Figured my birthday would be a good time as any to finally get my reviews up.
Two Jay-Z
The Supra has always been the poster boy for the JDM community alongside the R34 Skyline and the FD RX7, with its legendarily overbuilt 3.0 Inline 6(Courtsey of the good economy in Japan at the time so they could afford to overbuild things.) smooth lines and iconic rear wing, you’d think it’s driving experience would be like the second coming of christ.
In reality however it’s a different story.
While yes it’s engine can be made to put out 903hp fully tuned, the Supra never feels 100% comfortable taming that level of power anywhere except like SSRX or Le Mans.
I said when we drove it that it was more a GT car than an actual sports car as it felt unwieldy in some turns and not that great under braking as Interlagos showed.
That’s not to say the Supra’s a terrible car, far from it, but it’s not as great as the hype for it makes you believe.
If you want a proper 90’s Japanese sports car, you’re not short of contenders.
Hopefully the soon to be with us New Supra will be more sporty and less grand tourery.
Verdict: Neutral
Boxing Against The Clock
Fun fact, my birthday car was in fact the IOM Subaru TA racer, which is now setup for power tracks and also rallying, the original one will do everything else.
I could just say that’s it’s a 4wd version of the Gr3 Wrx as it’s capable of fighting Gr3 cars like the M6 GT3, but that’ll be just scratching the surface.
It’s a car that was built to answer a question that nobody asked, How fast COULD a 4 wheeled machine lap the legendarily fast and lethal Isle Of Man TT?
Subaru already had the record with a slightly modified WRX and it didn’t look like anyone else was gonna throw their name in the hat so the overkill?
Whatever the reason, I’m glad that they did it.
It hardly gave us any issues(Ok launching it quickly was tricky.), it stopped, turned and accelerated just how you’d expect it to do.
And then there’s the turbo flutter..
PD has copped a metric 🤬 ton of flak for sounds in the past, and justifiably for most part, but with GTS, they are steadily ousting those demons. 👍
While 300k for a car you can hardly use in Career is steep, it’s hard to argue with its performance.
Verdict: Sleeper 👍
And lastly, the Pantera.
Hellbound Walk
Obvious references to the band with the same name out the way, on to the Pantera itself.
The Pantera is one of few classic Italian sports cars that was Italian styled, but American powered with a 351 Ford V8 as it’s pick.
The Pantera’s 5 speed gearbox while decent spaced out, didn’t make it easy to change gears quickly and thus you were cursing when it shifted slower into 3rd than last time, while the guy next to you had a good 2-3 shift and gained ground on you.
Didn’t half sound bad though and was rather forgiving to drive once you adapted to its weight, heck I was pushing like hell on the Seaside route and it didn’t even attempt to try and kill me with snap oversteer.
As classic mid engined cars go, it’s definitely the most approachable and usable for most skill levels.
Verdict: Sleeper 👍
but it sounds like one of the motor industries greatest hits. Or at least it should be. Italian styling, V8 soundtrack and non of the fragile drawbacks of driving a typical supercar in its day. That's not a beater or a sleeper. It's just right. 
