Quote:
Originally Posted by strohw
I have a 987.2 6MT but I just picked up a new Supra so it'll be sold here next month. Here's my personal take on the car maintenance, reliability and vs the 981.
After doing nearly everything to my car from changing all oils, coolant flush, motor and trans mounts, full suspension change out, brakes, and more...I feel the car is very well made and fairly easy to work on. Something like the Quickjack make working on this car a breeze. I would say reliability is very high as well.
Time for things I don't like about the 987.2. The motor mounts on these things deteriorate quickly. Regardless of the miles on the car you should check if it's been changed. If you shift the car hard and feel/hear a slight clunk then the mount is probably shot. Personally, I didn't think they are that hard to change, however you have to drop the coolant tubes which means you need vacuum bleed the coolant back in. The stock suspension is ehh and just regular aftermarket struts are noticeable improvement in performance. The car has very little negative camber in the front and if you plan on doing track days then plan on spending money on the suspension because it'll eat tires.
The interior is dated but the worst part of it is that all the plastic trim in the car as that rubbery coating on it that flacks off and looks terrible. The only way to fix it is to strip and repaint the pieces. The manual in this car feels TERRIBLE. It has plastic bushings and other pieces in the shifter and the cables stretch as well as have these bushings in each end that have too much play. I'd immediately budget like $1200 and install the numeric cable and shifter kit. It is an immense upgrade in feel. At the very least a numeric cable should be installed.
Personally, I'd opt for a 981 and I would have gotten a 981 GTS recently but my wife really liked the Supra so it is what it is. The steering feel isn't as good. Everyone says it and they're right but for me that's it. The interior is better put together and none of that janky coated plastic stuff, you can get the x73 sport suspension from the factory so you don't have to install crap yourself, there's a bit more power, the exterior is more modern, you can find S and GTS with optioned PTV if you track the car, the list goes on. You can pickup a GTS with 40-50k miles with a manual for around 55-65k and that would be my pick. With all the stock options on that car plus the GTS got the well trimmed interior...it's a gorgeous car that probably has deprecated fully at this time. As long as you don't put tons of miles on it then it's value is pretty solid.
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Do you have any thoughts yet on the Supra compared to a 987 or 981?
I've only driven a base 718 Cayman, but came away really underwhelmed after the test drive. Felt like I really had to push it to have any kind of fun. Afterwards I test drove a M2C and much preferred it. Mind you all of this was done on boring city streets with a couple of roundabouts.
I still haven't driven a new Supra yet, but am always interested to hear folks impressions of it that have also driven or owned Caymans/Boxsters. I've heard the 718 is more engaging than the 981, but perhaps not as much so as the 987.