No more Supras anywhere

[rider]

With over 2,000 mkiv's in the UK (probably >80% jspec) you'd normally expect to see 150 to 200 cars advertised for sale. Its probably more like 15 to 20 at the moment.

 

I read today there is a similar lack of availability issue (for buyers) in the USA with very few coming up for sale and buyers frustrated at the inverse quality to price ratio of those that do. Seems people are buying the cars to park up or own a car that is largely parked up. A sure sign that the mkiv Supra is now firmly an investor car which does leave me wondering why prospective owners are keen to modify a car that has run for circa 20 years as an unmodified car, equivalent to a whole period age in car evolution terms. when there are many much newer cars with off the shelf stage upgrades available.

 

There are few project threads starting these days, maybe the projects that do will evolve from the bolt a turbo on to become more about car rebuilds and refurbishment threads over the coming years? Or maybe the forum will continue its decline in activity to become essentially a historical archive for a car no one either dares or cares to drive anymore? Or maybe the new MkV will renew interest and all we be needed here is a name change. Different times often call for a change in emphasis or direction.

[Spunkmeyer]

Not sure I've ever seen 150 to 200 Supras for sale in the 2010 decade.

 

 

 

[ellis]

There's never been 150-200 for sale in all the time I owned Supras (over 12 years) at one time. 50 would be the most and that was a mix of clapped out NAs and shabby TTs along with a handful of high quality cars you'd actually consider buying. I'd say currently it's 50% down in terms of quality stock availability but the time of year will also be playing a part. Supply is short though, over here as it is in Japan. The exchange rate is not helping either. Talk of the MKV has been around for years but it does seem that something will happen in the next 12-15 months, if those in the know are on the money. However, and here's the caveat with the MKV (if it ever does appear), it won't be what the 'purists' call a Supra or consider a Supra to be. It will, at best, be a hybrid. And don't discount that it could even be all electric. It won't be a relative of the 1JZ/2JZ bloodline that is for sure.

 

Bear in mind that Toyota, about to launch the MKIV 20+ years ago, saw what Nissan did with the 300ZX and went back to the drawing board, completely. They started with a blank sheet of paper and created something that would knock the competition out of the park. In 1993, when launched in the UK, the MKIV UK Spec was £37,500 rising to over £42,000 in 1996 when it ceased to be sold here. It was out of the reach of most people then, as the MKV will be, if it does appear. We currently have Tesla breaking all records and astounding those in the industry that pooh-poohed electric cars as many years away in terms of mainstream sales. So will Toyota see Tesla as the brand to better?

 

The other issue they have is Lexus, the premium brand they created to compete with Mercs and Beemers and which has established itself as they sporty brand of the group. As Porsche have an issue with the Cayman and 911 and have to tailor each model in terms of power and spec, so might Toyota and Lexus have to do the same thing. The sportiest Toyota currently adorning the forecourt is the GT86. The beefiest on the Lexus forecourt is the LC500 and it's pitching itself against all of the sort of cars the Supra would traditionally be pitching against - 911, F-Type, Merc SL, 6 Series and possibly the Maserati GT.

 

But the Supra was always a GT car, not an out-and-out sports car as such and so out of those, perhaps the Maserati and the F-Type (possibly the new Vantage) is where the competition sits. But there will always be Tesla sat in the background and the Toyota engineers will not be looking at what to beat now but what to beat in the next 5 years - that was the reason the Supra was born in the first place - it was ahead of it's time.

 

In terms of values of the MKIV? Sure, they will continue to increase steadily for good quality, well-maintained examples. As with all current 'classic' cars, shoddy, scabby examples will always prop up the bottom of the market and as with the current trend of nostalgic cars (205s, R5GTs, Escort RS Turbos, CRXs etc) clean, unmodded, 'stock' examples will be the collector cars that will keep the market and prices healthy. It's all about timing and knowing when it's the right time to buy or sell.

[muckyman]

I gave up looking for one in the UK market and got mine imported.

There has not been enough supply of 'good' Supras to meet demand for quite a few years.

Mine was pure stock when it arrived and all I've done since as far as mods are concerned is change the wheels.

I obviously kept the originals so it can easily go back to stock.

If I do anything else, such as exhaust, I'll keep all the original parts.

I think OEM will be attractive to future owners.

Hell, I might even put an advert up with a 'I don't really wanna sell it' price just to see if it generates any interest lol.

[Al Massey]

Have to agree with Ellis, never once seen more than 100 Supra’s for sale at any one point.

And that’s even including all the fake for sale ad’s by garages we can’t name.

 

And the MKV is a bad amateur journalists article that gets kids wet and no one else.

There isn’t such thing and I highly doubt there ever will be.

 

Prices at the moment are crazy and many idiots are jumping on the bandwagon with crap examples because many idiots are jumping on the bandwagon to get a Supra whilst it’s cheaper.

 

Catch 22 lol

[Hitbox Junkie]

People buy them to modify because they want to. And yes lots of other cars but they arnt supra's

 

Like others have said never seen 100+ adverts for them to be honest i havent seen 200+ adverts for any car.

[Mike2JZ]

2'000 mkiv's in the UK my ass. Struggled the other year just to get 100 of them to come down to the 20th anniversary.

[bignum]

I will continue to modify / strip parts I don't need off mine to make it better for what I use the car for, I'm not really interested in its value as an investment but when I've had enough of it I'll probably break it for parts anyway.

[rider]

There used to be over 100 Supras listed on eBay alone for a good period of time with another 50 on PH taking out duplicate listings. That was back then, I can't recall when then ended exactly but a good selection on TT autos and manuals was always available. When I bought my Supra almost 20 years ago, pre-then, it was the 6th TT6 I went to see over just a few days using Autotrader as the online mag of choice (PH wasn't even a website back in 1998) and I stuck to just the West Midlands; within 40 miles of home. There were probably fewer mkiv Supras in the UK then than there is today with all the jspec imports over the years.

 

Without new owners I do wonder about the viability of this forum in its present format though with the involvement of the modders and racers that made this forum a modders paradise in years gone by having now largely ended as they have sold up and moved onto other metal.

[rider]

2'000 mkiv's in the UK my ass.

 

I'd take it up with these guys that have 2,000 Supras of the post 93 era listed as taxed or SORN in the UK.

[Swampy442]

Stock is the way forward, as a style and as an investment, people have realised that. The cars are getting rarer, especially truly, nice and unmolested cars thats why people like me have bought one.

In stock form its more than fast enough but its also comfortable and a great cruiser which, surprise surprise, was what it was made to do.

 

And as for the MkV, that will be nothing like the Supra, if it ever appears, it looks to be a top of the line sports car

[Mike2JZ]

I'd take it up with these guys that have 2,000 Supras of the post 93 era listed as taxed or SORN in the UK.

 

Check this out. Not sure which site is more right, but presumably they must be accessing a similar database. Strangely though it claims there is a total of 3.8k Supra's (all years) that are taxed or SORN, but when you go through each year group and record the figures you get the following below:

 

This site says:

 

MKIII Supra's active on the road (86-92 registration year): 368

MKIII Supra that are SORN (86-92 registration year): 991

 

 

MKIV Supra active on the road (93-03 registration year): 171

MKIV Supra that are SORN (93-03 registration year): 129

 

My money is on a database error when grouping across the different types of Supra's, or there is a massive gap in the database records somewhere. The numbers above seem more in line with reality given the scarcity of the market/parts etc. Don't remember ever seeing that many MKIII's though.

[Supra-love]

I didn’t buy my tt6 to make money or invest in it.

 

I will continue to modify and enjoy what it is and what I make it.

 

Although the exterior will always stay pretty much stock as well as the interior, most mods are on the engine and suspension.

 

Even with a modded well kept supra the prices rise just as well anyway.

[blythmrk]

I'd take it up with these guys that have 2,000 Supras of the post 93 era listed as taxed or SORN in the UK.

 

I am 1 out of 2,000 then, although 2,000 does sound a lot!

I was looking at my car in the original autotrader advert from 16 years ago yes there was far more choice (no idea on quantity but one dealer had around 15 albeit all imports) but the amount available is on par with other older cars that are now sought after.

 

Time will tell what the mkv is like my only thought I have is I don’t like joint ventures between manufactures as it takes the uniqueness out of them but I like the look of the Lexus lc500 and have been tempted to book a test drive (I may call down to the dealers with my dad in the new year when he collects his new rx450h)

Drive

[Scooter]

I just think import supply has dried up, the Supra as always been niche and so now if you have one, given the markets conditions, you'll just hold on to it won't you? You either bought it when they were cheaper or so long ago that it 'owes you nothing' or even if bought recently the common thought is it's only going one way.

 

Everything says hold on to it, they are reliable and rust resistant so no ones gives up on it like they might other cars. What does 15-20k really get you anyway as a replacement?

[shaz2010]

Bought mine because I love it. Will never sell it. When something breaks will just fix it.

[mellonman]

bought mine 11 years ago and still drive it like it should be, like a brass hard and fast on weekends

[mplavery]

I was interested what people thoughts on kitted Supra's these days as the thing to do now is to keep it stock due to prices and how hard they are to get hold of.

 

I posted this on the Supra pages on Facebook with a few pics of mine and was surprised how many people still would happy buy a Kitted Supra.

 

Of course a stock clean example will be worth top dollar but will also be out of reach of what most people want to pay for one. I personally think the market for modified Supra's are still very popular, has to be as 90% of them have been modified lol that's what there famous for too

 

There are still a hand full of big projects going on at the moment.. JAZZ for one with his monster build and SRD have a few more too.

 

I will still continue to modify mine for sure, that's what I enjoy, that's why I bought it and just because the market has changed from when I bought mine it won't change what I what to do with mine for sure .

 

OEM Supra's are of course VERY nice and its great to see a stock one but I'm sure I'm not alone when a nice Supra bonnet just opens you get a little excited hoping to see a nice big single or twin turbo set up under there lol

[jonc]

I bought mine as a fresh import 7 years ago. She owes me nothing and is worth more than when I bought her. She gets roughly 1K spent on her every 12-18 months and has never let me down.

 

All the Supra type issues have been done as preventative maintenance (suspension, Valve stem seals, vvti unit uxe, damper, Engine seals,Oil pump, replaced SMIC) plus regularly serviced using OEM parts and she is BPU with after market wheels.

 

I was wavering towards getting rid in the summer but have decided she is a keeper. Not from an investment perspective but because after 13 years of ownership O couldnt be without one.

 

They are moving towards classic status now so ropey ones will command good money as people buy projects.