What’s new?
When an exciting new model of car is born into the world, fans go wild. Hardcased adults become weak in the knees, intense debates rage among the knowledgeable in workplaces and school yards, car reviewers scramble like fighter pilots to gush over the latest offering.
Such was the case for the latest Toyota Supra when it launched in 2019 — it was, after all, the first new Supra since production of the previous A80 model ceased in 2002.
Drivesouth had a fleeting but enticing encounter in mid2019, but now that the initial frenzy has died down, it’s an interesting car to revisit in a more considered way. An automotive equivalent of Grand Designs Revisited, if you will.
Before heading out for a spin, we must understand where the Supra sits in the marketplace.
Many brandnew twodoor highperformance coupes available in New Zealand cost over $100,000. There are just four that slide under the sixfigure asking price. These are the Ford Mustang, BMW’s M240i, the Nissan 370Z, and the Toyota Supra
(at $99,990 the Supra is under, not by much, but under).
Although the Supra’s competition is a bit sparse, it’s very strong: a German with the same engine, a muscular American, and a Japanese legend. Therefore, the Supra needs to be very good.
There’s a European connection that surely helps, too: in a similar fashion to the alliance that produced the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ as badgedistinct twins, the Supra is the result of Toyota joining forces with another carmaker, BMW, in an arrangement that has also spawned the latest Z4.
To be fair, we certainly aren’t talking twins this time. Crucially, the Supra is a permanently hardtopped coupe, while the Z4 is a softtop roadster. But both come off the same production line, in Austria. BMW has provided the engine, the gearbox, the chassis, most of the cabin, and all of the interior switchgear. Toyota's influence is found in the Supra's styling, and areas such as the calibration of the steering, rear differential, brakes and suspension.