Actually, let's be honest here, they are most likely the worst Toyota ever built.
These are my top 10 reasons for hating the mk3 supra. How do I know them so well? I worked on them for nearly 2 years, I drove both RHD and LHD mk3's with all sorts of different engines, stock and modified. I've spent a lot of time wrenching on them, and man do they suck badly. Let's begin:
10. Racing History: Let's be honest, there's really nothing special here, Bjorn Waldergard won one event with the MK3 supra in a Beijing Rally, and a few British fellows ran it in BTCC for a while. No real pedigree here.
9. Steering Angle: This is straight up a joke, it can't be real, no way it's even considered safe or functional to have so little steering lock for daily use. You think I'm kidding, but that's full lock below.
8. Weight: This really should be the #1 reason why there's no point in driving an mk3 Supra for any sort of 'sporting' purposes. What's that? you've never known what the weight of a mk3 supra was? Pictured below is a vehicle that weighs nearly identical, and actually produces more power.
(Note: 3800lbs, that's right, the CK short bed, short cab, not only weighed 3800lbs, but it actually produced 230hp and 300ft/lb of torque. Although the 1JZ variant is comparable)
7. Aftermarket Styling: Yes it's a slick looking exterior, simply put, it's the only selling point of the car. However, the aftermarket stuff? yeah, look below...
6.Targa Top: So you have an oval, pretty strong shape, egg's are 3d ovals and resist deformation pretty well. Then you cut a huge chunk out of it. Now you've got an easily crushable "C" shape. Thus is the Targa roof. How bad is it for chassis flex? Toyota actually had high grade, long threaded allen bolts to hold it square when in. When out, people started putting in targa supports to help reduce the horrible flex.
5. Steering Stablizer: The whole Geometry of the MK3 Supra suspension is fucked, and to help reduce bump steer, and ultimately any sort of driver feedback that's left after the hefty power steering, was a shock, bolted to the steering rack to help reduce...something. Road feel mostly, or resist the horrible bumper steer associated with #4. This Stablizer, much like the Cressidas (Although they had different front suspensions and shared the rear) resists and sometimes completely removes the affects of caster during cornering. It reduces the speed of turn by adding a dramatic amount of resistance.
4.Suspension Dynamics: These are just plain FUCKED. For some reason, Toyota decided that going from a single lower control arm McPherson strut setup, that had proven extremely well in the Corolla's, Celica's, and Celica Supras of the past, had to go, and in place a needlessly complex, and albeit poorly designed multi-link/double wishbone setup in it's place. You want to know how bad it is? Camber actually becomes positive on compression and negative on extension. Seriously look vvv.
3. Cock Riders: This isn't about the owners. The amount of people floating around the internet praising the mk3, simply because of it's loose relation to that of an mk4 Supra most of them having never owned a Supra in their lives. Although this makes me curious of the dynamic of buying and polishing a turd.
2. 7M/1G: Pretty weak sauce. So you buy a 3800lb driveway ornament and want to go fast. In North America, your faced with the 7M, and Japan, luckily enough got the 1jz, however, they too got the 7M and even worse, the 1G. Every other M series engine was decent, the 7M screwed that right up. It's head design is the fault. People will tell you it was a bad factory gasket, or under torqued bolts. However, even with those factors coverd, the real core of the issue was a bad head design. Getting past the common, and often debilitating issue of 7m's blowing gaskets (try pushing that thing!) The power of a 7m is a joke. Remember that Toyota publishes not the wheel horse power, but the crank. By the time that inline 6 delivers it's 200hp N/a to the rear, it's about 160hp, got a turbo? Roughly 190hp. Brutal for that amount of weight, but look out! There's even a worse motor: the 1GGTE. Although not plagued with head gasket failures and people thinking they can build the ultimate 7m, only to fail like the next guy, the 1ggte had it's own issues, spinning bearings, and well, being 2 liters! Such a tiny inline 6, and it needed twin turbo's just to make the 210hp. Unless your supra screwed and end up with an n/a 1GGE at 150hp.
And the Number 1 reason MK3 supra's are garbage! *Drum Roll*
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1. Burgandy:
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The giant panda genome was sequenced in 2009 using a next-generation sequencing technology.35 Its genome contains 20 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes.
Classification
For many decades the precise taxonomic classification of the Giant Panda was under debate because it shares characteristics of both bears and raccoons.36 However, molecular studies suggest that the Giant Panda is a true bear and part of the Ursidae family,3738 though it differentiated early in history from the main ursine stock. The Giant Panda’s closest ursine relative is the Spectacled Bear of South America.39 The Giant Panda has been referred to as a living fossil.40
Despite the shared name, habitat type, and diet, as well as a unique enlarged bone called the pseudo thumb (which helps them grip the bamboo shoots they eat), the Giant Panda and Red Panda are only distantly related. Molecular studies have placed the Red Panda in its own family Ailuridae, and not under Ursidae.
Hua Mei, the baby panda born at the San Diego Zoo in 1999.
Subspecies
Two subspecies of Giant Panda have been recognized on the basis of distinct cranial measurements, color patterns, and population genetics (Wan et al., 2005).
The nominate subspecies Ailuropoda melanoleuca melanoleuca consists of most extant populations of panda. These animals are principally found in Sichuan and display the typical stark black and white contrasting colors. The Qinling Panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis41 is restricted to the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi at elevations of 1300–3000 m. The typical black and white pattern of Sichuan Giant Pandas is replaced with a dark brown versus light brown pattern. The skull of A. m. qinlingensis is smaller than its relatives, and it has larger molars.In the wild, the Giant Panda is a terrestrial animal and primarily spends its life roaming and feeding in the bamboo forests of the Qinling Mountains and in the hilly Sichuan Province.22 Though generally alone, each adult has a defined territory and females are not tolerant of other females in their range. Pandas communicate through vocalization and scent marking such as clawing trees or spraying urine.4 The Giant Panda is able to climb and take shelter in hollow trees or rock crevices but does not establish permanent dens. For this reason, pandas do not hibernate, which is similar to other subtropical mammals, and will instead move to elevations with warmer temperatures.23 Pandas rely primarily on spatial memory rather than visual memory.24
Social encounters occur primarily during the brief breeding season in which pandas in proximity to one another will gather.25 After mating, the male leaves the female alone to raise the cub.26
Diet
Forefeet
Pandas eating bamboo at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Pandas playing 640×480.ogv
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Panda eating, standing, playing
Despite its taxonomic classification as a carnivoran, the Giant Panda’s diet is primarily herbivorous, consisting almost exclusively of bamboo.21 However, the Giant Panda still has the digestive system of a carnivore, as well as carnivore-specific genes,27 and thus derives little energy and little protein from consumption of bamboo. Its ability to digest cellulose is ascribed to the microbes in its gut.28 The average Giant Panda eats as much as 9 to 14 kg (20 to 30 pounds) of bamboo shoots a day. Because the Giant Panda consumes a diet low in nutrition, it is important for it to keep its digestive tract full.21 The limited energy input imposed on it by its diet has affected the panda’s behavior. The Giant Panda tends to limit its social interactions and avoids steeply sloping terrain in order to limit its energy expenditures.29
Two of the panda’s most distinctive features, its large size and its round face, are adaptations to its bamboo diet. Panda researcher Russell Ciochon observed that: “[much] like the vegetarian gorilla, the low body surface area to body volume [of the giant panda] is indicative of a lower metabolic rate. This lower metabolic rate and a more sedentary lifestyle allow the giant panda to subsist on nutrient poor resources such as bamboo.”29 Similarly, the Giant Panda’s round face is the result of powerful jaw muscles, which attach from the top of the head to the jaw.29 Large molars crush and grind fibrous plant material.
Pandas eat any of twenty-five bamboo species in the wild, such as Fargesia dracocephala30 and Fargesia rufa.31 Only a few bamboo species are widespread at the high altitudes pandas now inhabit. Bamboo leaves contain the highest protein levels; stems have less.32 Given this large diet, the Giant Panda can defecate up to 40 times a day. 33
Because of the synchronous flowering, death, and regeneration of all bamboo within a species, the Giant Panda must have at least two different species available in its range to avoid starvation. While primarily herbivorous, the Giant Panda still retains decidedly ursine teeth, and will eat meat, fish, and eggs when available. In captivity, zoos typically maintain the Giant Panda’s bamboo diet, though some will provide specially-formulated biscuits or other dietary supplements.34
The Giant Panda has a black-and-white coat. Adults measure around 1.5 meters (5 ft) long and around 75 centimeters (2 ft 6 in) tall at the shoulder. Males can weigh up to 150 kilograms (330 lb). Females (generally 10–20% smaller than males)17 can weigh up to 125 kilograms (280 lb).4
The Giant Panda has a body shape typical of bears. It has black fur on its ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs, arms and shoulders. The rest of the animal’s coat is white. Although scientists do not know why these unusual bears are black and white, some speculate that the bold coloring provides effective camouflage in its shade-dappled snowy and rocky surroundings.18 The Giant Panda’s thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests of its habitat.18 The Giant Panda has large molar teeth and strong jaw muscles for crushing tough bamboo.19
The Giant Panda’s paw has a “thumb” and five fingers; the “thumb” is actually a modified sesamoid bone, which helps the Giant Panda to hold bamboo while eating.20 Stephen Jay Gould discusses this feature in his book of essays on evolution and biology, The Panda’s Thumb.
The Giant Panda’s tail, measuring 10 to 15 centimeters (4 to 6 in), is the second longest in the bear family. The longest belongs to the Sloth Bear.17
The Giant Panda usually lives around 20 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity. 21
The giant panda, or panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally meaning “black and white cat-foot”)2 is a bear3 native to central-western and south western China.4 It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is 99% bamboo.5 Pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared feed.67
The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.8 Due to farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.
The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species.4 A 2007 report shows 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.9 Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,9 while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.10 Some reports also show that the number of pandas in the wild is on the rise.1112 However, the IUCN does not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.1
While the dragon has historically served as China’s national emblem, in recent decades the panda has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins. Though the panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than predation.131415
There is no conclusive explanation of the origin of the word “panda”. The closest candidate is the Nepali word ponya, possibly referring to the adapted wrist bone. The Western world originally applied this name to the Red Panda. Until 1901, when it was erroneously stated that it was related to the Red Panda, the Giant Panda was known as “mottled bear” (Ailuropus melanoleucus) or “particolored bear”.70
In most encyclopedic sources, the name “panda” or “common panda” originally referred to the lesser-known Red Panda,71 thus necessitating the inclusion of “giant” and “lesser/red” prefixes in front of the names. Even as of 2010[update] the Encyclopædia Britannica still used “giant panda” or “panda bear” for the bear 72 and simply “panda” for the Ailuridae,73 despite the popular usage of the word “panda”.
Since the earliest collection of Chinese writings, the Chinese language has given the bear 20 different names, such as 花熊 (hua xiong) “spotted bear” and 竹熊 (zhu xiong) “bamboo bear”.74 The most popular names in China today are 大熊貓 (dà xióng māo), literally “large bear cat”, or just 熊貓 (xióng māo), “bear cat”. The name may have been inspired by the Giant Panda’s eyes, which have pupils that are cat-like vertical slits – unlike other bear species, which have round pupils.75
In Taiwan, the popular name for panda is the inverted 貓熊 (māo xióng) “cat bear,” even though many encyclopedia and dictionaries in Taiwan still use “bear cat” as the correct name. Some linguists argue that, in this construction, “bear” instead of “cat” is the base noun, making this name more grammatically and logically correct, which may have led to the popular choice despite official writings.74