Get a Vette and be done with it

 

Congrats on getting your degree and a great job. Sounds like your future is looking bright.

 

What's a Supra

99 Nassau Blue

Have you seen the C6 Z06.. Wow what a car.

 

I too am a ME (graduated 33+ years ago), get the Vette. Ain't no substitute for cubic inches. Low end torque is great !

 

Visit the supra museum, that should make up your mind!

 

Well, all above being biased information minus maybe one post, I can give you a completly edicuated unbiased opinion.

I owned a 1997 toyota supra single turbo conversion that made 624 RWHP and 620 RWTQ. That was at 26 pounds of boost and 101 octaine fuel by the way.
I raced it for 6 years doing mostly DE events and some auto cross when it was still stock. It was a very fast and capable track car that would keep up with most anything. However it was VERY modified in both turbos and fuel and also suspension. It had most everything removed from it and in the end weighed 3150 pounds wet with no driver. It was completly bullet proof. I only ran the car at 20 pounds of boost on the street and only 15 pounds on the track to help keep temps down. 15 pounds made around 450 to 500 RWHP. I loved that car.
Now that being said, I now have a MTI Z07 coup with a 427 motor that made 540 RWHP on pump gas. It has some minimal upgraded suspension and is tubbed for large rubber. All the drive train is upgraded to handle the power and has a larger radiator etc.... My corvette is so much more fun to drive, no lag, instant power and handles much better in the corners. Reminds me more of my Porshce race car in the curves than the fat pig of a supra. The supra is heavy and there is almost no way to get it to be light. The supra would have probably pulled my Corvette on the highway but I would have to run race gas and pump the boost up to over 20 pounds for sure. If the Vette got a jump, the Supra would not catch up. Just two different kind of cars.

It is cheap to get power out of a supra and the stock internals of that car are amazing. The stock bottem end can handle 600+ horse power year after year and not miss a beat. I pounded mine for 6 years and it still had perfect compression and no oil consumption when I sold it. Its main draw back is lag but you can work around that. The second it weight. The car looks stunning if set up right, lower it on coilovers and put 315 out back and 275s up front. No way to tub it with out major surgery. For about 15K you can repeat the engine mods I did and probably cheaper now that the car is older. I never had a hard time finding parts except for road racing parts as when I started, nobody was road racing those but in the end, it was not a problem.

My Vette would have no problem keeping up with my old supra because it makes more usable power under the curve, is lighter, has bigger rubber and has a lower center of gravity. Those straight six motors are tall and long so the moment of inertia sits way out front unlike my coupe.

So to make a long story short. Get the vette if you want a car that can be faster than you have the guts to be and for a reasonable price but not as rare or get the Supra if you want a very fast but slightly heavy car that is more rare these days.

There will always be a car that is faster than yours depending on the pocket that ownes the car so build up the car that makes you smile when you walk away from it.

I miss my supra but I love my Vete just as much if not more. Can't wait to get it to the track and lay down some rubber at the apex

FWIW

Jeff

 

You can add the TT or supercharger when and if a stock Z06 gets boring and it'll be like having a whole new car again. My vote would go to the Z06. Supra's are cool in some ways just not my thing.

 

Stay American...........

 

nice post, gasser.

 

Man, great points everyone! You guys are awesome. Thats one thing the supra doesn't have is an outstanding community of loyal vette lovers. I've been trolling the boards for quite some time and you guys really do have a passion. Thats totally cool.

Jeff thanks for the info man. It's great to hear from someone with first hand experience. That supra must have been a beast, thats for sure. I can't imagine you driving that thing on the street.

Well I'm pretty sure I will get the Z. I've been a domestic car person all my life ('83 trans am, '94 z28, turbo & race prepped '95 dodge neon). Hey what the heck, if I win the lotto I'll just buy both maybe 2 of each .

The wife already promised to get me a corvette after she finishes her masters. I bought her a CTS, so it's my turn next ! I guess I'm sold.

 

You must be freaking kidding us, right?????

 

Nope..he's not!!

 

On the the Forum the Vette always wins!

 

Since everyone is chimming in...

My only experience seeing a Supra (600 HP) was at Road Atlanta during open track. I watched him in a field with a C5R-427 Z06. The Z not only passed him, but in the 20 minute session, came close to lapping the Supra.

 

Supra! The heart of Japan!

 

haha theres always one.

 

How about a nice Honda Accord…….If you have to ask, you shouldn’t be here.

 

After having my 427 for 6 months or so, I don't doubt this story but drivers have a LOT to do wtih this. Supras are just so heavy that the corners and braking just start to become the rate limeting step around the track.

I can't wait to finish getting my MTI car track ready.

I loved Road atlanta by the way. I took my Supra there about 4 or 5 years ago when it was mostly stock with lightened car, upgraded suspension and just boosted stock turbos ( 420 RWHP ) and race prepped brakes (awsome) and the only cars that would pass me were the dedicated race Porsches. I would pass all the stock corvettes on the track minus a few really good Z06 drivers. and we would just chace each other around the track. It was a BMW event so there were not that many Vettes. They put me in the group with all the track cars, and experienced drivers. Now a 427 car would have been gone!!!
My favorite set of corners were the S turns where you would accelerate down hill. Man I would gain on most NA cars there as I would hit peek boost at a perfect time there. My Instructor that I had to have by their rules was a Corvete guy and had a Z06. We had a ball and he was very impressed with my setup. He could not believe the cars I would pull in, Including some very nice stock turbo porsches. I wish he could have seen how my car performed with the single turbo and 500 RWHP.
I would love to take the Vette there and see how it would do. At 540 RWHP all the time with out the heat of FI and no lag would be amazing. I bet that back straight with the down hill braking zone would be a hoot in the vette. I would have to pull out the check book for some new BIG brakes after that event!


Jeff

 

I've also owned both. My Supra was a BPU Supra, just basic upgrades to get more power out of the stock turbos.

I pick my convertible Vette over the Supra, so a Z06 would obviously takes the win as well.

As stated, the communities are totally different. The Supra community is a ****stain. I'm sorry, but it's full of 16 y/o's with birthdates dating back to the 60's. The people there are just different, and in my opinion, in a VERY deficient way. I DO NOT get along with that community. I feel much more at home with the Vette community because of the maturity and comaraderie shown here.

As for the cars, when shopping, I'd say about 10 percent or less of the Supras for sale are in genuinely good condx with nothing wrong. Start lurking around the forums at supraforums.com. Everyone has screwed with their cars so much, they all have problems. They're also all older cars, with the very newest still being the 98's, 9 years old from production. Realistically in your price range you're looking at 93-96's, even older. It's a real highway beast and owning a turbo is something everyone should do at least once to get it out of their system. It's now out of mine, and I'm sick of the MKIV. It's a VERY heavy car. I did not feel confident in the vehicle unless I was stomping it from a >20 mph roll.

Other things to consider are common problems. The c5's have several such as the leaking battery and column lock to name a few.

MKIV's have some such as the crankwalk with the Getrag 6-spds (VERY COSTLY FIX), valvetstem seals going bad on the +100k mile cars (many of them), rear wheel bearings (anywhere from 30k to 160k, you never know), failing speed sensor signal (in the odometer board), boost problems from aged/overboosted turbos, etc.

Both brake fantastic, both go fast, one's heavy, one's light. One will get dropped jaws from kids of all ages (Supra) the other will get recognition from a more respectable crowd (Z06).

Both are great cars, and it's very cheap to bring a Supra up to Z06 levels. However, the Supra is a generation earlier, and most of those vehicles are seeing the effects of age by now. I foresee a tough time finding a nice MKIV for cheap if you decide on that. I'm for the Vette. Trying not to be biased, but I enjoy my near-stock Vert more than I enjoyed my 400 RWHP MKIV.

 

I think if you want to be able to push hard in twisties in the street, you should go for the Supra, because let's face it, although we all LOVE american muscle on this forum, no American car can take hard cornering well on the street. Japanese cars are tops when it comes to cornering especially if the roads aren't perfect. A Vette is a joke on a rough road. Skipping, jittery, and just not up to par with nearly any Japanese sports car. Even a Nissan 350Z will more comfortably and safely rip canyon twisties better than any Vette. So if you live in the hills, that might be a better choice.

With that said, a Vette is a Vette. Even when just cruising or getting your a$$ beat around some corners my a ricer car, there's something about a Vette. I bet if you had a Supra, you'd always be wondering if you shoulda got a Vette.

As a matter of fact, I recently posted an encounter with someone test driving a $450,000 Mercedes SLR McLaren that put out 650hp stock. This guy just kep looking and looking at my car. Now, obviously this guy had a ton of money to burn, which is why he was test driving a car that was the cost of a couple houses in many states, OK, maybe only a 1/2 a house here in CA. But, you get the point. And, there he was eyeballing a cheap American sports car, albeit THE greatest American Sports Car of all time.

So you gotta ask yourself one question:

Even knowing some of the shortcomings of the Vette - cheap interiors, fragile handling, electrical gremlins here and there - you also know the advantages - American Muscle V8, sexy lines and everyone ALWAYS looks at them, including ricers, old ladys, your mother EVERYONE -

Do you feel lucky, punk? Just kidding.

Seriously though, you being on this forum right now asking this question, tells me you're a Vette person, just like we are, whether you like it or not. And, am I right, in that if you buy something else you're always going to look at Vettes? In fact, aren't you always looking at them already? And, haven't you always looked at them your whole life?

Me, I always looked at 911's even as a kid. I swore I would never own an American car, cause they all handled like crap, couldn't shift worth a damn, and all rattled apart in the end.

Well, when I grew up, wait, I never grew up... ok... when I had the money, I walked into a Porsche dealership, saw the perfect 911, told the salesperson I'd pay whatever they were asking for the car, and he promptly opened the driver's door. I sat in the car, and was completely disappointed. Felt like I was sitting in the Volkswagen Karman Ghia. Got out and walked out, right to a Toyota dealership.

Looked at the Supra, which at the time was roughly the same price as a Vette, although I didn't know it, yet. Caught myself thinking, "Do I really want to spend this much money on a Japanese car?" That ruled out even the NSX.

Thoroughly dejected, out of desperation I decided I'd look at a Vette. I walked into a showroom, sat in the driver's seat, and it just felt right. I felt like I was in a cockpit of a sports car. And the torque of the V8 hooked me.

Hi, my name is MrLeadFoot, and I have a problem. I now love Vettes, and need help.