Faults:

Head gasket blown at ~135k miles and recently at 172k miles (I am guessing this second time.) This time it ain't worth it to fix it. I realized this is an inherent problem from my survey with other owners. Will this affect my perception of Toyota. Yes somewhat. I do know every other parts of the car is rock solid though and never had any other major repairs beside the damn head gasket.

Minor repairs/replacements are:

Normal wear and tear from tires and rotor/brake pad

Brake clutch replaced

Leaking steering fluid started at approx 120k mile...never fixed

AC went out at 110k miles

Starter safety switch

Smog failed ever since the first gasket failure.

This car was pampered till my first head gasket failure. Since then and the subsequent engine rebuilt I have let it go since the idiot mechanic I got never got it running right ever again.

Positives are:

Rock solid transmision unlike my mom's cressida 89 which started to slip at approx 180-200k miles.

Never any electrical problems.

PS: Car overheated again on the freeway on a roadtrip recently at around 172k. Mechanic couldn't figure out what was causing and we tried everything trust me. I gave it away to a nice local guy since I couldn't take it with me. Hopefully he can figure it out but I gave up .

General Comments:

Luxurious car and being heavy it was detrimental to it performance due to the overloaded and pampered interior.

Awesome seating configurations and instrumentations.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing. I had the entire motor rebuilt when I first bought the car. It runs like a beauty, and is as fast as hell.

General Comments:

I love this car. I have always owned Honda cars. My most recent was a Honda Civic Si, and I dropped too much money in the car, only to have it stolen and stripped. Then after I recovered the car, I crashed, so I decided to buy something else.

A friend of mine who has a 1986 Supra told me I should look into them. I thought no way, those cars are as old as hell, but I finally drove his, and I was hooked.

Two days later, I had one. It's a 1987 pearl white, and I bought from the original owner who drove it off the lot way back, then he kept the car immaculate. Seeing how it had so many miles, and after researching on them, I decided to have the entire motor rebuilt, which took 2 weeks, and let me tell you, it runs great.

I topped out at 139mph; that's sick for a stock motor. I have plans to upgrade the motor to get at least 300hp out of her.

Well all in all, it's a great car, and looks sexy in all pearl white.

Faults:

Blown head gasket at 270,000kms which could have been avoided if I had followed tips from the guys on the club forum.

General Comments:

This head gasket failure is common to ALL Supras with the 7M-GE or 7M-GTE engine. The cause of the gasket failure is due to a head Torque spec that was too low. It has been proven through various tests that over time because of the varying expansion rates of the Aluminum head and the Cast Iron block, the head bolts loosen over time and eventually do not hold the head on tight enough and the internal engine pressures blow the gasket out.

A new head bolt torque spec was calculated and published on the supra club forum that prevents this problem from happening.

Other than the above problem, this car is as close to perfect as you can come to for an affordable pure bred luxury sports car.

The only complaint that I had with the car was that the suspension was too soft for serious spirited cornering, so I upgraded by changing out the springs to the Eibach Pro-Kit, and shocks to the Tokico Sport shocks. I still used the stock wheels and tire size, and ran Yokohama A509 rubber. With this combination the car handled like it was on rails.

As for performance, I haven't driven anything quicker for the price. I've had the car at the track several times and got a 0 to 60 time of 5secs flat.

Depending on what you are looking for, you need to be careful what year supra you buy. If you want blistering off the line acceleration, the buy the 1987 or 1988 model with the 5spd as it will match the 1995 Twin Turbo in a 0 to 60 mph run for a fraction of the price, however if you want a high speed cruiser, then the 1989 to 1992 Turbo models are a great buy. You then spend the difference in money on performance upgrades, and you'll then have a high speed cruiser that is faster that the Twin turbo for the same price.

Overall, the Supra is great bang for the buck, just ensure you don't get one that had been in an accident, rusted out, or one with a blown head gasket.

A cheap head leak detector dye is a must for potential supra buyers. One drop of this in the coolant will instantly tell you if there is a head gasket leak problem. Its well worth the couple bucks that will potentially save you huge dollars if you need to replace the gasket soon after you buy the car.