Any indication of date?
Test drives are at the end of next month at Thruxton race course.
Then delivery is September-ish.
I'd like to add my 2p being a die hard supra fan and someone who has owned a few (n/a auto & UK spec TT auto).
People are whinging about it because that's what people do. A focused petrol sports car in 2019 should be celebrated not shamed.
Point 1 : "it's a BMW m8"
Not true. It has a co-developed chassis with BMW and uses a BMW engine, drivetrain & infotainment. Once the bare bones of that was done both parties went their separate ways. Adjustments and tweaks were made by Toyota. Yes it is slightly disappointing to even the fan boy in me that the engine is BMW however, it is a straight 6 turbo, true to the A80. Also the engine is a very good one, if we wade past the rose tinted nostalgia we couldn't of asked for a much better engine really.
Point 2 : "not a proper supra, A80 was better stock for stock"
The supposed "desecration" of the Supra name is laughable. The A80 supra in stock form is not impressive, either slow (n/a) or laggy (TT) with the handling of an oil tanker. The interior looked unique but is very Jap (cheap). The main pull is those gorgeous swooping coupe looks, which in the right colour and tasteful (OEM+ mods) makes the car look almost timeless to my eyes.
The Supra had it's looks and it's potential when tuned.
Point 3: "It's well too expensive m8"
The A80 Supra in the UK was an expensive car, which is why only around 500 we officially imported as UK cars. They retailed at crica £40K in 1993 which works out to £80K in today's money. So the new A90 Supra is £30K/37.5% cheaper than the old model.
Point 4: "No manual, as if, not my supra m8"
Most A80 supras were Automatic, cue many memes and jokes as people on the internet believe that only "real drivers" will settle for a manual. I call BS, for one I have owned two autos, they fit the nature of the A80 perfectly and two look at the trend with all performance cars. Supercars, hot hatches, coupes, etc all packing autos. The auto box of 2019 is not your 4 speed 1993 transmission.
Point 5: "I'm not buying one, I'll stick to my old A80 or proper drivers car *insert old jap car here*"
That's fine, no one is forcing you to buy it. In fact you can't, at least for a few years in the UK at least. Are you in the market for a £50K sports coupe? Most likely no. So your opinion on brand new cars becomes somewhat irrelevant. As you are not the target market.
Point 6: "why didn't they make it a super car slayer like the GTR/NSX etc and be a true legend m8"
Because the GTR already has that crown. You would be stupid to go and try and dethrone such a car which has been established now for over a decade, has an insane tuning scene and still destroys much newer (and bigger budget brand cars) for only £85K new.
Also look at how well the Honda/Acura NSX has done. It's an amazing feat of machinery but the sales are nothing. Why would Toyota want to emulate that? people forget that the original NSX was a cut above the old Supra anyway, so they were never on the same platform. The GTR only got to it's loft heights as Nissan got rid of the Skyline tag and focused everything into making a true 911 competitor.
Summary:
- Faster than the old A80 supra 0-60 sub 4 seconds (stock for stock)
- Significantly cheaper than the A80 (37.5% less MSRP)
- Promising signs from the B58 engine that it will be tunable
- Already dynoing at above stock rated power
(not 100% confirmed though)
- Looks like nothing else, unique, ugly, conceptual, it's polarising and personally I like it
- It's a petrol sports car in 2019 that actually is a sports car from the ground up, (not a go faster hatch or M/AMG/RS) RWD, petrol, 6 cyclinders, ooof
I'm trying not to be biased, as I have ordered one. I always said if they made the new Supra like the GT86 but with more refinement and power it would be a winner and guess what, it looks like that's nearly exactly what they have done