LG John

I'm trying to value this car with a view to a p/x deal.



As you can see it's externally in good condition with tasteful alloys that are absolutely unmarked. Paint seems good and the interior is in excellent condition as well with cream leather seats in great nick for 9 years old!

Details:

- 1997 Facelift with VVti engine with tiptronic gearbox
- 58,000 miles
- Lifelong service history I haven't checked yet but I've seen the receipt for a recent big one (with timing belt). I realise this is important so for now assume that Jap history is scetchy at best and that UK history is good
- Brand new disks and pads
- HKS intake sytem and a print out for 367bhp (I suspect VERY optimistic rollers btw!)

Visually its the nicest example of a Supra I've seen in the flesh both inside and out. It's been tastefully modded and well looked after by an enthusiastic owner. I'd appreciate some ball park figures on what its worth and if I was to buy it what I should aim for

For clarity this is a Jap import - 90% sure they didn't do tiptronic in the UK anyway.

Brun

I can see it 12 months from now - Saxo Boy couldn't resist the single huge turbo conversion while chasing 500 bhp+
Live the dream

Brun

Very nice BTW

sbk1972

go to www.mkivsupra.co.uk or .net, one of them. Ive seen this car on ebay, liked it too. I have a facelift non vvti. The bhp is believable, as the vvti model have, on average, 330bhp.

What sort of price have you agreed / mentioned ?? A good vvti supra, on an r plate, is between 10 - 14K. Prices of the non facelift / nonvvti have gone done, fuel prices, costs have effected all big powerful cars.

I thought the interior was an after thought, i.e. he brought a uk cream interior off a uk or had it re-trimmed ?

Im not too keen on thr wheels, and if I was to buy it, I would put the standard 17" back on, but hey ho each to their own.

If its got all the history, mint, mot , tax, I would say £12K ?? for a vvti.

Its a good car, it will never go wrong, as Ive done over 80K in my one with no problems.

SBK

LG John

I never saw the guys ebay add so I don't know the details from it. I'm reluctant to ask what its worth on the Supra forums as the owner goes on there and its a little 'off' IMHO. He seemed to be talking in and around the £10k mark.

It's my understanding that 6-speed UK VVTI's are the ultra rare Supra's that fetch 10-14k. I think the VVTi tiptronics are worth less but I don't know how much exactly.

Getting a car of this nature would be a bit of a gamble for me because it doesn't tick my usual boxes. I really don't want to buy it for £10k only to find I have to drop to £7,500 to get it to shift 6 months from now because I want something else. I realise depreciation is unavoidable but I'm trying to avoid taking any hit over and above normal depreciation.

Don't suppose you have any links to that ebay advert do you? I'd like to read it if you are sure its the same car. Part of me is sceptical that it hasn't sold as it really seems like an excellent example to me.

sbk1972

Right, lets clear up a few points. The vvti was never introduced into the uk. The vvti ones were only in japan and are tremedous cars. Due to the SVA / model reports, these cant be brought into the UK now, so are holding their value.

The mkiv supra, its evolution went like this, the uk version which stopped around 96, toyota introduced a facelift, different dash, lights, then they changed the engine to the vvti one, all for the JDM market.

As to ticking your boxes, lets see if I can help here. I currently have a M3 evo, and a mkiv supra tt facelift. During ownership of these, I also had a impreza sti version 6 coupe r thing. Out of all of them, my supra is the best, fastest, most comfortable, most reliable, most capible car.

Performance wise, yes the subaru would inch, and I mean inch infront to about 90, then my supra would blast passed it. My brother and I enjoy numerous little races together :-) Ive had my supra decatted, it has two cats, I removed the second on. sports exhaust etc, and TDI rolling roaded it at around 351. I drove to Switzerland with my bro one weekend, and for a good 30 mins, this car was been driven at around 140 - 160 mph on the tollroads at 2/3am. THe only thing that broke, was the aerial, due to the wind, it bent over :-)

The mkiv supra, especially the vvti one is a tremendously fast car. The toyota auto's are great, not the normal performance sucking auto's found in many other cars. The tiptronic has buttons on the steering wheel to change up down, and Ive heard nothing but good things.

However, everyone is different, perhaps a drive, see how you feel, its not the only car in the world, so there are plenty of others out there.

SBK

J4CK50N

definately get over to mkivsupra.net

Loads of info mate. I've had my supra for 2 years now and its been a wealth of info.

Majority are good folk as well.

You should get a good deal on one too as due to the dogs that are being imported alately the price is being driven down.

This is also a factor to bear in mind tho when considering resale.

My supra has been an excellent car, with the engines acclaimed to be bulletproof.

The pull through all gears is amazing and with a few subtle mods there are few cars that could keep up.

They handle a lot better than people make out as well. I went from a Scoob Type R to mine, and although i was wary at first, as long as you respect the power (and mine runs about 450bhp) it is very well behaved and corners with the best of em.

One thing i would say tho, is that if this is a car you are considering at least find one or two more to drive before you make the decision. I'm probably teaching my grandma to suck eggs here tho!

Cheers

J4CK50N

LG John

Thanks guys I'm already on the supra forum: See

Basically my Honda was advertised on Pistonheads to see if I could sell it. I don't have to sell, nor particularly want to, but doing so would give me options and I definately could use the money over the winter period with a view to getting another fun car in spring.

A guy local to me who has the Supra suggested a p/x with money my way. The money my way would go some way to dealing with the financial aspects of things I'm considering over the winter so that is good.

This issue becomes whether the Supra would be a bad buy. There are too ways it could be a bad buy in my view:

1. I don't enjoy the car or find it exciting to drive.
2. I can't sell the car because of 1. or for some other reason and have to take a £2.5k hit to shift it, etc.

Provided I like the car then I'd see no reason not to keep it for 18 months or longer. This would surely deal with No.2. Here is how: If I keep the S2000 for 18 months more the 2006 cars will hit the 2nd hand market and there might even be 2007 revisions. Assuming a value of £16,000 just now I'd expect the S2000 to be worth £13,000 or less in 18 months time. An actual loss of £3000. If I got the Supra for say £9000 I'd be very surprised if it was only worth £6,000 in 18 months time. I'd actually hope it might still be £8-9k if its looked after well by me.

What is important then is that I like the car and/or get it at a keen price. I want to try and secure a keen price to offset the risk factor in buying a car I'm unsure about. I VERY much enjoy communicative driving where the driver is involved. The S2000 has razor sharp inputs (snappy gearchange, snappy throttle, quick turn in, snappy rear-end) and you feel like you carve your path wherever you go. I do however enjoy some point-n-squirt driving so there is appeal in a car with monster straight-line shove but being a tiptronic and not having the S2000's reflexes I fear it might bet boring quickly? I'm going to try and talk the owner into an extended test drive (perhaps even a car swap for a few days) to allow me to better judge if there is longevity in my interest in such a vehicle.

In the meantime placing a value range on this car would be very useful so that I know what I'm working to

Colin if you are reading this thread don't tell Bing what car I'm considering. We've already devised a blindfold game where he has to guess my next car by the sound, feel of the interior and acceleration sensation alone

sbk1972

saxoboy, you know nothing about speed until you have a twin turbo supra. Although S2000 are lovely, and yes I considered one, had an extended testdrive / weekend, nothing compares to the supra, and yes the handling is lovely, as is the thrill of that red button, to start / stop, but once you have a supra, on boost, by christ your sold !

Ive had my supra for over 4 years now and I never fail to get out of it laughing and some outlandish bit of driving, over taking. The pure accerlation of my supra is addictive, hence why Ive never got rid of the car.

Porsche turbos, M5's, M3, sti, anything andeverything you will be challanging. The only one car that did surprise me and was equal was some chipped up Holden on the M23.

For seer performance, with reliablity, comfort, pound per bhp, supras are tremendous.

SBK

J4CK50N

Could not have put it better myself!

LG John

But do I not need to grow a chestwig and spend loads on blind 24ct gold jewellery? I hear you guys. You probably know I'm a bit of a straight-line junkies myself but I'd really hope the Supra isn't a rolly polly barge that lets go at the first sign of a corner.

sbk1972

nope, JDM have stiffer suspension for the JDM better roads. My thing goes round corners, stomach sickening well.

My old thing is war wagon. Brought it when it was raining, couldnt see the paint work, I was a real mug I can tell you. When home, could see that it had had a smash down the driver's side, and they had used a B&Q paint brush to paint it.

Mechnanically, it was perfect, so thought bollox to it. I used it for 3 years as a work horse driving up and down to wallington, from worthing, on the m23. Never failed me once.

As to chest wig, these comments were more towards the mkiii supra, got 2 of those as well ! :-) I love supras ! hahaah.

Go drive it, a good drive, not some 10 mins around the shops crap, a good long drive, then come back.

SBK

LG John

I've just emailed the owner to ask him if he'd be agreeable to a car swap for a few days. Watch this space

Brun

eldudereno

That figure doesn't seem too far away from the mark to me. The specified standard 280bhp is pie in the sky as the Jap Bosses of all the sports car manufacturers agreed not to produce anything over 280bhp but in reality they did. The VVTI is the most powerful Supra built. Fully decatted with a nice exhaust and you'll be pushing 400bhp.

Has it got the bigger UK spec brakes? With regards to price I would value it at about £10.5k.

Dark Blue Mark

RX7 ???? Much more hardcore

MB

LG John

Yeah but much more tricky to work on and the engine is not likely to be as strong as a Supra.

Dark Blue Mark

The image though man, the image!

Its strong, its just desinged to wear

MB

Petem95

Yeah Supra's are the king-chav car of choice!.. saying that this is a Subaru forum, so you'd assume most people on here go for chav stuff!

Dark Blue Mark

MB

cong

R33?

SiPie

LG John

Nobody with an R33 is offering me a part-exchange Also they are more expensive for the same model year.

RMA26

Bro's mate had one, sold it as it "was too much to handle" at times...??

Dark Blue Mark

You have to try one Kenny - its an interesting experience!

MB

Fabioso

Saxo,

Here's my view for what its worth.....

I've always liked Supras, a guy at work has a mark iv n/a one and he raves about it after his imported Scooby WRX.

The S2000 is a great car and I think the Supra is a bit of a contrast after the high revving VTEC so its gonna make the drive different for sure.

I think they are not an 'obvious' choice these days and they are better for it.

This chest wig, chav bollix is just a load of crap, who gives a stuff if its a great drive ?

I say, try it and if you like it then go for it!

wonfa

go for it mate mkiv supras are great i miss my old supra which i had before my scoob, i never stopped smiling when i drove it but then again it was pushing 735bhp!!
and the noise it made even doing 20-30 mph got everyone looking without putting my foot down, they are more of a handfull than a scooby round corners but in standard form the power is easily controlled
craig

Dark Blue Mark

735 bhp

MB

wonfa

it won the rear wheel drive catergory at last years jap show, so was pretty quick down a quarter mile