The 2020 Toyota Supra has finally been revealed making its big debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
This is the fifth generation of the Supra. It's making a come back after being absent for the past 17 years. That's why there has been so much anticipation surrounding its release.
Reaction so far has been mixed because it's a combined effort between Toyota and BMW. Some feel the car is a little under powered and a bit overweight, and maybe has a little too much BMW and not enough Toyota in its soul. Only time will tell.if the car will live up to the hopes of motoring enthusiasts and whether the car will carry that legendary Toyota reliability forward.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda says the new Supra is the first global model of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's GR sports car series. Ever since first competing in Germany's 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race in 2007*2, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has been aiming through its motorsports activities to develop its cars and people, with the goal of "making ever-better cars."The knowledge and know-how it has built up over the years have been funneled into bringing the Supra back to life in the form of the "GR Supra,"*3 as a car that Toyota hopes people the world over will find fun to drive, since this car will be sold globally.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda, who is also a master driver, said: "Back in the day, I spent countless hours driving an old Supra at Nurburgring to become a master driver. Supra is like an old friend that holds a special place in my heart. While other manufacturers were putting their beautiful new prototypes which they were going to introduce through the paces, I was driving an old Supra that was no longer in production. So even though Toyota had no plans to make a new Supra, just like a lot of other die hard Supra fans around the world, I secretly wanted to make it happen. The new GR Supra was born through testing at Nurburgring, and I can honestly say that it is a car that is fun to drive and better than ever."
The Supra comes with a 3.0 BMW turbocharge inline-6 cylinder engine, producing 335 horsepower, and 365 lb feet of torque. It will accelerate from 0 - 60 miles per hour, in just 4.1 seconds.
The new Supra shares its chassis with the BMW Z4. The cars look similar, but the Supra is more muscular and a little bit lighter. The Z4 has the same basic engine but has more horsepower and accelerates slightly faster.
This time around, extensive attention has also been paid to the three fundamental elements of wheelbase, tread, and center of gravity, thus achieving handling performance befitting a pure sports car. The car weighs in at about 3397 lbs, depending on the options package.
The lines are muscular, with the design looking a bit like a BMW Z4, and also like a 67 Toyota GT 2000. The car was fine tuned on the Nurburgring
Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, who headed development, said: "We set out to create a pure sports car that would attain the ultimate in the fun of driving. Rather than only working toward specs such as horsepower and circuit lap times, we emphasized sensitivity performance, such as the degree to which driving could be felt to be fun, with car and driver becoming one."
The steering wheel shows elements of both BMW and Toyota, and the two companies share the design influence all through the vehicle. A newly designed suspension to reduce weight, and Certain grades will feature an Adaptive Variable Suspension system*
The seats are supportive but comfortable, offering a nice balance that will keep a driver in place during hard cornering, while still being practical for entry and exit from the vehicle.
A 6.5 inch touch screen is standard, with an 8 inch optional. It comes with apple car play, easy connectivity, and a JBL stereo system can be added.
It has a wide stance with 255 wide tires up front, and 275 tires on the rear
The unibody is constructed with a combination of steel and aluminum reducing weight while also creating a car that rigid. Toyota claims the car is 2.5 times more rigid than the 1986 Supra, and rigidity is even higher than in the Lexus LFA which uses carbon fibre reinforced plastics in its lightweight structure.
The led headlamps are attractive and flow nicely into the front end. The styling is classic, and timeless really, even through it will not satisfy everyone. In fact the internet is burning up with comments from people who are both praising the new Supra and condemning it for being a "BMW in Toyota badging."
Color options include, Renaisance Red 2.0, Phantom Matte Grey, Nitro Yellow, Downshift Blue, Absolute Zero White, Tungsten Silver, and Nocturnal Black. Fancy color names, for a pretty fancy sports car.
Pricing starts at $49,990 for the base 3.0 litre, with a mid range package coming in around $53,995, and a Launch Edition priced at $55,250 fully loaded.
Heated Leather seating will be available, and the power from the engine will be transferred to the pavement through a ZF automatic transmission, which is good because they are bullet proof.
This is a front engine rear wheel drive layout, with a perfect 50/50 weight distribution, so it really is a sports car that will be fun to drive, and we suspect DRIFT.
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Key features of the new Supra
Packaging in pursuit of the fundamental origins of a pure sports car
To achieve excellent handling and a stable cornering stance, the three elements of wheelbase, tread, and center of gravity were positioned as the most important factors in pursuing the ideal conception of a pure sports car.
Being straightforward about the model being a two-seater, at 2,470 mm, its wheelbase is 100 mm shorter than that of the 86.
The relatively short wheelbase results in a wheelbase-to-tread ratio of 1.55, one of the smallest ratios among mass-production sports cars, contributing to excellent turning performance.
All-out efforts were made to lower the center of gravity, resulting in a lower center of gravity than in the 86, which features a horizontally opposed engine.
An ideal 50/50 distribution in front/rear weight balance, which is one of the crucial elements in determining cornering performance, was achieved.
Styling that fully leverages sports car packaging and layout characteristics
The styling is based on the concept of "Condensed Extreme L6 FR 'TOYOTA' Sports."
Exterior highlights
Side-view packaging that emphasizes the presence of the wheels and tires, thanks to a short wheelbase and large-diameter wheels
A two-seater-appropriate, close-fitting cabin and a super-wide stance born of a wide tread
The long-nose, short-cabin silhouette of an inline-6, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car
Interior highlights
The space of a quintessential front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car created by a vertically slim instrument panel and a high, wide console
A driver's seat-oriented, close-fitting, new-generation cockpit layout resulting from a shift-by-wire gearshift, an 8.8-inch TFT gauge display, and a large, full-color head-up display
By fully leveraging the sports car packaging and layout characteristics described above, efforts were made to achieve sports styling suitable for the first global model of the GR series.
The styling inherits the traditional features of Toyota sports cars, such as a "double bubble" roof, which contributes to reduced air friction (found in the Toyota 2000GT), and an approach for creating a condensed body design by positioning vehicle exterior lamps more inward from the sides of the vehicle to make the fenders appear more voluminous (found in the Toyota 2000GT and fourth-generation Supra).
A high-rigidity body for a higher state of driving performance
With a skeletal structure that employs both aluminum and steel, and by pursuing ways to increase bonding strength among materials of differing composition, body rigidity up to 2.5 times higher than that of the 86 was achieved. Rigidity is even higher than that of the Lexus LFA, which features a cabin constructed of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics.
An inline-6 turbo that carries on tradition and an inline-4 turbo to easily enjoy sporty driving
The tradition of an inline, six-cylinder engine found in successive generations of the Supra is carried on in the form of a 6.3-liter, inline-6, twin-scroll turbocharged engine*6. Maximum torque of 500 N･m is produced at a low engine revolution of 1,600 rpm, allowing exhilaration from acceleration that perfectly matches expectations in line with accelerator-pedal operation.
Available*7 are two differently tuned 2.0-liter, inline-4, twin-scroll turbocharged engines. One, with a high-performance maximum output of 190 kW (258 PS), is ideal for light, sporty driving, while the other, which musters 145 kW (197 PS), allows for a brisk driving sensation from in-town to highway.
A suspension that enables precise vehicle control
A newly designed suspension (front: double-joint spring strut; rear: multi-link) is characterized by reduced unsprung weight, high-rigidity assembly, and minute movability.
Certain grades feature the Adaptive Variable Suspension system*7, which provides a high level of both drivability and riding comfort by optimally controlling such elements as the selected driving mode and the damping force of each wheel's shock absorber depending on the conditions of the road surface.
An active differential for heightened turning performance and stability
While coordinating with the Vehicle Stability Control system, an active differential optimally controls the locking ratio between the rear left and right wheels in a stepless range of zero to 100 by way of an electronically controlled multi-plate clutch.
When entering a corner, the differential selects the locking ratio for a high level of balance between turning performance and stability. When coming out of a turn with the driver pressing on the accelerator pedal, the locking ratio is increased for optimal traction performance.
Maneuverability honed on the roads of the world
With importance placed on the environments in which customers drive in the real world, proving runs were thoroughly and repeatedly conducted on regular roads during various stages of development. Such runs naturally included racing-speed drives at Nürburgring. But numerous tests were also held on a wide range of roads throughout the world, such as country roads in Europe, the Autobahn in Germany, snow-covered and ice-covered roads in Northern Europe, highways in the United States, and winding roads in Japan. The result is tuning aimed at enabling drivers to experience the joy of driving the new Supra even in everyday situations.
*6In Japan, the RZ grade features the inline-6 and the SZ-R and SZ grades feature the two inline-4s.
*7In Japan, available on the RZ and SZ-R grades.
New Supra Main Specifications (for the Japanese market)
GradeRZSZ-RSZ
Engine displacement (liters)2.9981.998
Engine layoutInline-6Inline-4
Turbo typeTwin-scroll turbocharger
Transmission8-speed Sports Automatic Transmission
Powertrain layoutFront-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Seats2
Maximum output (kW[PS]/rpm)250[340]/5,000-6,500190[258]/5,000-6,500145[197]/4,500-6,500
Maximum torque (N･m[kgf･m]/rpm)500[51.0]/1,600-4,500400[40.8]/1,550-4,400320[32.6]/1,450-4,200
0-100km/h (seconds)4.35.26.5
Curb weight (kg)1,520 (Based on Toyota calculations)1,450 (Based on Toyota calculations)1,410 (Based on Toyota calculations)
Length (mm)4,380 (Based on Toyota calculations)
Width (mm)1,865 (Based on Toyota calculations)
Height (mm)1,295 (Based on Toyota calculations)1,290 (Based on Toyota calculations)
TiresFront 255/35R19 Rear 275/35R19Front 255/40R18 Rear 275/40R18Front 225/50R17 Rear 255/45R17
Wheelbase (mm)2,470
Front tread (mm)1,5941,609
Rear tread (mm)1,5891,616