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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Just how bad is the handling???


SuperSupra
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So everyone talks about the Supra being s**t in anything other than dry conditions, but my N/A which I have been driving now for about 2 months seems ok. I've gradually pushed it more and more in the wet and only managed to lose it once (when i was in a car park testing!). It seems the handling is actually pretty good unless you put your foot down going round a corner which is just common sense!!! I know the TT's will no doubt have less rear end control in the wet, but how do you fellow N/A drivers find yours???

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Nice Spiderman quote! :respekt: Yeah i agree, I had a Hyundai Coupe before this and I heard people talking about the crap wet handling in that too. Obviously it's not on the same power scale as a Supe, but the principal is the same. Common sense says on a rear wheel drive car going round a corner if you put your foot down, your gonna spin out! I may sound like an old man (which I'm not by the way!) but I drive VERY sensibly in the wet cos I'm terrified of causing damage to me or anyone else!

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I'd say the supra can and does handle amazingly! but as said above (and even more so on a TT than N/A) lots of power = treat the car with the huge respect it deserves!

 

Also, making sure you have decent tyres and decent and well setup suspension is a very wise move!

 

The car handles well enough in the wet that generally it will be beyond the drivers capability to handle it properly at high speed. I mean it doesn't matter what car your in, in the wet you need to proceed with some caution because braking etc is reduced and no car, 4wd or whatever is going to help you when you suddenly need to make an emergency stop!

 

The only catch in the TT is the huge surge of torque you get at low revs when turbo 1 comes on, so long as you are fully aware of this when exiting roundabouts etc then you should be fine.

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The Supra does handle very well compared to what you might think. My mate who had an scooby was shocked by how well the supra went round corners while i was showin him what it can do. As long as you're sensible i.e. don't plant your foot in the wet while in the middle of a corner, then it's a nice drive! Just be careful with roundabouts near petrol stations etc, diesel is a killer! Never lost my back end, just fishtailed quite a lot recently but after seeing the state of my tyres (Kev Huntley would agree) i'm surprised i hadnt written it off!!

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After reading your comments i'm convinced my suspension is knackered cos with good condition F1's i spin out in a straight line in the dry (but cold roads) when no.2 turbo comes on line let alone in the rain round bends !

 

However I agree with everyone IF you introduce the power sensibly then everything is fine. If i keep my foot off of the accelerator round bends it grips brilliantly.

 

one thing that does amaze me is how quickly i can stop in the rain for a heavy car. By far the best car i've had for stopping and breaking into a bend in the wet, i feel very confident it won't slide.

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I also think it does an excellent job considering how powerful and torquey these cars can be! 4x4 is not a silver bullet, my old 4wd still used to spin up in the wet.

 

Compared to other rwd drive cars, bmw for example I'd say the rear is positively stable!

 

After reading your comments i'm convinced my suspension is knackered cos with good condition F1's i spin out in a straight line in the dry (but cold roads) when no.2 turbo comes on line let alone in the rain round bends !

 

In the dry? Blimey, what bhp and what gear are we talking here? I must admit I tend not to floor it in 1st and rarely in second (all over too quick anyway) but 3rd upwards in the dry its rock steady - or at least it has been so far. You had your LSD and alignment checked?

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a machanic had the LSD in bits a while back all seemed fine.

last month got the alignment done it wasn't out much tho.

Tyres have seen better days but still ok. (eagle F1's)

Got the yellow Blistein optional extra shocks from toyota.

 

summer time its fine but on dry roads in cold weather at 4,000 in first and second gear it spins (manual). My torque does kick in violently which doesn't help.

 

I have asked before if theres a boost controller which can feed the boost in more gradually taming the torque ? is this possible ?

 

I do get serious wheel hop which again convinces me the suspension could be knackered.

 

its game over in the rain :drown:

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Guest mentalfx

Snaked it once pulling out of a junction, felt in control and got it back before I was on the other side of the road. All in all I think it handles really well. Used to have a gt4 and that stuck to the road better, not the latest mk but the one before. The gearbox went on it but other than that it was nice.

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I must admit that I don't like driving the car these days in the sort of weather we have had recently. Its not that the car scares me or anything but because the cars power far exceeds the amount of grip that the road surface affords and as such cannot be driven in the style or fashion that I like to drive it in. (does that make any sense?) I have other cars that perform the functions I need them to so theres no point in taking the supra out unless its a nice dry day. Also being black I hate getting rainy cack all over it :(

 

 

PS think this car is bad take a shot in a cerbera in the rain :)

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id love to take mine out every day, however the rainy cack as just mentioned is a big no no on a 9 year old black car, and it costs too much.

other than that i love it. rear wheel drive 300 + bhp what do you expect, int this what we buy them for????

its like buying a saxo vtr/ vts and saying, its too bumpy.:stickpoke

 

tt steve

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I hear lots of people talking about high powered RWD cars and saying they don't handle in the wet. And I have proved on numerous occasions against various different 4WD and FWD cars that a Supra can more than hold its own on the corners. I have had many spirited drives (or should that be races?) against high powered 4WD and FWD cars on the local roads where I live both in the dry and the wet and I wouldn't change my Supra for any other car in the same power for price bracket.

I'm not taking the pi$$ out of anyones driving here but you do have to learn when and how to apply the power on a RWD car to get the best out of it. It is completely different to how you'd drive a FWD or most 4WD cars... (although some 4WD cars do handle a bit like RWD).

 

If you can't seem to hold a Supra in a straight line or you are finding it is oversteering all the time then you are simply either driving it too agressivly or you have a problem on the car. Or that you have modified your car to have too much power for our English roads. ;-)

You do have to bear in mind on that last point that the Supra's chassis/drivetrain/LSD etc etc was designed for a certain BHP/torque range and if you have modified the engine to a degree where it is way beyond that range you will notice the effects no doubt. (only hypothesising there as my own car is running in the 400bhp area so can't speak from experience).

 

Things I would look at if you're having problems are the stiffness/condition of your shocks/springs. The condition of your LSD and if it is working at all. (If you're spinning up and finding it hard to control in the dry then double check your LSD. Next thing is your tyres... are you running even pressures left to right and is the tread in good condition?

And finally check your wheel alignment if you havn't already done so.

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my cars black also and I no what you mean about the rainy cack, it's a nightmare :(

 

I think your right, the cars performance totally exceeds the grip levels available in the wet, I think this is true of any car with 3-4-500bhp on the public, unpredictable, greasy, wet roads. The best control (RLTC aside) is goign to be big helpings of common sense.

 

I'm also happy to blitz around in my crappy clio when it's raining, thats not the supra's fault, but why (tries to think of a good analogy) put on your best suit when your only going for a mcdonalds - if you catch my drift.

 

PS: your a brave man Aji, glad to hear it though - I think my confidence is not as high as yours yet but totally agree that in the right hands, driven by someone who can handle the car its as capable as anything if not more so - I don't think fault can be levelled at the car!

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