Cars
1998 TOYOTA SUPRA MARK IV
Perhaps not as respected in North America as it should be due to our obsession with cubic inches, eight cylinders, dual exhaust and chrome, the Toyota Supra ranks up there with the Nissan Skyline and Acura NSX as one of the finest Japanese-produced sports cars ever.
The Supra has also been a fixture in several Need for Speed games since the very beginning so having it in SHIFT as a bonus downloadable car is a treat for all of us.
Who would think an automaker like Toyota, famed for their reliable, sensible, family cars would have it in them to create a fire-breathing monster like the Mark IV Supra?
A new Supra hasn’t rolled off the line since 2003 due to strict emission concerns in Japan, and they were removed from production in North America five years earlier but still a strong and vocal tuning community continues to support and love this car.
And why wouldn’t they? The ’98 Supra is a work of automotive art. Its swooping, curvy lines were a welcome change from the boxy, unattractive vehicles that dominated the automotive landscape in the mid-1990s.
A wild, whale-tail rear spoiler along with attractive circular rear lights accent the Supra’s striking exterior. To cut down on the car’s weight, the spoiler is hollow.
Some other weight-reducing features on the ’98 Supra were: an aluminum hood, crossmember, oil and transmission pans and suspension upper A-arms as well as hollow carpet fibers, a magnesium steering wheel, plastic fuel tank and cap and a single-pipe exhaust, all contributing to making it more than 200 pounds lighter than its predecessor.
Under the hood is where things really get interesting. The Supra Mark IV is powered by a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo inline-6 that kicks out 320 horsepower. The ’98 Supra runs zero-to-60 in an impressive 4.9 seconds, which is on par with many high-performance cars built today, including the Ford Mustang GT and Audi S4.
The final iteration of Supras featured removable aluminum targa tops, which were fashionable, attractive and a nice way to top off the car’s motif as a personal performance vehicle.
Due to their limited production in North America, the final few years of production Supras have held their value extremely well, with mint-condition examples from the mid-90s going for $20,000 or more, but it’s extremely difficult to find one in factory condition without modifications, but you’ll want to make your Supra the best it can be in SHIFT if you want to take it online, especially in team racing.
Here are some more shots of the 1998 TOYOTA SUPRA MARK IV:
