The MkIV Toyota Supra Turbo Is a Legendary 1990s Sports Car

[00:00] This is a 1995 Toyota Supra Turbo and

[00:05] it's one of the most legendary iconic

[00:08] Japanese cars ever made. The hero from

[00:11] the original Fast and Furious movie, one

[00:14] of the great 1990s sports cars. Today,

[00:18] I'm going to review this relatively

[00:20] unmodified Mark IV Supra Turbo and I'll

[00:24] show you all of its quirks and features.

[00:30] Before I get started, great news. This

[00:33] Supra Turbo is currently for sale and

[00:36] it's being auctioned live on Cars and

[00:38] Bids and this is a good one. Factory

[00:41] Supra Turbo, factory manual transmission

[00:44] and it's relatively untouched whereas a

[00:47] lot of these have been heavily modified

[00:49] and you can buy it on Cars and Bids. So,

[00:51] once you finish watching this video,

[00:53] click the link in the description below

[00:55] to visit the live auction for this Supra

[00:58] Turbo where you can bid on it and buy it

[01:01] only on Cars and Bids. This episode is

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[02:32] description box. Now, all right, time

[02:34] for the quirks and features of the Mark

[02:37] IV Supra Turbo, starting with a little

[02:41] background on why this car is so

[02:43] special. So, the Supra first came out in

[02:47] the 1970s, and initially, it was a

[02:49] sporty trim level of the Toyota Celica,

[02:52] which was sort of the sporty little

[02:55] coupe, kind of fun car in Toyota's

[02:57] lineup. The Celica Supra was the

[02:59] performance version, and in the 1980s,

[03:02] the Supra was spun off to be its own

[03:05] completely distinct, separate car, and

[03:08] the Celica kind of stayed on the sort of

[03:10] entry-level sporty path, while the Supra

[03:13] became the real sports car, the kind of

[03:16] high-performance pinnacle muscle car in

[03:20] Toyota's lineup. This Supra is the

[03:22] fourth-generation model, called the Mark

[03:25] IV by enthusiasts, and it is by far the

[03:28] most beloved Supra of all. It came out

[03:32] for the 1993

[03:34] model year, and it's a legend in the

[03:37] Japanese car world and in the car

[03:40] enthusiast community as a whole. Now,

[03:43] there are three primary reasons why the

[03:46] Mark IV Supra is so beloved. Among

[03:49] Supras, among Japanese cars, it is one

[03:52] of the all-time icons. And a big reason,

[03:55] maybe the most important reason, is the

[03:58] powertrain. All Mark IV Toyota Supras

[04:01] used Toyota's famous 2JZ six-cylinder.

[04:05] It was a 3-liter inline-six, so a very

[04:08] smooth engine, and it was known for its

[04:12] reliability. These are stout

[04:14] powertrains. They're very difficult to

[04:16] mess up or destroy, and for its

[04:19] tunability. This powertrain was in a lot

[04:21] of Toyotas over a long time, and

[04:23] combined with its very robust build

[04:26] quality, a lot of tuners made a lot of

[04:28] engine builds based on this engine. So,

[04:31] there's a lot of tuning capabilities and

[04:33] parts you could buy, and for those two

[04:35] big reasons, people love the 2JZ. Now,

[04:39] there were two flavors of 2JZ in the

[04:42] Supra. The base model had a naturally

[04:44] aspirated version of it that made about

[04:47] 220 horsepower. But, if you stepped up

[04:50] to this, the Supra Turbo, you got a

[04:53] twin-turbo version of the same 2JZ

[04:56] six-cylinder, which made about 320

[04:59] horsepower. And that was a big deal back

[05:02] in the '90s. In fact, this car, even at

[05:05] around 3,400 lb, did 0 to 60 in the

[05:09] mid-4-second range, which really made it

[05:12] fast. It's still pretty quick today, and

[05:14] it was really quick back then. Even at

[05:18] this car's pretty high price point. The

[05:20] sticker price on this Supra, back 30

[05:23] years ago, would have been around

[05:25] $50,000, which translates to about 110

[05:29] grand in today's money. Big money for

[05:33] this car, but it was big, fast, and big,

[05:37] cool, in part thanks to this wonderful

[05:39] powertrain. One 2JZ quirk I've always

[05:42] loved, when you open the engine

[05:44] compartment in this car to see the famed

[05:47] 2JZ six-cylinder. The most prominent

[05:50] words that are staring back at you are

[05:53] traction control mounted directly out

[05:57] and facing anyone looking into the

[05:59] engine bay, I guess to brag about the

[06:01] amazing equipment that this car had,

[06:04] traction control. Now, the 2JZ was used

[06:08] in a lot of different Toyota and Lexus

[06:10] products, including the Lexus SC300,

[06:14] which in Japan was called the Toyota

[06:16] Soarer, and which shared its platform

[06:20] with the Supra. The Soarer and the SC300

[06:23] were more of a grand touring kind of

[06:25] luxury car, and for the Supra, the

[06:27] platform was taken, changed, the car was

[06:29] shortened, the twin turbo powertrain

[06:32] went in, and the Supra was born. And

[06:36] even though this engine is so beloved

[06:38] for its tunability in all Toyota models,

[06:41] the Supra was especially beloved because

[06:43] the twin turbo version was a rarity in

[06:46] Toyota's lineup, and because the Supra's

[06:49] sporty chassis kind of lent itself to

[06:52] performance already before you even

[06:54] started tuning. Reason number two why

[06:58] the Mark IV Supra is so beloved is, of

[07:01] course, its movie stardom, its Hollywood

[07:04] celebrity. This car was basically the

[07:08] hero car in the original Fast and the

[07:11] Furious movie. Of course, many sequels

[07:15] on since then, the Fast and the Furious

[07:17] movies have kind of become the defining

[07:20] car movies of the last 30 years. And in

[07:23] the very first one, Paul Walker drove a

[07:26] Supra as the fast hero car, and it was a

[07:29] big part of maybe the most memorable

[07:32] scene in the whole movie, where Paul

[07:34] Walker, driving the Supra, pulls up next

[07:36] to a Ferrari on the Pacific Coast

[07:38] Highway, and he says, "How much does it

[07:40] cost?" And the Ferrari guy says, "More

[07:42] than you can afford, pal." Ferrari,

[07:45] condescendingly talking down to the

[07:47] loser in the Supra. Of course, the great

[07:49] irony of that scene is that in the years

[07:51] since, the Supra's star status has

[07:54] elevated its price tag well beyond the

[07:57] Ferrari F355 Spider that was used in

[08:00] that scene. And these days, the Ferrari

[08:03] owner would ask the Supra how much it

[08:04] costs, and the Supra owner would tell

[08:06] him that the Supra is far more expensive

[08:10] than that cheapskate Ferrari. And part

[08:12] of the reason for that shoot up in

[08:14] values is the powertrain, but also the

[08:18] movie icon status. And finally, the

[08:22] third reason why the Mark IV Supra, I

[08:25] think, has had so much success and love

[08:27] sent its way, the reason that not as

[08:29] many people talk about, it just plain

[08:33] looks cool. Japan sent us a lot of

[08:36] special sports cars in the '90s, and

[08:38] they didn't always look great. The

[08:41] Subaru SVX and the Mitsubishi 3000GT

[08:44] were awesome cars, but their designs

[08:46] were more fussy. They were a little bit

[08:49] over-styled. The Acura NSX was super

[08:51] cool, but it had more of a focused

[08:53] performance car look. The Nissan Skyline

[08:56] GT-R was an awesome vehicle, but

[08:59] definitely less of a true sports car

[09:01] design, as it started life as a family

[09:04] sedan. The Supra, and honestly, the FD

[09:07] Mazda RX-7, those cars had a clean,

[09:11] simple, swoopy, sporty design that not

[09:14] only, I think, has aged pretty well, but

[09:17] was also very representative of the

[09:20] '90s. A lot of cars from this era had

[09:22] these sort of flowing lines, a little

[09:24] bit of a jelly bean look to them, rather

[09:26] than the angular 1980s that preceded.

[09:29] And this car is really representative of

[09:32] that era. This design really looks like

[09:35] the times, and it was one of the better,

[09:38] more iconic, more emblematic designs

[09:42] that came from that era. And I think

[09:44] that, too, has helped the Supra earn so

[09:47] much status and iconic power over the

[09:51] years since it came out. But anyway,

[09:53] beyond the lore of the Mark IV Supra,

[09:56] there's also a lot of quirks and

[09:58] 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.