520,000+ mile 97 Supra NA on original engine
#1
520,000+ mile 97 Supra NA on original engine
I love seeing articles like these. This car could use a detailing but the mileage is fantastic. 2JZ cars keep on going and going
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...-520000-miles/
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...-520000-miles/
#6
Lexus Test Driver
iTrader: (3)
90s Toyota was ahead of engineering and still is to this day, look at those 4runners is a fine example. Toyota has some amazing engineering team. Lexus team is even better when it comes to quality fitted parts and interior. I would never own any other brand, hands down. I had many other brands in the past and its all junk.
Last edited by mikef; 05-29-16 at 10:12 AM.
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#8
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
Brand loyalty is like religion. Everyone swears their's is the best and everyone else's is the worst. They can't all be right.
#9
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (17)
I always find the brand loyalty with vehicles to be very odd. I've owned Toyota/Lexus, Honda, and Mazda, and they've all got their respective pros and cons. I see no significant difference in build quality or longevity between them, either. And if I had to pick one of the three that has held up the best, from personal experience, it wouldn't be Toyota/Lexus.
Brand loyalty is like religion. Everyone swears their's is the best and everyone else's is the worst. They can't all be right.
Brand loyalty is like religion. Everyone swears their's is the best and everyone else's is the worst. They can't all be right.
You cannot tell me there's a Honda or Mazda product on par with a Lexus LS430 because there isn't.
#10
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
You cannot tell me there's a Honda or Mazda product on par with a Lexus LS430 because there isn't.
If you're going for the refinement angle, then Acura would be a fairer comparison. (Mazda never got their luxury line off the ground. See: Millenia.) I drove my friend's Acura MDX and was extremely impressed. If it weren't for the badging, I would have believed it if someone told me it's a German car.
I tend to think Toyota makes the longest lasting engine/drivetrains, although Honda isn't far behind and angles more toward eeking as much out of a small engine as possible. Mazda isn't known for the most durable engines, although the Miata engine has been referred to as the cockroach (i.e., unkillable) of the combustion engine world, but they make up for it with the best transmissions and drivability. I tend to look at Toyota as building engines that handle mileage with ease, but vehicles that suffer from age more. The downside of over-building everything is more mass and related stresses on everything else. To me, that's good but not great engineering.
#11
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (17)
on par with build quality, noise isolation, driving experience, reliability, etc. you know what I am talking about here lol cmon now. Was not talking about Miatas. Nobody beats Lexus from Japan. Not Honda, definitely not Acura (surprised they are still in business as they literally have 2 (TWO) good selling models).
#12
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
on par with build quality, noise isolation, driving experience, reliability, etc. you know what I am talking about here lol cmon now. Was not talking about Miatas. Nobody beats Lexus from Japan. Not Honda, definitely not Acura (surprised they are still in business as they literally have 2 (TWO) good selling models).
I'll grant you noise isolation, but that's a very minor consideration to me, as I'm in the "information over isolation" camp. I always find it amusing that we want loud engines and exhausts, but not any road noise.
Driving experience, I couldn't disagree more. I'll take Mazda every time. Toyota/Lexus goes for the plush, over-built over the light, nimble, and fun. The SC door hinges are a perfect example of over-engineering / build quality and reliability not being synonymous. They're built like a tank and still can't stand up to the stresses of all that unnecessary mass and long lever arms hanging off them. Now, if you want to steer the conversation toward safety, Toyota likely shines. But, I like to drive my cars, not crash them.
Acura has a bad reputation here on CL, but I dare you to drive a new MDX (I can't speak for any of their others post-Integra) and not be impressed.
#13
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (17)
What exactly is so u reliable about your SC? Please make a list and we can categorize your problems into 2 groups, one being wear and tear from old age, and group 2, issues due to bad engineering.
I guarantee you most of those issues will fall under group 1. Some will have more issues than others because of owner neglect and being from unfavorable areas of the country (any salt belt state vehicles will have far more mechanical issues than southern cars, southern cars that weren't garaged will have issues northern cars don't like failing paint, interior cracking and weathering, so on and so forth.)
If you have a clean SC with the scheduled maintenance done I cannot believe you that's it's unreliable, that would not make sense. Most people that ***** about it are the same people who are too cheap to even buy decent tires and get alignment done on their cars, yet they will complain all day how bad the ride quality is.
I guarantee you most of those issues will fall under group 1. Some will have more issues than others because of owner neglect and being from unfavorable areas of the country (any salt belt state vehicles will have far more mechanical issues than southern cars, southern cars that weren't garaged will have issues northern cars don't like failing paint, interior cracking and weathering, so on and so forth.)
If you have a clean SC with the scheduled maintenance done I cannot believe you that's it's unreliable, that would not make sense. Most people that ***** about it are the same people who are too cheap to even buy decent tires and get alignment done on their cars, yet they will complain all day how bad the ride quality is.
#14
Lead Lap
iTrader: (8)
However, I've had all the usual maintenance culprits: ECU, front and rear control arms, three door lock sensor failures, cracked center vents, numerous crumbled engine bay sensors and interior plastics, etc. You can dismiss them all as old age, but the same has not been true for my Mazdas of similar age. I look at that as quality of engineering in the overall platform, not just the drivetrain.
Most people that ***** about it are the same people who are too cheap to even buy decent tires and get alignment done on their cars, yet they will complain all day how bad the ride quality is.
#15
I tend to think that the only three things that keep an NA 2JZ interesting are: manual transmission, LSD and 4.272:1 gearing. Maybe he got his NA with the ultra-rare Torsen option?
As for build quality, even the SC has a few blemishes with interior cosmetics... but look at how long it's taken for most of those flaws to show up? Decades after they left the dealer lot. I nearly bought a 2005 Pontiac GTO a few years back and with only five years on the car there was significant fake aluminum trim literally PEELING off many surfaces. Not all Lexus cars are perfect but something like the 1998+ LS400 and LS430 practically are. Have to agree with you on that, 97-SC300. Design choices such as the way the upper interior door surrounds eventually crack and putting plastic A/C vents against wood are really the worst of it on SC's.
The SC300/400/Soarer (and original IS300/Altezza) have some minor flaws but they really aren't much compared to how the rest of the car holds up. The hinges I have to disagree with you about, t2d2. After 20+ years some of them, depending on use, may need service... but for all they are designed to do it's pretty amazing mechanical engineering. I've earmarked sourcing a set of hinges as backups but mine are still fine after twenty-four years of use.