trade sale.

I think it's fair to say if you're not too bothered about the extra speed, there is no reason whatsoever to go for a TT over an NA.

116K sounds a lot for an imported Supra - would you be the first UK owner (cos quite often the odo carries on reading km, but clocks up miles after conversion, so if it's been driven a lot since being imported the mileage will be more than it looks).

£6K sounds quite steep if you aren't keen on the front bumper, figure in the cost of replacing that and having it sprayed and you're approaching £7K.

There seem to be loads of SZs for sale on here at the moment, mostly for sub £5K - have you checked them all out?

BTW!

Ok, cheers mate.

Yeah, did think £4500-5000 was about the going rate for private sales, and I only really wanted to spend 5k, but this is from a dealer, they're gonna service it, 12 months MOT and 6 months warranty so......

I've seen a few sell at dealers round here for about 6k recently, so I don't wanna dither too much and have someone else nick it! Still, not sure about those 3 things tho.....

Standard wheel offset is 50 on front and rear.

For reference the standard wheels sizes are:

Front: 8x16in 225/50/16

Rear: 9x16in 245/45/16

or

Front: 8x17in 235/45/17

Rear: 9.5x17in 255/40/17

sorry lust, yeah, would be first uk owner, but the car hasn't been fully converted to uk spec yet (ie fog light, speedo etc). apparently that's getting done today. As for the bumper, I'd be quite happy with a standard one - didn't think that should cost too much? already been offered one in the right colour!

Homer - thanks for the info mate, I'll go there armed with that! If the offset was 46 though (only seen them advertised at 43 and 46) would that be a major prob? would I be able to find out the offset fairly easily?