supra or skyline honest opinions required

Hi, im just looking into exchanging my current car for a supra or a skyline. Just wondering if anyone has owned both and has an unbias account on both! Also do you think I will get a clean unmolested supra 6 speed twin turbo in a straight swap for my current car? I have a geuine interest in doing a straight swap so opinions are welcome.

celica st205, just completed a full rebuild and doing running in miles and goes for a full map by the "DENTIST" mapper this tuesday. Currently recorded as the UK's fastest ST205 celica, an ex-fensport car. Almost everything is new on the engine.

Spec

SPEC may have forgotten some bits

GROUP 'A' billet steel crank shaft TTE spec

HKS Steel connecting rods

GROUP 'A' Main and big end bearings

Forged CP custom pistons and rings

ARP main bearing studs

ARP Conrod bolts

ARP Head studs

Head ported and polished and port matched

HKS 272 inlet and exhaust camshafts

HKS valve springs

Blitz 850cc injectors

HKS fuel pressure regulator

Walbro 255 motorsport fuel pump

Voltage booster

Braided lines

Greddy stainless steel exhaust manifold

Custom ATP Garrett GT35R Turbo

Polished compressor housing

Custom speedflow braided lines from turbo

Custom 3" exhaust system

Blitz nurspec backbox

HKS twin plate clutch

Fensport stage 2 front mount intercooler kit

Stainless steel 70mm piping

Aqaumist water injection motec mapped

Blitz sus filter

Trd thermostat

HKS type 2 racing dump valve

Trd uprated gearbox mounts

Samco throughout

Electronics

Motec M4 Pro upgraded ecu

blitz dc 2 fuel pressure/exhaust gas temp/boost pressure gauges

Defi oil temp/water temp/oil pressure gauges

Alpine stereo/speakers

Interior

Carbon fibre race seat/ sabelt harness

Momo reclining passanger seat

Suspension

Trd front dampeners and springs

coilover suspension on the rear

Wheels

Works 17" light race alloys

Brakes

Front custom porsche caliper conversion with 330mm*30mm grooved disks

Rear standard calipers and black diamond grooved disks

Mintex 1144 pads

very clean car mate

if money was no problem (ie you'd be happy at potentially quite big bills on a frequent basis) I'd go for the Skyline. A good mate of mine has one and its so much more fun to drive than mine.

Looks and reliability though - Supra all the way!

Hi, thanks this is precisely the sort of thing im looking to find out. I am fed up of my car taking over my life/money and know even though its just rebuilt that i'll continue to throw money at it! If a skyline is like that then i'll be happy to stay clear. I've heard really good things about the supra and its reliability. Will I be as happy with a supra on bpu modifications as I am with the 2litre at 500bhp plus? I just cant make my mind up and am affraid i'll jump in and regret my decision.

I wouldnt even like to begin to guess how quick your car is - any drag times etc?

best thing with the supra (and youve come to the right place) is to come along to one of the meets and see if a few people will take you out in theirs with various levels of tune. We're a friendly lot really

Wherabouts are you based?

Im in Scotland, Ayrshire pretty far away from where most of the supra meets are I imagine. I think you are right, the only way i'll find out is by being in one and seeing how they are. The celica before I bought it was running low elevens, I think fensport got it down to 11.1 before Andy had to sell it to pay back debt he owed fensport. Adrain put a map in it for 26psi run on optimax and mapped it pretty rich so I wouldnt have problems. We put it on the rollers and it made 555bhp on that setup. Im sure running higher boost and race fuel gave fensport in excess of 600hp.

I am deffinetly seriously considering the change to a supra.

i drove a skyline and a supra, and i found the supra to be a better allround car, so i bought one and i just love driveing it, all depends what you want to do with it.

I am a twin, my brother has a skyline, I have a soop (mine's faster) . We both love our cars, and both appreciate each other's. I really think the stunning looks of the soop wins it. To prove a point my brother has a picture of my car as his screen saver!! in fact so do I hehehehe. But he says he likes his skyline better cos people don't know what it is (non car enthusiasts) untill he rips past em.

I'm not sure how you're going to stop yourself moding though, it's bloody addictive, evertime I see some one else's soop with something mine hasn't got I'm ordering it next day (shame I know:( )

hope that helps

I went through the same thing the other week as I thought it would be a quick way to get power (cheaper than NA-T) The thing is an unmodded skyline looks just like anyother car but an unmodded supra still gets looks and whispers. Also no company would touch a skyline best quote I got was £2400 for a R33 GTS-T yet got quoted £900 fully comp for my NA-T set up that will be pushing 350rwhp, their argument was that because the skyline is far more known and has a bit of an image its more likley to get nicked and end up in Russia

Take both a Skyline and Supra for a test drive and make up your own mind; it's the only way you'll really know what you want and whether each car lives up to your expectations.

As far as reliability goes they're both very well put together. But, buy one that hasn’t been looked after and serviced properly or you're looking at a big bill. Full and complete service history with receipts is key, just like with most cars.

Performance wise they're both capable of big power but offer very different driving experiences.

There's stacks of really useful information on this site just a click away, and some very helpful and knowledgeable members.

That's one of the nicest Celica’s I've seen, very clean

very nice car mate,

i was bidding on a st205, then went and bought the sup

Thanks for the kind comments,

And for the good advice, I really think i've made my mind up to go with the supra, I've heard that I should go for a uk version, compared with an import. Through buying imports I love the fact they come with no rust what so ever so I need to way up the difference between the two and go from there. Im also trying to get one with the optional factory extra skirts and lip spoiler. Im sure once I let go of the celica and move on to the supra I wont look back. I also agree that modifying cars is a disease, I've been doing the same thing the last 8 years with every car i've bought. Everytime I start over I say I won't touch it then it starts all over again!

get an import, much more choice = more chance to find what you want rather than put up with what there is for sale.

Saying that, if you are happy with an auto then there are a few uk ones around. A manual UK spec = rocking horse sh1t, I gave up trying.

Good thing with j-specs, more choice, cars generally in excellent condition, mine is like new underneath on the floorpan etc. The other thing is all the minor things that you might want a Uk spec for can be changed easy enough anyway (which is probably just brakes really) as things like headlights can be DIY refirbed or even brand new sets are only around £250...

Its the six speed, im after so i'll probably have to go for an import. This doesnt bother me as I think the fact they come rust free is more of a plus than them missing some of the better parts the UK ones come with. Its trying to find one thats just come in, my only problem is I know how much my car is worth so Id rather swap than straight sale. I've already had an offer of £10000 for mine but I know what i've shelled out and my spec is worth a hell of a lot more than this and its not even run in! Hence I feel it would be better to swap with someone, but no import company is likely to do a straight swap so i'll have to settle for one already here and not be the first UK owner.

Lovely car mate

Both are very good cars, a Supra will be more reliable that a tuned Skyline, they can take a lot more power without major internal work like the Skyline.

There is a lot of 500-600hp cars on here now without any engine work done.

We ran 800hp on a stock engine for 15 months.

Plus the Supra really does look fantastic compared to the Skyline, although I have a big soft spot for a R34 GTR

Regards,

Gaz.

The Supra steals it on looks alone compared to the Skyline, though as Gaz said, the 34 GTR is special, ( with a special prise 2 ! ). Reliability push things further in favour of the soop, plus no rust with an import. Mines like new underneath.

its very wet and icey 11 months of the year up there in scotland right ?

the skylines 4x4 might be helpful, although someone will reply to this comment with "just get RLTC" or "Skylines aren't always 4x4" blah blah.

i think personally a high powered car is only good if you can get the power down and I struggle to do this in my supra unless the roads are bone dry.

seeing that you have a 4x4 already you may be frustrated with the tail happy supra in the bad weather.

other than that its got to be the supra all the way

my 2ps worth.

very good point there Steve!

I came from a high power 4wd background. Can't say I've been fustrated, all cars have different character. But RLTC is going on soon, many people say it is one of the best 1st mods to do, along with BPU and brakes.

Thanks for the really friendly advice! I have swayed right towards the supra at the moment, I still like the 33gtr but as someone said on looks alone the supra does beat it! I think both cars are very receptive to mild upgrades, but as someone else said the supras boundries seem to be a lot more on standard internals than the skyline. Ah decisions decisions, wont be a rush move, ill just go to a few more summer events and talk with some of you guys in person to get more opinions, and the same with the skyline guys!

Thanks for the really friendly advice! I have swayed right towards the supra at the moment, I still like the 33gtr but as someone said on looks alone the supra does beat it! I think both cars are very receptive to mild upgrades, but as someone else said the supras boundries seem to be a lot more on standard internals than the skyline. Ah decisions decisions, wont be a rush move, ill just go to a few more summer events and talk with some of you guys in person to get more opinions, and the same with the skyline guys!

just a word of advice...looking at what you have had done to your celica....the supra will not be as fast at BPU levels, it will be a hell of a lot more reliable for you and looks better only joking you have alovely celica there, one of the nicest I have seen, if you are not put off by the performance drop, I would go for a supra

Thanks, and dont worry I agree the supra is a hell of a lot nicer looking than its little brother. I think i'd be happy to drop the performance if I knew it was going to be reliable and maybe if I wasnt happy without doing a full engine out job(like the celica has to have to get more power) I could search for more power after the bpu upgrades. Does anyone run the supra day to day at around 550hp with standard bottom end internals? Will it accept this without major issues?

Thanks, and dont worry I agree the supra is a hell of a lot nicer looking than its little brother. I think i'd be happy to drop the performance if I knew it was going to be reliable and maybe if I wasnt happy without doing a full engine out job(like the celica has to have to get more power) I could search for more power after the bpu upgrades. Does anyone run the supra day to day at around 550hp with standard bottom end internals? Will it accept this without major issues?

Stock internals have seen over 800bhp in the states.......there is a little example for ya on what the bottom end is capable off! anything over 550-600 I would consider a built motor as well

lots of member have daily drivers at around the 500 mark....im sure some will comment soon

yeah it seems 500-600 can be daily drivers on the stock engine. Alledgedly the supra was designed as a 500bhp engine anyway and then detuned (not sure if that is true) but it certainly performs as if this were the case. It is well over engineered and if well looked after, seems (from what people say) to be more reliable at 500-600bhp than most tuned 2l cars are at 300.

Yeah the power going through just the rear wheels scared the shit out of me at 1st .... but once you get used to it its awesome fun to play with! Had 2 friends that have sold GTR's and gone for a GTS purely because its more fun to drive then 4x4... different people... different opinions!

I also love the really low driving position of the supra, as matey said, the only way u will really know is to have a go in both!