A Florida man with a Toyota Supra less than five years old was shocked to learn what repairs on the car would cost him.
The video highlighting the issue comes from Lake Placid, Fla.-based creator Kswappedek (@thatkswappedek). He put the video up on Thursday and it has drawn more than 228,000 views as of Monday. In it, he visits the Toyota dealership to determine what’s wrong with the steering in his beloved sports car.
“I just got back from the Toyota dealership,” he relayed, “and I got news I didn’t want to hear.”
It turned out that the steering issues he was experiencing needed a new rack and pinion system to repair—totaling $4355.70, according to a printed estimate he showed, though he alternately referred to the repairs as $4,000 and $5,000.
He also investigated doing the work himself, but noted that the parts alone amount to about $2,000.
“I honestly don’t know what to do,” he confessed. “They were offering me money for me to trade it in and just … get it out of my sight. I love the car, and it was my dream car when it first came out. But that is crazy, not even five years old.”
Deciding to not immediately decide and leave it in his driveway while he mulled it over, he assessed, “I guess they don’t build Toyotas like they used to.”
Are Supras reliable?
The Toyota Supra is a beloved and long-running sports car series, with the Japanese version of the car an anchor for the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) class of cars signal-boosted by the Fast & Furious movie franchise.
A Reddit forum for Supra enthusiasts explored the reliability issue six months ago.
There, one person assessed, “Compared to a Camry or Accord: No. Compared to other sport cars: Yes.”
Another claimed, “I’m the original owner of my 2020, so almost 5 years. Modded to 450/530, and just rolled 40k miles. Zero issues, just regular scheduled maintenance, and a new set of tires.”
“Arguably more reliable than my GR86, but if you can’t do maintenance yourself or don’t have a trustworthy shop nearby you’ll have to deal with the overworked and probably underpaid Toyota dealership techs touching your car,” one said. “And the Supra is like 80% BMW.”
The Ilusso site explains:
Yes, the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Supras share many of the same parts and specifications as the BMW M-Series. But the plan for sharing the BMW’s 3.0L engine was a smart business move to provide Toyota customers with what they wanted.
Armed with consumer polls and surveys, Toyota learned that customers wanted a straight six motor in the new Supra in order to stay true to its history. Toyota had a decision to make: they could either design their own completely new engine or use an engine already in use with another popular brand.
Designing and building their own signature engine would cost time and money, resulting in even more delays on the long-awaited car, and a raise in price. Toyota chose instead to use an engine that is already in production and boasts impressive performance numbers. Choosing an esteemed partner in BMW, Toyota chose to provide the power the new Supra must have by including the option of the same 3.0L straight six engine that comes in the BMW Z4 M40I and the M340I.
Indeed, in the creator’s video, he does say, “Should probably be saying my BMW” to acknowledge the crossover nature.
Viewers shared their own advice
Advice for the owner came in, you could say, fast and furious.
@thatkswappedek Man guess Toyotas aren’t as good as they used to be #supra #problems #toyota #crazy #broken ♬ GTA San Andreas Theme (Remake) – Ben Morfitt (SquidPhysics)
“Buy an extended warranty,” one suggested. “Submit the claim in a couple months.”
“Bro just do it,” encouraged another. “You got the money.”
“I’m pretty sure if you have the part number(s) a parts dealership online will sell it at wholesale and you can get a trusty mechanic to install for you,” someone else suggested.
“Spend the 2k,” another opined, adding, “Do it yourself, take your time; it’s just gonna sit anyways.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and email and to Toyota via email.
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