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Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer of the Toyota Supra 2020, may be trapped. It cleverly avoids being nailed over the range of the car's power assisted variable-assist rack or overpowering engine. He will not say if this Supra is faster on a track than the Porsche Cayman S 718, which was his main reference in development. And it tells a cautious story about the relationship with BMW that allowed this iconic Toyota sports car to exist again, 21 years after the death of the Mark IV Supra.
The fact that the fifth generation Supra is a real sports car, however, is a clear relief from the uncertainty of some details. We drove the car on the Shenandoah circuit of Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia, asking for much of its chassis, brakes and powertrain during a ruthless rush day. These tricks reveal that the battles were won by the right people during the development and that Toyota takes the sports car seriously again. Spoiler alert: This review will not mention the popular, so fearsome, movie franchises or aging overweight inline-on-weight Toyota engines.
A controversial union
The launch of this Supra is surrounded by a cloud of compromise perceived by internet philosophers since the announcement of its intention to share its platform with BMW's Z4 convertibles. The followers of the Supra did not hesitate to express their outrage at the union, claiming that a Supra without a manual transmission – a breathless one – could never be a real Supra and that a co-developed car was destined to be considered by history to be nothing. as badge engineering.
They were not completely wrong. Considering that the Supra uses a BMW engine and that its transmission, dampers and rack are shared with the Z4, Tada-san says it's hard to believe that its fundamentals are not just based on Toyota. Nevertheless, BMW's 3.0-liter B58 six-cylinder in-line turbocharged engine produces 335 horsepower and 365 lb-ft of torque and is undeniably well-suited to the Supra, particularly when paired with the eight-speed automatic transmission ZF, the only transmission available. According to Tada-san, Toyota-6 has accepted BMW's partnership because of the inline-six, which it considers an uncompromising element for any Supra. (However, there is also a four-cylinder Supra variant that can be delivered to the United States.) An electronically controlled limited slip differential with the ability to vary the lockout rate from zero to 100% is part of the program. And, of course, the Supra uses BMW's front and rear multi-link suspensions. Choosing a partner in auto manufacturing is like choosing a partner in life. And Toyota could have done a lot worse than BMW.
A driving tool
Seen through the lens of modern sports cars, the all-steel structure of Supra appears exactly as it is: dated. And speaking of viewing, do not consider going through the tiny rear windows of the coupe. Lane changes are a mirror dependent business. In addition, consider that the body of the Supra is wider by more than three inches than that of the Toyota 86, while offering less space for the shoulders and feeling much smaller in the interior . But there is subtlety at work in the compromise. The modest interior space – the length of the torso skimming the headlining by wearing a helmet – was a decision made to achieve the desired structural stiffness. Much of the structural reinforcement of the Supra comes from its soil. The wide soles hurt the entry and exit, but help to make the chassis of the Supra more than twice as rigid as that of the 86.
This rigidity is important on the track, where we braked with force and braked the right front suspension of the Supra. Adaptive dampers helped to soften the shock, which should have easily reorganized our cornering, not to mention the wheel. Instead, there was just the sound of the impact. The Supra is very fast in tight turns, able to sink into the lane chosen by the driver and meander out like a maniac. Tada-san claims that it's the world's widest and shortest wheelbase series car. We say that the abbreviated footprint of Supra gives a superb desire to rotate.
A thick layer of torque does not hurt the cause of the corner exit, and changes in speed are often accompanied by a discomfort of the back while the tires seek the adhesion. With a maximum of 1600 rpm, the B58 displays a torque of 365 lb-ft, even if you're running too fast. This is a good reason not to be too upset by the fact that the transmission sometimes rejects ambitious demotion demands. And the engine happily bursts the tachometer needle into the yellow zone, which provides usable power up to nearly 7,000 rpm. The speed changes happen almost without power failure on the wheels, intervene on command and are linked by an exhaust exhaust familiar to the BMW, similar to the rumblings emitted during the overtaking.
Management infuses the rest of the experience into glory: accurate, well weighed, and fast enough to keep pace with the directional schizophrenia that is a super on a tight circuit. He mightily associates with a brake pedal who refused to quit despite our best efforts to abuse stop buttons and submit them. Nevertheless, we have received similar praise for Porsche Porsche Cayman S and BMW M2, which are Supra's most obvious competitors. And no verdict on the dynamics of Supra is complete until it has been measured in the company of his contemporaries.
Break the Toyota mold
The most important achievement may not be the dynamic power of the Supra itself, but the fact that it comes from Toyota and, undeniably, BMW, two companies known for their reluctance to play roulette with responsibility. With its stability control deactivated, the Supra turns under braking and easily targets a turn. The Powerslides are as easy as falling in love: the offbeat Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires come off as expected back. And if you are one of those who likes the braking of the left foot, you're in luck. The overlap of brakes and throttles, a scenario in which Toyota has a sensitive history, is also allowed. The blessing is that if a driver has these skills, he is allowed to use them.
Fortunately, Toyota has not been pissed off with the Supra's driving patterns. There are two: Normal and Sport. By selecting Sport, accelerators, gearboxes, steering, exhausts, dampers and limited-slip differential are better suited for aggressive driving. You can customize it according to the driver's preferences. The traction mode, intermediate adjustment of stability control, releases the reins but does not punish the driver who pushes his limits very reasonable. And then there is the launch control, which we tried several times to activate but did it only once. Toyota claims a time of zero at 60 mph from 4.1 seconds.
Inside, Germany persists. All of Supra's secondary controls, from its gear selector to its infotainment system, are familiar to the BMW fare. In addition, there are only two seats and a modest bunker, a first Supra. Leather upholstery starts with the Premium 3.0 trim level. The Supra 3.0 base starts at $ 50,920 and comes with all the performance equipment, except for the slightly larger rear brake discs, which are available on the $ 54,920 $ 3.0 Premium and $ 56,180 versions of the the Launch Edition. Sales begin in July.
That the Supra lacks the genetic purity that his followers might prefer is clear, but genealogy is far less important than creating a power tool that can fully immerse its pilot in the experiment. And that's what Toyota did with the Supra.
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