Chris Harris on GR Yaris and Supra.

[DesmoSD]

The GR Yaris seems like a fun car, but it's unfair for Chris Harris to say that it's a true Toyota from the ground and compare it to the Supra. We've been through this reasoning before - the Supra either would've never been built by Toyota alone and it would've cost well over the current price if it were solely built by Toyota.

Besides, the GR Yaris is over TWICE the price of a base Yaris. Plus, it's limited to 25,000...worldwide! Can you say dealer markups? I think it's still a great, yet pricey, limited production rally car - like the WRX Type RA and the Civic Type R.

Unfair is your opinion though. The fact of the matter is the Yaris is built by Toyota on a Toyota platform where the Supra was built by and is off a BMW. Chris is a big BMW fanatic too and loved the GT86 when it came out in 2012. Regardless of the price, Toyota can build nice and fun cars on their own and this is the result of it. They just chose not to do it with the 86 and Supra. It is what it is.

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[Paolo]

Isn't Harris's opinion on supra like saying an Audi or Lamborghini is basically a VW underneath yet he doesn't?

I've noticed motor journalists have very odd opinions and are never consistent.

 

[Ultimateone]

Isn't Harris's opinion on supra like saying an Audi or Lamborghini is basically a VW underneath yet he doesn't?

I've noticed motor journalists have very odd opinions and are never consistent.

He's been known to be a very public troll or pita about all sorts of brands so much he "was" banned from Ferrari as well as Lambo at one time. He's just an honest guy and actually gives a f about cars in general.

 

[BA9092]

Unfair is your opinion though. The fact of the matter is the Yaris is built by Toyota on a Toyota platform where the Supra was built by and is off a BMW. Chris is a big BMW fanatic too and loved the GT86 when it came out in 2012. Regardless of the price, Toyota can build nice and fun cars on their own and this is the result of it. They just chose not to do it with the 86 and Supra. It is what it is.

"Regardless of the price." That's true.

We know Toyota makes great cars. However, most mainline vehicle manufacturers don't make much of a profit from sports cars as they do from their CUVs and SUVs nowadays. It's more cost effective to combine projects when building affordable sports cars.

Currently, the 86 and Supra are the ONLY sports cars in their lineup.

Like I said, the Supra would've been nearly twice as much if it weren't for the collaborative efforts.

 

[CSUfiend]

Personally, I think you’ve got issues if you’re basing a car purchase on what a guy or a magazine thinks. I don’t know, maybe I am old school

 

[SuupYota]

I hope no one thinks I also think like that as I am on a ton of forums. It's just that if I posted something to start drama/shit on Nasioc a Subaru forum I would kind of look like an bozo.

Oh totally haha. Good old Nasioc. I'd recommend anyone check out Off topic chat at least once in their life...loll

 

[puzzled]

"Regardless of the price." That's true.

We know Toyota makes great cars. However, most mainline vehicle manufacturers don't make much of a profit from sports cars as they do from their CUVs and SUVs nowadays. It's more cost effective to combine projects when building affordable sports cars.

Currently, the 86 and Supra are the ONLY sports cars in their lineup.

Like I said, the Supra would've been nearly twice as much if it weren't for the collaborative efforts.

Agreed. The RC-F is like their best in-house attempt at a 2 door sports car sub $80K and it can't even compete against its own Supra. I don't care if my Supra was made by BMW or was based off a BMW platform. The car is cool and that is all that matters to me. This Chris Harris fellow can go take a hike whoever he is or thinks he is.

 

[bryanole27]

Agreed. The RC-F is like their best in-house attempt at a 2 door sports car sub $80K and it can't even compete against its own Supra. I don't care if my Supra was made by BMW or was based off a BMW platform. The car is cool and that is all that matters to me. This Chris Harris fellow can go take a hike whoever he is or thinks he is.

I used to own a RC-F and I can confirm this.

 

[puzzled]

I used to own a RC-F and I can confirm this.

Thanks, sorry I was not trying to intimidate a fellow member who might have one of these cars or a fan of them.

 

[Matador]

I'm a fairly big fan of Chris, but I think his take on the Mk5 Supra is hot garbage. Why? I keep hearing about the fact that "it's a BMW" and not just an honest, well thought out opinion and evaluation of the car on it's own merit.

Facts;
- The Mk5 and current Z4 would **NOT** exist without Toyota's input and/or will
- Toyota played a part in building a better modern BMW than BMW has been able to

To be honest, as much as I love my Mk4, I'd much rather a world where we have a Subaru/Toyota 86, BMW/Toyota Mk5, Toyota GR Yaris *and* a Toyota hypercar existing (as much as I'll probably never see on in the metal much less drive one), than a world where Toyota sank an LFA esque budget into developing a home bred Mk5 and selling it for $100k+. That's my take, YMMV.

Please recall that although the GR Yaris is practically "bespoke", it is still built on the TNGA platform - with a Yaris front subframe and corolla rear subframe, and has the global (sans North America) Yaris sales to back it up, with any excesses rolled into the motorsports budget. It really is just not comparable.

 

[Matador]

I used to own a RC-F and I can confirm this.

The RC-F is a heavily compromised car. IS Front, IS-C middle, GS rear..... not a fair comparison by any measure.

 

[antonio88x]

Unfair is your opinion though. The fact of the matter is the Yaris is built by Toyota on a Toyota platform where the Supra was built by and is off a BMW. Chris is a big BMW fanatic too and loved the GT86 when it came out in 2012. Regardless of the price, Toyota can build nice and fun cars on their own and this is the result of it. They just chose not to do it with the 86 and Supra. It is what it is.

I'm glad they chose not to. I was able to buy a BRZ because of shared development costs. And now I'm able to buy a Supra for the same reasons. If they designed the platform and an inline 6 egine from scratch, I'm sure it would've cost more than the GTR. Who buys GTRs now that they're $120k+? No body. Only a fool would spend Porsche money on a GTR now. Look at what happened to the NSX, developed a car from the ground up, and its so over priced and under the waterline for cars in its price bracket. And who's buying the NSX? Nobody as well. So yeah, I'll get in my $50k Supra and have fun with a car that still punches above it's weight.

 

[DesmoSD]

"Regardless of the price." That's true.

We know Toyota makes great cars. However, most mainline vehicle manufacturers don't make much of a profit from sports cars as they do from their CUVs and SUVs nowadays. It's more cost effective to combine projects when building affordable sports cars.

Currently, the 86 and Supra are the ONLY sports cars in their lineup.

Like I said, the Supra would've been nearly twice as much if it weren't for the collaborative efforts.

No contest on the price point. If Toyota built the Supra from the ground up, it would have been LC-500 price range and then some. They compromised with BMW and this is the result. Like I said, it is what it is and is. Chris Harris is telling it how it is (that it's predominantly BMW) and you seem to be upset at that.

The Yaris is a turd and a half and it's available on their lineup. Toyota GR took that turd and polished it.

I'm glad they chose not to. I was able to buy a BRZ because of shared development costs. And now I'm able to buy a Supra for the same reasons. If they designed the platform and an inline 6 egine from scratch, I'm sure it would've cost more than the GTR. Who buys GTRs now that they're $120k+? No body. Only a fool would spend Porsche money on a GTR now. Look at what happened to the NSX, developed a car from the ground up, and its so over priced and under the waterline for cars in its price bracket. And who's buying the NSX? Nobody as well. So yeah, I'll get in my $50k Supra and have fun with a car that still punches above it's weight.

The GTR was priced moderately during a crashed economy but jumped 35% when the economy started to recover. The NSX deviated so far from the previous NSX that it was doomed the day it left the factory. Nothing New Sportscar eXperimental about it. Back in the 90's, the Japanese manufactures made cars to set the bar high. A strong economy allowed them to do so. Not so much today.

https://jalopnik.com/this-chart-shows-how-the-nissan-gt-rs-price-has-skyrock-5877907

 

[Escapist]

It's a shame about the NSX, I would love one of those but not at that price point. There's a local person who owns one, I see it driving around every so often.

 

[Paolo]

Frankly, it's embarrassing that Harris chose to use the Supra story in the Yaris story.

That has undemined his journalistic skills IMHO.

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