3000GT SL Questions

What a gorgeous Car! Just got a 1998 3000 GT SL with an automatic tranny. Had just a little over 20,000 miles on it and is looks almost new. Anyway, I have looked at the FAQ's and it seems to mostly deal with manual transmissions or VR4's. Sorry performance enthusiasts, I just like cruisin'. My question is, can anybody tell me what kinds of problems this car has that I should be on the lookout for? Secondly, I know that 1999 was the last year for the 3000GT. Poor sales of course, but why didn't this car compete successfuly with other sports cars? Was it performance, price, looks (I can't believe that)? Thanks.

The SL has no major problems you should be worried about take care of it and it will take car of you, as for the 3000GT not succesfully competing with other sports cars thats bs, the 3000GT outlasted the 300z, the supra, and the rx7, the reason its production was ceased was because of a severely declining market for those types of cars, there was simply no demand for them anymore. The reason the 3000GT did not become as legendary as the supra is beyond me as performance goes they are almost identicle, the only thing i can think of is the fact that they are rare and there is very little aftermarket for them, they are just as easily modifiable as the supra but not as reliable, more techology there is the more chances for shit to go wrong.

By the way congrats on the car, and welcome to the forums you should be very proud you now own a fast beautifull sports car.

wasnt the main thing about the supra that it was much more expensive and most people baught the nissan misu or mazda in stead of that expensive supra? in no way superior to the 3000gt but looks a bit nicer but of course came out a litle later

wasnt the main thing about the supra that it was much more expensive and most people baught the nissan misu or mazda in stead of that expensive supra?

much more expensive? the VR4 ran about $40,000. that's pretty expensive right there.

in no way superior to the 3000gt but looks a bit nicer but of course came out a litle later

in NO WAY superior? so you're claiming the 3000GT is in all ways superior? sorry bro, not a chance in hell. Toyota engineering is way above the likes of Mitsu. Toyota and Honda are at the top. Mitsu, Mazda, Nissan...they lag behind. Probably the Supra was elevated to a greater sports car status b/c yes, there was a huge aftermarket for it, but also b/c of its simplicity. an inline-6 is much easier and simpler to work on/modify than a transversely mounted V6. there's just more room in the supra's engine bay. but granted, companies are now w/in the past 8 years bumping up the products for the 3000.

much more expensive? the VR4 ran about $40,000. that's pretty expensive right there.



in NO WAY superior? so you're claiming the 3000GT is in all ways superior? sorry bro, not a chance in hell. Toyota engineering is way above the likes of Mitsu. Toyota and Honda are at the top. Mitsu, Mazda, Nissan...they lag behind. Probably the Supra was elevated to a greater sports car status b/c yes, there was a huge aftermarket for it, but also b/c of its simplicity. an inline-6 is much easier and simpler to work on/modify than a transversely mounted V6. there's just more room in the supra's engine bay. but granted, companies are now w/in the past 8 years bumping up the products for the 3000.

In regards to the 3000GT I am curious as to how Toyota engineering superior? You are probably right generally speaking, at least that is the feeling I have but I have nothing specific to back it up. Also, it would seem at least where I live, that there are a lot more 3000GT's around than Supras. Is that just a reginonal thing? We have major Toyota dealerships here. If there are more 3000GT's why did they sell better than the Supra's? Is it price, looks, performance assuming of course that there are really more 3000GTs. More Supras could simply be explained because of more dealers and the Toyota name brand as well as the characteristics of the Supra. As to why I bought a 3000GT, it was mostly looks. Of course now it had to have a certain level of performance to be acceptable. Call me shallow, but it is one beautiful car. Thanks for the input and I look forward to reading the posts.

The SL has no major problems you should be worried about take care of it and it will take car of you, as for the 3000GT not succesfully competing with other sports cars thats bs, the 3000GT outlasted the 300z, the supra, and the rx7, the reason its production was ceased was because of a severely declining market for those types of cars, there was simply no demand for them anymore. The reason the 3000GT did not become as legendary as the supra is beyond me as performance goes they are almost identicle, the only thing i can think of is the fact that they are rare and there is very little aftermarket for them, they are just as easily modifiable as the supra but not as reliable, more techology there is the more chances for shit to go wrong.


Thanks for the information and for the welcome. I am surprised to hear that the Supra is more highly esteemed, generally speaking, than the 3000GT.

in reliability i think the toyota is better. but the supra vs the 3000gt i feel they are similar. both have a 3L engine that is producing 320hp on a dragstrip they fair similar when stock but the supra takes the prize but not by much. there is that litle 80g pricetag when new matter with the supra.

but anyways id love to hear your thoughts of why the supra is supirior car then the 3000gt?

back to the 3000gt and off of the supra for a min the 3k are kick ass cars treat her right and just know that they arent cheap to fix!

yes congtaulations on your new car! in my case i have found my stealth to be a reliable car i have only needed to change oil. brakepads. thermostat and a battery since i got my car thats 2 years ago it has never broken down and always started and drive.

it the car has not been super abused then it shuld serve you well. if i were you id check for oil leaks on top of the engine. and if the trany is in good condition as all of the 3s cars i was looking at when i was looking for my car had nearly always one or boath of these problems and i looked at alot of cars

The vr4 when new ran anywhere from 42 - 50,000 the vr4 spyder was rediculously expensive 65,000. The SL was in the mid to high 30's and the base was about 30k even, the supra was in the same general price range as the vr4

oh i did not know that. i was just searching the internet and found a site that said it cost 82g's new well that must be their mistake

tisk tisk for a base 3000gt you culd have aded a couple of hundred bucks and bought a turbo stealth and then just do a spoiler conversion. in my opinion the stealths looked a bit nicer than the 3000gt in the 1 gen or at least the front bumper....

is it considered more class to be driving a imported car in america? i dont know as i live in iceland:S

3000GT>supra in terms of looks, value, performance (AWD tips the balance). I duno how much supra's cost but people just like the toyota name on it, the 3S is just as reliable in terms of just the engine (lets not get into the recalled tranny and more complex drivetrain :rolleyes:, thats just the price you pay for having a car ahead of its time, like a high end porsche).

Old And Good, its more classy (at least here in Massachusetts) to own a benz over say a lincoln town car. And I agree that the front of the first gen stealth was a bit beter but the 3000GT takes the cake with the rest easily.

And welcome Papa, care to show your new ride off in the pics thread? We'd all love to see it.

as far as the 3/S vs. the Supra goes, the MKIII supras and older are nothing compared to a vr-4 unless highly modded. Now, the MKIV supras are identical to the vr-4. About 200 lbs less, but your sacrificing the traction of AWD off the line. Now the thing with the MKIV's, which is why they are expensive is toyota saw that their butts were getting kicked with the MKIII's and went all out by putting better turbos, and better fuel on the supras allowing it to be upgraded much easier than the vr-4, so with a big single turbo and minor tuning it could be a monster, but look at the pricetag they had to pay to do so.

The vr-4's restrictions are the cruddy stock turbos and 360cc injectors. The stock vr-4 motor has already proven to hold 30 PSI, and i'm sure it can hold much more. The problem is that there is not a whole lot of support on the 3/S aftermarket as there is on the supra, allowing the supra owners having an advantage, plus, now a lot of younger kids can afford the 3/S's, in which their income is limited so they cannot mod their cars like an older person with a steady job can.

went all out by putting better turbos, and better fuel on the supras allowing it to be upgraded much easier than the vr-4, so with a big single turbo and minor tuning it could be a monster, but look at the pricetag they had to pay to do so.

What size are the supra injectors? how big is the supra turbo compared to the 9B turbo on the vr4 (please compare, b/c i'm not down on my turbo terminology and size specs).

The vr-4's restrictions are the cruddy stock turbos and 360cc injectors. The stock vr-4 motor has already proven to hold 30 PSI, and i'm sure it can hold much more.

what size do you think the vr4 injectors should have been? ok, practically, do you think the twin 9b turbos are crappy? there's 2 of em, space is tight tho manageable, and its coming from the factory. at 14psi on the stock turbos, how much hp do you think the vr4 is putting at the crank? comparatively, 14psi (or max psi) on the supra turbo, how much hp is at the crank?

so stock vr4 can hold 30psi. that's incredible and a great testament to mitsu engineering. what psi can the supra engine withstand?
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Hotshot, i know you might not have answers to all my questions. but i think the questions are necessary when comparing the supra to the 3000GT. anyone else feel free to chime in: Igovert, Yogs, Young, talskin...et al.

Personally, I think the 3000gt should have come with 13G turbos and 450cc injectors stock...even if they had turned the boost down (like they did on ours...9 and 12 respectively)
It would have given just that extra edge of potential. Just my opinion.

didn't the GTO in japan come with 13Gs? of course, with their gentleman's agreement over there, they come factory tuned to no more than 280 hp. of course, with that setup, mod potential would have been much greater than our 9b setup in the states. even if they threw in 13g and bigger injectors, it wouldn't have upped the price by more than a few thousand. i agree igovert.

I think the SL should have been a single turbo, and rated at about 250 hp that would have been nice.

hehe my friend just put in 1000cc injectors and a supra gas pump and changed the turbos to 16.5psi the injectors are to powerfull and drown the sparkplugs.

i have been wondering for a while what are the pros and cons of a V6 vs a inline engine?

didn't the GTO in japan come with 13Gs? of course, with their gentleman's agreement over there, they come factory tuned to no more than 280 hp. of course, with that setup, mod potential would have been much greater than our 9b setup in the states. even if they threw in 13g and bigger injectors, it wouldn't have upped the price by more than a few thousand. i agree igovert.
Nope, absolutely no GTO came with 13g turbos. The only ones to come with 13gs were some of the Euro spec 3k's. Also thats not 280 hp its 280ps. Thats metric hp. They are the same hp as American spec 3ks. And people are talking about 13g's like they are some super turbo. They are the same size as a 9b, they just hold more boost to redline. If someone has the turbos in the car you would not be able to tell the difference between 9b's and 13g's unless you pulled them and took it apart. I do however agree that Mitsu should have used 450's as stock injectors. I mean they gave them to DSM's why not 3s's?

Also talking about rarity, 3s's are rare enough but there were more 3s's made in one year than the total run of MKIV Supras. Thats why people hardly ever see Supra's. Its not that they are not popular.

Toyota Engineering has always been known to be superior. The only company even close in regular everyday cars is Honda engineering.

What is the MKIV supra? Are they the twin turbo? I have only seen two, my (ex) step grand father (he was toyota dealer) and a kid here that wanted to race me.

MKIV= Mark 4= 4th generation Supra= 93-98 Supra

i know that toyota is known for its reliability but that does not make the car superior it only means that it brakes more seldom down.... the 3L engines are both producing the same hp..... if i wuld be offered a new supra or a new VR4 and there wuld be as many supras on the road as the 3s's im fairly sure that i wuld take the VR4 as it has so much more to offer especialy in luxury equipment

hehe my friend just put in 1000cc injectors and a supra gas pump and changed the turbos to 16.5psi the injectors are to powerfull and drown the sparkplugs.

i have been wondering for a while what are the pros and cons of a V6 vs a inline engine?


your buddy need an msd ignition or somethin...and I know one thing about V vs. I..the inline is smoother because it has less opposing forces...less opposing forces = "easier power"...just in case u dont know what i mean...the opposing forces would be the pistons moving in different directions. In a v-style engine they can't exactly cancel each other's movements out...in an inline they can, one goes up the other goes down...same with a boxer engine...which is why they run smoother.

so what good can come from a V style engine. more torque?

simple design, can easily fit into small spaces. transversely mounted in the 3/S so that it can be integrated into different chassis (Galant).

Yeah there's no advantages of HP or Torque...it's pretty much for balance or space.

Pschh who needs balance.

yeah who needs balance. like themy old firebird man that was fun..... if i reved the engine up the whol chasis went sideways and gave you a feel that you have a real monster under the hood. i tryed it on my 3s but it only does it a litle bit and it not noticeable from the outside :S

who needs balance? maybe the crankshaft! oh wait, we've got the harmonic balancer built into the crank pulley...that is IF you haven't upgraded to a lightened or even underdrive pulley! unless a new one has come to the aftermarket, all aftermarket crank pulleys made lack the harmonic balancer.

so engine vibration, balance, V6 design, harmonic balancer...go figure. i wonder what design best resists vibration: inline, boxster, v?