Hopefully my first car..

jewwwwl

New Member
Sep 18, 2010
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California
So i'm trying to get a hold on my uncle's Supra mk3. I'm not sure what year it is, ill find out later. But it only has 60k on the 7M-GTE. :naughty: Only thing i know what's wrong is cosmetic, paint is oxidized.. rips in the interior. But that doesnt matter to me. I hope theres no mechanical problems with it, but it just sits in front of his house. I'm trying to save up $2000 and maybe he'll let it go for that haha. But i'm only at $800 right now in my pocket.. :icon_cry:
 

laotionracer101

New Member
Jan 8, 2010
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Arkansas
Ah dang, a relative owns this? if you had an asian family you might be able to get the car for 800 bucks, but idk what your sitch is Lol, good luck
 

jewwwwl

New Member
Sep 18, 2010
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California
But the cosmetic damages don't matter to me. That can all be fix anytime. I want to buy this car for the engine :biglaugh: haha. I'm 90% sure theres no mechanical problems. Plus, once i get it, the first thing im going to do is rebuild the engine anyways.
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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I come from a land down under
jewwwwl;1621299 said:
But the cosmetic damages don't matter to me. That can all be fix anytime. I want to buy this car for the engine :biglaugh: haha. I'm 90% sure theres no mechanical problems. Plus, once i get it, the first thing im going to do is rebuild the engine anyways.
And that's when the problems start.....
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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jewwwwl;1621332 said:
awww played.. :icon_frow now why do you say that?
Decades of experience....

Seen it happen here with these cars over and over it's almost like people follow a script.

A Mk3 isn't a good "first car" nor is it a good "only car"
 

jewwwwl

New Member
Sep 18, 2010
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California
IJ.;1621334 said:
Decades of experience....

Seen it happen here with these cars over and over it's almost like people follow a script.

A Mk3 isn't a good "first car" nor is it a good "only car"

Hmmm.. then what do you suggest i try to aim for? I don't have the kind of money for a brand new car.. so i wanted a sporty one that i can build upon. I was thinking for a S13.. then an Fc Rx7..

But 240's are getting a little played out, plus all the ones locally are pretty molested unless i get lucky and find an all stock one..

& for Rx7's no one in my family really knows much about rotary engines, and ive read that theyre hard to maintain..

so i've come to an Mk3! No one drives them here.. rarely see them. Plus my uncle's is just sitting in front of his house! been there more maybe.. a year or two.. that's why i was interested in it. But now you're telling me im going to have a lot of problems. :icon_neut
 

Dingoboy

New Member
Dec 25, 2009
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Tampa, FL
MKIII Supras aren't guaranteed to be unreliable money pits; it's just fairly common. If you don't have a standing budget for maintenance & repairs, and the patience to scour eBay, internet forums, and foreign parts suppliers online, the MKIII is probably not for you.

Honestly, if I were making a recommendation for a fun sporty car for a young buyer with limited funds, I would say to look at a 90's Miata. If you're horrified of the Miata & think it's too feminine, etc., well I won't try to change your mind. But they are tremendously reliable, easy to work on, and parts & modifications are plentiful & reasonably priced. Take a Miata out on an autocross track & you'll likely cross the finish line with a sh*t-eating grin on your face.
 

jewwwwl

New Member
Sep 18, 2010
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California
Dingoboy;1621349 said:
MKIII Supras aren't guaranteed to be unreliable money pits; it's just fairly common. If you don't have a standing budget for maintenance & repairs, and the patience to scour eBay, internet forums, and foreign parts suppliers online, the MKIII is probably not for you.

Honestly, if I were making a recommendation for a fun sporty car for a young buyer with limited funds, I would say to look at a 90's Miata. If you're horrified of the Miata & think it's too feminine, etc., well I won't try to change your mind. But they are tremendously reliable, easy to work on, and parts & modifications are plentiful & reasonably priced. Take a Miata out on an autocross track & you'll likely cross the finish line with a sh*t-eating grin on your face.

I'm not very fond of Miata's.. & i'm not planning to be taking my car to the track anyways. What i'm looking for is a nice sporty daily driver that i can work on with my spare time. Know what i mean? I'm not trying to go all out and mod it with all kinds of goodies. Just clean, fast, fairly easy to work with, and reliable.
 

bombinuass

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Mar 20, 2010
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xzeror;1621239 said:
if you want a car with no problems then the supra isnt for you, it will be a money pit.

this is not true. this depends on how hard you beat it. ive had mine almost 2 yrs, paid only 800 for it. re adjusted the timing, put new belts ans hoses on it and ive been driving since. ive done a few other things like knock sensor rewire, fixed an oil leak but none of them stopped me from driving it. i mean dont get me wrong, i may have just got a decent car, but ALL cars break, its 20+ years old.
 
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GotBoost?

I do
Nov 25, 2005
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jewwwwl;1621169 said:
So i'm trying to get a hold on my uncle's Supra mk3. I'm not sure what year it is, ill find out later. But it only has 60k on the 7M-GTE. :naughty: Only thing i know what's wrong is cosmetic, paint is oxidized.. rips in the interior. But that doesnt matter to me. I hope theres no mechanical problems with it, but it just sits in front of his house. I'm trying to save up $2000 and maybe he'll let it go for that haha. But i'm only at $800 right now in my pocket.. :icon_cry:

First off, congrats on knowing how to spell, and use punctuation and grammar properly; It shows you're smart. Now, confirm your smarts and heed the advice given here earlier. I've been into Supras since the early 90's, have owned several, and currently own three of the beasts, all have been turbo cars. Also, I have a few reliable daily drivers and a decent budget for the Supras. Clearly, these cars are both complex and old, which translates into "expensive". I baby my cars, but even after a high quality rebuild, issues with unrelated components keep popping up with my 90T, which is stock save for the 3 inch exhaust system. Face it, the newest MKIII is 18 years old, so stuff will go bad/wear out/break, or whatever. Replacing/fixing it may be cheap or expensive, but can be time consuming, which is the best reason to always have a reliable daily driver.
Since you are having a tough time coming up with the $2000 purchase price, something tells me you"ll also have a hard time keeping up with repairs/maintenance, which could turn the Supra experience to be quite crappy, if you ask me. And this is before we talk about upgrades or modding the car. So yeah, this is a bad only car, specially on a budget. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "if you wanna play, you gotta pay..". It applies to the Supra, as well, trust me.
 

aznboik1mva

New Member
Aug 20, 2009
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Manchester,Ct
Honestly before u buy that supra make sure u have a good running daily driver. if u do then go ahead and buy it, like any car you buy u are gunna have problems with, just these cars alot of people have problems with them. u might get lucky and have a clean ass supra that needs nothing or u might get a car that requires acouple years to save up and rebuild it to your standard. whatever the case just make sure you know that these cars arent cheap to fix and getting parts can be a B**ch to get, but if u do have all the patience then these cars a wonderful, they have so much potential and i myself love them even tho they are a pain in the ass
 

Dingoboy

New Member
Dec 25, 2009
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Tampa, FL
jewwwwl;1621357 said:
I'm not very fond of Miata's.. & i'm not planning to be taking my car to the track anyways. What i'm looking for is a nice sporty daily driver that i can work on with my spare time. Know what i mean? I'm not trying to go all out and mod it with all kinds of goodies. Just clean, fast, fairly easy to work with, and reliable.

Miatas work great as daily drivers, but if you don't like them you don't like them. They're good for a lot more than the track- I just used that as an example of how to see the Miata's true potential. It's not a rocket in a straight line, but it'll carve the heck out of some corners on a decent set of tires & stock suspension.

I would seriously not recommend the MKIII Supra as a daily driver, as it will occasionally leave you stranded waiting on hard to find parts. My 1JZ-GTE Supra is currently a project car, due to having been hit twice in 6 months & waiting for repairs, but once it is up & running again, I will eventually make it my daily driver. And I will always have a reliable, fuel-efficient alternative in the garage for when the Supra needs to be parked for maintenance. Example: back in the late 90's, my '90 7M-GTE needed a thermostat housing. It literally took 6 weeks to arrive. Without alternative transportation, I'd have lost my job.

If you truly love Supras, then go for it. But if you just want "something fast & reliable," you can probably find something just as fast & a lot more reliable, depending on your tastes. Do let us know what you decide. And snap some pics of that Supra sitting outside your Uncle's place.
 

jewwwwl

New Member
Sep 18, 2010
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California
Dingoboy;1621571 said:
Miatas work great as daily drivers, but if you don't like them you don't like them. They're good for a lot more than the track- I just used that as an example of how to see the Miata's true potential. It's not a rocket in a straight line, but it'll carve the heck out of some corners on a decent set of tires & stock suspension.

I would seriously not recommend the MKIII Supra as a daily driver, as it will occasionally leave you stranded waiting on hard to find parts. My 1JZ-GTE Supra is currently a project car, due to having been hit twice in 6 months & waiting for repairs, but once it is up & running again, I will eventually make it my daily driver. And I will always have a reliable, fuel-efficient alternative in the garage for when the Supra needs to be parked for maintenance. Example: back in the late 90's, my '90 7M-GTE needed a thermostat housing. It literally took 6 weeks to arrive. Without alternative transportation, I'd have lost my job.

If you truly love Supras, then go for it. But if you just want "something fast & reliable," you can probably find something just as fast & a lot more reliable, depending on your tastes. Do let us know what you decide. And snap some pics of that Supra sitting outside your Uncle's place.

I actually do have an alternative car which is my current daily driver, an auto '97 Integra.. :: facepalm :: I want to make my Supra my daily driver because i dislike FWD.. plus EVERYONE here drives integras.. but it's my family's extra car, so i have no choice but to use it. At least i get somewhere.. I don't consider it my first car, because i don't want it, and I don't like it. Haha, sorry if i'm picky. But I don't want to work on an automatic.. :: facepalm :: it's useless..

Plus, you all make it seem like the when I get it, the first time i drive the Supra that everything will just fall apart.. Come on now, i highly doubt that will happen. *Knock on wood* Just in case. And if anything, i'm pretty sure nothing major will happen. I mean, i'm not going to be redlining it everyday, racing people everyday or drive hard on it.

I've made my decision, and I'm going to get the Supra. :naughty: I'll post pics when i do get a hold of it, and it might take a while but i dont care. As long as i get it! haha! Not to get too personal, but the only reason i can't get it fast is because im unemployed. If i wasn't, I'd have it by now.
 

Poodles

I play with fire
Jul 22, 2006
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Bashing an integra :3d_frown: They're great cars for what they are, and definately better than most other beaters that kids get for their first car.

And.... denial isn't just a river in Egypt. It's an old car, things WILL go wrong, and being old they're never cheap.