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We are looking at buying a Toyota Estima 1997 petrol 2.4. It comes with a factory supercharger. How reliable are these? Cheers

Paul

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 22 August 2008

While the Toyota product in general is known for its reliability, there are some models which are best avoided, the Estima with a Supercharger being one such vehicle. They are something of an orphan and as such become high risk. Superchargers are added to boost power but are not common on mainstream petrol engines even today. Manufacturers have found better ways to improve performance by redesigning normally aspirated petrol engines and eliminating the need to fit aids like Supercharges.

The exception of late is VW who are downsizing their engines and fitting both Turbo and Super Charges as a way of addressing environmental and economy issues.

The Estima of the era you mention is not the easiest of vehicles to work on either, with the engine mounted beneath the front seats. They also run an unusual system to operate the engine driven accessories such as the alternator and air conditioning compressor. A Supercharger only complicates the whole thing further in my view.

There are better vehicles to consider depending on your budget.