The internet comments..................
Photographs Courtesy Toyota
After a 21-year absence of the Supra nameplate in the U.S., Toyota officially revealed the 2020 Toyota Supra at the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Going on sale later this year, the Supra will be available in two distinct trims: 3.0 and 3.0 Premium. Also available in limited numbers is a Launch Edition, which is based on the 3.0 Premium Trim and available in three exterior colors—Absolute Zero White, Nocturnal Black, and Renaissance Red 2.0—all accented by 19-inch matte black forged alloy wheels with red mirrored caps.
All trim levels as well as the Launch Edition will come powered by a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline 6 producing 335 horsepower and 365 ft.-lbs. of torque. This power is sent to the rear wheels via an 8-speed automatic transmission. The combination can accelerate the car from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. This very engine and transmission, as well as various other mechanical components, is also shared with the upcoming BMW Z4. Both the Supra and the Z4 are the fruits of a co-development partnership between Toyota and BMW.
MSRP starts at $49,990, though the first 1,500 units sold in the U.S. will be Launch Editions, and will start at $55,250. Want to get your hands on the first production Supra? You’ll have to be the highest bidder when it goes up for auction at the upcoming Barrett-Jackson sale in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 19th.
Although many are excited to have the Supra nameplate return, only time will tell if the 2020 Supra will live up to the expectations set by its predecessors, most notably the famous (or infamous) Mk. IV Supra. Others still feel that the Supra is destined to fail due largely in part by Toyota only offering an automatic transmission.
Do you think that the 2020 Supra will live up to its legendary nameplate, or is it just another failed attempt to revive a name with a lukewarm sports car? Better still: are you more excited about the new Supra, or the new Z4? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
The internet comments..................
In reply to Jerry :
But the BMW tuning!
I'm kinda cold on the whole thing after ten years of teasers, updates, promises, and speculation. At least they mostly got rid of the phallic nose the concept car had.
I do wonder how it is to drive.
I think I like it better in silver than in red. Still don't like that it's a Toyota wrapper over a BMW, but I'm not the target audience anyway.
Having owned or co-owned Supras of all four generations, I'm happy at a first impression. I see a lot of 2000GT in the design, a bit of third gen Viper in the line that runs from above the rear wheel to the bottom of the front wheel, and some Porsche Cayman in the hatch glass / rear fender line from a side profile. All in all, the style isn't bad as far as modern cars go.
I'm in my mid thirties, a DINK (double income, no kids) thanks to an awesome wife, and a lover of all the fun cars Toyota made. All in all... I'm probably the demographic Toyota is hoping for here. However, the lack of a manual is a non starter for me. In 18 years of driving, I've owned four cars with automatics, two of which were sedans, two of which were super clean old Toyotas. So, about one in four, I'd guess, were automatics, and never by strict choice. The other problem, for me, at least, is the 800 lb gorilla in the room: BMW reliability.
Allow me to expand on that thought. I have a 1987 Supra powered by a 1jz that I swapped in back in 2009. That engine had something like 60k to 70k miles on it when I bought it, supposedly. You know how JDM engine sellers used to be, everything had 60k on it, but JHot had a stellar ebay feedback rating. Anyway... I put another 25-30k on the engine, a lot of hard, hard miles, driven in every kind of weather imaginable. I had fun with it, every time I drove it. in five years of daily driving, I only needed to add a manual fan switch because the thermo switch didn't kick the fans on soon enough to keep things reasonably cool, and my fans sucked at the time... and I had to replace a coolant hose on the front turbo that I should have replaced when the engine was out before going in the car.
That's it. Five years of daily driving and two minor inconveniences. Took the engine apart to build it into the thing it is today, and the bearings, they literally looked brand new. The machinist that did the machine work was rather impressed at the durability of the internals. I have a feeling that very few, if any, performance BMW engines, can attest to this level of durability and longevity. It's a shame, really, I've seen monster power come out of the old S50/52/54 engines when turbocharged, but for how long, I never really heard any good stories.
As far as the performance of the Mk5 Supra goes, I suspect it will be a 12 second car right off the boat, and that people will shortly find a way to get rid of the gas particulate filter, just like they often do with the dpf on trucks. I see a good future ahead of the car, it's just gonna take some getting used to for most of us. =)
A splitter, lowered over some different wheels with more meat.................I think it's going to look amazing.
It's making me reconsider getting a new Miata this year, and waiting to get one of these instead.
I snapped a couple of pics at the show on Monday, but my stupid effing iPhone somehow got onto that useless and annoying 'Live' mode where it takes like a 1 second mini vid so they don't want to embed.
Glad they're making it. A little over styled with all the fake vents. The door vent and the area of the start of the rear fender are ridiculous. The front bumper has too much going on too. Long term reliability of the B58 probably won't be anything like the old Toyota I6 engines. The weight is okay, a little lighter would be nice but it's a $50k car in 2019. Easy to make more power with a tune at least, and it's across the board, not just a huge boost in low end torque like some of the other modern small turbo engines (+150 tq & +52 hp!!!1). I can't wait to see one in person to get a feel for the scale and proportions.
So will Toyota have the coupe before BMW gets theirs? Besides that, what reason is there to buy the Toyota over the BMW besides styling? And why is this a superior strategy to just building something more powerful and refined on the 86 platform? If I'm going to plunk down for a Toyota, I kinda want a....Toyota.
z31maniac said:A splitter, lowered over some different wheels with more meat.................I think it's going to look amazing.
It's making me reconsider getting a new Miata this year, and waiting to get one of these instead.
That's an interesting cross-shop. I'd expect this to be competing against the hotter Cameros or the Stingray, and the GT86 would be the Miata competitor.
Keith Tanner said:z31maniac said:A splitter, lowered over some different wheels with more meat.................I think it's going to look amazing.
It's making me reconsider getting a new Miata this year, and waiting to get one of these instead.
That's an interesting cross-shop. I'd expect this to be competing against the hotter Cameros or the Stingray, and the GT86 would be the Miata competitor.
It definitely is, the only thing they have in common is being a 2 seater. I know the looks are controversial, but I like it. And it grows on me every time I look at it.
But $30k vs $55k is a big jump. Not sure at that point if I'd go for a used flat-6 Cayman S or what. I don't drive that much, so it seems a bit silly to drop that much coin on a car.
I had the oil changed in the 135 a few weeks ago, 5k miles. Even with multiple trips to Tulsa from OKC, it took 1 year to rack up that many miles. Back of the napkin math shows, when the car was in town, I only put about 3500 miles on it in one year.
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