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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Should I fear the high mileage monster?


Seb

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Hi everyone. With my search for uk supras being a little fruitless, and having seen some cheap high mileage ones, I was wondering if it is worth the risk, or should I stick it out for a pricier lower mileage one? We're talking 105k miles for around £8.5k with the manual box: I'm tempted, but worried about problems appearing quickly. Thanks for any help

 

Seb

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As with any high mileage car you should be aware that things will be starting to wear. Also vitally important is a service history, doesn't have to be dealer, as long as the history can be validated. What none of this tells you is how the car has been driven. Is it a track day only car, or does it live at the end of a bumpy country lane (like mine) where the suspension will take more of a beating.

 

Recently there have been a number of problems occuring which may be a combination of mileage/age and power upgrades. Again a history is vital with the same caveat as above.

 

If you can afford it go for a lower mileage car.

 

I've had 60K miles trouble free until last Friday when an oil cooler pipe broke. My cars done 121K miles.

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Thanks for the advice Simon. It's my lack of patience that's the problem (Homer style 'I want it nooow!). I'm sure a reasonable mileage uk manual will come along in my price range, I just have to be first in line (I missed 2 great ones this past week: was kicking myself) . All fingers crossed!

 

Seb

 

:gallery: Gotta keep looking!

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I would say look at the car on its owns merits i.e. visual inspection, service records test drive etc. Almost all the major mechanicals (ie blown turbo's and melted internals) discussed on this forum result from cars that have been modded. A standard UK spec car is capable of high mileages one often quoted car has done 300K on its original turbo's + another was sold on by a member with 147K.

My experience of my car (93 UK) is that parts of the car are showing their age i.e. intercooler, PAS cooler and diff cooler. I'm not sure how the degardation of these parts would have been improved by a lower mileage, after all I brought mine with 79K on the clock which is only approx 8.5k a year and these parts need replacing.

What i'm basically saying is the buying of a low mileage car will not necessarily guarantee you lower future service/repair bills than a medium / high miler.

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Mine's on 123K.

I've had to replace radiator, stone went through it!!!

Front discs, rear discs and calipers.

6 sets of tyres.

Other than noisy injectors and a leaking valve stem seal, everything else is fine, apart from handling like a pig at the moment, but that's on a separate thread!!

I do my own oil changes every 5000.

So look after it, and it'll look after you, is the moral here!

Good luck

Steve

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Chris Wilson service a UK TT with over 300K on the clock, it is still going strong just the usual changes you would expect to peripheral parts prone to wear. The engine has never been opened AFAIK.

 

The MKIV engine is pretty bullet proof.

 

If it has a good history is tidy and goes it is a snip.

:cool:

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I personally would not fear a 'higher' mileage Supra..........as long as you have a good service record,and have the car inspected.

You have to remember the Supra has a 3.0 litre engine and a well engineered one at that! more than capable of gobbling up 100K.I've seen loads of 1.8 engines that are up around the 150-200K, so i'm pretty sure our Supra engines if cared for will surpass this with ease:)

There IS a 'mental' 100k barrier out there, where people tend to think that an engine is 'tired' after this mileage, so take advantage and get a bargain supercar!! Al.

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Guest Martin F
Originally posted by Supra_Al

There IS a 'mental' 100k barrier out there, where people tend to think that an engine is 'tired' after this mileage, so take advantage and get a bargain supercar!! Al.

 

That is so true!

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Like Scooter said really, look at it on its own merits. If its been looked after then there shouldnt be any probs, you could easily spend more on a low mileage abused one which will have more problems than a well maintained higher mileage one.

The 100k stigma thing is still going strong, i think its an older generation thing or people without much knowledge.

I just talked my dad into buying a 3 year old Honda Accord with 50k instead of a 4 year old ford mondeo with 30k, the honda had full s/h where the mondeo had a few gaps, but he is in the thinking that 50k in 3 years is too much, i started them both up next to each other, and even he could tell the difference :D

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Originally posted by Simon

It's not a thing with this 'older generation' person.

My mark 1 Celica did over 200K, My Granada was on 234K when I got rid of it, my troopers on 117K, my Supras on 121K. And my wifes supra is approaching 100K.

 

No offense meant, just a generalisation :respekt: :D

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