Toyota GR Supra

An iconic return that’s been worth the wait

- Scott Newman

LET’S ANSWER the most obvious question first. No, the new Toyota GR Supra is not just a BMW in a Japanese tracksuit. Many of the ingredients may be similar, but Toyota’s sports car guru, chief engineer Tetsuya Tada, and his team have created a car that is unique and extremely enjoyable to drive.

A quick recap if you’ve been living under a rock. In May 2012, Toyota and BMW first met to discuss the possibility of a joint sports car venture. After many meetings and a couple of false starts, the decision was made to collaborate on the new A90 Supra and BMW Z4. The two cars share their basic platform, powertrains and electronic architecture, and are built side-by-side in Austria by Magna Steyr.

The Supra is slightly longer, narrower and shorter than its BMW opposite number, the Z4 M40i, and at 1495kg carries a 40kg weight advantage..

Where the two differ most is in price. Whereas the Z4 will set you back $124,900, the GR Supra GT starts at $84,900, with the GTS another $10K upstream at $94,900.

Both variants use a 250kW/500Nm 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six for a claimed 0-100km/h of 4.3sec, an eight-speed automatic, adaptive dampers and an electronically controlled limited-slip diff, but the GTS adds 19-inch wheels (GT 18s), larger rear brake rotors, sports pedals, a head-up display, 12-speaker JBL stereo and the option of Alcantara upholstery and matte grey paint.

The GT isn’t exactly Spartan, with heated eight-way adjustable electric seats, keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control, a 10-speaker stereo, sat-nav, carbon-fibre-look trim, auto LED headlights, 8.8-inch digital instrument display, reversing camera, tyre pressure monitoring and a plethora of safety equipment, including active cruise, lane departure alert, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and rear traffic alert.