Hello all. I'm trying to do my homework before purchasing either one of these cars. One is a 1986.5 toyota supra N/A, 122,568 miles on it, asking $1690. Aside from normal wear and tear, small chips in the front, 1 fog light not working, and some other minor repair work, it looks to be in ok cond. Took it for a test drive, a little rough ride(could be the age of the suspension, not sure), however shifted smoothly. After the engine warmed up, it idled steadily at 950 rpms. Still felt like the engine had power in it, was able to kick out the rear end with little effort. I'm taking it to my mechanic to try and check for any MAJOR mechanical problems. But what kind of longevity do you guys see from a MKIII engine and auto-tranny? Now, to the second. A 1987 MKIII N/A, asking $1500. Only problem, over 200K on engine and tranny. This I have unfortunately not test drove, nor have I seen the quality of the car. Private owner, has kept up on maintenance, but, with such high mileage I'm kinda worried. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm new to the supra, so don't flame a newb to bad. :D

well if i was you i would go for the one you have test driven and seen for yourself
get a compression check done... block check (check for exhaust gasses in the water) if your compression check is 142 or above even throughout the cylinders you should have a good engine
but let you mechanic decide that for you :)

if it hasn't blown it's head gasket yet it most likely will... so prepare yourself for that... doesn't matter if it's 86-92 they all suffer from low torque on the head bolts which in the end blow their head gasket...
you'll know if you get this problem as you will start having strange temperature problems, spiking etc etc... just keep an eye on the temp gauge and make sure you don't cook it
as soon as you see temps starting to climb above normla pull over and stop the car, get it towed home and get the block check done... if you were clever enough to do this you won't have damaged anything and you should be able to just get your head checked to make sure it's not warped or leaking etc, buy a new gasket, new toyota head bolts or (recommended) arp head studs torqued to 72ft lbs and you should still have a beautiful car

or you could get really adventurous and when you blow your head gasket do the turbo swap :P

good luck with it and don't let the head gasket thing worry ya... there's plenty of help around and if you treat her good she'll be good back ;)

thanks for the info! Unfortunately the one I test drove had a bad head gasket and was leaking oil like a madman. And I fear that the previous owner drove the car while the head gasket was bad. So, I'll keep looking, and hoping to find one that has been maintained enough that the owner new of the bad gasket. :D