#SUPRA MK4 HORSEPOWER MANUAL#

ItвЂ™s easy to spot a car by the bonnet vent that Japanese cars didnвЂ™t have. Ideally, we would have driven a local car, but there arenвЂ™t too many of them around, and most are automatics.

#SUPRA MK4 HORSEPOWER MANUAL#

ItвЂ™s standard вЂ“ highly unusual вЂ“ and a manual вЂ“ also highly unusual, sadly. To do that weвЂ™ve borrowed a 1996 Supra RZ, recently imported from Japan lent to us by a very understanding and enthusiastic owner. Impressed, his parting comment was still, вЂIt needs a 2JZ in it.вЂ™ Legends never dieвЂ¦ДЄll of which explains the hero worship, but what I want to experience is what the Supra is really like, away from the pixelated 1000bhp fantasy. While driving the new Supra for this issue, a young guy in a Fiesta ST came over to take a look. EveryoneвЂ™s driven a Supra in Gran Turismo, havenвЂ™t they, tuned to produce ludicrous amounts of horsepower? ItвЂ™s also about a legendary engine, the 2JZ-GTE straight-six, that could make enormous power even with the internals untouched вЂ“ just crank up the boost, much like the RB26 in NissanвЂ™s rival Skyline GTвЂ‘R. The real reason the Supra is a legend today is due to Smokey Nagata, Jun, Best Motoring, Fast & Furious, Castrol TOMS, JGTC, SARD, Yellow Hat Super GT and, of course, Gran Turismo. No, the Supra was like that other revered вЂ™90s Japanese performance icon, the Honda NSX: precious few with the necessary funds were inclined to walk past established rivals such as Porsche to spend big money on them when new, whatever the rhetoric surrounding them now. The Supra was gone by the end of 1996, emissions regulations in Europe the excuse given, just three years after it first arrived (although it would remain on sale in its homeland right through to 2002). None of this has anything to do with the Mk4 SupraвЂ™s first вЂlifeвЂ™, for they werenвЂ™t forming queues outside ToyotaВ GBвЂ™s dealerships in the mid-вЂ™90s, craning necks for a peek at this GT flagship nestled between a Mk2 MR2 and, if you were really lucky, a Celica GT4.

If you want people to notice you then donвЂ™t get a supercar, get a Supra. And there have been countless other examples during the past hour, from thumbs up to flashing headlamps to simply smiles. ItвЂ™s a positivity shared with the cashier in that same garage, and the elderly couple with a hideous modern NissanВ Pulsar, all of whom want to talk about the Supra it was shared too by the young lad driving a Vauxhall Astra earlier вЂ“ millimetres from the big white sharkвЂ™s rear bumper, cameraphone blissfully blocking the majority of his forward vision. But I had a VHS, a tape you know, with 1000bhp Supra, and it was the car we all dreamed of. вЂWhy the Supra though?вЂ™ I ask, unashamedly looking to gain material from this chance garage forecourt encounter. Now heвЂ™s showing me pictures of his own Mk4 ToyotaВ Supra on his phone, telling me how he bought the cheapest he could find back in Poland, a non-turbo model, or вЂSZвЂ™ as my research has taught me, and then restored it, turbocharged it as well with one giant snailвЂ™s shell of a turbo. вЂSo rare to see standard car,вЂ™ he adds, almost incredulous that I havenвЂ™t got a flip paint job, or an exhaust like a field artillery gun.

вЂVery rare,вЂ™ he says, with eyes-wide fervour.

HeвЂ™s already quoted engine and gearbox codes at me, and gazed longingly at the cloth Recaros. ItвЂ™s a legend!вЂ™ My new Polish friend is extremely excited.

Supra mk4 horsepower