Let’s address the elephant in the room: the all-new Toyota Supra does not come with the notorious 2JZ-GTE – the turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-6 engine that powered the fourth generation Supra and has been known to produce ludicrous power figures with hardly any modifications. But let’s be honest, did you really think an old outdated engine was ever going to make it to a modern production car? If you did, then you’re delusional.
What it does come with are two powertrain options sourced from BMW, but with a little bit of tweaking by Toyota themselves. The turbocharged 2.0-litre inline-4 and 3.0-litre inline-6 engines are found in everything from the 2 Series to the 8 Series, and have proven to be quite robust and plenty of fun while meeting those all-important emissions standards. The Americans will only get the bigger 3.0-litre engine in a singular 340 PS, 500 Nm state of tune.
In Japan, however, that 2.0-litre powertrain is offered in two states of tune – either 197 PS and 320 Nm, or 258 PS and 400 Nm in the SZ and SZ-R variants respectively. The 3.0-litre option is known as the RZ variant. These outputs mimic that of the BMW Z4, so if you’re wondering where Toyota’s tuning efforts went it was mostly in the exhaust system to extract a more lively note. All engine options are hooked up to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission that delivers power solely to the rear wheels.
The styling of the car is incredibly polarizing, with some falling in love with the fresh new design language, and some berating Toyota for not staying true to the lines of the fourth generation Supra. On the inside, the Supra shares much of the styling with the Z4, although thankfully the instrument cluster features a more clear-cut layout courtesy of Toyota’s own programming. Switchgear and the like is also straight out of the BMW parts bin.
Now, this Supra is rather surprisingly the first global Gazoo Racing sports car model. All the news about the Yaris GRMN, as well as various GRMN-tuned Japan domestic market models omit the fact that many markets do not have access to these fun machines. But you can expect the Supra to be the first of many models to come, which will hopefully re-invigorate the Toyota model line-up.
In terms of actual dimensions, this new Supra is actually surprisingly compact. The wheelbase is 100 mm shorter than a Toyota 86, courtesy of the fact that it’s purely a two-seater vehicle. This makes it far more nimble than its rivals, which coupled with a 50-50 weight distribution and an extremely low centre of gravity results in a car that’s stable at high speeds but agile in the tight twisty sections. Body rigidity is also higher than even that of the revered Lexus LFA.
For the higher grade models, there is even adaptive suspension and an active limited slip differential. These are items that you would expect on a luxury vehicle, although not necessarily on a Japanese sports car. The real kicker is the price – the base Supra for the US market starts at USD 50,920 (RM 208,659) which is only USD 225 more than the entry level BMW Z4 30i – which comes with the much smaller turbocharged 2.0-litre engine.
Expect prices for this machine to be around the RM 600,000 mark if they come to our shores; the Toyota 86 was priced at around RM 240,000 with a base price that was half that of the all-new Toyota Supra. That’s not a lot of money to pay for an incredibly fun, high performance sports car – and if the enjoyable nature of the Toyota 86 was anything to go by, then this new Supra should come with the necessary power for a truly well rounded package.
Keyword: Detroit 2019: Toyota Unveils All-New A90 Supra, Internet Angry It Doesn't Have A 2JZ