Around the World: Toyota Supra
The Toyota GR Supra returns to the road - and race track - thanks to partnership with BMW. Photo: Toyota USA
The 2020 Toyota GR Supra (with the GR standing for Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s sports division) has been a global success since its launch last year.
It has a 3-litre six-cylinder twin-scroll turbocharged engine, 8-speed automatic with paddle shifters, 19-inch alloy wheels, with leather and alcantara accented sports seats.
Toyota partnered with BMW to gain the Z4’s 3-litre engine for the Japanese car. But don’t think the Supra is a clone.
Priced from $100,990, there’s a waiting list for this two-seater sports car, with many countries having to get customers to go into a ballot to buy one.
Having driven one of only two in New Zealand, from Palmerston North (Toyota NZ’s head office) to Auckland, I can see why there is such demand.
But what do the global experts think?
The Toyota Supra has a 3-litre engine, shared with BMW’s Z4. Photo: Toyota USA
Top Gear
The British magazine and website gave it 8/10.
“It’s not a run of the mill hatchback or a newly introduced small coupe. The Supra badge has history, a history that places it front and centre in Japanese car culture alongside the Honda NSX and Nissan GT-R.
It’s a car about which the President of the company, Akio Toyoda, a known petrolhead, has said ‘Supra is like an old friend that holds a special place in my heart’, and yet rather than building a bespoke halo car from scratch, the world’s largest car company has chosen to ship in large chunks of a moderately well regarded German roadster. And build it in Austria.
Of course Toyota’s version is different, but here’s the crux. Toyota has history with the straight-six layout. The new Supra would have to use it. But Toyota don’t build them anymore, and doing so, according to Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, would have needed not only an all-new engine design, but a whole engine plant. Not viable. So they needed a partner, and as far as straight sixes go, BMW is about the only option.”
The sports coupe is priced from $100,990 - if you can get one. Photo: Toyota USA
Car wow
This British website is a fan of it, giving it 9/10.
“The Toyota Supra comes with just one engine choice, BMW’s 3-litre, six-cylinder turbocharged petrol which produces 250kW. Rear-wheel drive comes as standard helping it get from 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds, although you’ll also enjoy the way it pulls hard from low revs for sprinting down motorway slip roads and overtaking.
In fact, on country roads, the Supra is easily fast enough to excite, and putting it in its Sport driving mode adds more weight to the steering, livens up the accelerator and gearbox and opens a flap in its exhaust for more pops and bangs. It grips hard and controls its body well through tight bends, but if getting the quickest lap time is most important to you, then a Porsche Cayman will be quicker still.
Yet, switching back to Normal driving mode in town reveals the Supra to be the slightly more comfortable choice over lumps and bumps. It’s easy to see out of too, and its light but precise steering and decent turning circle make it easy to park – its standard front and rear sensors and rear camera help here too. It’s also decently comfy and quiet on the motorway.”
The interior of the Supra has lots of BMW carry overs. Photo: Toyota USA
Caradvice
The Australian website gave it 8.5/10.
“The previous A80 Supra was a 2+2 coupe with cramped rear seats, but the latest iteration is a strict two-seater – though feels roomier because there’s no partition immediately behind the seats – instead an exposed boot section.
The interior certainly looks more expensive than the inside of a Toyota 86 (coupe), though the design is a bit of a Toyota-BMW mash-up.
BMW is the source for most switchgear, while the entire centre console (including gear lever) and climate controls will be familiar to any owner of one of the German brand’s cars.
The 8.8-inch infotainment display atop the dash is also from the Bavarians, though adopts a Toyota casing and a ‘Toyota Supra’ welcome screen (before opening up BMW’s iDrive operating system).
Very Japanese, though, is the instrument cluster that combines a physical, C-shaped rev counter with digital information displays.
The Supra’s sports seats hug you tightly, though the bolstering can be adjusted electrically, and ahead is an upright and relatively thin-rimmed steering wheel that isn’t to everyone’s taste.
A low-slung driving position fits the sports-car bill, and should put its owner quickly in the mood for a fun steer. And the Supra can definitely deliver on that crucial front.”
The Toyota Supra is a serious sports car, suitable for the track. Photo: Toyota USA
Car and Driver
The American website took it to the track.
“That the fifth-generation Supra is a proper sports car, however, lies in clear relief against the uncertainty of a few details. We drove the car at Summit Point Motorsports Park's Shenandoah Circuit in West Virginia, asking much of its chassis, brakes, and powertrain over a day of merciless lapping. Those laps reveal that battles were won by the right people during development and that Toyota is once again taking the sports car seriously.
Much of the Supra's structural reinforcement comes from its floor. The coupe's wide sills hurt ingress and egress but help make the Supra's chassis more than twice as stiff as the 86's.
That stiffness matters on the track, where we squared up a curb under heavy braking and bottomed the Supra's right-front suspension. Adaptive dampers helped muffle the blow, which should have handily reshaped our corner entry, not to mention the wheel. Instead, there was just the noise of the impact. The Supra is all fast twitches in tight corners, able to wrench itself into the driver's chosen path and erupt out of bends like a manic terrier.”
