Toyota Supra 2.0

The GR meets an ancestor

YOU KNOW HOW THIS LATEST Supra came to be, yes? Toyota went to BMW and basically commissioned Munich to ‘do’ the car for them. So BMW went away, had a think, looked around the store cupboard, came back to Toyota and said, ‘Yup, we can do that for you chaps. We’ll just reengineer the Z4 Roadster.’ Although in fairness it might not have been quite so simple as that.

Anyway, the truth is that the Supra is not a lot more than a Z4 beneath its three-quarter-scale Viper GTS bodywork, and when I drove our 2-litre GR alongside a whole load of BMW’S historic M-cars recently – including a beautiful Z3 M Coupé – the connection was spookily obvious.

Despite being a couple of decades newer than the Z3, the Supra has the same dive and squat characteristics under braking and acceleration, the same feel to its roll control; even its steering responses feel intrinsically linked to those of the far older BMW. As does the arms-out, bum-onthe-back-axle driving position. They clearly feel like they are from the same gene pool.

Except for one thing: their engines. The M Coupé’s 321bhp 3.2-litre straight-six had even more rip to it than I remembered, and over the last 2000rpm it felt – and sounded – bloody marvellous. Whereas the Supra’s 254bhp turbo four feels somewhat weedy and uncharacterful.

I like our Supra a great deal overall, but even in isolation its engine is pretty so-so. Next to one of the greatest six-cylinder road car engines of all time, it felt even more beige beneath the bonnet. Then again, I’m not sure even the 335bhp 3-litre Supra would have anything like the raw appeal of the 1375kg Z3 M and its magnificent motor. Not much else does.

Date acquired December 2021 Total mileage 4250 Mileage this month 391 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 31.1