It's beem my daily driver for 3 years. Had 3 differnt people hit it and still going strong. I love my tank. One day all the panels will be straight, the paint glossy, and the power abundant. Supras rule!
How Many Daily Drivers?
- Thread starter suprabad
- Start date
Mines a dd and I just got it 3 months ago. Has alot of minor-moderate problems but its reliable it just sucks I have to start and finish all my car work on saturday/sunday. Good dd though as long as you dont race every car you see, and mod it incorrectly. IE put a 500 hp turbo on without changing stock hg or anything else
After reading and re-reading everybody's replies to my thread I couldn't resist commenting on what great testimony this is to the intrinsic value and quality of our beloved Supra MkIII's.
When you think about it, we are the self appointed caretakers in charge of making sure that these cars are properly represented and preserved. Let's face it, they aren't making any more MkIII's and without us they would just disappear into automotive history like so many other forgotten car makes and models.
I think in the near future the rest of the automotive community will catch up with us and realize what a great car the MkIII is. How many will be left at that point is anybody's guess. One thing is for sure when this happens the dollar value of the car will go through the roof. It's happened before. I remember when you couldn't give a sixties muscle car away. I think it's safe to say that is no longer the case. I believe the same will be true of the MkIII Supra.
When you think about it, we are the self appointed caretakers in charge of making sure that these cars are properly represented and preserved. Let's face it, they aren't making any more MkIII's and without us they would just disappear into automotive history like so many other forgotten car makes and models.
I think in the near future the rest of the automotive community will catch up with us and realize what a great car the MkIII is. How many will be left at that point is anybody's guess. One thing is for sure when this happens the dollar value of the car will go through the roof. It's happened before. I remember when you couldn't give a sixties muscle car away. I think it's safe to say that is no longer the case. I believe the same will be true of the MkIII Supra.
I agree with Suprabad 100%. Here's a story from an old geezer. When I was 18 in 1975 I bought my first and only car on payments. It was a 1970 Dodge Charger 383 for a whopping heart sinking $1600.00. Next to it was a all original Black 1970 Plymouth Cuda 4 speed with a 426 Hemi with 26k miles on it, it was an even more unreachable $2,600.00. Had I bought that Cuda and kept it I could have sold it today for 200k. I see this happening with the Supra in the next few years, so get all the parts you can stashed away. I also think the Gen 4 Supras will soon be worth more than flimsy used Ferraris and Porsches due to their robust Quality and Reliability when actually driven.
Suprageezer
Suprageezer
CryoSLash said:
When I was in school our parking lot was full of BMWs and Merc's, every once in a while you would even find a porsche... That was the kids lot too, the teachers lot was full of cars more like mine at the time, an 87 corolla.
I drive mine daily(every day) it is my only car that i have for now but i am hoping to change that because supras in winter in indiana let alone supra turbos not a good idea but still doable how modded is it just check out my profile because i realy dont feel like listing all of them again.
I'm glad to see so many guys with DD's. I don't see alot of Mkiii's on the road so I was starting to wonder.
I don't see a Mkiii every day or every minute like a new Mustang or some other "common as potato's" car. As a result on the rare occasions that I do encounter another Supra I've noticed that the other driver and I always give each other what I have come to call; "THE SUPRA NOD."
...undoubtedly you guys know what I mean.
I don't see a Mkiii every day or every minute like a new Mustang or some other "common as potato's" car. As a result on the rare occasions that I do encounter another Supra I've noticed that the other driver and I always give each other what I have come to call; "THE SUPRA NOD."
...undoubtedly you guys know what I mean.
i had mine for over a year now and put a mere 900 miles on it... first it was a daily driver then i blew the turbo then the hg then decided to buy an Altima and started rebuilding the supra... love with out getting much drive time on it. Im just starting to drive it again but not for long since the winter is coming. Mods are slim now... MHG with arp studs. Aermotive AFPR with walbro pump 60-1 compressor HKS ssqv Bov HKS turbo timer and boost controller... gas sux but you know that when buying the car
I picked up my 1989 Turbo in 1996 with just 50,500 miles on it. This was to replace my 1981 Ford Fairmont.
Until this summer my Supra had only stranded me once! and that was two days after I got the car when the clutch went completely out. This summer I found out about a hose I missed during my regular maintenance of replacing all of the hoses and was stranded on the highway in Rush Hour Traffic for nearly 2 hours waiting for a tow truck.
My Supra has taken me to Las Vegas from Portland and back all 9 years (round trip of more than 2500 miles each year = nearly 23,000 miles just for Vegas). Only once have I EVER had a problem on that drive and it was my own fault for listening to a friend and putting in an electric fan.
For a number of years my Supra made the daily commute of more than 25 miles EACH way. There was a few months where my commute was only 9 miles each way and then it was back to ~20 miles each way.
Just this past Labor Day weekend my baby was retired from DD status when I picked up a 2006 Solara SLE Convertible to scoot around town in.
Mods were basic:
HKS DP
HKS 75mm Exhaust
K&N FIPK
HKS Manual Boost Controller set just below fuel cut
GReddy Type S BOV
LARGE IC - concept for one that is on the market now
Tokico Illumina II TEMS Shocks
Eibach Pro Springs
Porterfield Brake Pads
TRD SS Brake Lines
Motul Synthetic Brake Fluid
MkIV 17" Rims
Firehawk SZ50 EP Tires
Other non-performance related tweaks.
If taken care of and the proper maintenance schedule is followed the Supra can be a VERY reliable car for daily driving. The problem is most of the people don't follow the golden rule: Fast - Reliable - Cheap (you can only select 2)
Keith Hart
1989 Supra Turbo
2006 Solara SLE Convertible
Until this summer my Supra had only stranded me once! and that was two days after I got the car when the clutch went completely out. This summer I found out about a hose I missed during my regular maintenance of replacing all of the hoses and was stranded on the highway in Rush Hour Traffic for nearly 2 hours waiting for a tow truck.
My Supra has taken me to Las Vegas from Portland and back all 9 years (round trip of more than 2500 miles each year = nearly 23,000 miles just for Vegas). Only once have I EVER had a problem on that drive and it was my own fault for listening to a friend and putting in an electric fan.
For a number of years my Supra made the daily commute of more than 25 miles EACH way. There was a few months where my commute was only 9 miles each way and then it was back to ~20 miles each way.
Just this past Labor Day weekend my baby was retired from DD status when I picked up a 2006 Solara SLE Convertible to scoot around town in.
Mods were basic:
HKS DP
HKS 75mm Exhaust
K&N FIPK
HKS Manual Boost Controller set just below fuel cut
GReddy Type S BOV
LARGE IC - concept for one that is on the market now
Tokico Illumina II TEMS Shocks
Eibach Pro Springs
Porterfield Brake Pads
TRD SS Brake Lines
Motul Synthetic Brake Fluid
MkIV 17" Rims
Firehawk SZ50 EP Tires
Other non-performance related tweaks.
If taken care of and the proper maintenance schedule is followed the Supra can be a VERY reliable car for daily driving. The problem is most of the people don't follow the golden rule: Fast - Reliable - Cheap (you can only select 2)
Keith Hart
1989 Supra Turbo
2006 Solara SLE Convertible
mines a DD, let see does pretty good. it has NEVER left me stranded anywhere with anything. but i have been thru 1 auto tranny and on my second turbo. shit happens
josh
josh
Mine is a DD for me. I have a decent list of mods, as seen in my profile, and I would still consider it to be very reliable.
My dad's 89 turbo is also his DD-with 205K+ on it. He had a BHG at 190k+ and had a new shortblock installed along with a HKS 1.2mm MHG and ARP head bolts. Other than that, he had the exhaust manifold gasket go bad (it was old), a minor off-and-on coolant leak (forgot exactly where, but near the bottom of the radiator) and he's having the A/C converted to the newer type of freon since it stopped working. His mods are short, for now-other than what I already mentioned, a K&N FIPK and HKS Drager exhaust. I would say that for as "experienced" as that car is, it's very reliable.
My dad's 89 turbo is also his DD-with 205K+ on it. He had a BHG at 190k+ and had a new shortblock installed along with a HKS 1.2mm MHG and ARP head bolts. Other than that, he had the exhaust manifold gasket go bad (it was old), a minor off-and-on coolant leak (forgot exactly where, but near the bottom of the radiator) and he's having the A/C converted to the newer type of freon since it stopped working. His mods are short, for now-other than what I already mentioned, a K&N FIPK and HKS Drager exhaust. I would say that for as "experienced" as that car is, it's very reliable.
I rarely see any MKIII's on the road here. If I do,they are usually thrashed beyond repair,or pimped-out by an illegal alien and should be on ricecop.com.
Mine is a daily driver
Mine is a daily driver
mine is a dd and is currently the only car i have bad as it is i have no heat no defrost my gauge cluster is from japan so its all backwards and i have a rhd steering column on the left side but it runs great other than the occasional smoke cloud from the bad turbo. i also have another supra na but it has a broken rod.
I used to daily drive my supra, till I started buying beater (more so than a mk3 supra) cars. Before I started the beater expedition the "fuel eaters" in the mk3 were 550s and 4.30 gears. I got around 15-17mpg in town. Didnt have any problems with it.
I got the beaters before the whole "gas is getting crazy expensive" deal, and even then switching from 15mpg to 27+ mpg saved me a whole lot of cash for the amount of driving I did. Now it saves me even more so.
I've had a AE86, an AW11, and now an Integra GSR since weekending only the Supra.
It's not an issue of reliabilty, but an issue of gas and more comfortable daily driver.
I got the beaters before the whole "gas is getting crazy expensive" deal, and even then switching from 15mpg to 27+ mpg saved me a whole lot of cash for the amount of driving I did. Now it saves me even more so.
I've had a AE86, an AW11, and now an Integra GSR since weekending only the Supra.
It's not an issue of reliabilty, but an issue of gas and more comfortable daily driver.
Forgot to mention:
I have never touched the Turbo - still the original one that came from the factory - but it is starting to get a little tired.
Also never touched the motor except to retorque at 70k miles.
I have never touched the Turbo - still the original one that came from the factory - but it is starting to get a little tired.
Also never touched the motor except to retorque at 70k miles.
i used to
then i got pulled over a lot.
now i cant even drive it because theres nothing to it....
i dont believe i will DD it when it runs again... that's what n/a's are for.
it will be a nice day/weekend car. one that sees minimal to no rain and pretty much stripped.
i will of course get the bug, so i'm sure i'll pick up an n/a for daily usage. i was thinking about that a lot this weekend, and quite frankly, i dont see why not.
then i got pulled over a lot.
now i cant even drive it because theres nothing to it....
i dont believe i will DD it when it runs again... that's what n/a's are for.
it will be a nice day/weekend car. one that sees minimal to no rain and pretty much stripped.
i will of course get the bug, so i'm sure i'll pick up an n/a for daily usage. i was thinking about that a lot this weekend, and quite frankly, i dont see why not.
I try to daily drive mine. I did it with my 87 n/a for a year and a half, but my turbo just will not stay on the road yet. The previous owner was retarded and did not take care of anything properly so now his issues are mine.