Thill444
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2021
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 592
- Location
- New England
- Car(s)
- 2021 Supra 3.0 Turbulence, 2021 Jeep Rubicon 4xe
- Thread starter
- #1
Serious discussion. Just for some background my first car (bought at 16) was a 1981 Mazda RX-7. For the next 10 years I owned many more RX-7's and between my wife and I, we have pretty much had a Mazda, Nissan, or Honda in our garage for the better part of 30+ years.
Like many I saw the pictures of the Supra and read about the fake vents, etc when it was revealed. The HP numbers (on paper) didn't seem impressive and it seemed like BMW may have forced Toyota to neuter the engine in favor of the Z4. No manual too (I have had at least one manual sports car in my garage since age 16). Many, many people online were very unhappy with the BMW partnership and felt that Toyota sold out.
Negative enough? Well then we started to read the positives. Clearly the engine was underrated for power. The ZF transmission was programmed excellently. Interior fit and finish was very nice (by Toyota standards). Car looked better (at least my opinion) in person vs pictures. Tons of mods started coming out and the aftermarket community really embraced the MKV Supra. Lots of Youtubers started getting them and modifying them and the overall impressions were very favorable.
After several more cars (GT350, Camaro SS1LE) I placed an order for a C8 Corvette but after months of issues at the GM plant and being told my 21 C8 order was cancelled (by this time I had sold the Camaro) I looked/test drove at a few cars. Porsche Cayman (S and GTS). BMW M2 (comp). Did not the like 4 cylinder manual Cayman S. Loved the GTS (PDK). Really liked the M2 Comp (manual). Then I remembered the Supra. This was early May this year and the market was already crazy, Porsche dealers wanted an arm and a leg for used ones and the M2 Comp was brand new and felt like it cost more than it was worth to me.
Fell in love with the Supra. It really felt like it was a combo of the Cayman and M2 to me. Dealer offered me a really great price on a new one ($53K out the door for a $58K loaded new 21). Bought the car and have and the more I drive the car the more I realize how ridiculous the whole JDM aspect of the car is to me. Bottomline the head of the program was tasked to build a car that had to make a profit and evolve. He knew building a new Supra from the ground up (especially since Toyota no longer had an inline 6) would be costly and kill the car most likely. After his successful partnership with Subaru on the 86, the partnership with BMW made sense.
Reliability wise BMW over the last 5-10 years has made great strides and they are now higher than some Japanese companies. For me, the JDM roots just don't matter anymore. This is no longer the 90's and with a global economy you will see more car companies do partnerships like these for sports cars.
Like many I saw the pictures of the Supra and read about the fake vents, etc when it was revealed. The HP numbers (on paper) didn't seem impressive and it seemed like BMW may have forced Toyota to neuter the engine in favor of the Z4. No manual too (I have had at least one manual sports car in my garage since age 16). Many, many people online were very unhappy with the BMW partnership and felt that Toyota sold out.
Negative enough? Well then we started to read the positives. Clearly the engine was underrated for power. The ZF transmission was programmed excellently. Interior fit and finish was very nice (by Toyota standards). Car looked better (at least my opinion) in person vs pictures. Tons of mods started coming out and the aftermarket community really embraced the MKV Supra. Lots of Youtubers started getting them and modifying them and the overall impressions were very favorable.
After several more cars (GT350, Camaro SS1LE) I placed an order for a C8 Corvette but after months of issues at the GM plant and being told my 21 C8 order was cancelled (by this time I had sold the Camaro) I looked/test drove at a few cars. Porsche Cayman (S and GTS). BMW M2 (comp). Did not the like 4 cylinder manual Cayman S. Loved the GTS (PDK). Really liked the M2 Comp (manual). Then I remembered the Supra. This was early May this year and the market was already crazy, Porsche dealers wanted an arm and a leg for used ones and the M2 Comp was brand new and felt like it cost more than it was worth to me.
Fell in love with the Supra. It really felt like it was a combo of the Cayman and M2 to me. Dealer offered me a really great price on a new one ($53K out the door for a $58K loaded new 21). Bought the car and have and the more I drive the car the more I realize how ridiculous the whole JDM aspect of the car is to me. Bottomline the head of the program was tasked to build a car that had to make a profit and evolve. He knew building a new Supra from the ground up (especially since Toyota no longer had an inline 6) would be costly and kill the car most likely. After his successful partnership with Subaru on the 86, the partnership with BMW made sense.
Reliability wise BMW over the last 5-10 years has made great strides and they are now higher than some Japanese companies. For me, the JDM roots just don't matter anymore. This is no longer the 90's and with a global economy you will see more car companies do partnerships like these for sports cars.
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