Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 12:52 pm, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
Michael- took it for a spin this morning as promised. The guy running the auction, Liu, is a pleasant guy but I wouldn't take the Uncle as being a relative, more of a 'big brother' kind of Uncle if you catch my drift.
Have a read of the following, but ...bear in mind I've cast my eye over a dozen Soarers with a view to purchase, and although some of the things noted below might seem superficial or super-picky, these are just the things i notice which I think give a good overall picture of the cars' treatment over it's lifetime.
Exterior:
In excellent condition, very nice all round. Even with a layer of dust on it, the car still looks good enough to be back on the Toyota lot. From the condition of the rubber trim around windows etc (i.e. slight green grime) I could tell it's probably not been regularly garaged, however this could all be easily cleaned up. With the sunroof back you can see from the drivers seat alot of grime that needs cleaning up too. No worries. (Sunroof slides & tilts well, no extraneous noise)
No dents or scratches to the paintwork that I could see, although there was a slight spidering of the paint in front of the drivers headlight.
Original mags, Bridgestone tyres with good amount of grip remaining. Tyres show no evidence of drifting or mistreatment.
Engine bay is in decent condition for it's age. Only slightly dirty but again once an hour or two is put into it, it would clean up really nicely. Bonnet still has original engine cladding/soundproofing in excellent condition. No evidence of oil spattering or other fluid leaks.
Air filter would need replacing. Air intake box original and unmodified.
Headlights slightly yellowed when compared to the main beams. Both doors open and close cleanly. (They are certainly also a lot lighter than the doors on my 91.)
Parking sensor stick functioning correctly, not broken. (Didn't test it for maneuvering though)
The grille in the front bar had been removed, sprayed purple and reinstalled. Liu offered to repaint it the original gun metal grey if I were to purchase the car.
Drivers side exhaust missing the tip cover/surround.
Interior:
Being a 'POV pack' model, there was no wood trim, just a matte black /grey trim instead. All trim in good condition, no broken A/C vents although i could see some of the sponge bits were blowing through the vents like they've started doing with mine. Can't think of the part where these are coming from as I've not opened up the front dash before. Perhaps someone could elaborate where these black sponge bits come from? I'd imagine it's where the vent shutters press against when airflow is diverted to 'recycle'.
I noticed a slight odour getting into the passenger side, but was not a strong cigarette smell, and there were no air fresheners in the car which is usually a sure sign of previous smoking owners.
Original mats front & back all in good condition, even with the original anchor clips underneath. There is a pair of rubber mats in the front which probably have gone some way to keep the mats protected.
Steering wheel and handbrake cover leather both are a little tatty and would need replacing if you were that way inclined. The steering wheel was not too bad though- no worn-through areas that I saw.
Interior trim on all seats in good condition although I did notice a few spots on the rear seats which might be permanent stains. There was a towel cover on the drivers seat which i forgot to remove so couldn't tell you if it was damaged or not. I would assume that it would fine.
Both doors interiors are in good condition, again slightly grimy, although the top edge of the drivers door does have a large vertical split that would need repairing or replacing.
All LCDs on the centre dash were fine, no cracks or seepages. AC running cold, and stereo working well (8 or 12 CD stacker in boot). Stereo would need expanders I think.
Has all original tools and space-saver tyre in the boot. Tools do not look as though they've ever been touched.
Driving:
Suspension feels fine. Certainly better around town than airbags in my opinion, although we were running on normal 16" tyres, whilst my 91 is running on low profile 17s (so i should stop bitching ..)
Felt weird being in a Soarer with a manual gearbox Stalled it first time haha, felt like a prat.
Anyhoo, first time i've driven a turbo anything, we head out of Otahuhu town centre towards the airport motorway and let rip...
Holy •••••
I took off in 4th gear (duh, i should have taken it down to 2nd) and barreled down an empty strip of runway...to be honest i was quietly bricking myself at the ease at which this thing took off, and my inner chickenshit decided there and then that i'd never buy one of these.
Gearbox and engine are smooth, smooth, smooth. I couldn't get over how much power this thing had, i don't mind admitting it was literally quite frightening. I definitely can not seen myself shifting over to driving one of these around town. An accidental slip of the foot, or forgetting that i wasn't driving the V8 would see me launch into a shop front or straight through the next two sets of traffic lights.
Certainly a WHOLE different experience and sound from driving a V8. Given more of an opportunity and time I could probably come round to really enjoying it, but it simply would not be a practical car for me as I would constantly be tempering the need for safe driving with the thrill of flooring the throttle, as well as constantly thinking about how much petrol it was chewing through.
Car has done 128,xxx kms. The cambelt was changed at 101,000 km in Japan. The car has been in the country for 3 months apparently and was purchased from ACE Motors (Grey Lynn)
WOF expires next month, but a new one will be supplied for the new owner.
Overall:
Exterior just needs the usual clean with the turtlewax and sponge to get it looking sparking. Interior needs a bit more time with the vacuum, soft wipes and Jif to clean up the shoe scuff marks on the door, and debris under the chairs and in the nooks and crannies. I'd definitely be pursuing this one if I wanted a single turbo, but would bargain hard on the price (i didn't ask him what his reserve is, although I would guess it's approx $16 k ? What would you fellas estimate to be a good price for one of these nowadays?
For anyone who wants a manual single turbo with VVT-i, this would be a great place to start.
Don Bagnall Moderator New Zealand I have WAY less Soarers than Hayden :-(
Saturday, August 26, 2006 - 01:18 pm, by: Don Bagnall(Baggs)
Good write up Mark , almost makes me want a turbo......almost!
Oh I forgot to email you re the number plate in that Soarer video.......the answer came back that it was not on a car, which could just mean that the car now has a personalised plate, or whatever.
Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 07:05 pm, by: Michael Machin(Minz)
Wow Mark. I second Don- fantastic writeup. I shall print it off and use it as a checklist. Reading it makes me want a VVT-i turbo even more. I too have never driven a turbo apart from a 1600 Fuego and I was taking it easy. All I have to compare it with is a supercharged Levin (terrifying when you hit the magic 2nd cam setting adding to the S/C.
Monday, August 28, 2006 - 07:20 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
Great writeup
Definitely think I'll be happy sticking with the gutless 2JZ-GE though, as I know I too would just constantly be wanting to floor it... At least I'm safe from temptation in the JZZ31.
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Stalled it first time haha, felt like a prat. 
, almost makes me want a turbo......almost! 
