Is Supra right for me?
- Thread starter chris330
- Start date
Poodles;1541654 said:
Not in this community. People think you overpaid if you didn't trade a case of beer for your car...
the first 2 years of ownership I spend over 8k just in maintenance, that included a replacement engine, I’m a automotive technician so the labor is always free and the parts come at commercial prices, so that being said if you had no skills and no contacts that can score you lower priced parts, look for the best supra you can find for 4k and be prepared to fix it when things start to go bad, it will happen things will break and things are going to need to be fixed. Now 4 years into the ownership of this car just when I thought I had it right turns out it was not good enough so am doing a full rebuild, in over 6k already and counting for one to be so obsessed with a car is insane. But am sure many others on here will tell you it just can’t be helped once you drive one you will most likely get hooked and it’s downhill from there.
oh and my car was a gift from my dad.
oh and my car was a gift from my dad.
Poodles;1541654 said:
I paied $800 for my first supra. Sad thing is it was more dependable than the one I have now lol.
For a clean supra I would pay 4-7k easy
Some great advise in this thread. It is a great car! Chances are, your 240sx drifting friends have fast, fun pieces of shit, that have been thrown together with cheap eBay parts for the purpose of beating on them. The Supra is a much better car to star with. If you can do your own work, all of the answers you will ever need are right here for you. Just don't go into it thinking you can get a decent one, and just throw a big turbo on it to be fast. Do the research before everything you do, and save for each step of the way. General maintenance, a good head gasket, and extra quart of oil at all times, and don't over rev.....and the car will treat you as good as you treat it. You'll always make more money than your initial 4K.
Not to flame or anything but, Where the hell are you guys buying your supras from? They are making some money on you guys. $4k will get him a very good supra if he looks right and KNOWS what to stay away from, Of course hes gonna be behind the curve, Technically anytime you have a budget and drop money on a car your automatically behind the curve, And the car might not be amazingly pristine but he cant just go out and buy the first one he sees. He needs to Wait, Watch, Learn, And search.
If there's anywhere to do that stuff its here.
Just hang tight, Keep searching, Learn what to look for. Good and bad. And go look at cars. Don't fall for the first one you see, You can always call them back later and if its gone then keep searching. $4k will get you a respectable supra if you look. Yes you'll have to spend money on it later and they are picky. They need to be up kept and treated like princesses, But even the princess likes to have fun.
If there's anywhere to do that stuff its here.
Just hang tight, Keep searching, Learn what to look for. Good and bad. And go look at cars. Don't fall for the first one you see, You can always call them back later and if its gone then keep searching. $4k will get you a respectable supra if you look. Yes you'll have to spend money on it later and they are picky. They need to be up kept and treated like princesses, But even the princess likes to have fun.
I picked mine up for $700 but now I'm somewhere well north of of eight grand and still have a pretty long road ahead. You can pick one up for cheap and if you keep your eye out you can get a good deal, I know I did. But you either start off low and have to put a lot time and parts into it to get it nice. Or you can buy it nice to begin with But 4,000 is a little short to do the nessicary by a comfortable margin. Or you can buy it cheap, drive it like that, continually chasing down the next problem, and blame the car because you don't want to pay to play, so to speak.
Also, I'm sure it's not news to you but may be to newcomers, turbo versions of our car are considerably more expensive than their N/A counter parts. Both to purchase and to maintain. They are a more complex machine so they have more parts to maintain, and due to the increased power, wear those parts out quicker. Also just by looking at your sig even you have a fair amount of money invested in your MKIII, and if you plan to go turbo another good chunk is going to have to be dropped on it. These cars can take quite abit, if you actually stopped and added up how much money you have spent on it, even the little things, it might surprise you.
And it's the odds and ends that can sneak up on you. I picked up my 2JZ for $2900. I figured I could keep it under $5000. After all the hoses were changed needed gaskets were replaced, supplies for the hybrid harness and various odds and ends, all work done by me. I was sailing well past $6000 before I felt comfortable taking her on long trips.
In addition, while I do understand what your trying to say about our cars being princesses, seeing how much attention we give them. Princesses seems to soft a word (semantics I know), because when it comes time to drive the Supra, I drive her hard. A princesses would snap, my Supra will not.:evil2:
Also, I'm sure it's not news to you but may be to newcomers, turbo versions of our car are considerably more expensive than their N/A counter parts. Both to purchase and to maintain. They are a more complex machine so they have more parts to maintain, and due to the increased power, wear those parts out quicker. Also just by looking at your sig even you have a fair amount of money invested in your MKIII, and if you plan to go turbo another good chunk is going to have to be dropped on it. These cars can take quite abit, if you actually stopped and added up how much money you have spent on it, even the little things, it might surprise you.
And it's the odds and ends that can sneak up on you. I picked up my 2JZ for $2900. I figured I could keep it under $5000. After all the hoses were changed needed gaskets were replaced, supplies for the hybrid harness and various odds and ends, all work done by me. I was sailing well past $6000 before I felt comfortable taking her on long trips.
In addition, while I do understand what your trying to say about our cars being princesses, seeing how much attention we give them. Princesses seems to soft a word (semantics I know), because when it comes time to drive the Supra, I drive her hard. A princesses would snap, my Supra will not.:evil2:
SupaMan;1541844 said:Not to flame or anything but, Where the hell are you guys buying your supras from? They are making some money on you guys. $4k will get him a very good supra if he looks right and KNOWS what to stay away from, Of course hes gonna be behind the curve, Technically anytime you have a budget and drop money on a car your automatically behind the curve, And the car might not be amazingly pristine but he cant just go out and buy the first one he sees. He needs to Wait, Watch, Learn, And search.
If there's anywhere to do that stuff its here.
Just hang tight, Keep searching, Learn what to look for. Good and bad. And go look at cars. Don't fall for the first one you see, You can always call them back later and if its gone then keep searching. $4k will get you a respectable supra if you look. Yes you'll have to spend money on it later and they are picky. They need to be up kept and treated like princesses, But even the princess likes to have fun.
I didn't mean just getting the car though, the shoveling starts after that point.
Oh i completely agree with both of you, They will nickle and dime you to death, Im no stranger to building cars while watching money, I may be young but my whole family and all my friends have been doing it for a long, long time and from the time i could turn a wrench Ive been around it. True my car is N/A and i understand turbos take more money, Ive had boosted vehicles too. I bought my N/A for $1600 and it would still be mint today if i wasn't an idiot back then and drove it extremely hard in the first year of owning it. Every problem Ive had (mechanically) with that car is something Ive caused as a result of driving it stupid hard, 99% of it has been drive-line. Now the rust was there before i bought it and at the time i was not aware of what to look for and the florida sun just completely screwed the moldings.
I know now how to slip launch and not clutch pop, And i know now how to shift fast without shock the drive-line, I didn't then and ill be the first to admit that. Driving your car hard is one thing if you know how to do it, Its another if you don't. So you can drive them hard and still keep them good if you know what your doing.
My point is, Ive dropped more money in the drive-line than Ive paid for the car but that's because i want it to last. And adding it all up right now im just shy of $3k with $400 worth of tires i just put on it. If you find a good car to start with and treat it right and do your own labor then $4k can do just fine to start out with, And if he has $4k now im assuming he has a job so he should be fine! But shit does happen and we all have had dreaded BHG, So its tuff to tell. Its the chance you take when owning these cars, They are old and have been around the block.
I know now how to slip launch and not clutch pop, And i know now how to shift fast without shock the drive-line, I didn't then and ill be the first to admit that. Driving your car hard is one thing if you know how to do it, Its another if you don't. So you can drive them hard and still keep them good if you know what your doing.
My point is, Ive dropped more money in the drive-line than Ive paid for the car but that's because i want it to last. And adding it all up right now im just shy of $3k with $400 worth of tires i just put on it. If you find a good car to start with and treat it right and do your own labor then $4k can do just fine to start out with, And if he has $4k now im assuming he has a job so he should be fine! But shit does happen and we all have had dreaded BHG, So its tuff to tell. Its the chance you take when owning these cars, They are old and have been around the block.
I picked up my 89 for $1200, the 86.5 for $700, and the 92 for $1900...
just look around, you can find some decent deals..
just look around, you can find some decent deals..
Most of what needs to be said has been said already. It boils down to this- any 20 year old car will have maintenance issues. Supras tend to have been abused some, simply because they are fun to drive, so they tend to need more TLC to make them reliable. If you just want a fun, reliable daily driver, the Supra is OK- but only if you go in with eyes wide open & aware of the fact that you will need to have an ongoing maintenance budget.
I bought my '92 with a 1JZ swap already completed for $7k on 12/31/09. (The 1JZ swap usually jacks up the price for a Supra by several thousand) And it was a relatively well maintained example, to boot. Even so, I just bought $900 in parts to fix several minor issues, and labor hasn't factored in yet. (Also waiting to get A/C leak found, so there will be more parts coming) I also have a paint job & suspension overhaul coming, so add another $5k over the next 12 months.
Oh, and the Supra is not yet my daily driver- I have a Mazdaspeed3 for that for the time being. Once the Supra is ready to take over as DD, I will likely ditch the MS3 and get either a motorcycle or a small, cheap econobox as a backup car, because down time to maintain an older car like a Supra all but necessitates having alternate transportation available.
You can get a decent MKIII Turbo with your $4k budget, but if you want to spend $4k and then forget it, well, forget it. If you have the skills and patience to deal with maintenance, though, you'll fall in love with a Supra.
I bought my '92 with a 1JZ swap already completed for $7k on 12/31/09. (The 1JZ swap usually jacks up the price for a Supra by several thousand) And it was a relatively well maintained example, to boot. Even so, I just bought $900 in parts to fix several minor issues, and labor hasn't factored in yet. (Also waiting to get A/C leak found, so there will be more parts coming) I also have a paint job & suspension overhaul coming, so add another $5k over the next 12 months.
Oh, and the Supra is not yet my daily driver- I have a Mazdaspeed3 for that for the time being. Once the Supra is ready to take over as DD, I will likely ditch the MS3 and get either a motorcycle or a small, cheap econobox as a backup car, because down time to maintain an older car like a Supra all but necessitates having alternate transportation available.
You can get a decent MKIII Turbo with your $4k budget, but if you want to spend $4k and then forget it, well, forget it. If you have the skills and patience to deal with maintenance, though, you'll fall in love with a Supra.
My .02 --- Do your homework, research many different Supras, some are in better shape than others and will cost more. Ask yourself what do you really want out of it?? Daily driver, speed demon, something to be proud of. Each answer of it self will cost money. For me, I bought mine in 1993 with 96,000 miles on in and it now has over 270,000 miles. Since then I have probably put well over 20k into it. Shocks, tires, clutch, body work, paint job, sunroof, rebuilt engine, regular maintenance, for me, I am basically restoring it, new window moldings, new interior item, but all stock, except the radio it sucked, went with a touch screen, the list go's on. I think everyone here is making sure you are not going into this blindly, parts are getting harder to find and cost more. Don't be scared off, these cars are fantastic, and the one thing above else I love about Supra's... they have style. Good luck.
chris330;1541446 said:
i dont know if this has been brought up, i suspect they have been, but here is the list of things that i will always say now after going though the build of a 7mgte
do you have mechanical knowledge?
do you have money to keep up on maintenance?
if you want to do performance modifications you will learn quick that once you break the 400-500hp mark you better hope you dont spend your paychecks on other things besides your car.
with a supra you will learn not to use it as your primary daily driver, because you will most likely end up working on it and it will be down and out of commission for a long period of time and your wallet will never stop burning.
supras dont need body mods, they are good stock...
don't do big modifications. if you plan on doing modifications and want lots of power, get a good block and a good head and build from there. that way your in no hurry. dont build the engine until you have all "ALL" the parts to finish the engine. keep in mind after 400-500hp you are now getting into electronics big time, more than a apexi AFC/neo.. start thinking piggy backs with at least ignition control, stand alone systems will be your best bet the system alone can price 2k-15k in electronics easy. so really start to think dreams through before you do it.
i did my whole build for 3600 and that counts car machine work 57 trim arps titan mhg suspension and a lot other things...so 4k is possible
it really all depends on how much "performance" he is intending to do. just thought i would drop him a line of the future if he wanted to go overboard. and if you do go way overboard just remember you want to build the engine bullet proof. so dont skimp