Post by racingteatray on Jun 12, 2022 11:14:49 GMT
Since I’d gone all the way to a Guildford industrial estate littered with main dealers of a wide variety of brands, and had a day of decent dry weather largely to myself, I thought it would remiss to go back to London without looking around elsewhere.
So I nipped into Toyota. Now I’m not normally remotely interested in Toyotas, even things like GT86s, but I’ve always liked the look of the latest Supra. Possibly because it resembles the old Z4 coupe, which I always loved, but also it has more or less exactly the same impressive drivetrain as my car, just in the automotive equivalent of a Japanese miniskirt. So when I recently read that a new manual version was coming out, accompanied by a few tweaks to sharpen the drive, my interest was sharpened. There are definitely days when I wonder why I don’t just get a sports car instead of a sports SUV.
I got a warm welcome. I wasn’t expecting a test drive; I really just wanted to poke around in one, but they had a grey 2.0 and a red 3.0 and were very happy to throw me the keys to either for an hour’s unaccompanied test drive. Top marks. Obviously I went for the red car…I don’t know if it was the Pro version or not. That’s largely an FG detail, so didn’t seem crucial to know.
Ooh it’s a good-looking car in the metal. My sort of car. Small and nuggety, with a long bonnet, voluptuous hips and a kicked-up rump. It’s not perfect - the air intake on the doors is heavy-handed, the headlights are possibly too long and it has exactly the same wing mirrors as my 440i, which look fine on the bigger car but look a tad boxy and oversized on the Supra. But it’s full of interest and some fabulous details, and overall it works, and better in red than grey I thought. The rear lights are gorgeous for example.
Inside, it’s undeniably closely related to a BMW, which is obviously fine by me. It starts with the key. It had exactly the same cheap-feeling BMW key as the i4 I’d driven earlier that morning. Just with red accents instead of blue ones. But for the rest, it’s hugely familiar to anyone coming from an F-generation BMW. It’s not just switchgear and the iDrive system; I’d wager it’s the same roof lining material that BMW uses, for example.
Obviously that means the infotainment and tech is logical and works intuitively. The overall dash design is different from a BMW’s though, with a horizontal design that I liked but the ergonomics aren’t as good. You only notice how everything in a BMW is subtly angled towards the driver when you get in another car where it is not. In the Supra you initially feel that the Nav screen and controls are angled away from you, as if it’s been set up for LHD. But I eventually decided it wasn’t - it was just not angled towards the driver, resulting in an optical illusion.
It’s a low cosy cabin with something of a letter box feel to the low wide windscreen. Not as pronounced as in an early TT for example, but noticeable nevertheless. You feel that you are in something small and sporty. It’s dark in there too. Everything in shades of black or dark grey, and due to the double bubble roof design, a sunroof is not possible. It felt well made though and I’d wager it had better plastics in more places that the i4. It was roomy enough for me at 5’10, but I could
imagine a taller driver might disagree. It’s strictly a 2-seater like an F-Type coupe, and I’d say it has more boot space, having poked about an F-Type coupe later in the day. Definitely enough for a couple on a week away, provided you use squishy bags due to the shape. Oddly you could see into the boot from the cabin: I don’t know if that’s normal or it has some sort of removable divider that was MIA.
So on to the drive. It fires up with a familiar BMW straight six bark. Not as aggressive as the noise my 440i makes with its MPerformance exhaust, but definitely a good statement of intent. It has the same 8spd ZF box as well but with a odd and uglier looking gear selector. Nosing out of the dealership, and given the length of nose, that’s definitely the way it feels, the first thing you notice is the ride. Much firmer and thumpier than my car. Perhaps unsurprising you might aver. But a bit more pliancy wouldn’t go amiss. It isn’t crashy. But you do feel the surface imperfections more than you might like.
I drove it on exactly the same route as the i4 for the sake of ease of comparison.
Instant impression is that it has lots of sense of occasion. You definitely feel that you are in something small, fast and interesting. People look and they smile. And this straight six is still a superlative engine. Smooth, tractable, powerful and willing. The sound in Comfort is relatively muted - similar to my car, which is no criticism. And it oozes along happily, save with the slightly thumpy ride. Doing 28mph in a 30mph zone is easy and relaxing. The i4 on the other hand needed watching in that respect - you easily went faster than you intended in that.
In Sport, I’d say the Supra’s voice is somewhere between how my car sounded when it had its original exhaust and how it sounds now with the MPerformance exhaust. The straight six has a slightly more gravelly tone to its bark and never develops the tingling howl that my car does upon provocation. But it sounds good nevertheless. And it goes. I’d say outright accelerative performance felt much of a muchness with my car. Which is to say more than sufficient. It doesn’t have the instant wallop of the i4 along the same roads but it’s very quick.
In terms of the handling, it’s wonderfully direct at lower speeds. Turn-in on corners and roundabouts is laser-sharp, with a real sense of pivoting around a point somewhere directly behind your bottom. That was a standout feature for me. It was wearing Michelin Pilot Super Sports I noticed, so how much of that is car and how much is tyres I don’t know (because my car’s turn-in has improved massively since switching to Michelins) but either way it was good.
At faster speeds on twistier country roads, it’s generally a fun companion and the small size helps you fire it along with confidence. The handling is good and balanced, and it handles changes of direction well, but it did feel less planted than the i4 with a tendency for the rear to skip/hop slightly on poor surfaces that made you need to concentrate. As such, I thought the i4 made a better fist of the tricksier, more sinuous bits of road, which is perhaps not the right way around. It’s the damping again. It doesn’t quite breathe with the road the way the best drivers cars do. It thumps (that word again) and can feel a bit floaty over undulations if you are going full banzai. My car can do the same, but it’s a largish 4 door with 45k on the clock, not a new small coupe. I read that various tweaks have been made to the chassis alongside the introduction of the manual gearbox option and that these improve the drive. Let’s see. It’s good, make no mistake. Just not amazing.
And so to the gearbox. Which I have left for last. I don’t think this automatic particularly suits the 3.0 Supra, whereas it suits my 440i to a T. It must be calibrated differently because in Sport you absolutely have to use the paddles because otherwise it simply doesn’t change gear when you want it to, hanging on to lower gears noisily way longer than required. Mine is not so afflicted. Plus there’s just a moment where you power around a bend and the whole car feels like you should reaching out to manually snick
into the next gear. I’m prepared to bet that this car with a manual gearbox will be much more fun and appealing.
That last point aside, I did really like it. It’s small (and I do like smaller cars), a cracking-looking thing, it’s appealingly left field and yet it still has some
of the best bits of a BMW (that engine and the foolproof iDrive) and I could see it being a great ownership prospect. I dare say that the new M240i is a better steer, but while
I also like the styling of that, it’s not a patch on the Supra on the sheer “toy” front, a lot of which is down to the size and styling of the Toyota.
I’ll be interested to try the manual version as and when they get a demonstrator.
So I nipped into Toyota. Now I’m not normally remotely interested in Toyotas, even things like GT86s, but I’ve always liked the look of the latest Supra. Possibly because it resembles the old Z4 coupe, which I always loved, but also it has more or less exactly the same impressive drivetrain as my car, just in the automotive equivalent of a Japanese miniskirt. So when I recently read that a new manual version was coming out, accompanied by a few tweaks to sharpen the drive, my interest was sharpened. There are definitely days when I wonder why I don’t just get a sports car instead of a sports SUV.
I got a warm welcome. I wasn’t expecting a test drive; I really just wanted to poke around in one, but they had a grey 2.0 and a red 3.0 and were very happy to throw me the keys to either for an hour’s unaccompanied test drive. Top marks. Obviously I went for the red car…I don’t know if it was the Pro version or not. That’s largely an FG detail, so didn’t seem crucial to know.
Ooh it’s a good-looking car in the metal. My sort of car. Small and nuggety, with a long bonnet, voluptuous hips and a kicked-up rump. It’s not perfect - the air intake on the doors is heavy-handed, the headlights are possibly too long and it has exactly the same wing mirrors as my 440i, which look fine on the bigger car but look a tad boxy and oversized on the Supra. But it’s full of interest and some fabulous details, and overall it works, and better in red than grey I thought. The rear lights are gorgeous for example.
Inside, it’s undeniably closely related to a BMW, which is obviously fine by me. It starts with the key. It had exactly the same cheap-feeling BMW key as the i4 I’d driven earlier that morning. Just with red accents instead of blue ones. But for the rest, it’s hugely familiar to anyone coming from an F-generation BMW. It’s not just switchgear and the iDrive system; I’d wager it’s the same roof lining material that BMW uses, for example.
Obviously that means the infotainment and tech is logical and works intuitively. The overall dash design is different from a BMW’s though, with a horizontal design that I liked but the ergonomics aren’t as good. You only notice how everything in a BMW is subtly angled towards the driver when you get in another car where it is not. In the Supra you initially feel that the Nav screen and controls are angled away from you, as if it’s been set up for LHD. But I eventually decided it wasn’t - it was just not angled towards the driver, resulting in an optical illusion.
It’s a low cosy cabin with something of a letter box feel to the low wide windscreen. Not as pronounced as in an early TT for example, but noticeable nevertheless. You feel that you are in something small and sporty. It’s dark in there too. Everything in shades of black or dark grey, and due to the double bubble roof design, a sunroof is not possible. It felt well made though and I’d wager it had better plastics in more places that the i4. It was roomy enough for me at 5’10, but I could
imagine a taller driver might disagree. It’s strictly a 2-seater like an F-Type coupe, and I’d say it has more boot space, having poked about an F-Type coupe later in the day. Definitely enough for a couple on a week away, provided you use squishy bags due to the shape. Oddly you could see into the boot from the cabin: I don’t know if that’s normal or it has some sort of removable divider that was MIA.
So on to the drive. It fires up with a familiar BMW straight six bark. Not as aggressive as the noise my 440i makes with its MPerformance exhaust, but definitely a good statement of intent. It has the same 8spd ZF box as well but with a odd and uglier looking gear selector. Nosing out of the dealership, and given the length of nose, that’s definitely the way it feels, the first thing you notice is the ride. Much firmer and thumpier than my car. Perhaps unsurprising you might aver. But a bit more pliancy wouldn’t go amiss. It isn’t crashy. But you do feel the surface imperfections more than you might like.
I drove it on exactly the same route as the i4 for the sake of ease of comparison.
Instant impression is that it has lots of sense of occasion. You definitely feel that you are in something small, fast and interesting. People look and they smile. And this straight six is still a superlative engine. Smooth, tractable, powerful and willing. The sound in Comfort is relatively muted - similar to my car, which is no criticism. And it oozes along happily, save with the slightly thumpy ride. Doing 28mph in a 30mph zone is easy and relaxing. The i4 on the other hand needed watching in that respect - you easily went faster than you intended in that.
In Sport, I’d say the Supra’s voice is somewhere between how my car sounded when it had its original exhaust and how it sounds now with the MPerformance exhaust. The straight six has a slightly more gravelly tone to its bark and never develops the tingling howl that my car does upon provocation. But it sounds good nevertheless. And it goes. I’d say outright accelerative performance felt much of a muchness with my car. Which is to say more than sufficient. It doesn’t have the instant wallop of the i4 along the same roads but it’s very quick.
In terms of the handling, it’s wonderfully direct at lower speeds. Turn-in on corners and roundabouts is laser-sharp, with a real sense of pivoting around a point somewhere directly behind your bottom. That was a standout feature for me. It was wearing Michelin Pilot Super Sports I noticed, so how much of that is car and how much is tyres I don’t know (because my car’s turn-in has improved massively since switching to Michelins) but either way it was good.
At faster speeds on twistier country roads, it’s generally a fun companion and the small size helps you fire it along with confidence. The handling is good and balanced, and it handles changes of direction well, but it did feel less planted than the i4 with a tendency for the rear to skip/hop slightly on poor surfaces that made you need to concentrate. As such, I thought the i4 made a better fist of the tricksier, more sinuous bits of road, which is perhaps not the right way around. It’s the damping again. It doesn’t quite breathe with the road the way the best drivers cars do. It thumps (that word again) and can feel a bit floaty over undulations if you are going full banzai. My car can do the same, but it’s a largish 4 door with 45k on the clock, not a new small coupe. I read that various tweaks have been made to the chassis alongside the introduction of the manual gearbox option and that these improve the drive. Let’s see. It’s good, make no mistake. Just not amazing.
And so to the gearbox. Which I have left for last. I don’t think this automatic particularly suits the 3.0 Supra, whereas it suits my 440i to a T. It must be calibrated differently because in Sport you absolutely have to use the paddles because otherwise it simply doesn’t change gear when you want it to, hanging on to lower gears noisily way longer than required. Mine is not so afflicted. Plus there’s just a moment where you power around a bend and the whole car feels like you should reaching out to manually snick
into the next gear. I’m prepared to bet that this car with a manual gearbox will be much more fun and appealing.
That last point aside, I did really like it. It’s small (and I do like smaller cars), a cracking-looking thing, it’s appealingly left field and yet it still has some
of the best bits of a BMW (that engine and the foolproof iDrive) and I could see it being a great ownership prospect. I dare say that the new M240i is a better steer, but while
I also like the styling of that, it’s not a patch on the Supra on the sheer “toy” front, a lot of which is down to the size and styling of the Toyota.
I’ll be interested to try the manual version as and when they get a demonstrator.
