Sunday Drive: Toyota GR Supra

Sunday, 22 November 2020

• TOYOTA GR SUPRA

• Price range: $98,990

• Powertrains: 3.0-litre petrol inline six with 285kW/500Nm, 7.7L/100km, eight-speed automatic transmission, RWD.

• Body style: Two door coupe

• On sale: Now

Just a year after launching it in New Zealand, Toyota has given its revived Supra a refresh for 2021, but you could be forgiven for not actually noticing it.

That is because there are actually no visual changes – everything has taken place under the skin and out of sight. But they are rather meaningful nonetheless.

Toyota says it has made “significant changes” to the engine’s exhaust manifold and positioning of the twin-scroll turbo that have freed up an additional 35kW from the 3.0-litre straight-six turbo, lifting its maximum power output by 14 per cent to 285kW.

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While the engine also gets a new piston design that reduces the compression ratio, the exhaust manifold has been redesigned as a separate item from the cylinder head and has been modified to have six ports instead of the previous two, which Toyota says improves the twin-scroll turbocharger’s capabilities and reduces heat.

Funnily enough, all this tweaking brings the power output up to the exactly same number as the BMW Z4's 3.0-litre straight-six now has as well. Funny that.*

Much like The Song, torque remains the same at 500Nm and, yes, that clumsy Led Zeppelin reference is appropriate, because the GR Supra now also sounds significantly more bombastic thanks to the exhaust manifold tweaks. And, no doubt, also by cranking up the effect of the active sound control system…

Toyota had a 2020 model on hand for us to refresh our memories with before unleashing us in the 2021 model and, suffice to say, the soundtrack is now much more Immigrant Song than Ramble On. Actually, it is more like Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor ‘s brutal drum and synth-driven cover version from 2011. See, I’m not that old.

Anyway, we had both versions to thrash around the Hampton Downs track for a morning – which was nice – but it was utterly hosing down with rain – which was… worrying.

The Supra’s were on hand at the launch of the ballistic GR Yaris, which was AWD and therefore absolutely brilliant on the wet track, but a 285kW RWD car is different story, particularly in close proximity to unforgiving concrete walls…

So it was that a very circumspect approach was taken as we headed out of the pits in the 250kW 2020 version, and that quickly proved to be the correct approach as the Supra’s rear twitched playfully even under light throttle applications.

Would another 35kW make it an angry handful in the wet?

As it turns out, no it doesn't, but it is certainly a noticeable upgrade.

The 2021 car instantly sounds angrier (as referred to in that unnecessarily protracted Led Zeppelin metaphor earlier), but the acceleration is also significantly more insistent, and that was only on part throttle on a very slippery race track.

The 2021 car also gets new under-bonnet aluminium strut braces to improve rigidity, but they didn’t seem to affect the rear-drive drifty fun on a wet race track in any significant way.

All concerns regarding the 285kW/RWD/wet race track combo, the Supra proved itself to be a wonderfully chuckable car, even in torrential rain.

Oh sure, a certain degree of respect and common sense needed to be applied and it was nowhere near as liberating as the GR Yaris was in the wet, but it was wonderfully predictable and controllable, even if things got slightly messy coming out of a corner.

The Supra still comes standard with adaptive variable suspension system, an active differential, variable ratio steering and a performance brake package with red callipers, while inside it gets leather and Alcantara accented sports seats, a 12-speaker premium JBL sound system, 20GB internal music storage, embedded satellite navigation, an 8.8 inch infotainment touchscreen and a colour head up display.

As you would expect, it also packs a comprehensive list of safety features including front collision warning with emergency braking, attentiveness assistant, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and speed limit info.

If the standard Supra isn’t quite special enough for you Toyota New Zealand has bought in just two examples of a Limited Edition model to celebrate the launch of the upgraded model. The Limited Edition is available in an exclusive Horizon Blue colour, 19-inch matte black alloy wheels, black leather and Alcantara accented sports seats with unique blue perforation underlay and stitching.

*yes, that was sarcasm.