RE: 2019 Toyota Supra review: PH Video!
Sunday 19th May 2019
2020 Toyota Supra review | PH Video
We've been waiting 17 years for this. Let's see if it was worth it...
On the face of it, Toyota does not have much riding on the Supra. The Japanese brand is the sixth largest company in the world. It builds over 10m cars a year. The success or failure of a comparatively low volume rear-drive sports car is not going to dramatically affect the balance sheet one way or another. Toyota will go on being the world's biggest carmaker regardless.
But that is surely not the way Akio Toyoda sees it. The firm's current president is an avid and proven car enthusiast. This is the man, after all, who ensured that the LF-A was built. The man who has previously entered races under pseudonyms. For him, Supra means much more than sales volume and marketing leverage. It is about what Toyota can be.
Of course we've driven the car already. Several times. But it pays to see it now in the metal - alive and kicking - and in the context of the four generations that have preceded it. Yes, it is the product of a partnership, and that partnership has required compromise - all production cars do. But it does not limit Toyota's ambitions nor its best intentions. The Supra is back, and we can't wait to see where it and its maker goes from here.
Discussion
It does look good from the outside, not sure as mentioned about the pure BMW transplant interior however. No doubt it will be reliable and everything will work. For this money I would want switchable suspension, a better brake package and possibly less interior 'technology'. However for a global car this is where companies are going with more and more shared platforms and components. I believe the tuners are already improving these so wait six months and lets see what comes from Japan, the USA and Germany regarding aftermarket trickery. How many of these will be on track, few. How many used daily, many more across the world, and this is what Toyota are about, global sales.
Enjoyed the video and it summed the car up very well and much how I would expect the car to be like to drive. My thoughts were echoed around the need for a manual gearbox, although I would hazard a guess that most buyers will prefer the auto though.
I am really warming to the wacky shape too and it is pretty striking I think.
I am really warming to the wacky shape too and it is pretty striking I think.
There is a nice counterpoint between Dan and this Supra.
Dan started off here at PH I recall and then moved to Evo and now freelance. His written and video work is great; not too in your face and gives you all the details. Improvement with time. The Supra?
Maybe they should have called it Dan. Or Dan -san ? The baggage it has got with that name has not helped it at all, Toyota has completely misjudged the market by calling it that rather than a new name.
The 2nd elephant in the room ( and we have a small pack of pachyderms at this point) is that it is a BMW car fettled to Toyota brief.
Compare that to a humble GRMN Yaris. Whilst every other car in that class goes with the ubiquitous 2 litre turbo car and is just a photocopy of the next one, the Toyota did a small car Supra chosing a supercharged 1.8. It's like that unusual flavoured ice cream you eat on the beach. IT IS JAPANESE.
How about this with a Japanese highly tunable engine --
Imagine that with a tuned 700-900bhp engine. Now that is a Supra.
What's the point of doing a concept if you are then going to pay homage to the bean counters and not do a new 21st C Supra as a halo car.
Having said all that, and given Toyota a bashing, this car is still very good. It just needs tuning, as was always the case with the Supra, now just not the engine.
Cracking car, needs to be lighter and wait for the manual gearbox to come out .....
Dan started off here at PH I recall and then moved to Evo and now freelance. His written and video work is great; not too in your face and gives you all the details. Improvement with time. The Supra?
Maybe they should have called it Dan. Or Dan -san ? The baggage it has got with that name has not helped it at all, Toyota has completely misjudged the market by calling it that rather than a new name.
The 2nd elephant in the room ( and we have a small pack of pachyderms at this point) is that it is a BMW car fettled to Toyota brief.
Compare that to a humble GRMN Yaris. Whilst every other car in that class goes with the ubiquitous 2 litre turbo car and is just a photocopy of the next one, the Toyota did a small car Supra chosing a supercharged 1.8. It's like that unusual flavoured ice cream you eat on the beach. IT IS JAPANESE.
How about this with a Japanese highly tunable engine --
Imagine that with a tuned 700-900bhp engine. Now that is a Supra.
What's the point of doing a concept if you are then going to pay homage to the bean counters and not do a new 21st C Supra as a halo car.
Having said all that, and given Toyota a bashing, this car is still very good. It just needs tuning, as was always the case with the Supra, now just not the engine.
Cracking car, needs to be lighter and wait for the manual gearbox to come out .....
Edited by Gandahar on Saturday 18th May 10:28
'Supra' conjures up memories of legendary tuned cars and lairy bodykits, this one looks and is (apparently) a little tame. Just another car now, really. Could whoever the young chap is that presented the video stop waving his arms about during the intro please? Looks like he's conducting an orchestra.
As a petrolhead I wanted to love this car but like Dan and others have said it feels like it's waiting to be unleashed. I'm pretty sure a diet, better brakes and an extra 50 bhp would make it feel more worthy of the Supra mantra.
As echoed earlier, those are pretty big shoes to fill and this is a car that back in the took the fight to Porsche in a similar way that the NSX took the fight to the super car elite of it's era.
It was never going to be a car that tore the face off it's development sister car (but I wish it had and I'm a fully paid up BMW fan boy and about to get my 4th) but damn, I was rooting for it to do just that.
Still, it does have the advantage of a longer warranty etc via Toyota v BMW, maybe a good nearly new buy with 4 years left of dealer warranty?
As echoed earlier, those are pretty big shoes to fill and this is a car that back in the took the fight to Porsche in a similar way that the NSX took the fight to the super car elite of it's era.
It was never going to be a car that tore the face off it's development sister car (but I wish it had and I'm a fully paid up BMW fan boy and about to get my 4th) but damn, I was rooting for it to do just that.
Still, it does have the advantage of a longer warranty etc via Toyota v BMW, maybe a good nearly new buy with 4 years left of dealer warranty?
I love the way it looks from the outside - I think it’s fantastic, one of the best looking cars on sale in fact.
But the rest of it does absolutely nothing for me - the fact it’s a BMW Z4 with a different body ruins it for me. Same engine as an m140 which is half the price etc. Just not special enough under the skin.
But the rest of it does absolutely nothing for me - the fact it’s a BMW Z4 with a different body ruins it for me. Same engine as an m140 which is half the price etc. Just not special enough under the skin.
It seems that it's well regarded by this video, but, IMO, it hasn't the essence of a Supra. This should be the modern day Celica at about £40k. A Supra should be Toyotas take on the Nissan GTR, at around £70k.
Also, the looks. To my mind a car like this is a heart purchase. You want to love looking at it. This is why, at some point, my money will be going on an early (2005 onwards) V8 Vantage.
Also, the looks. To my mind a car like this is a heart purchase. You want to love looking at it. This is why, at some point, my money will be going on an early (2005 onwards) V8 Vantage.
Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:
It seems that it's well regarded by this video, but, IMO, it hasn't the essence of a Supra. This should be the modern day Celica at about £40k. A Supra should be Toyotas take on the Nissan GTR, at around £70k.
The original Supra wasnt really a GTR competitor, it was more a GT in the mold of the 300ZX, most were big dopey 3 litre NA autos, it was ontly the TT MK4 that got anywhere near GTR territory.Its really grown on me, I find myself wanting one for what it is, here and now, what we can actually buy, not what it could have been.
Can almost guarantee an M version of the Z4 will appear and a spicier factory version of the Supra, be interesting if they stick the S58 engine in it from the M3/M3/M2 Comp.
As the base engine int he Supra, 340 bhp and 0-60 in 4 secs or thereabouts is pretty rapid, and these are so easy to tune, £175 gets you a BlueSpark tuning box
https://www.bluesparkautomotive.com/bmw-m140i-340-...
10 mins to fit and it takes it over 400 bhp, plenty of other options and other tuning stuff.
I do wonder sometimes, on one hand there is so much doom and gloom that "they" are taking our fast cars, downsizing the engines or making us go electric, then a beefy six cylinder 340 bhp sports car gets released and it largely gets moaned about !
I will take one in Deep Blue Metallic and order the BlueSpark module, 420 bhp 2 seater sports car, I wouldn't be moaning about it.
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