The 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo Is a Sports Car Legend

this is a 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo and it is a legend an absolute legend this car came from the 1990s Japanese sports car era that also included the Mazda rx-7 and the Mitsubishi 3000gt and the Nissan 300zx but this car the super turbo has risen above them all to become an icon from this era today I'm going to explain why I borrowed this Supra from an entrepreneur friend of mine located here in Orange County California he's working on a really cool project that's going to launch soon find out more about it at March calm and be sure to follow him on instagram by clicking the link in the description below now back to the Supra this car has only 12,000 miles on it it has the six-speed manual transmission that everybody wants and it has never been modified this is the most desirable Supra of all and in this condition these can sell for huge money and by that I mean well over $100,000 yes $100,000 for a 1994 Toyota when I grew up my dad had a 90s Toyota Camry and you know where that thing is now sitting on Craigslist where some guys offering to trade it for a really nice futon probably but the Supra has its reasons for being so valuable one major reason is this cars movie fame as the mark for super turbo that's what the cool kids call it was the hero car in the Fast and the Furious which is now generally regarded as one of the all-time worst and best car movies in history then there's the tunability the super turbo is famous for its legendary 2jz engine which was incredibly tunable dramatically over built to the point where you can tune it and get well over a thousand horsepower easily and a lot of people do in fact other cars that use variations of the 2jz engine are highly sought after by tuners to be harvested for their engine and it goes beyond just that the super turbo is frankly just rare as Toyota just didn't make that many of them compared to the Nissan 300zx in the Mitsubishi 3000gt part of the reason for that was the cost back when it was new back in 94 the MSRP of this thing was around $45,000 which translates to a little over $70,000 in today's money imagine paying 70 grand for a Toyota and then the other problem was most of the people who did opt for the turbo decided to go for the automatic transmission which makes the manual even rarer and then there's the styling another reason this car is so valuable it's just beautiful it is a gorgeous car with gorgeous clean lines and it's not just a beautiful 1990s car this is a beautiful car even by modern standards but whatever the reason today I'm going to review it first I'm gonna take you on a tour of the super turbo and I'm going to show you all of the quirks and features of a legend and then I'm going to get it out on the road and drive it and then I'm going to give it a dug score now I'm gonna start under the hood where you can take a look at the nicest 2jz engine you will ever see most of these cars about a ton of miles put on them they've been heavily modified not this one this is the cleanest 2jz maybe in existence now there are a lot of reasons why this engine is so sought after and so desirable especially in the tuner scene it had an iron block for more strength it had forged rods there's a bunch of other stuff that I don't normally get into it was brilliantly covered in a Jalopnik article by David Tracy that I'm going to link in the description below but suffice it to say this engine was just over built and so you can throw a ton of horsepower in it Toyota put 320 horsepower in it and 315 pound-feet of torque although they claimed it was 276 horsepower thanks to a gentlemen's agreement in Japan not to go crazy with horsepower so people might get hurt but here in the states it was rated at 320 horsepower and a lot of people say it was actually even more than that a couple of interesting items under the hood one on the engine itself you can see it says 2jz GTE printed there on what has to be the nicest engine cover left on one of these GTE was the specific engine for the Supra Turbo I also like the fact that it says on the side energy conserving - oh no this is way better than the energy conserving one that was nothing compared to all the energy conserving that's going on with - next up I want to talk wheels because this car has some truly hilarious wheels now modern sports cars have aggressive 1920 21 inch wheels with thin spokes to emphasise how angry and sporty they are this thing was the exact opposite these tiny by modern standards 17 inch wheels only 5 spokes they looked so nice now most mark 4 super owners get rid of these wheels because they make the car look like a Corolla but to me I kind of like them yeah they're not very aggressive but it's kind of the point of this car this car was from an era where automakers didn't have to make everything look aggressive and angry in order to get their point across nonetheless they are funny to see today our next interesting item is the little model designation on the back that says supra now it's not unusual for a car to say the model name on the back most cars do to identify them the weird thing to me about this was the font that they chose it's this like 90s catalog font that you would see in like a travel brochure advertising some city that nobody wants to go to Cleveland but anyway this is the phone it doesn't seem to be really in keeping with the aggressive angry character of the car that's what they chose and you can also see that fun 90s font on the floor mats on the inside of the car and on the brake calipers no Brembos on this car instead you had supra and next up we got to talk wing in this car has a massive one a lot of people time criticized this wing because it was just so big and it wasn't really in keeping with the cars design which was otherwise relatively subtle and smooth and simple but frankly I love the wing I think it looks perfect for the Superette now in retrospect it just makes it look that much more absurd and interesting and unusual and sometimes I seem driving around without the wing and frankly I think it looks naked nonetheless it's probably the only recent Toyota to have like a foot high wing the other interesting thing back here is the taillights which are very unusual you can see they have four circles all the same size that do their various jobs you have the backup light the two tail lights which turn into the brake lights and of course the turn signals one interesting thing about these tail lights is they were sort of ahead of their time it became a really cool fad sort of later in the late 90s to have these clear tail lights with individual lights inside them people called them Altezza taillights because they look like the taillights in the toyota Altezza but the Supra had them first it was ahead of its time one other thing and I just got to say about these brake lights I can't tell you how many times I remember sitting behind this car on a video game screen playing Gran Turismo and watching these brake lights break in front of me while I approached a curve on whatever circuit I was on an incredibly low resolution this was one of the hero cars of that video game and frankly of my childhood and everybody's childhood who's about my age in two other interesting lighting related items in this car one around back I like the fact that Toyota wanted to preserve sort of the clean uninterrupted look of the rear of this car and so there's no keyhole anywhere on the bodywork instead try to sort of hid the keyhole inside one of the brake light housings which is over on the passenger side you stick the key in twist it and then the lift gate comes up another interesting lighting item is up front the headlights of this car are gorgeous and they're not cloudy at all like they are on so many supras because this car has been driven so little one interesting item go take a look in the middle the headlights there's like a headlight hump and when you turn on the headlights that hump lights up and then it sort of projects forward very dimly I don't know if that's the parking light or just a component I'm not really sure why it's a little hump in the headlight housing but well it's there and it looks weird never noticed that before maybe you haven't either but now you will see it on all super as you see at Cars and Coffee now next up we move on to the cargo area which is accessed by opening up the tailgate and once you're back here you will find that first off there's not really all that much room the floor of this thing is unusually high and so if you put like a box back here and it's stuck up to here when you go to close the tailgate obviously the glass would kind of smoosh it down there's just not all that much room back here mostly what's intended to go back here is the roof yes that's right the roof in this car is removable they sold them with a full coupe hardtop but there is also the sport roof as Toyota called it which could be removed and then stowed back here in the back now one of the interesting things about the sport roof is the fact that it isn't really all that easy to remove now this isn't how it's portrayed in the Fast and the Furious movie in one scene they're in like a car chase and they throw the roof off because they have to jump out the top and they just do it in like half a second but actually it's kind of a challenging process and the way it works is there's this little yellow pouch inside the glove box with a tool in it you can see the tools has tightened on one side and loosen on the other now there are five like hex bolts underneath the sport roof and you have to undo each of them in order to remove the roof which means it isn't just something you can do while sitting at a stoplight you have to kind of commit like oh today I'm gonna take off the roof maybe for the season now you'll also notice that inside that little yellow pouch there are a couple of plastic like plug looking that's because when you remove the roof there are some open and exposed holes screws in them you put the little plastic plugs over those holes and it doesn't look as ugly as having exposed screws in your vehicle now once you remove it you can put it back here and you may be wondering well how does it go back here there are some complicated latch looking things aha well there's an explanation stuck here over on one of the little latches is a diagram that shows exactly how you're supposed to put the sport roof in place once you remove it so you can stow it in the back and it's actually kind of complicated you have to put that side in first then driver's side then you can do the passenger side then you do the front part now the owner tells me that having this diagram in place is actually kind of a big deal in the world of Supra Turbo collectors they want to see it here for originality sake same deal with a little yellow pouch in the glove box that has the tools a car with the diagram showing how to stow the sport roof and the tools to remove it is considered just a little bit more valuable than a car without those items which is why you should save everything that comes with your car the other interesting thing about the cargo area of this car is the fact that you can put the rear seat down for extra room if you want you just pull up on this little plastic tab in the middle of the seat you push it forward and then you have more space but again the load floor is so high that you can't really get all that much in here but at least it allows you to get a little bit more in here than you could before in case you want to transport something of medium size anyway yes you heard right just a second ago this car has back seats and so it is now time for me to climb into them the front seat is all the way forward so you just pull the latch push the backrest forward and then you can get in obviously it is rather tight back here and these are deep bucket seats so when you get in you kind of fold down into the seats now when I put the front seat back I already have no room if I started to move it back so someone can actually sit here I would have even less room there is absolutely zero reason why this car has back seats now because these back seats are so incredibly tiny there are absolutely no frills back here nothing interesting just basically two seats and a couple of seat belts there is however one in to get and that would be the floor mat back here it has one of the smallest floor mats I've ever seen in a car why bother even including a floor mat for the rear seats you know will never be used I have no idea but Toyota did next up we move on to the front seats in the Supra Turbo there are quite a few interesting items starting with the cockpit arrangement in this car everything is angled towards the driver in this clever sort of upside-down U shape everything is sort of intended for the driver to be able to reach it most easily that's the whole point of this car to be driven and the U shape even continues over on to the door panel where the power windows and the locks which are also angled towards the driver this car is driver focused and you notice that the moment you first step inside next I'm going through some of the interesting items in this cockpit one of the things I like the most is the climate vents the driver side ones anyway they're circular and you can move them around and adjust them to your liking but the thing I like best is when you go to close them they don't just close with one little sheet of plastic instead these like fan blade looking things behind the climate vent have all moved into position to close them off it is a very cool look now as for the climate controls themselves they're a lot simpler and easier than what you'd find on basically any other exciting sports car these are mainly Toyota climate controls but I especially like the climate control dials there's one atop that changes the temperature but then I especially like the one that changes the air flow you can see that as you turn it this little light kind of jumps to additional airflow amounts with each turn you give it which is a kind of satisfying feeling next up moving below the climate controls this car has a radio obviously the cassette player but it also has a CD player which would have been a huge deal back in 1994 people were buying cars as late as the late 90s and not getting CD players that is a pretty big deal but then again this was a pretty expensive car so it makes sense that have had it next up one item I liked below the radio is the fact that the traction control off button is like in the middle of the center control stack and massive I think Toyota knew exactly what was going to be happening when they sold this car to people so they made that button very easy to find fam next to the traction control off button you have the gear lever which is kind of cool it's in this little circular housing but the thing I like most about it is the fact that it has this cool baseball stitching on top which looks very nice even to this day I wish more automakers would do that with manual transmission shift knobs next up we move on to the center console which is of course in the middle and it has some storage just like it does in so many other cars now the interesting thing about this center console is the fact that it opens only towards the driver the passenger can't use it it continues the sort of driver centric theme of this car the passenger doesn't even have access to storage in the center console now when you open up the center console you are greeted by a long detailed group of warning labels the one on the bottom goes through the entire process of installing and removing the sport roof sort of line-by-line what you have to do again it wasn't as easy as they showed in the Fast and the Furious but the warning label above that is more interesting to me it talks about how to deal with the engine and the engine oil on a turbocharged vehicle such as this one specifically it says a couple of rather amusing things one is make sure to change engine oil according owner's manual do not stop engine immediately after high speed driving or pulling trailers so if you're taking your horse trailer out in your super turbo and you get to the stables don't just turn it off let it idle for a while to sort of cool down as per this warning label next up moving on to the gauge cluster a couple of interesting and unusual items one is the fact that the odometer is not located in the gauge cluster like in virtually every other car especially if Toyotas from this era and said it's over to the right of the gauge cluster above the center controls tank that's where it reads how many miles you've traveled which is unusual also unusual in the gauge cluster is the fact that there is this little warning triangle that tells you if something is amiss this triangle comes on when you don't have your seat belt buckle that comes on when a door is open when the parking brake is on any time you see the triangle you know something's going on also interesting in the vicinity of the gauge cluster is just how much stuff up here is borrowed from regular Toyota vehicles this steering wheel for instance comes right off the Camry the Corolla the 4runner from this area same goes with the turn signal stalk the wiper stalk the or windows switches it fits in with Toyota's philosophy why make 3 buttons as I mentioned in a prior video why make a different item when you already have one that works just fine so you have a steering wheel that doesn't really fit in with the character of the Supra but it works a why bother to change it unfortunately this also meant that the super gets the puny Toyota Camrys sounding horn take a listen next time moving on to the glove box in the Supra you will find in this car the original 1994 Toyota Supra owner's manual now I love to leaf through the owner's manuals in these older cars and see what the automakers were telling us and one perfect example of that is on the inside cover of this owner's manual it says we really care about you please buckle up Toyota has made a special effort to encourage the use of seat belts and then it goes on to say Toyota belts are comfortable easy to use and convenient as opposed to those damn Honda belts that were uncomfortable and difficult to use another interesting item in this thing is on page 106 it says caution never turn off the engine to coast down hills well duh your power steering and brake booster will not function without the engine running also the emission control system operates properly only when the engine is running so if you turn off your engine to coast downhill you won't have brakes you won't have steering and also you won't have emissions who cares you're gonna die who cares about the emissions but Toyota puts that in there anyway just to guilt you and did not turning off your engine in case the threat of death isn't enough and so those are the quirks and features of the mark 4 super turbo now it's time to get it out on the road and see how it drives alright driving the Supra Turbo I've always wanted to do this never have alright going on a highway in one Ram here the car is exceptionally well balanced feels very very planted Wow okay couple things going around the highway on-ramp the car feels really really well-balanced like a Porsche or something like that much better than I associate with any Japanese car that was surprising in terms of accelerating their acceleration is okay not amazing 20 horsepower back in the day I think this would have been really really impressive but to me now having driven so many other fast cars and the cars kind of becoming faster it's not quite as impressive one interesting thing is how mechanical the shifter and clutch feels it does not feel incredibly smooth it is easy to drive but not exceptionally smooth you can kind of feel it clunk a little bit as you shift into gear and go through the gears and I'm surprised by that Porsches BMWs are more buttery smooth in this cars more mechanical for better or worse I do like the fact that I feel like I could really go hard in this car because I know this motor can take a lot of abuse that was so famous for how overbuilt it wasn't how much power I can take it can easily handle the stock driving a handling in this car is really impressive the steering is a little bit lazy but it's very direct but the handling is what really impresses me the car is just so vastly stable and capable of going and hard around a corner it feels a very planted very stable on the ground the steering could be a little bit more direct but it's still a ton of fun to throw around on the highlight it just doesn't feel like it's got that much give and just there's not that much power than this car delivers the owner totally bolt on Baazi you can get another 150 horsepower of this thing in two seconds no problem but it's also to me nice to review this car and experience it how it was when Toyota initially sold this car back in the day and I find that to be super cool either way I will say this car behaves like an old-school turbo car when you think about acceleration zero to sixty four six pretty good but that's only because you're getting into the mood and when you get into the boost when you hit 4,000 5,000 rpm it feels like about the fastest car in the world from 1,000 to four you're like well this is not so great and then turbos kick in and this thing just flies ultimately though this car is just an icon the driving experience is good it's fast it feels very very fast at low speeds it's okay on the highway but you know you're driving a stick shift back to basics car that was just an icon of this era not only from the movie but also just all of the 90s Japanese cars this one in the NSX are the ones that stand out is just the ultimate and it's just it's hard not to smile when you're driving this car yeah it's not as fast as a lot of modern sporty cars but and this thing is this thing is just cool it's so cool and so exciting and so thrilling to just think yourself and I'm driving a mark or super a turbo you know you're just everybody else in the road even if you're passing somebody in a McLaren you know your car is maybe not faster maybe not better but more special and so that's the 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo the mark 4 super turbo this car is a legend and it doesn't matter if it's because of its styling or its rarity or its engine or it's fast in the Furious fam it doesn't matter why this car is legendary iconic and it is only going to keep getting more valuable in the future and now it's time to give it a dug score starting with the weekend categories and styling I think the Supra is beautiful simple handsome starting to get a little dated but it's still great and it gets an 8 out of 10 acceleration 0 to 60 is 4.6 seconds and it gets a 6 out of 10 handling is OK steering is a bit vague and handling could be a little sharper and it gets a 6 out of 10 fun factor is good it's a fun car they're not insanely fast or possible by modern standards though you do get some fun just knowing you're in a mark 4 super turbo and it gets a 6 out of 10 finally cool factor these are really special and they'll still draw crowd at Cars and Coffee and it gets a 7 out of 10 for a total weekend score of 33 out of 50 next up are the daily categories and features the Supra had a lot of stuff for its time but it's getting old now and it just has the basics and it gets a 2 out of 10 Comfort is average and it gets a 5 out of 10 quality is good the Supra isn't full of ultra high quality materials but it's exceptionally reliable and it gets a 7 out of 10 practicality is only OK it has four seats but a small cargo area and it gets a 3 out of 10 finally value it's hard to imagine paying a hundred grand for a used Toyota even for a Supra so you think the value scored below but these are still going up in value and even though the market has softened a little bit it earns a 7 out of 10 for a total daily score of 24 out of 50 add it up and the Doug score is 57 out of 100 which places it here among rivals from the period yes it's better than the NSX so the NSX is way better in the weekend categories supera has a higher daily score and just edges it out the Supra is also better than all the other 1990s Japanese sports car competition which is reflected in the supras market value happy Doug's cember everyone [Music]

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 3,216,901

Rating: 4.8908668 out of 5

Keywords: mkiv supra, mkiv supra turbo, mkiv supra review, mkiv supra turbo review, toyota supra review, toyota supra turbo review, supra turbo review, supra review, toyota supra, supra, doug demuro, demuro

Id: cwKAS9vQq90

Length: 23min 52sec (1432 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 20 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/agray20938]

"Imagine paying 70 grand for a toyota"

Land Cruiser owners in shambles

[u/oversized_canoe]

He really is taking advantage of that higher December ad revenue. Must have had this one saved for a while. Smart though!

[u/Promit]

Doug, you've mentioned in the past that nobody cares about the 90s sports cars and the view counts suck. I'm glad to see you're still making time for a few!

[u/Mayjaplaya]

Well, he's knocked off the Japanese Big 4 for me.

• RX-7

• NSX

• Skyline GT-R

• Supra

^{Did a couple of Miatas too so I'm happy}

[u/Snoos-Brother-Poo]

Man, that thing is CLEAN. The engine bay is spotless.

[u/[deleted]]

A stock Supra? Must be a dream.

[u/goochisdrunk]

For some reason seeing this post reminds me of the (now) old joke...

"What do a 500hp, 600hp, and 700hp Supra have in common?"

"An 11 second 1/4 mile."

[u/DukeNuggets69]

Wasn't joking with the insane cars we'd have in december, this is peak Japan.

[u/Michelanvalo]

I can't tell you the number of times I've sat behind these brake lights in a videogame

Oh, /u/doug-demuro, I'm not sure if you keep up with racing games but Toyota decided about 2 years ago that licensing out their cars for games was not worth the money and pulled their licensing. Forza, GranTurismo, ProjectCars, AssettoCorsa and any other racing game you can think of lost their rights to Toyota. Forza 7, Forza Horizon 4 and GTSport have no Toyotas anymore.