[0:00] This is a 1995 Toyota Supra Turbo and
[0:05] it's one of the most legendary iconic
[0:08] Japanese cars ever made. The hero from
[0:11] the original Fast and Furious movie, one
[0:14] of the great 1990s sports cars. Today,
[0:18] I'm going to review this relatively
[0:20] unmodified Mark IV Supra Turbo and I'll
[0:24] show you all of its quirks and features.
[0:30] Before I get started, great news. This
[0:33] Supra Turbo is currently for sale and
[0:36] it's being auctioned live on Cars and
[0:38] Bids and this is a good one. Factory
[0:41] Supra Turbo, factory manual transmission
[0:44] and it's relatively untouched whereas a
[0:47] lot of these have been heavily modified
[0:49] and you can buy it on Cars and Bids. So,
[0:51] once you finish watching this video,
[0:53] click the link in the description below
[0:55] to visit the live auction for this Supra
[0:58] Turbo where you can bid on it and buy it
[1:01] only on Cars and Bids. This episode is
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[2:32] description box. Now, all right, time
[2:34] for the quirks and features of the Mark
[2:37] IV Supra Turbo, starting with a little
[2:41] background on why this car is so
[2:43] special. So, the Supra first came out in
[2:47] the 1970s, and initially, it was a
[2:49] sporty trim level of the Toyota Celica,
[2:52] which was sort of the sporty little
[2:55] coupe, kind of fun car in Toyota's
[2:57] lineup. The Celica Supra was the
[2:59] performance version, and in the 1980s,
[3:02] the Supra was spun off to be its own
[3:05] completely distinct, separate car, and
[3:08] the Celica kind of stayed on the sort of
[3:10] entry-level sporty path, while the Supra
[3:13] became the real sports car, the kind of
[3:16] high-performance pinnacle muscle car in
[3:20] Toyota's lineup. This Supra is the
[3:22] fourth-generation model, called the Mark
[3:25] IV by enthusiasts, and it is by far the
[3:28] most beloved Supra of all. It came out
[3:32] for the 1993
[3:34] model year, and it's a legend in the
[3:37] Japanese car world and in the car
[3:40] enthusiast community as a whole. Now,
[3:43] there are three primary reasons why the
[3:46] Mark IV Supra is so beloved. Among
[3:49] Supras, among Japanese cars, it is one
[3:52] of the all-time icons. And a big reason,
[3:55] maybe the most important reason, is the
[3:58] powertrain. All Mark IV Toyota Supras
[4:01] used Toyota's famous 2JZ six-cylinder.
[4:05] It was a 3-liter inline-six, so a very
[4:08] smooth engine, and it was known for its
[4:12] reliability. These are stout
[4:14] powertrains. They're very difficult to
[4:16] mess up or destroy, and for its
[4:19] tunability. This powertrain was in a lot
[4:21] of Toyotas over a long time, and
[4:23] combined with its very robust build
[4:26] quality, a lot of tuners made a lot of
[4:28] engine builds based on this engine. So,
[4:31] there's a lot of tuning capabilities and
[4:33] parts you could buy, and for those two
[4:35] big reasons, people love the 2JZ. Now,
[4:39] there were two flavors of 2JZ in the
[4:42] Supra. The base model had a naturally
[4:44] aspirated version of it that made about
[4:47] 220 horsepower. But, if you stepped up
[4:50] to this, the Supra Turbo, you got a
[4:53] twin-turbo version of the same 2JZ
[4:56] six-cylinder, which made about 320
[4:59] horsepower. And that was a big deal back
[5:02] in the '90s. In fact, this car, even at
[5:05] around 3,400 lb, did 0 to 60 in the
[5:09] mid-4-second range, which really made it
[5:12] fast. It's still pretty quick today, and
[5:14] it was really quick back then. Even at
[5:18] this car's pretty high price point. The
[5:20] sticker price on this Supra, back 30
[5:23] years ago, would have been around
[5:25] $50,000, which translates to about 110
[5:29] grand in today's money. Big money for
[5:33] this car, but it was big, fast, and big,
[5:37] cool, in part thanks to this wonderful
[5:39] powertrain. One 2JZ quirk I've always
[5:42] loved, when you open the engine
[5:44] compartment in this car to see the famed
[5:47] 2JZ six-cylinder. The most prominent
[5:50] words that are staring back at you are
[5:53] traction control mounted directly out
[5:57] and facing anyone looking into the
[5:59] engine bay, I guess to brag about the
[6:01] amazing equipment that this car had,
[6:04] traction control. Now, the 2JZ was used
[6:08] in a lot of different Toyota and Lexus
[6:10] products, including the Lexus SC300,
[6:14] which in Japan was called the Toyota
[6:16] Soarer, and which shared its platform
[6:20] with the Supra. The Soarer and the SC300
[6:23] were more of a grand touring kind of
[6:25] luxury car, and for the Supra, the
[6:27] platform was taken, changed, the car was
[6:29] shortened, the twin turbo powertrain
[6:32] went in, and the Supra was born. And
[6:36] even though this engine is so beloved
[6:38] for its tunability in all Toyota models,
[6:41] the Supra was especially beloved because
[6:43] the twin turbo version was a rarity in
[6:46] Toyota's lineup, and because the Supra's
[6:49] sporty chassis kind of lent itself to
[6:52] performance already before you even
[6:54] started tuning. Reason number two why
[6:58] the Mark IV Supra is so beloved is, of
[7:01] course, its movie stardom, its Hollywood
[7:04] celebrity. This car was basically the
[7:08] hero car in the original Fast and the
[7:11] Furious movie. Of course, many sequels
[7:15] on since then, the Fast and the Furious
[7:17] movies have kind of become the defining
[7:20] car movies of the last 30 years. And in
[7:23] the very first one, Paul Walker drove a
[7:26] Supra as the fast hero car, and it was a
[7:29] big part of maybe the most memorable
[7:32] scene in the whole movie, where Paul
[7:34] Walker, driving the Supra, pulls up next
[7:36] to a Ferrari on the Pacific Coast
[7:38] Highway, and he says, "How much does it
[7:40] cost?" And the Ferrari guy says, "More
[7:42] than you can afford, pal." Ferrari,
[7:45] condescendingly talking down to the
[7:47] loser in the Supra. Of course, the great
[7:49] irony of that scene is that in the years
[7:51] since, the Supra's star status has
[7:54] elevated its price tag well beyond the
[7:57] Ferrari F355 Spider that was used in
[8:00] that scene. And these days, the Ferrari
[8:03] owner would ask the Supra how much it
[8:04] costs, and the Supra owner would tell
[8:06] him that the Supra is far more expensive
[8:10] than that cheapskate Ferrari. And part
[8:12] of the reason for that shoot up in
[8:14] values is the powertrain, but also the
[8:18] movie icon status. And finally, the
[8:22] third reason why the Mark IV Supra, I
[8:25] think, has had so much success and love
[8:27] sent its way, the reason that not as
[8:29] many people talk about, it just plain
[8:33] looks cool. Japan sent us a lot of
[8:36] special sports cars in the '90s, and
[8:38] they didn't always look great. The
[8:41] Subaru SVX and the Mitsubishi 3000GT
[8:44] were awesome cars, but their designs
[8:46] were more fussy. They were a little bit
[8:49] over-styled. The Acura NSX was super
[8:51] cool, but it had more of a focused
[8:53] performance car look. The Nissan Skyline
[8:56] GT-R was an awesome vehicle, but
[8:59] definitely less of a true sports car
[9:01] design, as it started life as a family
[9:04] sedan. The Supra, and honestly, the FD
[9:07] Mazda RX-7, those cars had a clean,
[9:11] simple, swoopy, sporty design that not
[9:14] only, I think, has aged pretty well, but
[9:17] was also very representative of the
[9:20] '90s. A lot of cars from this era had
[9:22] these sort of flowing lines, a little
[9:24] bit of a jelly bean look to them, rather
[9:26] than the angular 1980s that preceded.
[9:29] And this car is really representative of
[9:32] that era. This design really looks like
[9:35] the times, and it was one of the better,
[9:38] more iconic, more emblematic designs
[9:42] that came from that era. And I think
[9:44] that, too, has helped the Supra earn so
[9:47] much status and iconic power over the
[9:51] years since it came out. But anyway,
[9:53] beyond the lore of the Mark IV Supra,
[9:56] there's also a lot of quirks and
[9:58] features to discuss. So, let's start on
[10:00] the outside, and specifically, let's
[10:02] start with the wing. This giant rear
[10:05] wing has become so emblematic of the
[10:07] Supra itself. Although, interestingly,
[10:10] not all Mark IV Supras had the rear
[10:12] wing. Most turbos have it, but it's not
[10:15] a given. And some base model naturally
[10:17] aspirated cars have it, too. I've always
[10:20] found that a Supra without the wing
[10:22] almost looks naked. It just doesn't look
[10:25] quite right. To me, it's like the
[10:26] Countach. Yes, they were made from the
[10:29] factory without a wing, but in my mind,
[10:31] the Supra has a wing. And not just any
[10:34] wing, but this ridiculously large one
[10:36] that was probably the biggest wing on
[10:38] any of those mid-'90s Japanese
[10:40] performance cars, at least from the
[10:42] factory. Definitely a very iconic part
[10:44] of the Mark IV Supra design language. As
[10:47] too was the font written on the back.
[10:50] Supra, written out like this, again,
[10:52] very '90s this sort of font look, but
[10:56] it's also just so characteristic of the
[10:58] Supra. When people think about the Mark
[11:00] IV Supra, they think about this famous
[11:02] font, which was on the back of all of
[11:04] them and which everybody remembered from
[11:06] the posters, the brochures, and the cars
[11:08] themselves. Now, this is a factory Supra
[11:11] Turbo, but it doesn't say Turbo, and
[11:13] that's because they didn't start adding
[11:15] the word Turbo until later in the
[11:17] production run. Early Supra models just
[11:19] said Toyota Supra, whether it was a
[11:21] Turbo or not, that's all you got. Turbo
[11:24] came later. Now, the other distinctive
[11:27] feature around the back is, of course,
[11:29] the taillight situation. You have two
[11:31] taillight housings, as you can see. Of
[11:34] course, one on each side. But, the
[11:35] distinctive part was that inside each
[11:37] housing, you have individual housings
[11:39] for the tail light, the turn signal, the
[11:42] brake light, the reverse light on either
[11:43] side. And that created this very
[11:45] distinctive Toyota Supra lighting
[11:47] signature that was so well known. It
[11:50] combined for this tremendously
[11:52] distinctive rear end with the wing, the
[11:54] Supra badge. It was all very Mark IV.
[11:57] You look back on this car, you won't
[11:59] mistake it for anything else. Now, the
[12:02] other interesting exterior quirk of this
[12:05] car is the roof situation. Because, like
[12:08] other '90s Japanese sports cars, the
[12:10] Supra was offered with different roof
[12:13] options. There were two. You could get a
[12:15] full coupe, just a regular hardtop
[12:18] coupe, pretty normal, pretty standard.
[12:20] Or, you could get the sport roof. And
[12:24] that was a target top that could be
[12:26] removed. Now, this car has the sport
[12:29] roof. You can easily tell because the
[12:31] line across the front, the line across
[12:33] the back, these of course are body lines
[12:35] for the removable top that could be
[12:37] taken off. And removing the sport roof
[12:39] is actually quite difficult. Unlike what
[12:42] they showed us in The Fast and the
[12:43] Furious where the Supras used and they
[12:45] throw the roof off while they're doing
[12:47] that heist on that 18-wheeler on the
[12:49] freeway, it's actually quite a process
[12:52] that requires a Toyota tool bag that
[12:55] comes with the car. This is it. This
[12:57] came with all of the sport roof Supra
[12:59] models. You can see there are two tools
[13:01] in here. And they have very important
[13:04] purposes. This tool is used to unlock
[13:08] the sport roof. And you can see there's
[13:10] a hole in the center that says lock and
[13:12] unlock. And you would stick this tool in
[13:14] here and you could twist it left or
[13:16] right for lock or unlock. That's the
[13:18] beginning of the procedure. Next, you
[13:21] would take this other tool, which
[13:22] actually is basically just an Allen
[13:24] wrench, and you you would stick it in
[13:26] all four holes on all four corners of
[13:30] the Supra Sport roof. You had to do each
[13:33] one, you had to unlock the bolt that was
[13:35] in all four sides, and only then was the
[13:39] roof ready to come off. And from that
[13:41] point, you could just kind of push up on
[13:43] the roof. A lot of these have been
[13:44] sitting in place for years, so they're
[13:46] kind of hard to do, but you push up, and
[13:48] then you can remove the roof, and you
[13:50] have an open-top Targa convertible
[13:53] situation, which is kind of cool. Now,
[13:56] this procedure is a lot more difficult
[13:58] than basically every other car. Even
[14:01] cars from this era had latches you would
[14:03] just open with your hands. You didn't
[14:04] need a tool. For some reason, the Supra
[14:07] just made it more complicated, and that
[14:08] leads most people to just leave their
[14:11] sport roof in place, often for years or
[14:13] even decades. But, they can come out,
[14:16] and that's how. And when they're
[14:17] removed, interestingly, the sport roof
[14:20] has a place in the trunk where it can
[14:22] latch. You see here on the corners of
[14:24] the trunk, you have these plastic pieces
[14:26] where it can latch into place and kind
[14:28] of get stuck down so it doesn't come
[14:30] out, and that way you can bring your
[14:31] sport roof with you once you take it
[14:33] off. The drawback, of course, is once
[14:36] you have it latched in the trunk, it's
[14:37] taking up pretty much all of your trunk
[14:39] space, and it can only latch one way
[14:42] with the painted side up, which means
[14:44] you can't really put anything on top of
[14:46] it, or you risk scratching your sport
[14:48] roof, which isn't the best situation,
[14:50] but at least you can take it with you,
[14:53] which is pretty nice considering it's a
[14:55] fairly large and bulky panel. But
[14:57] anyway, next up, since we've already
[14:58] started discussing the interior, since
[15:00] we're talking sport roof, let's move in
[15:03] here and talk interior quirks and
[15:05] features, starting with the obvious, the
[15:07] cockpit design. You can see the entire
[15:10] center control stack is angled towards
[15:13] the driver, and the result is a very
[15:15] cockpit-like design, very
[15:17] driver-focused, with all the controls
[15:20] within the driver's reach, facing the
[15:22] driver, leaving the front passenger kind
[15:24] of an afterthought in this car. It was
[15:25] all about the driver's experience, and
[15:28] the cockpit design theme was actually
[15:30] pretty common in a lot of these '90s
[15:32] Japanese sports cars. They were trying
[15:34] to go high-tech and feel like a fighter
[15:36] jet, and doing this really created that
[15:39] experience. And from basically anywhere
[15:41] you look in the Mark IV Supra's
[15:43] interior, you have that feeling. From
[15:46] the passenger seat looking over at the
[15:48] cockpit, the driver seat, you're really
[15:50] surrounded by all the controls. That's
[15:52] how it feels in here, and it was very
[15:54] intentional. One ironic thing that I
[15:56] think about this cockpit look is that it
[15:59] all sort of focuses in the center on the
[16:01] steering wheel, which is just a generic
[16:04] '90s Toyota steering wheel. Looks like
[16:06] it was borrowed from a Camry or a
[16:07] 4Runner. It's kind of disappointing the
[16:09] Supra didn't get a sportier wheel.
[16:11] Interestingly, it actually did, but not
[16:14] until '98, which was the final model
[16:16] year here in the States. So, all of the
[16:18] earlier Supra models had this four-spoke
[16:21] generic Toyota steering wheel, and they
[16:23] didn't go true sporty until the year
[16:26] they just got rid of the car entirely.
[16:28] Now, there are a few quirks in this
[16:30] cockpit setup, starting with the climate
[16:33] controls, which again really are faced
[16:35] toward the driver to the point where the
[16:36] passenger is actually almost at a
[16:38] disadvantage in seeing and accessing
[16:41] them. This is all driver focused in
[16:43] here, and I've always loved the fan
[16:45] speed control in this car because you
[16:48] turn on the fan, and then as you twist
[16:50] the dial, it lights up individual lights
[16:53] within the fan speed control kind of
[16:55] corresponding to how much fan speed
[16:58] you've dialed up, which is a pretty cool
[17:00] little quirk. It's a nice touch that
[17:03] they did that. The climate control
[17:04] temperature dial is fairly similar,
[17:06] although unfortunately it does not have
[17:08] those distinctive lights throughout it
[17:10] as you twist the dial, but it's still
[17:12] sort of the same setup and the same
[17:13] feel. Now, the climate vents, as you can
[17:15] see, are circles. There's one in the
[17:17] center on the driver side, and there's
[17:18] one on the other side, both of which are
[17:21] circles sort of focused, I think
[17:23] intentionally, trying to make it seem
[17:25] more fighter jet-ish. The climate vents
[17:27] on the passenger side of the dashboard
[17:28] are just normal vertical rectangles,
[17:31] nothing special for the passenger. The
[17:33] driver gets the cool stuff. And there
[17:35] are a lot of circles. You can see the
[17:36] clock is within a circle, even though
[17:38] it's just a normal clock face read out,
[17:40] they put it in a circle. And same with
[17:42] the power mirror control, again a
[17:44] standard control, but placed inside a
[17:46] circle. I think the circle's there to
[17:47] give a little bit more of a purpose and
[17:49] sort of a jet plane kind of feel than
[17:52] just normal boring car controls. A few
[17:54] other interesting quirks in this area.
[17:56] One thing I love about the gauges, they
[17:58] are very focused, very simple, easy to
[18:01] read with the tachometer in the center,
[18:04] which is a traditional placement for
[18:06] very focused sports cars, where the
[18:09] engine speed is more important to you
[18:11] than the actual vehicle speed since
[18:13] you're driving in a racetrack
[18:15] competition setting, and the speed
[18:16] you're going isn't as important on the
[18:18] racetrack. Something else I love about
[18:20] the gauge cluster setup is that the
[18:23] warning lights are actually placed off
[18:25] to the side. They're over here in this
[18:27] kind of little panel that's actually
[18:29] hard to see behind the steering wheel
[18:31] rim, which makes it perfect for just
[18:34] ignoring the warning lights, which a lot
[18:36] of people do.
[18:38] >> [laughter]
[18:38] >> Especially 90s cars, stuff's hard to
[18:40] fix, just forget about it, put tape over
[18:42] it. That's easy in a Supra, where it's
[18:44] awful over to the side. But anyway, one
[18:46] other interesting note about the cockpit
[18:48] feel, even the center console armrest
[18:51] storage is aimed specifically for the
[18:54] driver. The latch is on the driver side,
[18:56] and it's hinged away from the passenger,
[18:58] meaning the passenger's access to the
[19:00] storage is blocked. This again was
[19:03] intended specifically for the driver of
[19:06] this car. Now, one other interesting
[19:08] quirk in here is the door handle
[19:10] situation, which mounted very low on the
[19:13] door panel. When you look at the door
[19:15] panel, it doesn't seem right. It seems
[19:16] kind of weird how low it is. But, when
[19:18] you close the door, it actually makes
[19:20] perfect sense. It's perfectly in the
[19:21] right spot to fall into your hand when
[19:24] you're going to get out and open the
[19:25] door. More interesting though, on the
[19:27] driver side, again part of the cockpit
[19:30] feel, you can see the power locks and
[19:32] the window switches are mounted right
[19:34] here. It's kind of an odd positioning
[19:36] until you close the door and discover
[19:39] that they're mounted there because it
[19:41] fits with the overall cockpit design.
[19:43] And when the door is closed, those
[19:45] switches are now facing the driver in
[19:48] the same sort of general shape that all
[19:50] the other switches are as a part of that
[19:53] driver-focused cockpit. It's actually
[19:55] kind of cool and interesting design when
[19:57] you think of it that way. And by the
[19:58] way, speaking of those switches, the
[20:00] window switches in this car are just
[20:03] standard Toyota window switches off
[20:05] basically every other Toyota from this
[20:08] era. Same deal with the stocks coming
[20:10] off the steering column, the turn signal
[20:11] stock the headlights on it, the wiper
[20:13] stock. They were on basically every
[20:16] Toyota product in this era. I already
[20:18] mentioned the generic steering wheel,
[20:20] which is another example of this, but
[20:21] also the radio head unit. It's fit into
[20:24] the cockpit shape, but it's just the
[20:25] same Toyota rectangle head unit that was
[20:28] in a lot of different Toyota models for
[20:31] a long, long period of time. It's kind
[20:33] of funny that Toyota, even in the Beast,
[20:36] the highest-performing, most expensive
[20:38] Toyota model, even then you had some
[20:41] generic Toyota stuff that followed in
[20:44] from the rest of the lineup. By the way,
[20:46] one other notable item in here is the
[20:48] transmission lever, the manual shifter
[20:51] as you can see, which I think is
[20:52] perfectly placed. It's sort of short and
[20:54] stubby, but it falls perfectly to hand
[20:57] based on where it is, and it's really a
[20:59] wonderful piece. I'll talk more about it
[21:01] when I'm driving, but the important
[21:03] thing to know is these were offered as
[21:04] six-speed manual transmission cars or
[21:07] with a four-speed automatic. And yes,
[21:10] you could get the Supra Turbo as a
[21:12] manual or automatic. Of course, also
[21:14] true of the base car. These days,
[21:16] everybody wants the manual and a lot of
[21:18] people are swapping the automatics out
[21:20] for manuals, but both were possible when
[21:22] this car was new. Anyway, next we move
[21:25] on to the back seats and interestingly,
[21:27] yes, the Mark IV Supra has back seats.
[21:31] That was actually a pretty big deal
[21:33] because most of these '90s Japanese
[21:35] sports cars didn't. The FD RX-7 never
[21:38] had back seats in the states, the
[21:39] 3000GT, the 300ZX offered back seats,
[21:43] but only in a 2+2 model that had a
[21:46] specific stretched wheelbase and kind of
[21:48] screwed up the whole look of the car.
[21:50] So, it's pretty impressive to see the
[21:51] Supra coming standard with back seats
[21:54] without a long wheelbase or a special
[21:57] version. With that said, the back seats
[21:59] are really basic. You can see two
[22:01] individual buckets back there with seat
[22:03] belts and that's about it. You don't get
[22:05] a climate vent, an ashtray, a roll-down
[22:08] window, even a storage compartment. You
[22:09] get nothing. You should just be happy
[22:11] and feel lucky that you're riding around
[22:14] in the back of a Mark IV Supra. Now,
[22:17] with that said, the seats do have one
[22:19] nice party trick, which is that they
[22:20] fold down to increase your cargo
[22:23] capacity because the cargo area opens up
[22:26] to the entire cockpit and so you can
[22:28] fold the seats down and get more cargo
[22:31] space in back. Kind of a nice feature.
[22:33] Now, and since we're talking cargo area,
[22:35] next up, let's get back here and access
[22:38] it, which is made possible through a
[22:39] pretty cool quirk, a hidden keyhole
[22:42] that's been kind of subtly placed in the
[22:44] tail light on the passenger side. So,
[22:47] you don't have to stick it in the middle
[22:48] in the body where it's very obvious.
[22:50] It's sort of hidden in here in the tail
[22:51] light assembly. You stick the key in,
[22:54] pop open the tailgate, and then you open
[22:57] it up. And you discover that there's
[22:59] actually not really all that much room.
[23:01] You have a pretty high floor in here, so
[23:04] even though it's fairly wide and pretty
[23:06] long, you don't really get much depth
[23:08] for a lot of stuff to be put in back.
[23:10] Now, with that said, of course, you do
[23:12] have the ability to fold down those rear
[23:14] seats like I mentioned before, which
[23:16] adds some cargo space if you're trying
[23:18] to put in a specially large items, and
[23:20] obviously that can make the car more
[23:21] practical. One other interesting quirk
[23:23] back here, you have a little switch to
[23:26] turn on a light. So, if you're loading
[23:28] or unloading stuff in the dark,
[23:30] strangely doesn't come on automatically.
[23:32] You have to find the tiny switch to turn
[23:34] it on, but once you do, then you can get
[23:36] a little illumination when you're taking
[23:39] stuff in or out of your Supra at night.
[23:42] So, those are your quirks and features,
[23:45] but now I want to discuss what exactly
[23:47] happened after this car. So, like I
[23:50] mentioned, the Supra's last year in the
[23:52] States was '98, but production continued
[23:55] globally after that. Demand in the
[23:57] States had fallen, the Supra's getting
[23:59] old, they pulled it off the market, but
[24:01] they sold it in Japan through 2002,
[24:04] and then it was gone. And it would be a
[24:06] long time, more than a decade, before
[24:08] the Supra would return. And about 10
[24:11] years ago, we got the Mark V
[24:14] Supra back in action, but a very
[24:17] different vehicle. No longer a
[24:18] four-seater, smaller car, much more
[24:21] affordable price point, standard
[24:23] four-cylinder engine, although a
[24:25] six-cylinder is optional, and most
[24:28] importantly, it was based on a BMW. The
[24:31] new Supra shares most of its
[24:33] underpinnings with the BMW Z4. It was a
[24:36] totally different Supra, but it's still
[24:40] called the Mark V,
[24:41] and it was embraced by Toyota Supra
[24:44] enthusiasts. And the new Supra has
[24:46] actually found a big tuner culture of
[24:49] its own, just like they had for this one
[24:52] all those years ago. [clears throat] And
[24:53] it's actually been kind of cool and kind
[24:55] of encouraging as a car enthusiast to
[24:57] see the Supra return and still find that
[25:00] culture even in today's world after the
[25:03] name had been dormant for so long. So,
[25:05] the Mark V Supra has brought it back,
[25:07] but the Mark IV still reigns supreme in
[25:10] everybody's mind. And so, with that and
[25:13] all the quirks and features, now it's
[25:15] time to get behind the wheel. Let's talk
[25:17] about how the Mark IV Supra Turbo
[25:19] drives. All right, driving the Mark IV
[25:23] Supra Turbo. I love these cars. I have
[25:26] wanted to own one of these cars for a
[25:28] long time.
[25:29] Um I know that a lot of people think
[25:31] they are overhyped and blah, blah, blah,
[25:32] but I think there's a lot of great
[25:34] reason that this car gets so much hype
[25:36] and so much love. I think it looks
[25:38] awesome. I think the powertrain is
[25:39] fantastic. I know a lot of people say
[25:41] it's a it's kind of a mid car when it's
[25:43] stock like this one mostly is, but to
[25:45] me, it's cool that you can run the gamut
[25:48] for what it can be from a from a fairly
[25:50] stock kind of cruiser car to a really
[25:53] off-the-chain, you know, modified,
[25:56] ridiculous situation. And this
[25:58] powertrain and this platform allows that
[26:00] to happen. First thing I notice in this
[26:01] car is just how smooth it is. I am
[26:04] astonished. This car is coming up on
[26:05] 100,000 mi. And
[26:08] even opening the door, it's like
[26:10] surprisingly high quality. There's not
[26:12] any like shaking or rattling. You turn
[26:13] the engine and the powertrain being a
[26:15] six-cylinder engine, a straight six,
[26:17] that's a smooth engine design based on
[26:19] the laws of physics and it feels very
[26:22] smooth. Sitting here at a light, you
[26:24] feel very little. You feel almost no
[26:26] rumble. Despite being a Toyota from the
[26:29] '90s with a fairly plastic interior, it
[26:31] is a shockingly,
[26:33] uh I don't want to say upscale, but like
[26:36] solid experience that you I wasn't
[26:38] really expecting. You know, I think of
[26:39] cars Toyotas from the '90s, I think of
[26:41] 4Runners, I think of Celicas. They were
[26:43] fine, but they were commuter cars. They
[26:45] were durable and reliable, but they were
[26:47] also pretty plasticky. They were not
[26:49] This almost feels Lexus-like in its kind
[26:52] of quality level, which is interesting.
[26:54] And the ride quality feels like that,
[26:56] too. It is not a particularly harsh
[26:58] ride.
[26:59] Um it's a little It's certainly harsher
[27:00] than the Lexus SC. I did one of those
[27:02] maybe a year ago. It's harsher than
[27:04] that. This car's also been modified a
[27:06] little bit. There's some suspension
[27:07] stuff on it, I think. But it Again, it
[27:09] feels solid. It has a truly like solid,
[27:13] smooth, almost kind of higher-end feel
[27:16] to it uh that I wasn't expecting. Now,
[27:18] one of the things I've always loved
[27:20] about this car, one thing that everybody
[27:21] should love about this car who's
[27:22] spending time in one, is the shifter
[27:25] clutch situation. The clutch itself is
[27:27] fine. Uh linear, it's a little heavier
[27:29] than I would want. Um it's it's not
[27:31] quite as communicative communicative as
[27:33] say the clutch in my Porsche 993, which
[27:35] also comes as from this era as a sports
[27:37] car. However, the shifter is just
[27:40] magical. Just absolutely magical. Short
[27:43] throws, it's the right amount of
[27:45] notchiness. It's just up It's a perfect
[27:47] perfect perfect shifter situation. All
[27:49] right, going to floor it here.
[27:55] Yeah, it's definitely not as fast
[27:57] >> [laughter]
[27:58] >> as some cars are, let's put it that way.
[28:01] It's quick. It's quick. I don't want to
[28:04] take away from it. It It definitely has
[28:05] some speed. I I understand why people
[28:07] get so excited to modify them. You kind
[28:10] of have to get up high to get the power.
[28:12] Although, when you do that, it's like a
[28:13] pretty fast experience, honestly. Uh
[28:17] It It It It just It takes a little bit
[28:19] of a while to build to that level. It
[28:21] definitely is not incredibly quick from
[28:24] zero, but once you get up into the
[28:26] 4,000-plus rev range, it actually is
[28:28] pretty pretty quick.
[28:30] Now, one of the things I think that a
[28:31] lot of people complain about this car is
[28:33] that it's sort of wallowy
[28:35] um in stock form.
[28:37] And that is kind of true. This car
[28:38] definitely It does not have the sports
[28:40] car feel of my 993 Turbo. You know,
[28:43] honestly, the acceleration is actually
[28:45] pretty good. You just got to let it get
[28:47] up there. And then once it does get up
[28:48] there, it's not like a lot of turbo cars
[28:50] where it kicks you in the face all at
[28:51] once. It it it's a little slow to build
[28:54] until 4,000 and then it's not like a
[28:56] smash in your face. It's a linear build,
[28:58] but up to six this car actually feels
[29:00] like legit fast. But what I was going to
[29:02] say about handling is it definitely has
[29:04] less of a focused sports car vibe like
[29:07] an NSX or an FD RX-7 and definitely a
[29:10] little bit more of sort of a touring car
[29:12] type feel to it. It doesn't have the
[29:15] steering precision. The chassis does
[29:16] feel a little bit more prone to some
[29:18] body roll and maybe not like immediate
[29:20] and amazingly precise movements like you
[29:22] just get in some of the other 90s
[29:23] Japanese sports cars or my 993 that kind
[29:26] of stuff. I think that um if you
[29:28] approach the Supra thinking it's going
[29:29] to be like the ultimate sports car,
[29:31] that's not really what it is. It is not
[29:32] an S2000, it is not an FD RX-7 kind of
[29:35] an interesting way because this car was
[29:37] so vaunted from its days in Fast and the
[29:39] Furious and because it has a powertrain
[29:41] that allows you to modify it so well. I
[29:43] think what this car does well is
[29:44] actually uh like grand touring cruising
[29:47] which is it's a fast car that you could
[29:49] probably sit fast on the Autobahn.
[29:52] Yeah, it's quick. It's quick when you
[29:53] get up in the range.
[29:56] But you can feel that suspension float
[29:58] as you go over bumps even at higher
[30:00] speeds. It's kind of interesting. I
[30:01] think this is a in a way I think this is
[30:03] a a grand touring car with a sports car
[30:06] powertrain and a sports car design and a
[30:09] sports car sort of ethos and and
[30:11] history. And so a lot of people really
[30:14] come at it from the sports car lens, but
[30:16] this car is definitely not as eager as
[30:18] like a true purpose-built focused sports
[30:20] car and I think that a lot of the reason
[30:21] the tuner culture exists around this car
[30:23] is because people want it to be that
[30:25] focused sports car and you can make it
[30:28] that focused sports car. It just
[30:29] requires a little bit of effort.
[30:31] Certainly not how it was done from the
[30:32] factory. In fact, from the factory it is
[30:35] just a really solid car. It's just a
[30:38] good nice car. Would be easy to do big
[30:41] miles in. I think that in stock form
[30:43] it's a little misunderstood. People say
[30:45] it's not that great. I think it's more
[30:47] that it's intended to be not necessarily
[30:50] that S2000 type situation. Overall, hard
[30:52] to say bad things about a Mark IV Supra
[30:54] Turbo. It's a It's a cool car. And so,
[30:57] that's the Mark IV Toyota Supra Turbo.
[31:02] This car is a legend. And while the
[31:05] driving experience may not equal an
[31:08] Acura NSX or a Porsche 911 Turbo, even
[31:11] though prices are heading in that
[31:13] direction, this car is just as iconic.
[31:16] Not only for its driving experience, but
[31:18] also because it is simply a legend of
[31:21] our youth. Such a special car, and you
[31:25] can buy this one on Cars and Bids.
[31:27] Anyway, now it's time to give the Supra
[31:30] Turbo a Doug score.
[31:36] And the Doug score [clears throat] is
[31:37] here, 56 out of 100, which puts the
[31:39] Supra here against rivals. At this
[31:41] point, I've driven all of the top
[31:43] Japanese sports cars from this era, and
[31:45] I really think the Mark IV Supra
[31:48] deserves the hype. It's not as focused
[31:50] as the NSX or as high-tech as the
[31:52] 3000GT-R
[31:53] IV, but it's the best combination of
[31:56] beautiful fast fun practical and
[31:59] durable out of all of them. And so,
[32:01] while it doesn't run away with any one
[32:03] category, it scores high marks in all.
[32:05] Plus, its tunability means you can get
[32:08] more in any direction you want to go. If
[32:10] you're looking for more style, or more
[32:11] power, or more handling, the Supra
[32:13] platform is ready. It's a wonderful car,
[32:16] and I want one.