Contents Show
Heart over head
The heart says yes, the head is screaming. A car should be gentle these days, economical and clean. But even do-gooders, who have a brave but boring Toyota Prius at the door, secretly dream of wild cornering and seconds sprints in a supercar. Like in the reborn Toyota Supra. The, or the, Supra, that's a matter of opinion, is now in the fifth generation again his muscles under an excitingly cut sheet dress with plenty of beads and edges play.
For seventeen years Supra fans had to wait for the return
After a break of seventeen years Toyota continues the tradition of the legendary two-seater 2000 GT from the sixties with the new Supra, under whose outrageously long bonnet once an 150 PS strong and longitudinally built six-cylinder did its job. Just 351 of the automobile beauties were built to make a (or a) Chevrolet Corvette and a Jaguar E-Type legs. At a price that you had to put on the table for a Porsche at the time. For this one got a natural only after today's view archaic piece of jewelery, which calls for flexibility and when switching and steering plenty of muscle power.
In the new Supra, the designers kept the classic proportions
For the visual design of the almost 4,40 meter long new Toyota Supra, the designers stuck to the classic proportions: long hood, short rear, narrow overhangs. The front appears massive with the striking grill and the two large air inlets that are responsible for engine cooling. While the nose of the vehicle is oriented flat towards the ground, the rear end of the vehicle hood is almost at the same height as the curved rear spoiler. The 19-inch models sit firmly in the rear wheel arches and push the limits of what is possible in the series today. The “double bubble” roof cites sports car history with its two bulges, reduces air resistance and expands the headroom of the driver and front passenger.
Inside, the common genes show up with the BMW Z4
While the exterior of the Toyota has retained its originality, the relationship to the BMW Z4, with which it is built at Magna in Graz and with which it shares its hardware, engine and transmission, is more pronounced. Buttons and rotary switches, the gearshift lever for the eight-speed automatic transmission, the 8,8 inch narrow infotainment display and the I-Drive control knob were largely taken over unchanged by the people of Munich.
The acronym GR stands for Gazoo Racing, the motor sports department of Toyota
The seats have a pleasantly sporty, taut cut, and the trunk has a volume of 295 liters behind the narrow loading hatch. The GR Supra - the abbreviation for Toyota's motorsport department Gazoo Racing - provides plenty of propulsion with 340 hp. The torque of 500 Newton meters is available at 1600 revolutions per minute and flows to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF. The short-ratio lower gears and the quick changeover never gave rise to the need to change gears yourself, even on the winding roads of the Palatinate Forest, not even using the shift paddles on the steering wheel. By switching from “Normal” to “Sport” driving mode, the sound, response behavior and the damper, steering and differential settings can be noticeably changed. In Europe, the Supra is also coming onto the market with an active differential, which distributes the power between the drive wheels from 0 to 100 percent in a matter of seconds, both when accelerating and braking.
Admittedly, the direct injection turbo with a standard consumption of 7,5 liters makes the Toyota Supra not exactly the economical representatives of its guild and is anything but a sensible car. If you still want to fulfill your dream of driving and not of saving with the GR Supra, you should have 62.900 euros ready and be patient until at least next spring. The quota of 300 copies for German imports is already sold out.
Text and photos: Solveig Grewe
