s219
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Doc
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2019
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 528
- Reaction score
- 635
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Car(s)
- BMW X3 M40i, BMW M2 Comp, Ferrari 328
- Thread starter
- #1
Brief background about me -- I have been driving sports cars for about 30 years; basically as soon as I could afford to buy them I did. I have owned many over the years, standouts being the Honda S2000, Subaru WRX (bug eyes), Toyota 86, and my current BMW M2 Competition. I also do a lot of test drives, probably 50+ by this point in my life. When a member of our local BMW club offered to let me drive his new Supra 3.0 Premium, I jumped at the chance.
Overall, I feel like the Supra is the nicest "BMW" sports car in years, and I say that with a combination of honesty and sarcasm. Truth is, BMW hasn't offered a balanced sports car like this for as long as I can remember. BMW M cars tend to me more hard core, more raw, and live closer to the edge (they are also traditional sedan/coupe bodies for the most part). Then you have the Z4 and non-M BMWs. The Supra slots perfectly in between, being nicer and better balanced than the M cars and more sporting than the Z4 and non-M BMWs. The Supra is also a great value, providing a lot more for the money than a typical BMW, and it has caught the interest of many BMW owners. So yeah, "BMW" in quotes is really how I look at the Supra overall -- it's a better BMW at a better price.
In terms of feel, it's hard to peg the Supra. It does not feel like a Toyota to me except maybe for exterior styling. The powertrain, interior, and build feel like a BMW, especially the powertrain -- blindfolded and told to accelerate in a straight line in sport mode, most modern BMW owners will instantly recognize the B58/ZF8 and its sound. The handling is somewhere in unidentified territory for me, with a more adept and more athletic feel than you get in a standard BMW, but not quite the stiffness and raw edginess of an M car. Toyota clearly improved the handling over what BMW does on their non-M cars, but it doesn't feel like pure Toyota to me either. However you want to describe it, the Supra is a small, tossable, fun sports car.
Overall quality seemed excellent to me. Body fit was top notch, with good panel alignment and even gaps. The interior, controls, and infotainment system are instantly recognizable for anyone with recent BMW driving experience, and I felt at home very quickly. Under the hood it's also very much BMW, and odd bits like chassis components, strut towers, hubs, rotors, calipers, and more are all standard BMW fare.
After driving the Supra, the only gripe I have is the lack of manual transmission, and that is a big gripe. This car would have been absolutely perfect with a manual, both in terms of driver involvement and in terms of completing the package. The B58/ZF8 combination is about as good as it gets for an automatic (I have it in my daily driver, an X3 M40i) but in a sports car it's a letdown to me. Unless you're going fast or driving aggressively, it's transparent. When you are going fast and driving aggressively, it's so good it removes the driver from the action (with or without paddle shifts). It's almost like watching an action scene in a movie but not being in it. If you're like me and have been moaning about the lack of manual transmission all along, well, I think that moaning was realistic.
If someone wants automatic transmission, or can tolerate automatic transmission, I think the Supra is the best sports car in its class right now. In fact I might say itās the only sports car in its class right now, since there are so few direct and modern competitors that fit into this niche. If you're on the fence about the automatic transmission, don't buy a Supra without a test drive, as I feel like this will be a big factor in your ability to enjoy the car. If you are like me and were already wary about the lack of manual transmission, and/or you already know what a B58/ZF8 combination feels like and know you don't want it in a sports car, then hold off. I am not optimistic Toyota will ever offer a manual in the Supra, but Iām sure they could make it happen if they really wanted to.
Finally, does the Supra live up to the name and the hype? That would be a tall order, considering the legacy of previous Supra generations. In most ways, the Mark V is far better than any previous Supra. I don't think the BMW roots or Toyota roots have anything to do with that, but rather, that somebody simply bothered to throw together a well-rounded competent sports car with modern technology. I do think it took Toyota's motivation to do this in a way BMW wouldn't have cared to on their own (as I said up above, I feel like the Supra sits squarely in that space between non-M and M BMWs where BMW offers nothing). If anything, the Mark V has been overhyped, but if you take the time to judge it on its own and think about the space it occupies in the sports car world, it's really just perfect, better than all that hype would suggest. Well, except for that manual transmission.
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Addendum: I should give a brief comparison to the M2 Competition since this is a very obvious matchup in my mind, and driving both cars back to back really honed my impressions. There's no question the M2 Competition is more of a pure driver's car, with edgier handling, a stiffer feel throughout, a more raw and slightly more playful feel, fewer creature comforts, and that manual transmission. The Supra is nicer, more modern, more comfortable, better looking, a far better value, and in my mind it's a more rounded sports car if you can overlook the transmission situation.
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