The Toyota Supra is finally out after such a long hiatus. It is good that Toyota can finally inject some excitement into the brand. Yes! the car is made and designed by BMW. It is not such a bad thing since BMW do make the best straight 6 engine that is capable of some serious performance and is highly tunable which is something the after market guys will love.
The recent years Toyota has been stuck with the GT86 which is again built by another company Subaru. The GT86 was a very mild sports car to say the least and many enthusiast were craving for more performance but Toyota refused to make a faster version of the GT86. The Supra's launch was highly anticipated and created a lot of interest in the brand again.
Ever since the previous A80 model stopped production in the late 1990s many Toyota fans were waiting for a replacement model. Several concepts were teased at various motor shows but nothing as produced. The new Supra is more grown up and more comfortable than the previous model and carries over many parts from BMW apart from the engine and gearbox. The interior infotainment system is BMW, the centre console is BMW and the switches are also BMW. Toyota spent more time tweaking the suspension and other minor parts to try to set it apart from BMW.
Despite being down on power compared to its sibling the Z4, the Supra is supposedly faster accelerating than the Z4 (with 50hp more) which is hard to understand how this is possible. The only way this is possible is better traction from standstill. The car is much heavier than the GT86 by over 300kg but it makes up for it with the far superior power and torque.
Handling wise the car is not as nimble as the GT86 due to the extra weight and the brakes will fade after 5-6 laps of hard pounding on the track. Tuners are already starting to get ready after market tuning parts for the Supra and it will be the hot topic in the 2020 Tokyo Autosalon. Many tuning fans are already tired of the GT86 / BRZ since it has been in the market since 2013.
The sales of the Supra has been very encouraging with many first shipments sold before the cars were available in several countries. Having multiple variants do help with the sales as the entry level 2.0 turbo caters for the buyers who are buying it for the look rather than performance and with a small budget while the premium model caters for the buyers who want more luxury.
Depending on how this model sells over the next few years hope that Toyota will continue to build or introduce more sports models for the enthusiast. Toyota shouldn't ignore the enthusiast market and focus solely on making boring economy cars, MPVs and SUVs.
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