1987 Toyota Supra 2.5L 1jzgte

Summary:

Average man's super car

Faults:

A few months after I purchased the vehicle in 2006, the car started smoking, white/greyish color from the exhaust. I believe it had something to do with an o ring or a seal, but it cost me around 400 dollars to fix.

The car seems to eat up the brake pads rather fast, I'm a careful driver that never speeds, so not sure why that happens.

General Comments:

Reliability - The car is very reliable, I've taken trips where I've drove around 10-14 hours a day, and never had a problem. I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and would purchase another one if I somehow lost this vehicle.

Handling - It handles great, takes quick sharp turns, and seems to hug the curves on a road. Extremely satisfied.

Comfort - I'm about 5,9 and found the car has a lot of space. The 2 seats in the back are uncomfortable, and not much space is available for the average sized adult.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 23rd December, 2010

23rd Dec 2010, 14:42

Might be a head gasket.

1987 Toyota Supra 3.0 7M-GE

Faults:

The engine head gasket blew at 167,000 miles. Labor and parts cost 1,989.00.

Power steering hose has been replaced.

Water sensor temperature connections are worn out, and need to replace the parts at the wrecker yard. The donor Camry 1992 cost $5.95 a piece.

4 tires been replaced.

All belts have been replaced.

Alternator has been replaced.

Nippon Denso ignition coils failed at 180,000 miles.

Spark plugs/wires/rotors/cap.

Catalytic converter and muffler been replaced.

Transmission r154 turbo blew up, and been replaced at $650 in the pick a part.

Brake pads been replaced.

General Comments:

This car, if been maintain by the previous owner, will last more miles.

Runs smooth after I spent time and money on it.

Got 3x girlfriends already by using these. The car adds sex appeal to the owner if clean and repainted.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 24th October, 2010

9th Apr 2013, 19:20

Replaced rack and pinion at 190k miles, and rubber bushing cost me $1500 in March 2013. Runs smooth and crisp.

1987 Toyota Supra

Summary:

Glad I bought it!

Faults:

Mainly, two head gaskets.

General Comments:

Just one point. This car is almost a quarter-century old. It was a very low-production model (for Toyota), and shares no parts with other models. It came from Japan, I'm in Canada. So you'd think that when it needs parts (other than common wear items like brakes) I'd be searching wreckers or the internet.

In fact, to this day, absolutely ANY part that I need will be at my local dealer the next day. I think this is extraordinary manufacturer support.

It's still a bit of a head-turner that I use as my daily driver without worrying about some part failing.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th September, 2009

1987 Toyota Supra Turbo 7M-GTE

Summary:

100% Pure Japanese Muscle

Faults:

Thermometer died at around 60 thousand miles... 12 dollar fix.

Muffler went bad at 71500 miles,

General Comments:

This car is a dream to own; the turbocharged engine has great non-linear power, which allows beautiful high rev starts with the turbo kicking in a few seconds later, which means you don't do burnouts and thus lose time. The turbo gives you an absolute neck snapping butt kicking acceleration. Many a time have I passed a Corvette on the highway or street and watched with glee as the drivers jaw dropped as he was passed easily by a 20 year old car.

The seats are incredibly comfortable, and the power drivers seat lets you adjust for whatever size you are, the leather in mine looks like its brand new (I use Griots Garage Leather Care). I don't use the rear seats much, so I keep them folded down to give the car that sporty two seater look, but the rear seats are good for short trips with 4 people, though for long trips the back seats are best used for pets or small kids.

The dashboard is well laid out, and there is nothing like watching the turbo boost pressure fly up in sync with a sudden boost of acceleration.

The stock wheels are very 80's, and I will soon be replacing them with custom black ICW Odessa wheels. The stock wheels act like a heat sink for the brakes, and they thusly fade out very fast after a few hard stops.

The standard exhaust is great if you want a quiet car, but complete garbage for letting the engine breath. I replaced it with 2 high flow catalytic converters and 2.5 inch pipes with a free flowing muffler, and WOW the power and sound is insane. I estimate that I gained 40-50 hp after changing my exhaust out and removing one of the mufflers (the car has 2 stock).

The R154 transmission is incredibly robust, and the standard clutch will last for a very long time as long as you don't power shift or drop the clutch like an idiot every time you shift. Most of my friends shift like maniacs, and thus their clutches go out after only 25000 miles, whereas mine is still perfect.

The engine is also very strong and durable, with 400 horsepower easily attainable with no serious modification to the engine internals.

The turbo can safely put out around 20 pounds of boost, but I keep mine at the stock 6.7 pounds. I plan on shimming the wastegate to let the turbo put out around 12 later on.

The stock intake is built to be quiet, as the car is considered a luxury car, but I switched that for a K&N cold air intake, and the sound of the turbo spooling up and blowing off strikes fear into the hearts of anyone who tries to race you.

You can actually get excellent fuel economy with the car if you stay off the turbo (gentle acceleration with shifts coming between 2900-3400 rpm). I get about 27 mpg when I drive it smoothly.

The engine hits its peak torque output at around 4500 RPM, and peak power at 5500, so I tend to shift around 6 grand when I'm pushing it hard.

The car handles amazingly for a rear wheel drive car, and it's easy to drift if you want to.

My engine was rebuilt by Toyota at 55000 miles, and the head gaskets were torqued to 72 lbs as they should be, and I anticipate no problems with the head gasket for the life of the car.

The car itself is very sexy looking, though it doesn't get the kind of attention I got from everyone with a bright blue 91' Z28 Camaro, people whom actually know and care about cars come up to me all the time and tell me how incredible my car looks.

If you take good care of the paint, it looks incredible; wash it, polish it with a random orbital buffer, use a cleaner wax (I use Zymol Cleaner wax) and then put a nice coat of high quality Carnuba wax on it, and be amazed at how this car sparkles.

The Suspension system in the Supra is incredible, Mine came equipped with the TEMS (Toyota Electronically Modulated Suspension) that lets you switch between a soft ride and a more firm ride, and the onboard computer automatically switches the ride to the third firmest setting on hard manuevers at high speed, (I tap the brakes gently before I go into a corner at high speed and the suspension firms up.)

Because of this car, I will never buy anything but Japanese cars; it drives better, handles better, and just feels far better put together than any American car I have ever driven. (Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, etc.)

Buy one of these, put a few grand into tuning it, and you will have the fastest car on the block.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th November, 2008