Are NA Auto's really that slow??

[Big Supes]

Thought I'd post this to see if there was something up with Lola. I don't get to drive her much, but when I do, I am genuinely shocked at how slow she is. Just blending in with morning rush hour traffic and people are looking over and thinking I am racing them... I mean, WTF. The engine doesn't skip a beat and the auto box changes gears ok... maybe something wrong with the torque converter?

 

I would say my Focus Estate turbo diesel would give it a run for it's money!

[Slam]

Was you pushing it

[Slam]

I think na autos nip on if driven right

[Big Supes]

Not really sure how else you can bury the accelerator into the carpet to make it go any faster?!

[Big Supes]

I'm genuinely thinking its under powered, tbh.

[Slam]

Then its about to die.

[Slam]

Are your calipers seized

[Tyson]

Mondern day diesels are reasonably well powered and their power band is a lot lower down so in slow traffic or low speed the focus will probably be faster. But at higher speeds then the supra will come in to its own.

[Mondo HnS]

I can't comment on Auto Supras but, when I had a 300ZX Auto a couple of years back, it always drove as if the clutch was slipping in a manual; that is, it'd rev up for a few seconds first before it started to move - there was no urgency to the motion at all.

 

Turns out the slushbox was past it's prime. Dunno if Supras are the same or not though...

[Big Supes]

Its very strange. In launch it pulls really well, gets into second... Meh... into 3rd and 4th and its a complete joke. No blue smoke (but will compression and leak down test it anyway), no misfires, brakes are totally free.

I can't say if feels like the clutch is slipping... Its more like its sounds like you should be holding on for dear life, but the car is hardly moving.

My old 2002 Focus really shouldn't be able to give it a run for its money, surely (low speeds or at high speeds).

[bignum]

They really are that slow yes especially auto.

[Big Supes]

They really are that slow yes especially auto.

 

How odd. Does the auto box sap that much power as the manual NA's aren't all that bad? I remember my old 5sp being quite slow, but once it was above 80mph, it was actually quite reasonable.

 

I guess a TT transplant is on the horizon...

[ripped_fear]

My old Na would shifted fairly well once wound up IMO. Obviously compared to a TT they are very slow. But overall I always had the confidence to drop a gear and put my foot down, it would still pull well.

 

Kept up on DB perfectly well in the convoys and we wernt tootling around.

[walkerstrider]

My na pulled like a train! I'd say there's something wrong.

[Swampy442]

They had what, 210hp when new? Remove some of that with wear and tear, add in the 1700kg weight, its a slow old hector sadly.

[brom86]

My na auto feels fast and pulls well. Had few races and holds its own. Mate has a civic type r and when he got in for the first time he said it feels faster than his!

[Big Supes]

It seems people are split down the middle on this one.

 

I'm going to get it on the rollers and see what it's putting down.

[Andy_s-TT-Supra]

If you are ever around Bristol or if I go near Hampshire you are more than welcome to have a drive in my TT auto to compare

[Big Supes]

Thanks for the offer Andy, that's kind of you. I already have a TT - this is my girlfriends car.

[jsnlvxr]

My signum mapped up to 180ish would give the supe when it was na auto a run for its money. But the supe would pull a gap when it hit 5kish

[Abz]

The torque on the modern diesels certainly will not help and make it feel faster than the NA auto and pulling away with 1700kg and only 200 odd bhp it will be a bit slow. Saying that my NA6 I could easily light up the tyres and was pretty quick for an NA, I would say roughly 7 seconds to 62mph. Do a quick 0-62mph and see what sort of time you get or go race someone else with an NA auto.

[Hitbox Junkie]

Race another na auto (obviously not on public highways )

But compared to your TT it will feel slow as people have said heavy car and underpowered = slow, it's just phisics.

[Sanya]

I have driven an NA Auto before buying my old Supra and it was revving and sounding like a beast but driving like a 90 year old granny, I had an Audi A6 1.9 tdi at the time and i would of had this supra any time. If I am not mistaking the engine and gearbox weigh over 400kg + torque converter. I think the brilliance of a 2JZ comes only when force induced. Otherwise, if all NA supras are like that, it struggles to cope.

[Chris Bailey]

Might be worth giving it a full service, that may improve performance.

[LasseV]

Lets get the facts right in his topic. N/a supra weights max 1500 kilos and it got 220hp, so it has a decent p/w ratio. N/a manual did go 0-60 in 6 sec and i don't believe that auto is that much slower in straight line.

 

I have test driven n/a auto once and it was a dog slow because of crappy box. Seller said that it is healthy box but i didn't believe it. It changed gears so slowly that revs did drop way too down, under 2000rpms. It was also badly maintained car: old and cheap spark plugs, standard exhaust with noisy cat back (20+ year old cat just doesn't flow anymore) crap intake and so on. It just didn't rev. Overall it did feel totally different engine than my own car engine which is in good shape.

 

However, 2jz-ge standard ecu does go to the eco mode in between 3000-4000 rpm, and if you want to go faster you have to skip that. It gives you good fuel economy, but it doesn't rev or it doesn't make good torque in mid range. So i recommend for all n/a Supra owners that you change for aftermarket tuned ecu, like Mines, Tom's, Amuse or similar. It is superb modification, it makes the whole engine much better to drive and especially gives you a lot of more torque in mid range/more linear power output. It will fucked up fuel mileage tho, because throttle response is so sharp and it doesn't cruise that economically in highway speeds (60-70 mph).

Edited November 12, 2015 by LasseV (see edit history)