RE: TRD goes to town on new Supra

[V10leptoquark]

The FT-01 was a fresh looking car, the Supra MkV production model however just becomes more ugly each time I see it no matter what is thrown on to the exterior.
As mentioned by some, I also ditest fake ducts and vents, its nothing more than an insult to anyone who is a car enthusiast and its manufacturers trying desperately to give their product some shape or 'flair' due to the fact that the general exterior has been messed up by the finance department constraints.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but each time I watch videos of the cabin when the car is driven, is that BMW's stock engine sound being played through the speakers (as is the case with the M2 and M4) ?

[RemyMartin81D]

sutts said:

ZX10R NIN said:

the stance is on point.

This made me wince. You’ll be ‘reaching out’ to someone next.

Regards,

V. Meldrew

No no no he'll be 'pulling the trigger' on one.

[Bob Dong]

Jalopnik had a little look at the "just pop the vents out" story and yeah it's not true. Toyota even walked it back when asked on it themselves.

https://jalopnik.com/i-just-dont-believe-what-the-...

[anonymous-user]

Aidancky said:

I'm a huge Toyota fan but they've really dropped the ball on this one. Every statement they make about it ends up being marketing BS that is often just literally lies. It's a detuned Z4 with a hardtop, Toyotas efforts are styling as far as I can tell. Which is super disappointing.

At least the LFA and other recent Lexus efforts are a bit more interesting!

I thought it had exactly the same engine/tune as the Z4? Have I got that wrong?

[TomTVR500]

Big Robbo said:

It's not Bumblebee... it's bumblebees Japanese cousin

I laughed a lot harder at that than I should

Edited by TomTVR500 on Tuesday 21st May 09:24

[Baldchap]

If this had have been called the Toyota GR Fred, I wonder if it would have had anywhere hear the column inches and forum discussions...

[V10leptoquark]

Baldchap said:

If this had have been called the Toyota GR Fred, I wonder if it would have had anywhere hear the column inches and forum discussions...

Good point. People would likely have written the car off as just another digital release from a big manufacturer to put its name in the competition offerings.
However "Toyota" decided to "bring back the legendary Supra", and I think in many people's eyes, they royally fecked it up.

[Hot Knife]

Mike335i said:

3.0 twin turbo straight six with 340hp? Already got one sunshine.

20HP in 23 years?

BMW has increased the M5's Horsepower from 335 to 617 in the same period.

That's more clouds than sunshine.

[Leon R]

Hot Knife said:

Mike335i said:

3.0 twin turbo straight six with 340hp? Already got one sunshine.

20HP in 23 years?

BMW has increased the M5's Horsepower from 335 to 617 in the same period.

That's more clouds than sunshine.

That logic only makes sense if power leaps make the car better.

Look at the MX5.

[Hot Knife]

V10leptoquark said:

Good point. People would likely have written the car off as just another digital release from a big manufacturer to put its name in the competition offerings.
However "Toyota" decided to "bring back the legendary Supra", and I think in many people's eyes, they royally fecked it up.

exactly. The Legend of Supra was real. That last car was a monster at the time. This is just a ugly and mediocre rebadge.

But that era, the late 90's was the end of Toyota. The GT4 Celica, the Supra, the MR2 Turbo. They were great cars and hella fast for the time.

Toyota is an abomination now. Useless "sporty" cars and some Eco-marketed hybrids that are terrible for the environment. Leftist soccer moms rejoice!

[RemyMartin81D]

I also don't get the whole gazoo racing of now TRD are still here too?

[Hot Knife]

Leon R said:

That logic only makes sense if power leaps make the car better.

Look at the MX5.

but the MX5 was never intended as a HP stonker. The Supra was. Now it's...well I don't know what it is, a weak toyota sporty coupe. That's why people are disappointed. TRD used to be something that had some cache with actual motorsport heritage and homologation issues you could buy and watch it clean up in the World Rally Championships etc.

Edited by Hot Knife on Tuesday 21st May 11:21

[Leon R]

Hot Knife said:

Leon R said:

That logic only makes sense if power leaps make the car better.

Look at the MX5.

but the MX5 was never intended as a HP stonker. The Supra was. Now it's...well I don't know what it is, a weak toyota sporty coupe. That's why people are disappointed.

Not sure that is actually true, the most powerful version of it had like 320hp which is near enough what the offerings from Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan ect had.

[ChocolateFrog]

vsonix said:

mrclav said:

ChocolateFrog said:

mrclav said:

poo at Paul's said:

fake air ducts?

Does look a bit crap

If you watch Doug Demuro's review on youtube, he mentions that, interestingly, he was told by Toyota that the engineers have made those ducts so that when the tuners get their hands on them, they can be made 'real', ie all the plastic bits can be removed so that airflow can be improved, the brakes can be cooled better etc.

Essentially, the car is designed to be sold then modified - they've even left out things like strut bracing in the engine bay but you can see the holes where bracing can be attached. One must remember that the Supra is possibly one of the most modified Japanese exports (besides the GTR) so I guess Toyota is supplying a 'blank slate' to let people go crazy on.

Also interesting in that video is the mention that the engine was taken into Toyota and checked against their own standards of performance and they approved it; this isn't a small deal as I'm aware that their testing regime is one of the reasons their cars are known to be so reliable so in a way it's a testament to BMW's engine boffins original design that Toyota didn't feel they needed to mess with it too much...

That sounds like total marketing BS.

Why would it sound like marketing BS? Toyota haven't publically spoken about these things so it's not 'marketing' and obviously they know the previous Supra was modified a lot - try finding an absolutely un-molested one, there aren't that many about. The things I've mentioned (strut bracing, the ability to remove the duct ' fake plugs' etc) are clearly there for all to see, why would they put those things in if it was BS?

It's not BS...

This video includes footage of Toyota designer saying exactly this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmzNNckDm4s

Not denying they said it but they didn't do it specifically to help aftermarket suppliers.

They did it because it's cheaper and maybe TRD will bring their own strut brace out for you to bolt on.

[V10leptoquark]

RemyMartin81D said:

I also don't get the whole gazoo racing of now TRD are still here too?

I have a feeling that Toyota "off-loaded" the project for two reasons, first is to give it some 'weight of merit" in terms of having a racing outfit have input to a 'sportscar', and second so that Toyota can distance itself from the current trend of feeling guilt pressure based around the notion that anything 'fast', 'sporty' or driving for pleasure is going to anger the militant environmentalists.

Why Gazoo Racing as opposed to TRD ?
I can only think that they are currently better "set up" than TRD in terms of personnel, resources, time and finances to take on the project. But taking off any rose tinted glasses its more likely this was a cheaper solution for Toyota - hence why the project too so long to develop.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Aidancky said:

I'm a huge Toyota fan but they've really dropped the ball on this one. Every statement they make about it ends up being marketing BS that is often just literally lies. It's a detuned Z4 with a hardtop, Toyotas efforts are styling as far as I can tell. Which is super disappointing.

Well said & I completely agree.

Sadly it's all the fault of common consumers though. Folks want boring SUV's and aren't interested in sporty or remotely interesting cars any more.

[Hot Knife]

Leon R said:

Not sure that is actually true, the most powerful version of it had like 320hp which is near enough what the offerings from Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan ect had.

Well it was a Japanese translation of a sports car and at the time 320HP was considered a lot for someone like that.

Put it perspective, the MX5 you compare it with had 128HP. It was a totally different car.

[ChocolateFrog]

Bob Dong said:

Jalopnik had a little look at the "just pop the vents out" story and yeah it's not true. Toyota even walked it back when asked on it themselves.

https://jalopnik.com/i-just-dont-believe-what-the-...

So it is marketing BS, even more so than when I made that accusation yesterday.

[Hot Knife]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Aidancky said:

I'm a huge Toyota fan but they've really dropped the ball on this one. Every statement they make about it ends up being marketing BS that is often just literally lies. It's a detuned Z4 with a hardtop, Toyotas efforts are styling as far as I can tell. Which is super disappointing.

Well said & I completely agree.

Sadly it's all the fault of common consumers though. Folks want boring SUV's and aren't interested in sporty or remotely interesting cars any more.

I agree, it's well said. I used to be a Toyota fan at the time they were deep in motorsport and I really loved the GT4 Celica in particular. Toyota abandoned the market and their customers and decided no more sports models. Everything they have ever done since has been like a slap in the face. It's sad and weird to see what they had slip. But that is what the company became.

All this BS about leaving it to the tuners is just bogus marketing

[rodericb]

ChocolateFrog said:

vsonix said:

mrclav said:

ChocolateFrog said:

mrclav said:

poo at Paul's said:

fake air ducts?

Does look a bit crap

If you watch Doug Demuro's review on youtube, he mentions that, interestingly, he was told by Toyota that the engineers have made those ducts so that when the tuners get their hands on them, they can be made 'real', ie all the plastic bits can be removed so that airflow can be improved, the brakes can be cooled better etc.

Essentially, the car is designed to be sold then modified - they've even left out things like strut bracing in the engine bay but you can see the holes where bracing can be attached. One must remember that the Supra is possibly one of the most modified Japanese exports (besides the GTR) so I guess Toyota is supplying a 'blank slate' to let people go crazy on.

Also interesting in that video is the mention that the engine was taken into Toyota and checked against their own standards of performance and they approved it; this isn't a small deal as I'm aware that their testing regime is one of the reasons their cars are known to be so reliable so in a way it's a testament to BMW's engine boffins original design that Toyota didn't feel they needed to mess with it too much...

That sounds like total marketing BS.

Why would it sound like marketing BS? Toyota haven't publically spoken about these things so it's not 'marketing' and obviously they know the previous Supra was modified a lot - try finding an absolutely un-molested one, there aren't that many about. The things I've mentioned (strut bracing, the ability to remove the duct ' fake plugs' etc) are clearly there for all to see, why would they put those things in if it was BS?

It's not BS...

This video includes footage of Toyota designer saying exactly this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmzNNckDm4s

Not denying they said it but they didn't do it specifically to help aftermarket suppliers.

They did it because it's cheaper and maybe TRD will bring their own strut brace out for you to bolt on.

It's a bit of wk. Toyota has to de-content the car so they can bring it under the Z4 price. Starting with the strut brace as you've identified. Doug DeMuro is regurgitating the marketing spiel from the launch.