Reviews are in for 2020 Supra MKV preproduction car

[SS900]

via RoadShow

Toyota Supra first drive review: More reset than reboot
Toyota's new Supra is getting closer to reality, and it's coming via an interesting route: Germany. There's more than a little BMW in Toyota's new sports car, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Toyota fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of the Supranameplate since pretty much the day after it went out of production in 2002. Introduced in 1978, Supra evolved over those decades from a humble options package on the Celica to a proper sports car. Its final iteration, the MKIV A80 Supra, was so frequently positioned opposite various high-dollar, Italian exotics through the 1990s that it earned hero status among the tuner crowd. The 326 horsepower from its 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged inline-six engine was little more than a starting point.

The MKIV went away in 2002 but never really left the consciousness of those with an inclination toward the "import" side of the performance spectrum. Whether it was the ridiculously stickered hero car from The Fast and the Furious or the rather more tastefully liveried Castrol TOM'S Supra GT in Gran Turismo, the Supra... well, it lived up to its name.

Now, more than 15 years later, it's back. Well, OK, it's almost back. The new Toyota Supra's coming-out party happens sometime in the first half of 2019, likely entering production as a 2020 model year. That's still a long way off, but I've just had my first go behind the wheel around a prototype that's said to be 95 percent complete.

So, then, how is the new Toyota Supra? It's good. It's really good, but maybe not quite what you expect.

The formula
Many things changed from the introduction of the A40 Celica Supra in 1978 to the end of the line for the epic, twin-turbo MKIV A80 Supra in 2002. This new Supra picks up from there, carrying forward a few of that car's more notable defining characteristics.

The first is the overall drivetrain layout: engine up front spinning wheels at the back. That continues on with the new A90 Supra. Its engine, too, picks up where the last Supra left off: a turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline-six, just like before. However, expect more power this time around.

Toyota 86, a car built around a flat-four engine specifically designed to lower the CoG. That the Supra goes even lower with an upright, inline-six is impressive.
Also helping is a new, limited-slip differential sitting at the rear. It's an electronically actuated diff, but the electronics are just used to modulate the pressure of internal friction plates. In other words, it isn't just an open differential relying on the car's brakes to limit wheelspin. The Supra's ECU can switch the differential from fully locked (both wheels spinning at the same speed) to fully open (one wheel getting all the power) in a fraction of a second. In the Supra's sportiest setting the differential was quite aggressive at keeping the rear wheels in-sync, even under braking, the result being a very lively feel to the rear end.

And if I have to complain about something it is those brakes. The four-pot Brembos never exactly faltered, but the pedal feel was a bit loose and seemed to get looser through the course of the day. Whether the blame lies in the system itself or was simply due to a day of lapping on a hot, late-summer Spanish day, I can't be sure. Further testing is required.

On the streets
So the Supra is a capable machine on the track, but a car like this is going to spend the vast majority of its life on the streets. I'm pleased to report that the car was an absolute joy on the many and varied lanes in the areas around and between Jarama and Madrid.

We started on the highway, where the Supra was comfortable and composed, adaptive dampers providing good ride quality even on the occasional bits of broken pavement we could find. The car only seats two, but with lots of storage behind the seats and beneath the rear hatch, future owners should start planning long-weekend getaways now.

JDM meets DTM
In talking about the overall layout of the new Supra, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out just how much of the car is actually BMW-sourced. Much like the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 are intracorporate siblings, so too the new BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra. That inline-six engine at the heart of the JDM Supra? It comes from the land of DTM. So, too, the chassis and transmission, the electronics and, well, a very significant portion of everything beneath the skin.

Is that a bad thing? Not at all, but it is something to consider and it's something that is immediately apparent the second you sit in the thing. The prototypes I drove all had heavily clad interiors, cloaked in black felt to hide seats, panels and other components. Even so, the BMW-ness shone through like a Bavarian beacon. To select drive you squeeze a button on the side of the upright shifter and pull it back, like most modern BMWs. An iDrive rotary controller sat exposed just to the side.

Suffice to say, if you've developed a bit of a special feel for Toyotas over the years, and as an owner of an MR2 I most certainly have, slotting into the Supra feels more than a little weird. However, it isn't entirely BMW.

The steering wheel feels particularly different. Modern M-cars are somewhat infamous for their chubby, squishy steering wheels. The Supra's, by comparison, is skinny, a little reminiscent of my MR2. Meanwhile, the fully digital gauge cluster behind the wheel looks rather sportier than your average BMW, though half of it was nonfunctional for my drive, so we'll save a full analysis of that for another day.
Kai and team also spent quite a bit of time talking about the ratio between the wheelbase (effective length) of a car and its track width. While no exact figures were given, the Supra's ratio is less than 1.6, which again is more square -- and theoretically more balanced -- than the 86, which is of course a remarkably nimble machine.

However, with the Toyota 86 hitting the scales at around 2,800 pounds, perhaps as much as 500 less than the new Supra, don't expect much in the way of similar driving dynamics.

And don't expect the Supra to look much of anything like its predecessors, either. While it's difficult to really get a feel for the thing with that crazy camo covering, it's clear that the pronounced nose and ducktail spoiler will make for a distinctive approach. I'll withhold judgement until I see one without the trippy graphics, but I did want to pass along one unfortunate design detail: all the plastic mesh vents you see in the fenders and in the doors are solid. They're just there for looks.

On the track
Approximately 60 seconds after sitting in the Supra for the first time I was full-throttle exiting the pits out of the Jarama circuit. Used in Formula 1 until the early '80s, the track is legendarily tricky. Heavily cambered turns will help you when you get your lines right. Nearby walls will gladly punish you when you things go wrong.

Thankfully I had a guide in the right seat, British racer Abbie Eaton of Grand Tour fame, who kindly talked me through the circuit's nuances while I found my bearings -- and, more importantly, while I got a feel for the car.

And that took some time. The Supra actually has a fair bit of body roll and a somewhat relaxed poise that gives the impression of a car requiring a soft touch. As I'd find out, that's not necessarily the case. Pushed harder, the nose of the car (rolling on 19-inch, 255 section-width Michelins) had plenty of grip, so it never fell over to terminal understeer when run too hot into a corner.

The rear, meanwhile, was nicely behaved, the car pulling strongly out of the tightest turns with the help of a traction control system that was obviously working to keep that 3.0-liter motor in check, but working quietly without any obvious cuts.

When the hills on the horizon loomed closer and the road began to twist and turn, the Supra really responded in kind. I actually started my stint in a Toyota 86, doing my best to chase a Supra up the hill through some of the most amazing roads I've yet had the privilege of driving. With all four tires squealing I could just hang in the corners, but the much faster Supra just walked away in the straights.

Swapping into the Supra for the run back down was a great way to feel the differences, and yes you can certainly feel the extra weight of the newer car. So, too, can you feel the extra grip from the set of proper tires, not to mention the more sophisticated suspension and drivetrain. Again, the brakes were the only real limiting factor on the downhill run, but never to the point of ruining the fun.

Out here I was able to spend more time experimenting with the transmission, an eight-speed automatic that always did what I requested via the wheel-mounted paddle shifters, but often took its time. When left to its own devices, however, it did a commendably good job of aggressively downshifting when I was flogging it and lazily upshifting when I was stuck in traffic. As good as a DCT or manual for sporty driving? Not by a mile, but Toyota did say a manual transmission is theoretically possible down the road.

And then there's the power. While the new MKV A90 Supra may not compare to the some of those tuned Mark IV Supras with their watermelon-size turbochargers and lag for days, it isn't lacking in shove. What it is lacking, however, is noise. The cars we tested were on the quiet side, despite some digital injection of engine notes through the car's speakers. Yes, like many BMWs the car makes fake engine noises, sounds that get louder in Sport mode and cannot be disabled. Even still, when pushed hard the Supra doesn't exactly roar. However, North American-spec cars will feature louder exhausts than those cars we tested in Spain. (Sorry, European readers.)

Finally, while I can't say much about the seats (they, too, were covered) I can say there's plenty of headroom, thanks to that double-bubble roof, and overall the cabin feels compact but never claustrophobic.

Wrap-up
If there's one thing you should keep in mind when considering the MKV Supra, it's that you shouldn't think of it as a reboot. Instead, think of it as a reset. This isn't the manic, massively powerful monster that most people remember from video games or in movies. That's good, because the Supra was never like that when rolling out of the showroom.

What will this new Supra be? It'll be quick but not explosive, responsive but not punishing and, overall, really fun and rewarding to drive. It will be the kind of machine you could reasonably drive every day, comfortably, and something I'd very much like to point toward some twisty roads headed in the general direction of a weekend getaway.

And what about the big questions, like how much it will cost and exactly when you can get one? For that, Toyota's going to leave us all hanging for just a little bit longer.

Editors' note: Roadshow accepts multiday vehicle loans from manufacturers in order to provide scored editorial reviews. All scored vehicle reviews are completed on our turf and on our terms. However, for this feature, the manufacturer covered travel costs. This is common in the auto industry, as it's far more economical to ship journalists to cars than to ship cars to journalists.

The judgments and opinions of Roadshow's editorial team are our own and we do not accept paid editorial content.

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[tha7osavage]

via Drive

Toyota Supra 2019 international first drive review
It's still dark outside as the hotel door slides open, greeting us with a double pair of new-generation Supras. It’s a moment that Toyota fan boys (and girls) have been waiting 16 years for.

The Japanese giant’s all-new flagship sports coupe isn’t in full production spec yet – that won’t happen until the Austrian (Magna Steyr) factory starts building them, alongside BMW’s closely related Z4 roadster, in the first quarter of 2019. But even wearing a confetti-like camouflage, peppered with A90 logos, there’s something captivating about the form of the fifth-generation A90 Supra.

Is it just a BMW Z4 in disguise?
The slightly inboard LED headlights, edged with blade-like running lights, recall the previous 1993-2002 A80 generation in their shape and placement, not to mention Toyota’s 2014 FT-1 concept car that whet the motoring world’s appetite for a new-gen Supra. But it’s the seriously pumped guards and delicious rear haunches that demand your attention. This car exudes performance.

From behind, there’s a double-bubble roof to drink in – an exotic flourish yet to fail on any car – though it’s the tapering of the glasshouse, the heart-shaped rear window, fixed ducktail spoiler, angled tail-lights and lustful stance that make your pulse skip a beat in anticipation.

Will the new Supra look as interesting in full-production dress? Will it satisfy the rear-drive, turbocharged, straight-six legend? Will it be just a BMW clone in drag?

The fact that there are so few styling details shared with BMW’s new Z4 roadster pretty much answers that question. While the packaging of the two cars was decided jointly – determining where the driver sits, where to locate the fuel tank, and where to place the A-pillar – once the foundation was set in stone, the rest of the development was unique to each car.

Toyota claims it influenced shifting the engine further rearwards, achieving a front-mid layout, and pushed for the A-pillars to follow suit, yet the outcome is clearly beneficial to both cars.

Weight distribution is exactly 50:50; centre of gravity is lower than a Toyota 86’s (despite the handicap of having a tall in-line six-cylinder engine); and Toyota claims the new Supra’s body rigidity is greater than a Lexus LFA supercar’s, despite being made of cheaper steel and aluminium instead of carbonfibre.

There’s also what Toyota’s engineers describe as the ‘golden triangle’ relationship between short wheelbase length (just 2470mm in the A90 Supra), broad track width and low centre of gravity. The key to making a “pure sports car” is having a wheelbase less than 1.6 times the track measurement, which the A90 Supra nails bang on. The lower the value, the closer to a go-kart.

It’s no coincidence that a Porsche 911 matches the A90 Supra’s 1.6:1 “golden ratio”. A Toyota 86’s is 1.68; the previous A80 Supra 1.67; a Ferrari 488 1.59. If the proof is in the numbers, then Supra’s sports-car bones are concrete.

What's the interior of the Supra like?
Climbing aboard the new Supra via a Z4-esque frameless door, I’m instantly hit with the ironic heritage staring me straight in the face. It’s a delightfully slim-rimmed airbag wheel reminiscent of the large-bossed item in BMW’s Z3 M roadster and M Coupe of 20 years ago, yet nothing like the wheel in the new-gen Z4.

There’s also some BMW flavour in the engine’s timbre, which isn’t surprising given Supra’s turbo-six drivetrain screams Munich with an italicised M, yet it sounds different in the Toyota. The Germans provided the hardware, but Toyota completed all the tuning – shift speed, differences between drive modes, induction and exhaust flavour – and the result is a lusty, thrusty grand-touring delight.

Heading out of Madrid onto Spain’s fast-moving motorways, the Supra immediately hits its stride. The engine is so strong it doesn’t really need eight ratios, yet there’s a satisfying effortlessness to its gait at an indicated 150km/h that feels perfectly suited to its GT vibe.

Slowing for each toll gantry provides an opportunity to discover exactly what the Supra’s 3.0-litre twin-scroll-turbo six is made of. Toyota’s preliminary claim is “more than 220kW and 450Nm” but that’s underselling it. The reality is far more likely to be 250kW/500Nm, given “a projected 0-100km/h time of well under five seconds”.

BMW says the new Z4 will do it in 4.6. I reckon the circa-1500kg Supra is perhaps a smidge better than that, especially with launch control doing its best work.

With the centre console’s large Sport button engaged, I flatten the Supra’s aluminium right pedal and feel an instant shove in my back. Our manual Toyota 86 chase car is left gasping in the Supra’s wake as it charges through the gears, the twin exhausts blurting with each 6800rpm upshift and the induction sound swelling inside the cabin thanks to a synthesised overlay of straight-six wail. It’s a nice feeling.

There’s other impressive work to admire too. The Supra’s driving position is properly low and perfectly positioned, its slender steering wheel rim infinitely preferable to the python-like girth of BMW’s latest wheel design, and it’s quiet.

What's the Supra like to drive?
On not-too-coarse Spanish roads, the hum from the Supra’s Michelin Pilot Sport tyres (measuring a chunky 275/35ZR19 at the rear) is pleasantly subdued, and its ride quality is equally wafty, with some vertical movement in Sport mode at big-dollar speeds but also an overwhelming feeling of being four-square and planted. This car feels rooted to the tarmac.

That impression continues on some fabulous Rally of Madrid roads up in the mountains. There aren’t many bumps to test the Supra’s body control but an overnight dumping of rain is enough to challenge its rear-wheel traction. The Supra again demonstrates the inherent composure and cornering poise of its bespoke platform.

Our test cars are fitted with adaptive dampers – lowering the suspension by 7mm compared to the fixed-damper set-up that will also be available on the production car – as well as an Active Differential (sourced from BMW but tuned by Toyota) that is steplessly variable from zero to 100 per cent lock for “full traction potential under all circumstances”, not to mention drifting excellence. The Supra faithful wouldn’t want it any other way.

With meatier Sport-mode steering effortlessly guiding the Supra from one challenging corner to the next, it’s this calmness under pressure that I admire most about the car. Here’s a lusty grand tourer that also happens to be beautifully balanced in corners, terrifically grippy spearing out of them, and virtually unflappable in its devastatingly effective pace.

Only the Supra’s brakes (featuring four-piston Brembo calipers) start to sweat a bit as we push hard towards the Jarama racetrack. Pedal travel grows longer as stopping requires greater leg force, but some proper hot laps at the circuit prove this isn’t a major concern.

The Supra pulls up hard from 225km/h at the end of the main straight before entering a right-hand hairpin, and again demonstrates the serious punch of its performance and handling composure as it devours this fantastically undulating course.

The sole disappointment is an imposed restriction on us switching the stability control off, though the professional race drivers at hand tell me the Supra is so incredibly planted it actually takes commitment to dislodge its tail.

What's the verdict?
The curtain call for final tuning of the A90 Supra is the end of 2018, so there’s still a few months left of finessing the suspension tune and tweaking various components. But even if this was the final version I’d still be impressed.

Perhaps the new Supra isn’t as balls-out red-blooded as some buyers might want, but this is merely the first taste of what’s to come. Munich-based assistant chief engineer, Masayuki Kai, says Toyota is “still studying bigger engines, smaller engines, manual transmission”.

By the time production begins in the first quarter of 2019, a six-speed manual version will more than likely surface. Expect a GR MN (for Master of Nurburgring) Supra to also be on the cards, given Toyota’s confirmation it will produce “the ultimate sporty version of a GR car”, and “if we want, we can also make an open-roof Supra but this is not currently an option” said Masayuki Kai.

Indeed, there are many opportunities open for the A90 Supra, including a race car with functional versions of the road car’s cosmetic air vents. But what’s most important is that the core vehicle is on the money.

Given sensible pricing, the new-gen Supra’s loin-stirring style and suave driver appeal should guarantee a sparkling future for this much-missed Japanese icon.

2019 Toyota Supra price and specifications
Price: $80,000 (estimated)
Engine: 3.0-litre turbo-petrol in-line 6-cylinder
Power: 250kW (estimated)
Torque: 500Nm (estimated)
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Fuel use: 7.5L/100km (estimated)

 

[SS900]

via EFTM

2019 Toyota Supra Review – It’s Epic.

It’s back! The iconic Toyota Supra has been revealed here in Madrid, Spain. The Supra nameplate has been around since 1978, born as an offshoot of the Celica. It was sadly buried in 2002 but now a fifth-generation has finally been reborn. Chris Bowen is on the ground in Spain to let you know what we can expect when it arrives in the third quarter of 2019.

THE FIFTH SUPRA.
The A90 Supra could well be the most anticipated Toyota ever. It has all the magic that goes into making an ideal sports-car. A powerful turbo-charged engine, rear-wheel-drive and in your face sleek looks. The build-up to this launch has certainty been drawn out, even the media drive featured body wrapped camouflaged cars.

News of the impending Supra first surfaced with the FT-1 Concept way back at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. The two-seat coupe will be built by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. By who I hear you say? Magna Steyr is a contract manufacturer, building cars such as Jaguar’s iPace and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class 4-MATIC. Obviously, the BMW Z4 is made there as well and even the X3. Over 100 years they’ve produced 3.3 million vehicles across 24 different models.

Based on BMW’s Z4, the Supra features a rather short wheelbase, shorter than the Toyota 86 in fact. There’s perfect 50-50 weight distribution, the body is rigid, the centre of gravity very low, need we say more? Toyota of course has been involved in motorsports for decades from F1 to World Endurance Championship (WEC) and even the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. In 2015 it combined the various racing brands under one umbrella, GAZOO Racing (GR). The Supra will become the first Toyota vehicle sold in this country with the GR branding.

THE DRIVE.
First things first, the Supra drives like no other Supra before it. You can clearly feel a stack of BMW DNA from behind the wheel. Although funnily enough Toyota claims that once the basic layout was finalised communications ceased with BMW.

It’s agile and fun to drive, like a Toyota 86 on steroids. The drive program took us on a 100-kilometre trip on some glorious roads giving the Supra a real opportunity to shine. I can faithfully report this car will put a smile on your dial every time you jump in it. Long stretches of twisty Spanish roads and changes in elevation proved no problem. The car is perfectly set up for spirited driving, without the bone jarring ride that too often goes hand in hand with this category.

The eight-speed auto is slick, the steering very precise and overall balance is spot on. Dynamically it simply sits in a very sweet spot. Plus, there’s some serious power on offer, so much so the Supra will step out off the mark, in the dry with traction control on. Never are you left wanting for more performance, but you may care for a little more noise. The exhaust note is a tad disappointing, it’s very muted although capable of the occasional snap, crackle and pop.

Toyota went to great lengths to nail the 50:50 weight distribution, so much so that the rear tailgate is made of plastic. The rear cargo space sits at 250-litres, enough for a couple of overnight bags. But oddly there is no cargo wall, you can see straight through to the boot.

Toyota did its best to keep the interior under wraps, literally. It will be interesting to see what compromises have been made to keep costs down, this won’t be a BMW interior and yes, I had a sneaky look. The Supra needs to be substantially cheaper than the Z4, pricing details are yet to be announced.

The infotainment system is straight from BMW. This is a good thing of course, even more so when you consider there is Apple CarPlay capability. But Toyota Australia is unable to confirm if the technology will make it down under. Let’s hope those in head office see the value of that functionality, unlike the new Corolla where US versions are kited out with it, but we miss out.

INS AND OUTS
The Supra is powered by BMW’s turbocharged in-line six-cylinder 3.0-litre engine. A twin-scroll turbocharger helps the six-pot generate around 220kW / 450Nm although official outputs are yet to be confirmed. That’s enough power to catapult it to 100km/h in under five seconds. There’s an eight-speed automatic transmission but sadly no manual at this stage. This particular engine has the software for a manual and we can only pray that happens.

The super short wheelbase is joined by a wide track, making for an aggressive stance superior to many two-seat sports cars. This really gives the car some serious presence, even through the kaleidoscope of colours you can tell this is one sharp looking machine. There are various cosmetic vents, such as a twin pair on the clamshell shaped bonnet. We’re told they will be made open for racing variants at some stage.

Toyota makes some big claims about the platform, claiming rigidity is almost on par with the carbon-fibre based Lexus LFA supercar. It certainly has an inherent sense of excellent build quality. The frame itself is a combination of aluminium and steel that really adds to the performance capability of the car.

The suspension system includes adaptive dampers with and a Sports mode, helping to liven up the whole package. You can flick through the eight cogs via paddle shifters, but I personally found the box perfectly capable itself.

ON THE TRACK.
I had the opportunity to really let loose on the Jarama racing circuit, once home to the Spanish Grand Prix. This is a particularly challenging track and I can see why it was deemed unsafe for F1 in 1981. There are many tight corners, changes in elevation and even line of sight issues as you fly over hills.

The short straight allowed for speeds just a tad over 200km/h. The Brembo four-pot callipers and large discs certainly performed well when it came to not hitting a wall at the end of said straight. I didn’t sense any brake fade but admittedly we only did four laps at a time.

A trick electronically controlled active differential can send up to 100 per cent of torque to either rear wheel, which came in real handy on the track. This is a proper sports car and the track experience certainly proved that. It’s not a raging bull but more of a ninja when pushed to the edge.

THE EFTM SCOREBOARD.
Although the cars we drove were preproduction models, very few changes will be made to the final product. So, we certainly got a pretty good indication of what will arrive next year. I have to say things are looking good if you’re a Supra fan. The sceptics will of course point towards the BMW roots, but is that really a problem? This is a serious car that can be driven like it’s on fire. I rarely fall in love with a car, but I’d leave my wife for it. It’s a 9 out of 10 from me. If you’re reading this Gillian, you’re a 10.

 

[PerformanceSound]

via EVO

New 2018 Toyota Supra review – has Toyota built a Porsche Cayman beater?

VERDICT:Toyota’s joint venture with BMW has resulted in the return of the Supra name and a cracking sports car

This isn’t the all-new Toyota Supra. Well, it is but it’s not the finished article and Gazoo Racing - who have been responsible for its development- still have some final calibration to do before the production cars are ready to drive next May.

We’ll need to wait until the Detroit Motor Show in January to see it without its natty camouflage wrap, too. What we do have here, however, is a very late in the development stage prototype to drive on road and track for an hour or two.

Technical highlights
A brief recap on the Toyota Supra project. It’s a joint venture with BMW that has seen the Bavarians show their hand early in the shape of the new Z4 roadster. You will have spotted the Supra is a coupe, just like the four Supra generations that have gone before, but the differences to its Z4 cousin run much deeper.

Toyota and BMW might have worked together to get the project off the ground - sports car sales levels mean mass market manufacturers have less of an appetite to go it alone with such cars - but the intention was always to decide on what kind of car each brand wanted to make first, then work together to see which components each firm had in its locker that were most suited to reach the desired results both were after. This is no Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86 re-run.

To this end the new Toyota Supra is fitted with its own specification of springs and active dampers with three settings (Normal, Sport and Sport +), an electronic diff, Brembo brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport tyres fitted to 19-inch wheels. The anti-roll bar is a complicated affair, but necessary to dial out the high-speed understeer a conventional ARB resulted in.

The steel and aluminium shell is stiffer than that of the carbon Lexus LFA, and the centre of gravity is lower than that of a GT86. At this stage Toyota isn’t confirming specifics, but expect the Supra to weigh under 1500kg.

Engine, transmission and 0-60mph time
The BMW supplied B58 turbocharged 3-litre straight-six retains all the same mechanical hardware as you would find in a 340/440i paired with the same eight-speed automatic gearbox sourced from ZF. However, Gazoo, under the stewardship of Tetsuya Tada, has spent a not inconsiderable amount time devoted to mapping both components to achieve the sports car feel it was after.

Power and torque figures are, like the finished design, being kept under wraps until Detroit. However, BMW has confirmed that's new Z4 with the same engine will produce 335bhp between 5000-6500rpm and 369lb ft from 1600rpm. BMW is also quoting 4.5-second 0-62mph time, but expect the lighter Supra to be closer to four seconds with a 165+mph top speed. You can also expect a Nürburgring lap time to accompany those figures nearer to the Supra’s official launch.

What’s it like to drive?
Oh it’s good. Very good. The straight-six will sound a little muted for some on start-up (Jaguar F type drivers most likely, although interestingly that’s one car Gazoo didn’t benchmark the Supra against), but it’s got a muscular delivery and, for a six-pot, it revs with a serious attitude. It piles on the power with the athleticism of a rev-hungry four-pot without any of the coarseness.

The eight-speed auto keeps up with the action, the shifts are quick in Drive or if you use the paddles (these need to be bigger, please Tada-san) and it will hold a gear rather than changing up if you are running in either of the Sport modes.

But it’s the balance of the chassis that fuels your enthusiasm. There’s the right amount of roll and pitch for you to work with rather than against, the steering gets the nose into the corner in a single sweep with none of the constant steering corrections electric systems often require as you hunt around for feel.

On tight roads it’s a precise machine, more composed than the hyperactive GT86 and it really maximizes on its 50:50 weight distribution and near perfect wheelbase-length-to-track-width ratio. And it’s deceptively quick. It builds serious speed on remarkably short straights and maintains the pace through the really quick stuff, installing huge confidence in the driver who can thrive on its balance and precision, working with the car and at no point fighting it.

Where the Supra showed a mix of GT and sport car credentials out on the road, on the Jarma GP circuit it’s a pure sports car. In the braking zones the Brembos pull you up lap after lap without a hint of a grumble. In the slower, tighter second gear turns that linear steering that showed such directness and smoothness on the road is still there. It guides the nose to the apex and locks on with serious intent.


Feed in the power and unwind the lock as you exit and the Supra flows across the circuit with real finesse. Always working with and for the driver, never throwing up any surprises. Through high-speed directional changes it darts from point-to-point without hesitation. It feels Porsche precise, as engaging as Alpine’s A110 and, crucially, the Toyota Supra is a genuine thrill.

Price and Rivals
Toyota will confirm the Supra’s price at the Detroit motor show, but don’t expect much change from £50,000. As for rivals, you only need to take a look at the cars Toyota sourced to benchmark the Supra against: Alpine A110, Porsche 718 Cayman GTS, Audi TT RS, Mustang GT V8 and BMW’s M2. Quite a cast list and when we gather a production Supra with the aforementioned it promises to be quite the show.

 

[SS900]

via Motor1

2019 Toyota Supra Prototype First Drive: Return of Toyota’s Superstar
This car has big shoes to fill.

I careen around a tight bend in the road with a steep drop and no guard rails and give a nervous stab of the brakes. The narrow tires groan in protest and the rear-end swings out a bit. The tachometer drops and I kick the transmission down into second. Come on baby, rev! It’s taking too long to build speed back.

Is this what I expected out of the reborn Toyota Supra; the long-awaited fifth generation of Toyota’s most revered sports car? No, and that’s a good thing, because this isn’t a Supra I’m driving. Instead, I’m behind the wheel of the smaller Toyota 86, chasing a new Supra around Circuito del Jarama, near Madrid, Spain.

Predictably, I’m getting my butt handed to me, as the 86’s naturally aspirated boxer engine, rated at 205 horsepower, is no match for the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder that powers the new Supra.

I watch as, yet again, the Supra pulls far ahead. It’s wrapped in speckled vinyl meant to camouflage the body. But there’s no hiding the wicked acceleration of the Supra nor the way the sports car handles flatly as it clips the cambered curves. A set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires keep the Supra glued to the tarmac.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m having a blast trying to keep up with Toyota’s newest sports car, especially as I row through the manual gears. That’s one upside to the 86 that isn’t found on the Supra, which gets only an 8-speed automatic transmission. Every once in a while the driver ahead coasts for a while, allowing me to catch up. I’m sweating with the effort.

But then he pulls over. It’s time to switch cars. And then the fun really begins.

The State of the Supra
Judging by the state of video games such as Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, as well as the popularity of the Fast and the Furious film franchise, you’d think the Supra has been thriving for the last decade. But while the Supra story started in 1978, it ended in 2002, and has spent the last 16 years in the automotive netherworld.

But enthusiasts still lust after the Supra, with the fourth-generation car eliciting the most drooling from Toyota fans. Known internally as the A80, the fourth-gen Supra was available with a 320-hp, twin-turbocharged inline-six (dubbed 2JZ-GTE by Toyota), a six-speed manual transmission supplied by Getrag, and of course, a big honking wing. The Supra looked stunning and it had the performance to match.

A full 20 years since Toyota sold the last Supra in the U.S., and the iconic model is back with a full-on reboot.

But the A80 was also the Supra’s swan song. Along with its constant competitor, the Nissan Z, the price and complexity of the car continued to swell. Its last year on sale in the United States was 1998, when the Turbo model came to $40,000. Nonetheless, Supra fans have been clamoring for the model’s return.

A full 20 years since Toyota sold the last Supra in the U.S., and the iconic model is back with a full-on reboot. By any real measure, there’s no firm connection between that car and this one, the internally coded A90, a car built and engineered alongside BMW via a technical partnership that’s also responsible for the new Z4 convertible.

While the exterior designs of the two cars are noticeably different (which is obvious even when camouflaged), the hard points of the internal architecture are exactly the same. The turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine and transmission also come from BMW. Even the interior switches are BMW-derived.

That turbo six is likely shared with the Z4 M40i, although Toyota was mum on the topic. Although Toyota gave us and other members of the global media an opportunity to drive the new Supra, the company elected to hold back all Supra specifications – including power figures. Toyota spokespeople say that information should come by the end of the year, and executives are only allowing that the inline six “makes more than 300 horsepower.” Um, yeah. Clearly. It should at least match the Z4 M40i’s 382 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque.

When it goes on sale in the U.S., the launch model will feature an electronic differential and an active suspension. There’s no four-wheel steering or all-wheel drive offered. Masayuki Kai, the assistant chief engineer on the Supra, says the company is “studying” a number of other potential options. Everything from engine sizes (“smaller and bigger,”), a T-top roof, and even a manual.

“Technically a manual is possible,” Kai-san says. “But with an engine with high torque, it’s difficult to provide a good shift feeling. You don’t want to feel like you’re driving a truck. But of course it’s possible… and depends on market feedback.”

Still a Supra
Around Circuito del Jarama I quickly found the coupe intuitive and easy to drive quickly. The perfect weight balance of 50:50 was clearly evident.

But a huge part of the Supra’s charm is that it doesn’t have supercar ambitions. It felt quick but not brain-bending fast. It’s the kind of car you’d want on a back-road blast, while being tame enough that you wouldn’t worry if your buddy wanted to take the reins, too. With a weight of less than 3,400 pounds and the aforementioned power estimates, the Supra is a fun but accessible sports car.

Out of the 86 and into the Supra, I start the car to a faint cough of sound. There’s not a lot of engine noise, unfortunately, and some of it does come in via speakers, another BMW trick. And some features of the interior aren’t yet finalized, says Toyota. The inside of my test car is hidden in thick, camouflaging felt material.

No matter. It’s the sense of how it performs on the road that I’m most interested in. This time the 86 is behind us, fighting to stay in sight. I have the Supra in manual mode, which allows sharp but not jarring shifts. And while the steering is accurate, it leans more toward a typical Toyota than a BMW. More road feel would be highly appreciated.

The driving position is excellent and the seats are quite comfortable while still providing firm support. The adaptive chassis is forgiving even over bumps, but the Brembo stoppers give us a bit less confidence than I might like. Toyota says it’s still working on details like the brake feel. I imagine it will be significantly tweaked before the car goes to market.

Here I go, approaching another tight bend. Again with the steep drop and lack of guard rails. Although I haven’t spent too much time in the Supra, I know there’s no need for a nervous stab of brake this time. I give it more gas, actually, turn the wheel, and grin.

Apologies to the friend behind us in the 86. I promise, I’ll coast along the next stretch of road and let you catch up.

2019 Toyota Supra Prototype
ENGINE: Turbocharged 3.0-liter I6
OUTPUT: 382 Horsepower / 369 Pound-Feet (est.)
TRANSMISSION: 8-Speed Automatic
DRIVE TYPE: Rear-Wheel Drive
SPEED 0-60 MPH: 4.3 Seconds (est.)
WEIGHT: 3,400 Pounds (est.)

 

[justbake]

via Motor-Talk

TOYOTA SUPRA MK5, A90 (2019) IN THE TEST: FIRST RIDE IN THE PROTOTYPE-THE THING IS SUPRA
The great sportsman of Toyota comes back: 2019 starts the new Supra with six cylinders, only a turbo and BMW genes. First ride in camouflaged prototype.

• Toyota Supra A90: sports car with front engine and rear-wheel drive
• Generation 5 after 17 years break
• Joint development with BMW
• Inline six-cylinder with turbocharging
• Exclusively as a coupé
• Production starts in spring 2019
• Tuning parts from Gazoo Racing

Jarama - Toyota has been missing out on the sport for far too long. The last Supra ran in 2002 from the band, then followed by insufficiently excused staying away . It was the certificate from the boss: conserve resources. Gain world domination. Bigger than any other car companies. That does not work with pretty muscles, but with a broad mass.

But priorities are changing. In 2009, Akio Toyoda became Toyota boss. He loves motorsport, drives endurance races himself and thinks his brand likes to show muscle. Since 2012, she does so with the wiry GT86 . And soon a strong bear Supra follows. That's what Toyoda decided when in 2012 he negotiated with Norbert Reithofer about cooperation for diesel, hybrid and hydrogen. When petrolheads are among themselves ...

Sports cars are rarely profitable. If two companies share the work, the bill is right again. Therefore, Toyota and BMW agreed to jointly develop the successors of Supra and Z4 . With many identical parts, but clearly demarcated from each other: The Bavarian gets a roof made of cloth, the Asian a solid tin lid. Body panels do not share them .

TOYOTA SUPRA: TECHNOLOGY SISTER OF THE BMW Z4
The most important thing in advance: Yes, you can feel the proximity of the Supra to BMW. Very clearly even. Especially through similar to identical interior components and the sound. But that's not bad, because the Bavarian-Japanese double works . Toyota even manages to preserve a large part of the Supra-soul, despite fundamental changes to the concept.

The new Supra offers only space for driver and front passenger. So she renounces the two emergency seats of her predecessors. This has a positive effect elsewhere: it is getting shorter and it is eating well. Approximately 1.5 tonnes deadweight will be in the data sheet when Toyota officially presented in January 2019. Generation 4 weighed almost 150 kilograms more.

Here and now Toyota holds back enormously, as far as specific data. One would like to say nothing at all, actually even the achievement is secret. After all, there are a few numbers: between the axles are 2.47 meters, just like the Z4. But the Supra builds six inches longer (4.38 m).

INGENIOUS SUSPENSION IN THE TOYOTA SUPRA A90
Overall, the Supra is compact, but gets a wide track. That makes them wonderfully handy and stable. The weight is distributed equally on both axles, the center of gravity is lower than the GT86 . It is impressive how precise and safe the athlete circles around tight bends. You can feel how the (optional) limited slip differential works under load, how more force arrives at the outer wheel and pushes the Supra through the bend.

In the Toyota hierarchy, the GT86 is the fun-car with the slippery tires, the supra the serious athlete. She is not so easy to get out of bed as her little brother, but has plenty of reserves ready. You can drift with it, the ESP can be switched off completely . But you have to force them to do that. Before the loss of traction comes a wide range that quietly announces that the rear soon slips away.

Toyota agrees directly with the Supra. Suspension and steering give a lot of feedback. The engineers are not quite finished, they are still working on some details. Good thing, because the steering could use some play in the middle position, at least in comfort mode. The current state is too nervous at high speed. Our criticism will flow into the further development, say the engineers.

Of course, the Supra should be mainly sports cars. To this claim fits the direct response of the steering. But the coupe has more potential. Because optional adaptive shock absorbers bring amazing comfort in the chassis . You can start gently and hide bumps elegantly. No matter how hard you are, it's a nice option in the long run. In sports mode, the dampers are much firmer and let feel more road.

SIX-CYLINDER TURBO IN THE SUPRA: B58 INSTEAD OF 2JZ-GTE
Under the Supra hood belongs a turbo inline six-cylinder, for historical reasons. A suitable engine has Toyota since the end of the "2JZ-GTE" (Supra A80) is no longer in the program. BMW already. The "B58" is used, a 3.0-liter engine with a turbo , the Bayern use, inter alia, in the Z4.

Official data does not exist yet. However, the performance monitor in the car reveals: The unit produces 250 kW (340 hp) and 500 Newton meters of torque, which is as much as in the Z4. By comparison, the Supra weighs just over 100 kilos lighter thanks to its tin roof, so it can probably start faster. BMW gives 4.6 seconds for the sprint to 100 km / h. Toyota leaves it for now at "less than 5 seconds".

The thrust comes early and strong. From 1,500 tours is the full moment, immediately before a large part of it. The Supra works cheerfully out of the basement over the entire band, turns up fast and keeps its performance. Despite charging, the fun comes with the speed . The drive harmonises well with the Supra. It sounds sporty (but not loud), runs silky soft and provides a good boost.

FOUR OR SIX CYLINDERS AND A TORQUE CONVERTER AUTOMATIC
SupraSource: ToyotaAs standard, there is an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF on the block. The switches fast and with good gradation, but could in the sharp driving modes like rough to the point. A dual-clutch transmission would have been a coherent alternative here. Toyota does not think about a manual variant for now.

Chief developer Tetsuya Tada explains: A manual transmission could not work as well in the Supra as it does in the GT86 . But the engine delivers too much torque. If the demand is right, but you would think again.

Toyota does not want to discuss another topic yet. There will be the Supra in a basic version. Tada-san only hints that a four-cylinder turbo makes sense for some markets in Asia because it pays penalty taxes on large engines. He avoids all additional questions like a dumbbell pro - and smiles mischievously .

The little Supra will make it to Europe. Again, the engine of the BMW Z4 comes. The comes as a 20i with 197 hp and 30i with 258 hp. At least the stronger of the two Toyota will offer in Germany.

TOYOTA SUPRA: WORKSHOP OF GAZOO RACING
With the choice of the drives hard-hitting fans of the series will not agree. They hang on the "2JZ-GTE" of the predecessor, the Yamaha with aluminum head from Yamaha and register charging, ideally coupled to a manual Getrag six-speed gearbox. The components were resilient, there are countless tuning parts and versions with more than 2,000 hp.

Tada-san regularly receives requests from tuners, who are tapping nervously on tiptoe due to sheer anticipation. They eagerly wait for the new Supra, just to install the engine of its predecessor . The chief developer can understand them. When his car was driving in Goodwood, a small boy asked him if there was a 2JZ under the hood. Tada-san replied that he would like to come back with just such a Supra next year. Such conversions will probably follow soon.

Chassis and drive of the new Supra also offer scope. Toyota suggests: the car is more powerful. A stronger six-cylinder will probably not come. But the manufacturer wants to sell suitable tuning parts themselves. Under the label Gazoo Racing it should give factory accessories. Tada-san concretely confirmed that, among other things, coilovers and control units will be available .

THE GLORY CAME LATE FOR THE SUPRA
The new Supra follows its predecessor in many ways. It is a serious sports car that will surprise many. And a car that many want to rebuild. Tuning belongs to the series, at least since the movie "The Fast and the Furious" .

In the first installment, Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) and their friends build a quarter-mile star out of a scrap car. In Germany, this made the Supra famous. She was a cult in the US much earlier. Only about 500 copies from the fourth Supra generation made it onto the German market.

That was probably the price. In the 1990s, a 330 hp Supra Turbo cost 106,000 DM. The new generation could be more attractively priced. So far, the prices are not fixed yet. However, we expect a base price of about 40,000 euros . The six-cylinder will probably cost at least 50,000 euros. We strongly recommend the adaptive dampers and the limited slip differential. More about the car we learn at the premiere in January 2019.

 

[PerformanceSound]

via PistonHeads

Toyota Supra prototype: Driven
First go in the new Supra suggests all is well with Toyota's much anticipated Porsche Cayman rival

Do we know much more about the new Toyota Supra yet? Officially, no. It's still eight months or so from production, so hidden inside and out until January, there are very few released numbers.

Those that have been released include that the new Supra, which shares its architecture with the upcoming BMW Z4, has a 50:50 weight distribution, a 3.0-litre straight six petrol engine, turbocharged, driving the back wheels through an eight-speed auto gearbox and limited-slip differential.

Despite the engine's intrinsic tallness compared to the flat-four in a GT86 Toyota says the centre of gravity is lower here, while the body's torsional rigidity, despite being steel and aluminium and with not a hint of carbon fibre in it, is higher than a Lexus LFA's. More numbers will come when the car is unveiled at the Detroit motor show in January.

Before all of that, though, we've had a go in a pretty late stage prototype, dazzle camo'd outside and bagged over the obviously-BMW switchgear inside; and with a minder in the passenger seat at all times.

That means I can't lift the lid on the drapery and see where the BMW stuff stops and the Toyota stuff begins, but there's iDrive, BMW column stalks and gear selector and heating and ventilation switches, and a very BMW feel to the driving position too - low and straight - but a Toyota-face on the instrument binnacle.

The window line is high and you're looking through a letterbox windscreen, a bit like in an Audi TT, with the curved body around you heading off unseen into the distance. A Porsche 718 Cayman therefore feels smaller than this, I think, which presumably it is. No word on that either, yet, although the track is around 1600mm and the wheelbase approximately 2440mm.

Get under way and it's pretty clear where the engine and gearbox comes from, too. The BMW straight six is so smooth, revs easily and never seems to mind doing it. I'd guess at 340hp and 350lb ft, driving through a ZF automatic 'box.

There's a bit more induction noise to be gleaned before production, says Toyota, but a flap in the exhaust if you enter Sport mode - which firms up the steering, dampers and drivetrain response of this car - makes the note harder.

Standard Supras will have passive dampers and Toyota would like a manual 'box at some point too. I suspect more versions, slower and faster than this one, so it's clear the drip-feed of info won't stop even when the 3.0 goes on sale next June, at around £50,000.

On adaptive dampers it rides well, better than a BMW M4, say, whose tyre sizes are similar: there are bespoke Michelin Pilot Super Sports of 255/35 R19 at the front and 275/35 R19 at the rear. The weight is approximately 1500kg.

Toyota says 90% of development work has been on the road, with 10% on the track, and that's how the Supra's bias feels too. There's a good underlying compliance to it, and with very smooth steering, and the inherent stability of a front engine, it feels more mature than, say, an Alpine A110, while I'm sure it's more pliant than a BMW M2 Competition.

On a country road, though, you can begin to push the boundaries of the standard suspension settings. Some sharpness to the steering around straight ahead enhances the car's natural handling balance, but because of where the engine is, the Supra's maturity will never have it feeling quite as agile as an A110 or 718 Cayman. I think an M2 Competition feels more alert and precise, too, owing to how its tied down.

Stiffen the Supra's dampers, though, and body control tightens well without destroying the ride: this is one of those cars whose engineers, not marketing execs, seem to have been left in control of how harsh the buttons make things. There's a pleasing, reassuring handling balance to the Supra in its sportier mode. It feels a bit Aston Martin Vantagey; a bit of understeer on the way in, a bit of oversteer on the way out. GT car imitating sports car well, rather than being out-and-out sportster.

On the same road - owing to the minder and that there were two journalists to a car - I was sometimes following in a Toyota GT86. Toyota has said it would like the Supra to feel like a bigger '86. In its inherent balance it does. But getting into the much lighter car you remember the advantages of the fact that it's more than a quarter-tonne to the good.

On a circuit, where we get a good few laps with stability control set to half-off, it's clear that the Supra's chassis can handle more power, and that its balance is terrific. I drive all of that with the suspension stiffened, but there's still compliance over bumps and kerbs.

It doesn't rotate on turn-in as willingly as, say, a Cayman or, from my limited experience, an Alpine A110, but that's not surprising given where the engine is. There's enough power to feel it beginning to straighten the car on corner exit, but what happens beyond that will have to wait until another time. Body control's tight, though, and the people behind the '86 are behind this so I suspect it's a giggle when it lets go.

Half a dozen laps or more later, though, it still feels happy on a circuit, having not worn through its steel discs, and offering good playfulness the more you push it. It's a mature daily car that is far from out of its depth on a track.

Four years ago you wouldn't have thought anything could go up against a 718 Cayman and beat it. But pretty soon it'll sit in a class that also includes the Alpine A110, BMW M2 Competition and this new Toyota Supra. The Cayman could yet be anywhere between first and last in that company. I'm not sure we've ever had it so good.

SPECIFICATION - TOYOTA SUPRA
Engine: 3.0 6cyl turbo petrol
Transmission: Eight-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power: 340hp@5500rpm (est)
Torque: 350lb ft@2500rpm (est)
0-62mph: 4.8sec (est)
Top speed: 170mph (est)
Weight: 1500kg (est)
MPG: 31mpg (est)
CO2: 225g/km (est)
Price: £50,000 (est)

 

[tha7osavage]

via Road&Track

The 2019 Toyota Supra Lives Up to the Legend
We drove a prototype of the fifth-generation Supra and found out that Toyota hasn't forgotten how to build a serious performance car.

The new Supra needed a straight-six. Every Supra has had one, from the very first model in 1978 to the twin-turbo legend that ended production in 2002. When a group of Toyota engineers decided to revive the Supra for the 21st century, they knew they needed a row of six pistons under the hood.

But today’s Toyota is a different company. In the years since the last MkIV rolled off the assembly line, Toyota has become one of the three largest automakers on earth. A zealous philosophy drove that achievement: Design broadly-appealing vehicles, make them easy to assemble quickly, and sell them by the boatload. Asking Toyota’s powertrain division to halt work on tomorrow’s hybrid, electric and fuel cell technology to build a small-volume engine for a niche sports car was out of the question.

Still, the engineers got their wish. Underneath the tumbling hood of the fifth-generation Supra—called A90 by Toyota employees and MkV by everyone else—is a straight-six. The 3.0-liter single-turbo powerplant satisfies strict Supra tradition. Even if it came from BMW.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about the new Supra. Horsepower? More than 300 is all Toyota will say. Torque? An engineer tells me it will be “more than twice that of the Toyota 86,” which makes 156 lb-ft. Zero to 60? A number less than five seconds, the automaker says. When will it go on sale, and how much will it cost? I wish I could say.

I can’t even tell you precisely what the new Supra will look like. Toyota invited journalists to Madrid, Spain to drive preproduction prototypes of the long-anticipated model. The cars were camouflaged inside and out.

Here’s what I can say: It’s a legitimate hoot to drive. I had one afternoon to sample the car, including a handful of laps at Jarama Race Circuit and an hour or so summiting the winding mountain roads of rural Spain. It was just enough to make me want more.

The Supra and Z4 share a jointly-developed rear-drive platform. Their chassis components are identical, though each automaker will use its own unique tooling and calibration. When production begins, the two cars will be built side-by-side at Magna Steyr’s factory in Graz, Austria.

So while Toyota hasn’t divulged any detailed Supra specifications, we can look to the Z4 for the basics. The cars have a surprisingly squared-off footprint, with a stubby 97.2-inch wheelbase and a track width of just over 63 inches—a smidge shorter than a two-door Mini, but roughly four inches wider. Toyota says the Supra, like the Z4, will have perfect 50/50 weight distribution, and a knowledgeable source predicts the Supra will weigh in at less than 3300 lbs, a significant chunk lighter than the drop-top BMW. As for performance, the six-cylinder Z4 makes 382 horsepower, 369 lb-ft of torque, and does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds; a prototype ran the Nurburgring in 7:55 at the hands of a German sports car magazine.

Out on the hairpins of Jarama, that short wheelbase makes the Supra more than happy to pivot. You feel the thing squirm around a bit under braking, especially at the end of the straightaway where you’re flirting with 140 mph. Rolling on unique compound Michelin Pilot Super Sports (255s up front, 275s in the rear, on upgrade 19-inch wheels) and optional adaptive dampers, the close-coupled car feels playful and engaging, never squirrely.

It also feels decidedly un-turbocharged. Final calibration is still being done—despite sharing its engine with the Z4, the Supra will have unique drivetrain programming—but I’m told this single-turbo engine maxes out at a little more than seven psi of boost. The torque comes on early and never really drops off; unlike some turbo powerplants, this engine rewards a run all the way to its 6500-rpm redline, and unless you’re demanding full boost at 50 mph in top gear, you’ll never catch the turbo sleeping on the job. You’ll never hear it, either: The engine note is pure straight-six rip, with a whisper of boost so faint as to be drowned out by the cabin fan. The exhaust gets notably louder in Sport mode, crackling obediently on deceleration.

The only transmission planned for the Supra is the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed torque-converter automatic. As always, it’s a peach, shifting itself well enough to make the wheel-mounted paddles seem superfluous even on track. Flipped into manual mode via BMW’s regrettably overcomplicated console shifter, the gearbox responds instantaneously to the paddles. The steering is quick, if a little mushy in the first few degrees off-center. The brakes on the prototype I drove around Jarama had clearly been punished by the journalist colleagues that drove before me, but despite a slightly soft pedal, the car always slowed confidently, with no fade.

Toyota engineers say they spent 90 percent of Supra development time on the road, to mimic how customers will presumably use the car. Most Supra buyers won’t be commuting on the sinewy mountain roads that skirt Madrid, poor saps. No matter: The Supra is a riot pretty much wherever you drive. This car lives to dive into a decreasing-radius corner. Nearly as wide as a Stingray but an acre shorter, the Supra is surefooted and planted even over choppy, worn-out pavement.

The only unfairness in all of this was the Toyota 86 we brought in our convoy through the mountains. Longer, narrower and considerably lighter than the Supra, the 86 was a different animal on these looping byways. The feedback from the Supra’s brake pedal and small-diameter, thin-rimmed steering wheel never quite lived up to the 86’s chatty interfaces. Then again, the four-cylinder coupe disappeared in the Supra’s dust with every rip up the tach. One car rewards precision and momentum; the other has grip, poise and pace to make any driver feel like a hero. Out of the mountains and back onto the motorway, the Supra thrums lightly with tire noise, and you hear every pebble that the rear tires fling into the floor, but overall the drive is calm and easy.

And while the 86 has plucky style, the Supra looks muscular and dramatic in person. At six-foot-two, I had ample head, shoulder and hip room, but the rear edge of the side window only comes about as high as my ear. Minimizing blind spots requires creative mirror adjustment.

Even wrapped in Toyota’s ever-present multicolor camo, you can’t ignore the draw and depth of the Supra’s rear fenders. Designers shaped the car’s rear expecting the production team to send it back to be toned down; no such revision was ever requested. The car’s prominent front overhang takes some getting used to, but it serves a purpose: The long nose keeps the car aerodynamically balanced, a trick often used by Porsche. The only chuckler is the fact that the dramatic air slits in the hood, doors, and front and rear bumpers were all completely blocked-off, at least on these preproduction prototypes.

As for the interior? An errant breeze lifted just enough of the concealing camouflage for a quick peek. Judging by this glimpse, a new BMW Z4 owner would feel an eerie familiarity in the Supra’s HVAC controls, landscape-layout dashboard screen, and console-mounted clickwheel user interface.

Toyota hasn’t had a true high-performance sports car since 2002. That means this Supra gets to set its own precedent, in terms of performance, character and feel. It’s truly a fresh start: Among the entire A90 Supra team, the only person who was around for the A80 was chief engineer Tetsuya Tada. Toyota could have used this distance to veer away from the Supra tradition. Instead, the automaker stuck to the time-honored formula: Six cylinders, two doors. Is it a rebadged BMW? Behind the wheel, you won’t care to ask.

 

[tha7osavage]

via The Irish Times

Toyota’s new Supra good enough to take on Porsche
New six-cylinder sports car shares much with BMW but forges its own path

It seems like forever. 22 years ago, I was essaying my first venture into the world of motoring writing, spending a few weeks as a work experience wonk at Autocar magazine in London. On my last day, taking pity, the deputy editor took me out for a spin in one of the mag’s long-term test cars, and for a brief few moments, let me take the wheel. That car was an A80 Toyota Supra, and it blew my mind. The acceleration from its twin-turbo straight-six 2JZ engine was astonishing, especially to a kid who’d only previously driven his dad’s 1.6-litre Ford Sierra.

A quarter century on, that was the first and last Supra I ever drove. In the intervening years, Toyota retreated from making truly sporty cars (the Supra died in the late 1990s, followed all too soon after by the Celica and the MR2) as it focused on high-volume, high-profit cars that may have lacked for excitement, but which turned Toyota into a global manufacturing colossus.

That changes now. The Supra’s back. My youth my have dissipated in the years since I last drove one, but the Supra has remained the same – a two-seat, rear-drive, coupe with a turbocharged straight-six engine, and a chassis that has been specifically tuned for fun over outright performance.

You’ll probably note that Toyota does not make a straight-six engine, and that’s because the Supra’s engine isn’t actually a Toyota unit at all. Although it’s controlled by Toyota software, this is actually a BMW engine, and the Supra’s chassis, electrical architecture, and cabin all share a great deal with the newly-launched BMW Z4. The two cars were conceived as a joint project, and were initially supposed to be as closely related as the Toyota GT86 coupe and the Subaru BRZ, but as the Supra’s chief engineer told us, that changed early on.

Pure sports car
Tetsuya Tada is a legend in his own laptime, an engineer specifically trusted by car-mad Toyota boss Akio Toyoda to bring sportiness and a sense of fun back to the Toyota range. He told The Irish Times that, when it came to sharing the project with BMW, the two cars actually diverged early on. “We tried to do the same as what we did with the GT86,” said Tada.

“But it was impossible. The two cars were becoming so different. We took the collaborative approach, but then we stepped back and thought, ‘let’s decide what we want to make’. We wanted to make a pure sports car and have not yielded on that. So the separation began at an early stage, and in fact we have an agreement with BMW not to ask each other too much about each other’s cars.”

Tada is totally open about the fact that the Supra’s powerplant is still, to all intents and purposes, a BMW engine. When The Irish Times asked him if a BMW unit would be reliable enough to meet Toyota’s standards of longevity, he said: “We’re confident about the reliability, It’s under the normal warranty, so that should be sufficient on the reliability front.” At this point, Tada pauses and, ever painfully honest, admits that: “I will say it was difficult getting there. We had to have many discussions with the warranty team . . . ”

The Supra we were given to test drive is, even all this time since the end of production of its predecessor, still not quite finished. It’s a late engineering prototype, swathed in dazzling camouflage tape, and with its interior hidden behind sheets of heavy felt cloth. In fact, even though Toyota has been teasing us with concepts, styling models, disguised prototypes, and video game versions of the new Supra, production still won’t start until the spring of 2019, with the first deliveries set to start next summer.

For those keen enough, Toyota is setting up a Supra 900 Club, for the first 900 customers who put down their deposits when the order book opens in October. Their deliveries will be prioritised.

What will they be getting? Well, as if the anticipation of the wait wasn’t bad enough, just before we drove it, Tada described the car to us as a “PorscheKiller” and that’s about as hefty a gauntlet as can be thrown down.

While we still can’t quite see the styling under the camo, it’s clear that the Supra hasn’t strayed especially far from the looks of the dramatic FT-1 concept car from 2014. The Supra is low, swept-back, with a dramatic double-bubble roofline and a very sharply chopped-off tail. It’s also quite dainty. Tada had the Porsche 718 Cayman dead in his crosshairs when he designed this car, so the Supra is only 4.3-metres long, and a slim-hipped 1.86-metres wide. Final tech specs are still under wraps, but it should weigh a couple of sandwiches under 1,500kg.

BMW-ish
The cabin, when we furtively peer behind the felt covers, looks very BMW. While the main instrument binnacle and the centre touchscreen are separate items here, compared with the conjoined versions inside the new Z4, the whole layout of the car, the buttons, the column stalks, the steering wheel, all look and feel very BMW-ish. Toyota claims that the Supra’s cabin is, in fact, entirely bespoke, but unless there’s going to be a lot of changes between now and the start of production, we’re not so sure. There’s even an iDrive-style clickwheel controller for the infotainment system.

The cabin is snug, but comfy and there’s enough space for even a tall driver to get thoroughly settled. The straight-six engine fires smoothly when you press a small silver button behind the wheel, the eight-speed automatic gearbox slots silently into first, and we’re off.

That engine should have in the region of 340hp and about 450Nm of torque. Again, Toyota’s lips are still a little sealed when it comes to the Supra’s vital statistics, but it should certainly be brisk. The same engine in the BMW Z4 propels it to 100km/h in just 4.6secs, and we’d guess that the Supra will be fractionally faster than that.

It sure feels faster. The engine is initially buttery smooth and very refined, but as we select Sports mode and start looking for the redline, its character changed noticeably. First of all, it becomes a lot louder, and truly musical. In fact, as you get past 5,000rpm the noise coming off it is distinctly like that of an old-school Porsche flat-six. Tada told us how disappointed he was in the sound quality of the Porsche Cayman’s new turbo flat-four engine, so consider this his revenge. Better still, there’s no artificial engine note. The Supra will eventually get a system that amplifies engine noises through the stereo (in part so that it can get around strict new drive-by noise rules) but our cars didn’t have it fitted, so the sound was pure, and unfiltered.

Whatever about the noise, the speed is truly impressive. The Supra has been designed around maximum fun, rather than maximum performance, but it gathers speed at a ferocious rate. Even at the upper limits of the rev range, that engine never seems to run out of breath, and the ZF gearbox is remarkably perceptive about when you need a gear, and which gear you need. It did occasionally shunt a change, but that could be down to some final software calibration. Thankfully, with all that performance, the brakes are well and truly up to the task. Four-pot Brembo calipers working on big, steel, discs even a session on a blazing hot Jarama race track, just outside Madrid, didn’t see them wilt.

Tada has truly worked his magic on the way the Supra drives, though. At first, the car seems almost a touch too remote and refined. It’s hugely comfortable on the road, which is just not what you’d expect. Yes, the suspension is firm (although during development the front suspension was actually softened a little in the search for more grip, and less understeer) but it’s pliant enough to soothe away the scars of heat-damaged roads, and even takes sharp speed bumps in its stride. Aside from a slight touch of tyre roar on coarse surfaces, you could easily and happily drive this Supra from one side of the continent to t’other.

Superbly agile
Which had us, for a moment, worried that it would be too remote, to uncommunicative. Thankfully, it’s not. The steering is, perhaps, a little over-light, and we would like to have a bit more true feedback from the front tyres, but aside from that the Supra is a true savage for corners. Those tight dimensions, the low centre of gravity, and a clever electronic differential that does as much to help the steering and turn-in as it does to find more rear-end traction mean that the Supra feels like a low-slung, longer, Mini in the corners.

It is superbly agile and responsive, and if the steering is a bit short on feel, then it’s certainly tall when it comes to precision and speed. Even fumbling our braking into a few tighter corners, or trying to take Jarama’s Turn One hairpin way too fast, the Supra found the grip we needed, turned in where we wanted it to, and was never anything less than biddable and hugely, enormously, enjoyable.

A Porsche Killer, then? Well, possibly. Perhaps a Porsche Sparring Partner would be a better phrase, because the Supra actually feels very Porsche-like in its responses and its setup. That same sense of solidity underpinning the agility, rather as if you took the sharp chassis responses of the Cayman and mixed them with the refinement and soundtrack of the 911. Not a bad mix at all, that.

There is much we don’t know yet. We don’t know the full performance figures. We don’t know if there will be a manual gearbox (Tada would like to do one but it might be too expensive to do, or at least to do properly). We don’t know, albeit we strongly suspect, if there will be four-cylinder or hybrid versions. We, of course, don’t know how much it will cost but the likelihood is that if you look at the Porsche Cayman GTS’ circa €95,000 figure then you’ll probably not be too far out.

Of only minority interest, then? Nope, not a bit. The last Supra became an icon of both high-performance cars, and the might of the Japanese motor industry, and I suspect that this new one might just do the same job. In and of itself, it’s a pure, proper sports car – one that’s easy and engaging to drive, but which has properly ferocious performance once you dip below the surface. It’s also emblematic of a Toyota which has changed out of all proportion. Now, volume and profit aren’t the be-all and end-all. Tada and Toyoda want you to love the brand as much as you appreciate its reliability, and cars such as the Supra are key to that. I’ve waited 22 years to get back here, back to the driver’s seat of a Supra. It was worth the wait.

The Lowdown: Toyota Supra
Price: Circa €90,000 as tested (TBC).
Power: 340hp (est).
Torque: 450Nm (est).
0-100km/h: 4.5sec (est).
Top speed: 250km/h (est).
Verdict: Truly exceptional.
Our rating: 5/5

 

[PerformanceSound]

via TopGear

Toyota Supra review: new turbo sports car driven

I know what that is…

It’s the car we’ve been waiting 16 years for Toyota to pull its finger out and build. A brand new Supra, the fifth-generation of a legend (sixth, if you want to throw the 2000GT in there as a spiritual starting point) and the car that could single-handedly revive the Max Power movement. Possibly.

Developed under a joint venture with the new BMW Z4, the worry here is that Toyota’s wild child might become a little too tamed, too Germanic. Can the Japanese still infuse it with the same sense of madness that made the car its name despite borrowing its underpinnings, engine, gearbox and most of the interior from BMW?

Never mind that, why’s it wrapped up like a Christmas present?

Ah yes, that. Although we’ve already seen its sister, the Z4, the Supra isn’t due to have its big unveil until early next year, hence the disguise. But make no mistake, under there is a final prototype, dynamically representative of the finished car and up close you can see and feel every vent, curve and badge beneath the wrap.

This is the deal - we’re in Madrid to drive the car and meet Gazoo Racing chief and father of the new 2019 Toyota Supra, Tetsuya Tada, the man also responsible for delivering the GT86. Fair to say he’s a bit of a Top Gear hero.

Now, we admit, these early drive opportunities can verge on the tedious, with more time sitting through presentations than getting hands on with the car. But today is different. Today we’re being given time on road and track, and lots of it – enough to really get under the new Supra’s skin, even if we’re not allowed to see that skin.

Toyota has agreed to give us some details on the car, but not all, saving some titillation for when the wraps come off in a few month’s time. But that’s OK. By Tada’s own admission this is a car that is more about emotion that numbers.

“We were pursuing numbers and profit margins, which are still important, but we’ve started to appreciate the value different cars can bring to customers,” Tada explains. “It all started when Akio Toyoda took the reigns. Numbers are one thing, but it’s the feeling that matters.”

So what do we know?

We know that the basic architecture is shared with the Z4, although Tada insists the company separated their development processes completely early on, to ensure they felt like very different products.

No performance figures yet, but the engine is BMW’s 3.0-litre, single turbo straight-six with over 300bhp (by how much is yet to be revealed), the gearbox is BMW’s eight-speed auto and it’s strictly rear-wheel drive. It has higher torsional rigidity than the Lexus LFA, despite using no carbon-fibre in either the chassis or body (to keep costs down) and it has a lower centre-of-gravity than the GT86 – no mean feat considering the ’86 uses a belly-scraping flat-four.

Without specifying what it is, Tada talks about a golden ratio between the wheelbase and the track-width that’s essential for building a pure sports car. The engine is fully behind the front axle making it officially front mid-engined and helping towards a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, the brakes are four-pot Brembos, there’s an active differential at the rear and there’s a choice of passive of active dampers, the latter sitting 7mm lower to the road.

Interestingly, although the car has been worked out on the Nürburgring and ice lakes in Sweden, 90 per cent of its development has been done on public roads, which speaks volumes about where Toyota expects this car to be predominantly used.

Who’s Toyota targeting here?

“The Porsche Cayman was the benchmark from the start,” Tada tells us. He admits that there’s an intrinsic weight and dynamic advantage to a mid-engine layout, but says on the track “we’re in the same zone.” He also tells us how “disappointing” the 718’s sound is, “the GTS is even worse.”

So why not just make the Supra mid-engined? Truth is, he almost did. “In the planning stages we suggested a mid-engined layout and BMW was happy to go with it, but I took the idea to Akio Toyoda and he told me off.”

What about the way it looks?

Tricky to say at this stage, but given how striking both the 2014 FT-1 concept and the 2018 Gazoo Supra Racing Concept are, our hopes are high. Get up close and you can see big haunches muscling out at the rear, a double-bubble shape to the roof, a ducktail boot-lid spoiler and simple but effective twin pipes at the rear. Get your nose right up against it and you can spot every slash, every vent even a scribbled Supra logo on the boot lid.

Bottom line, from the outside it looks a lot meaner than the Z4, from the inside the similarities are more obvious. Toyota tried its best to obscure the interior with bits of flappy carpet, but it wasn’t too hard to sneak a peek. While the instrument panel is unique to the Supra, there’s a lot of BMW elsewhere – all the switchgear, central screen and steering wheel is unmistakably from Munich. But let’s be brutally honest here, have you seen the GT86’s insides? BMW’s quality is on another level.

So is it like a Z4 to drive?

Again, hard to say having not driven the Z4, but it’s an engine we’re very familiar with, and the essential character is the same here. But hey, it’s also one of the very finest engine/gearbox combinations in the world, and although BMW did deploy it in the standard M2, it’s great to see it being used in a proper performance application – the way it responds, zings through the revs and stays composed and smooth whatever abuse you throw at it is a thing to be celebrated.

Our first proper go is on some spectacular, winding B roads outside Madrid. Toyota has brought along a GT86 too, for comparison, which is a great touch – if only to remind us how hilarious it is when you take it by the scruff of the neck. However, next to the Supra, the GT86’s powertrain feels a bag of gutless spanners. Helped by the slick gearbox, the Supra’s just so much torquier, smoother and sophisticated in every regard.

This is a car that you don’t have to thrashing to have fun in… but just to be sure, we stopped off at Jarama race track

With the GT86 flailing about in our rear-view mirror, we start to stretch the Supra and lean on it into the tighter turns. It immediately feels more substantial, broader shouldered, more keyed into the road rather than skating on top of it and less flamboyant in the way it goes about its business. Keep things smooth and that extra grip and power means a massive chunk more real-world pace, but it hasn’t lost its sense of humour. There’s more point and stick precision to the front end, but it still rolls a bit and feels organic in the way it responds to your inputs.

The steering isn’t loaded with feel, but it does weight up significantly as the loads increase – a useful indicator of how close the tyres are to letting go. The brakes are strong and progressive and the seating position, tucked low next to the transmission tunnel, is spot on. The basics, in other words, are superb – this is a car that you don’t have to thrashing to have fun in… but just to be sure, we stopped off at the newly-resurfaced Jarama race track.

Hooray! Time for some hooning…

Indeed. And, impressively, the cars waiting for us in the pit lane were the exact cars we’d just driven on the road – same Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, same everything. Driving modes are limited to Normal and Sport, while the ESP can be left on, switched to a halfway house Track mode, or switched off entirely.

Something Tada mentions in the pre-track driving briefing sticks with me – that this “isn’t a car for the less competent driver.” Within two laps, I’d have to disagree. It’s not that it doesn’t feel like a sharp driving tool, just that for someone new to the car and the track it feels friendly and approachable, easy to exploit, full of grip but with plenty of warning when that’s about to run out.

It bobs and weaves a bit more than track-specialised stuff, but that’s half the fun, it moves and you move with it, catching little slides, deploying the full travel of the throttle, pinging through the gearbox and enjoying the engine rasping away in front of you.

Enough power, then?

I’m sure 300bhp to 350bhp is a real sweet spot for something with combined road and track abilities – enough to unstick the tyres and throw some shapes, but not enough to punt you into the barriers with a badly timed twitch of your foot.

In the flat-out , high-speed corners, that pitch and roll can be a little unnerving, while I hope there’s a little more to come from the exhaust note. But as a rounded, beautifully balanced, one-size fits all sports car experience, Toyota has hit the nail on the head.

Tada tells us about the first time the big boss, Akio Toyoda, drove the car. He climbed out and told Tada, cryptically, the problem was he couldn’t converse with the car. So, Tada and his team went away and worked hard on upping the interactivity between man and machine until Akio was happy… and it’s that connection that shines through.

Isn’t Toyota worried tuners are going to ruin it with 1,000bhp conversions?

Far from it – it’s actually encouraging it. Tada is planning to release specs of the car early to various tuners so they can prepare their packages for the car. There’s also pre-drilled holes in the front for hanging high downforce front splitters from, and a reinforced boot lid to handle big wings on the back.

“The question I’m most frequently asked is whether you’ll be able to fit the 2JZ engine to it,” Tada tells us. “I tell them, absolutely, please go ahead!” But Toyota has no plans to make any big moves into the aftermarket modification area for the Supra itself. “We could go into it, but then you lose these grass roots parts companies and that could kill the space entirely – it needs to be creative to breathe.”

What about official faster versions in the pipeline?

Tada confirmed that a stripped-out, track-focused version is already part of his plan - expect it to be called the Supra GRMN.

“At some point I would like to make a track-limited Supra with less weight. We’re already making a racing version so we know if you take out 100kg it’s a completely different car – you don’t even need any more power,” Tada told us. Question is, will it be road-legal or a track-only toy? “We’re investigating both avenues, there’s always a trade-off because being road-legal brings restrictions.”

There are also whispers that a lower powered version, likely using BMW 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo with 250bhp to 300bhp, could be launched further down the line. Possibly with a manual gearbox.

A success then?

Yep. Sometimes a car just feels right. We got that feeling the first time we drove the new Mazda MX-5, the new Alpine A110, the GT86… and now this. Although a more senior proposition than the GT86, there’s a purity to it that hasn’t be lost.

Toyota is a company keen on rediscovering its fun side, with less emphasis on sales figures, more on the people who buy and enjoy their cars. Although much depends on the price (we predict something around the £50,000 mark) the name, the looks, the badge, the timing – it all seems to add up, and this was just the taster… there’s so many more details and more in-depth driving opportunities to come.

 

[Guff]

This thread is for posting reviews or review-relevant content. You guys keep posting garbage and I will start banning. You have been warned.

 

[Rotaryrunner]

 

[A70TTR]

via Wheels

2019 Toyota GR Supra prototype review

Our first bite of Toyota’s half-caste hero car leaves behind a sweet taste

WHAT IS IT?
The imminent return of a Japanese performance car icon. The fifth-gen Supra doesn't launch until next year, but this pre-production prototype drive finally offers us a preliminary taste of Toyota’s flagship sports coupe, which has been in development for more than six years.

WHY WE’RE TESTING IT
The Supra nameplate is worshipped by the console generation, leaving this new one with huge boots to fill. A deal with BMW was needed to make its return possible for Toyota, but is a Japanese-German hybrid built in Austria worthy of such a storied badge?

MAIN RIVALS
Audi TTS, BMW Z4 Roadster, BMW M240i, Ford Mustang, Nissan 370Z Nismo, Porsche Cayman

THE WHEELS REVIEW
IT’S EARLY in 2012, at a racetrack on the outskirts of Madrid. Toyota is in the middle of launching an all-new, fun-loving coupe called the 86, when its chief engineer is interrupted by a phone call from HQ and ordered to drop everything and leave. Another sports car project has just been green-lighted - a collaboration with BMW - and it’s Tetsuya Tada’s job to take point.

Fast forward through more than six years of gestation, and we’re fittingly back at the Jarama circuit in Spain on a bright Autumn afternoon. This time around Tada-san is armed with prototypes of the long-awaited fifth-generation Toyota Supra, and in a few moments I’m finally going to drive it.

It’s still hard to believe this is happening, especially after such a protracted period of rumours and speculation. Only eight of these pre-production vehicles are said to exist, and four of them are here, wrapped in thin camouflage barely disguising the details of their dramatic two-seater form. The bodywork is littered with blanked off cooling ducts and aero features that futureproof it for racing use. An enormous clamshell bonnet opens from halfway up the quarter panels, and its cab-rearward profile bears a distinct similarity to its fourth-gen predecessor, the JZA80, a car still idolised more than 16 years after its production ceased.

What’s instantly striking is how compact the Supra is; barely as long or high as an 86, it creates presence with its width and stance. Using plastic for the rear hatch and clever packaging solutions give it an even lower centre of gravity and a shorter wheelbase than the 86. A ‘golden ratio’ of 1.6:1 (wheelbase to track width) was the target – a template set by the Porsche 911 – and Toyota’s engineers are proud to have surpassed that, packaging it at closer to 1.5:1 for even greater agility.

It sounds like a recipe for twitchy, snappy dynamics, but that’s simply not the case. On the road and on track the Supra is a joyfully cultured driving experience. Mechanical grip is massive, with clever aerodynamic measures that dial in high-speed stability and sticky Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber in 275/35 at the rear and 255/35 front on wide 19-inch wheels.

Direction changes are effortless, with crisp off-centre response and a linear feel to its steering, which makes it brilliantly intuitive as every input is rewarded with a proportional outcome. There’s an alert and playful character to it, but it doesn’t overstep to become hyperactive or spikey. Even on the circuit, the Supra feels friendly and communicative in a way that encourages confident driving.

Around the fast, downhill right-hander onto Jarama's main straight the Supra is hugely exciting. Its poise comes in part from an engine that sits entirely within the wheelbase of the car, meaning the front axle crosses in front of it, sometimes called a front-mid-engine layout. This helps achieve perfect 50:50 weight distribution. What’s more, modern construction methods mean the Supra’s steel and aluminium composite body structure is in fact more rigid than that of the carbonfibre LFA supercar from 2010.

Toyota worked with BMW for two years on the basics of this shared platform that also underpins the Z4 Roadster. The Japanese brand was able to influence important mounting points and the location of major components – including the driver – to suit the Supra’s intent and its design, which was worked on in Munich during the initial phase by stylists from Japan. An existing BMW architecture was the starting point, one compatible with Toyota’s desired power source; a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder codenamed B58, as found in the M240i and the new Z4 in 250kW/500Nm trim. Without a straight six, it wouldn’t be a Supra, and without BMW, Toyota says the project simply would not have happened.

Supra’s outputs are yet to be confirmed, though they’re likely to be similar to those above. Toyota has developed its own tune of the powertrain, including the eight-speed automatic gearbox from ZF, which will get a launch control mode that is still being finalised. The target weight of 1500kg should mean 0-100km/h acceleration in about 4.5 seconds.

The muscular six-cylinder engine revs to almost 7000rpm, boasting a thick torque band that starts low with a lusty induction spool and velvety exhaust note in keeping with the Supra’s heritage. European models need a particulate filter in the exhaust to meet emissions regulations, and suffer from a suppressed soundtrack as a result. Other markets, including Australia, will welcome a more vocal setup when the Supra reaches showrooms late next year, though whether or not that means doing away with a sound synthesiser that adds fake noise through the speakers in European versions is unknown.

There are two available drive modes for Supra: Normal and Sport, and just two ESC settings: on or off – and off really means off. Selecting Sport sharpens throttle response, adds weight to the steering, tightens up the adaptive dampers, adds pops and crackles at the tailpipe, and switches to a gearbox calibration that is impeccable on track. A full manual mode is available, though downshifts from the slightly dull paddle shifter are sometimes delayed or ignored if requested with too narrow a buffer to redline.

A six-speed manual ‘box exists in the BMW portfolio linked to this engine, but that transmission option is not yet confirmed for Supra. A greater focus has been put on the buying habits of major markets, such as North America, which means the eight-speed needed to happen first.

A ‘go where the customer goes’ philosophy has seen 90 percent of Supra’s development take place on public roads rather than racetracks. A downside of that is its four-piston Brembo braking package, which showed signs of stress after a number of laps on track, but that won’t be of concern for most buyers. Braking performance at regular road speeds is impressive.

What’s surprising is how suave the Supra feels as a long distance cruiser. Ride quality is excellent, with a supple initial bump absorption and tightly controlled rebound. Toyota admits the tune of its 7mm lower adaptive suspension package is still receiving tweaks for production, but the early signs are positive. Even boot space is reasonable at about 250-litres. There’s no cargo barrier behind the two front seats, but cabin noise is cleverly suppressed for a sports car such as this, and certainly when compared to an 86.

Toyota says these prototypes are 95 percent representative of the finished product. They’re complete from a hardware perspective, but there’s an array of electronic revisions to be made before the deadline for final sign-off at the end of this year, mere weeks before production starts.

A big part of that work will be reskinning BMW’s infotainment system to look less like its German cousin. The intimate cabin, though covered by black felt in these prototypes, clearly carries over virtually unchanged from BMW, including familiar climate control switches, carbonfibre trim, a joystick-style shifter, iDrive controller and widescreen display mounted high on the dashboard. Changing things here would bring costs that Toyota deemed not strictly necessary, so only a unique digital instrument cluster featuring a large central tachometer is distinctively Toyota.

That rev-counter is visible through a steering wheel that has the smallest rim diameter Toyota could specify using the BMW parts available to it with a slimmer profile than anything found in Munich, and carefully shaped thumb cut-outs so you can guide the Supra with your fingertips. The driving position is generously adjustable within a narrow space, nestling the driver into a slim yet comfortable seat that puts all primary controls within natural reach. The short turret keeps a lid over the shallow letterbox windscreen up front, with side window glass that barely reaches the eye-line of taller drivers, and broad C-pillars behind that. It's fine on the open road, but around-town visibility could be tricky. A surround-view camera mode would help with that.

But features like that add cost, and the Supra's price remains its biggest question mark at this stage. This will be the first car to bring the Gazoo Racing brand (GR for short) to Australia, badged as the Toyota GR Supra. Think of Gazoo Racing as the TRD of today, and you’re pretty much there. At the moment only one Supra variant is being talked about on the record, but expect entry-level and high-spec versions at launch – much like the 86 GT and GTS – with the fully featured Supra receiving the prototype’s adaptive dampers and a tricky active differential as standard. Somewhere around the $75,000 mark seems like a reasonable estimate at this point, but its arrival is still a long way off.

There will be diehard fans and detractors who take pleasure in criticising the half-caste Supra, but this coming together of two engineering-led automotive giants is shaping up to deliver a brilliant moment for modern sports cars.

THE WHEELS VERDICT
An unexpectedly suave sports car with grand tourer cred that plays a convincing double act as a trackday toy. The silken German drivetrain combined with Japanese dynamic nous puts the all-new Supra in the front seat to take two good things and make something great.

PLUS: Powertrain strength and slickness, steering precision, long-distance touring ability, dynamic sophistication
MINUS: Lack of exhaust sound for prototypes, outward visibility around town, limits of brake package on track

SPECS

Model: 2019 Toyota GR Supra prototype
Engine: 2998cc 6-cyl, dohc, 24v, turbo
Max power: 250kW @ 5500rpm (estimated)
Max torque: 500Nm @ 1500-4500rpm (estimated)
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Weight: 1500kg (estimated)
0-100km/h: 4.5sec (estimated)
Economy: 7.2L/100km (estimated)
Price: $75,000 (estimated)
On sale: Q4 2019

 

[SS900]

The problem with the older crowd is that they are comparing the A90 to the A80 after all the modifications and without its flaws.

Even comparing the A80 to the A70, the A80 is lacking is several areas.
The seats on the A80 weren't nearly as comfortable and lacked the electric bolster and lumbar adjustments,
Lack of an interior design (excluding the shape of the dashboard but the door panels and center console were plain compared to an A70,
Lack of TEMS,
Minimal power gains over the 1JZ, (without the 276hp agreement the 1JZ would have been lower 300s given equal fuel and boost specs,)

These random things I pulled off the top of my head aren't important in the grand scheme of things but to give an example of how the A80 wasn't perfect and where it lacked in comparison to the A70.

Everything can be nitpicked, it isnt a refusal to be realistic but rather the understanding that car as a whole is an improvement.

We can not expect to this car to be perfect, "perfect is the enemy of good," and will only hold us back from seeing what this car has to offer. Believing this car will be perfect is actually unrealistic.

I disagree on that front. The A80 is a better car than the A70 is every single way. The interior of the A80 is special in a way the A70’s never was, the simplicity of its design is actually a work of art, the A70 interior looks like a dinosaur next to it. Performance is not even close stock to stock so I am not really sure what you are talking about. Looks is subjective so to each their own and i’ll Even admit, at first I didn’t like the looks of the A80, the interior got me to notice it, then the drive, then the looks really grew on me, it was definitely not love at first sight though.

No one is comparing the A80 and A90 spec for spec, the disappointment is not with the specs, it’s with the soul, heritage, honor, respect of what came before that is the issue. It’s an emotional subject to some, respect it, let them get it out of their system and don’t tell them they are wrong to feel what they feel. The less you push back, the sooner they will get their disappointment out of their system, no different than the grieving process when a loved one dies.

 

[SS900]

This thread is for posting reviews or review-relevant content. You guys keep posting garbage and I will start banning. You have been warned.

Sorry, just read it after my last post. Can you separate some of the comments into a new thread so we can keep it clean and on topic? Thank you and my apologies. Emotions run high around here, I am sure you can understand.

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