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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Daily driver questions


Guest Andy_JDM

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Guest Andy_JDM

Hello all!

So after serving my time in slow cars I think it's time for a power bump. I have my eyes on either an Auto TT or a TT 6 Speed daily driver. But I do have a few concernes i'm hoping you guys could clear up for me?

 

Biggest one is running costs, what do you all get MPG wise? I'm hearing silly numbers like below 10 but i'm guessing that's for big single conversions etc. I will roughly be doing 150 miles per week (Motorway miles). I'm prepared for a huge hole to appear in my wallet to fuel the thing but i'm just looking rough figures.

 

After breifly owning a skyline I found out that the security on them are terrible, are supra's the same?

 

Does anyone use their's as a daily or do most people use them as weekend cars? If so why bar the obvious?

 

Don't be too hard on me I am a bit of a noob, Any suggetions or advice is very welcome!

 

Thanks guys

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I've been daily-ing mine for a couple of months now, I got bored of economy and went for the fun option. :D Before this my supras have always been weekend cars.

 

I do ~400 miles a week to and from work. I do like to 'enjoy' the car, and it ends up costing around £120 a week for fuel.

 

I've got to say, actually using the thing every day does make sense. You get so much more out of it, I highly recommend it. :)

 

Servicing, if you can do it yourself. It's ~£90-100 for a decent grade oil and filter change, and I do mine every 3-4k miles. Depends how you drive it obviously, but I have killed a set of rear tyres in basically 2 months... but I do like to slide around a bit. :D

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MPG for TT's and NA's are similar, I think I average about 24mpg. My commute is 250 miles a week and that costs me £60 give or take but I think petrol's more expensive here in NI. Security is shocking much like any older car, so an alarm, steering lock and kill switch are all good ideas. I've driven mine daily for 8 years and it never gave me a problem, I bought a new one six weeks ago and the 'old' one sat on the driveway for those six weeks and the battery died and had a sticky caliper lol. They're better when driven daily/regularly :)

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Best you'll ever see MPG wise is late 20s/low 30s and thats cruise on, motorway at 70, round town probably mid teens. If economy is a concern then don't buy a heavy, old, twin turbo auto ;) And if its not don't ask the question lol.

 

Im sure there are some people who use them as daily runners, but probably running costs will be the main, or people have company cars, can afford to have a Sup as a weekend car, many reasons.

 

What do you mean security?

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I think for the majority of people on here now, the Supra is a weekend car, the reasons being is to keep it nice when the weather gets poor and keep them away from salt(although rust is not a major issue on Supra's like they are on the Skylines), also, a lot of us like to tinker on the cars, which is hard when you need to use the car as a daily and then for people who do big miles, the MPG becomes an issue.

 

MPG wise, when I used mine back when it was a stock TT, I probably got somewhere around 20-25mpg on an average drive.

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Hello all!

So after serving my time in slow cars I think it's time for a power bump. I have my eyes on either an Auto TT or a TT 6 Speed daily driver. But I do have a few concernes i'm hoping you guys could clear up for me?

 

Biggest one is running costs, what do you all get MPG wise? I'm hearing silly numbers like below 10 but i'm guessing that's for big single conversions etc. I will roughly be doing 150 miles per week (Motorway miles). I'm prepared for a huge hole to appear in my wallet to fuel the thing but i'm just looking rough figures.

 

After breifly owning a skyline I found out that the security on them are terrible, are supra's the same?

 

Does anyone use their's as a daily or do most people use them as weekend cars? If so why bar the obvious?

 

Don't be too hard on me I am a bit of a noob, Any suggetions or advice is very welcome!

 

Thanks guys

 

I ran mine as a daily for 4 years with no issues. Fuel wise and everyone is going to say it to you, but if it's a major concern don't buy a Supra. If you're just looking for info, it will average between 22-25, if you're on the motorway the majority of the time, I'd imagine you'd see 27mpg. Servicing is no worse than any other car, but tyres etc can be expensive depending on what wheels you're running.

 

The biggest problem will be your hatred of putting boring miles on it. They're a fantastic car to drive and no matter what you come from you'll find them exciting. It takes a lot to get the best from a supra and that's a big portion of their appeal to me. Seeing the miles tick up as you do boring a to b stuff will 100% get on your nerves. They were built as a fast GT car, which is exactly what they are, fast, comfortable and a great all rounder, so in essence a fantastic daily.

 

best of luck with the search if you do decide to go ahead and get one!

Edited by nige-rz (see edit history)
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My 3 Supras have all been everyday cars since 2005 - as Swampy says, mpg is around 20ish in town and 30 and a bit if you're careful elsewhere. Petrol is the biggest expense as a daily otherwise it's just a case of looking after it as you would any car (because it is just a car). Off boost it's just a big arsed heavy 3 litre Toyota.

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I have a Yaris as my daily, because I don't want to put a lot of mileage on the Supra. I did use it as a daily for a couple of years and added about 10,000 miles just going to work and back and using it as my only car.

 

Now, I hardly do any miles in it, but when I do drive it, I realise how much I love it :)

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I averaged around 19-20mpg daily driven for 10 years, but I only did around 8,000 miles a year.

 

I've always said that if you are concerned about fuel costs, the Supra is not for you. That's not because it's thirsty, but because your other costs like tyres, and replacing 20 year old parts will be much more costly. Fuel is the least of your money worries.

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All I would say is it's a 20 year old, expensive when new, performance car. DO NOT blow all your budget buying it, you need a slush fund if something (when something?) goes wrong. depending on how good the car is, and how lucky you are and feel, the slush fund needs to be a minimum of a grand, and preferably a lot more. Running costs have been covered, fuel wise, but if it needs two new turbos or an engine build, you will realize buying these things, like any complicated old car, is just a part of the battle. These things have lots to go wrong, and although basically well made and with few known major issues, Mr. Toyota doesn't charge any less just because it is now only worth a fraction of its new price.

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Some good advice on here, if you are only doing 150 miles a week then I'd expect it to cost roughly £40 a week to fill up, using £40 a week comes to £160 a month.

 

That works out to 7,200 commuter miles a year, give or take at £1,920 PA.

 

Some big singles are returning 30mpg ;)

Edited by Abz (see edit history)
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Guest Andy_JDM

Some real sound advice guys thank you all for your replies. The main reason why I asked about fueling it was to determine whether to get a £500 smoker to mess around in and leave the supra til the weekend. Judging from the replies they all seem like fair mileage for what it is, at the minute i'm getting around 30mpg anyway so losing 10+ MPG to be driving one with the biggest smile on my face is well worth the loss.

 

The slush fund is also a great idea, I was planning to have one just in case or if any bits take my fancy. In the next month or two i'm going to start actively looking for one, as everyone i'm hoping to grab a 6 speed TT but may entertain an auto. Budget is going to be around 8 grand so if anyone knows anything coming up in the future (No harm in asking) drop me a line, i'm sure i'll be calling for more advice and car info on here anyway. :p

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I love my Auto TT and drive it daily, The most I ever got out of it was nearly 28mpg

 

 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/375072_10152847754255150_1171522023_n.jpg

 

The lower two numbers were the car before I did a cam belt change, after the change it drove much better than used less fuel so It was probably slightly out in the timing.

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Averaging 18.9MPG at the moment using it daily (Borg Warner S360, low comp, NA-T, manual). That consists of a 7 mile round trip to work and a bit of a hoon on the evenings and weekends. Personally, love using mine every day (apart from the silly clutch) :)

 

TT Auto makes for the nicest daily driver though for sure.

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