When Bushido Meets Blitzkrieg - The All-New Toyota Supra.

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kingr
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When Bushido Meets Blitzkrieg - The All-New Toyota Supra.

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The prodigal-san returns, but has it been worth the wait? After teasing fans in 2007 and 2014, the iconic badge finally made its debut at the beginning of this year in Motown, U.S. The setting couldn't have been better - derelict Detroit, once the mecca of post-war American automotive manufacturing, now unveiling the badge that's synonymous with Japanese car culture. The Supra is what the VW Beetle is to the Germans, what the Daytona is to Italians or Hong-Kong is to the Chinese. It's not only among petrolheads that the iconic badge has a special place, for gamers and movie fans alike the new Supra is a harkening back to the "good old days" of the Need For Speed and the Fast and the Furious franchise. For any global manufacturing marquee, to replicate the success of a previous iconic model is a tall-order and the Supra, doubly-so.

The new Toyota Supra is more blitzkrieg than bushido, a ronin among the samurai - for purists, the ultimate betrayal. But for those of you that can look past the fact that the Supra is essentially a BMW Z4 dressed in Geisha clothing, the MK5 has some astonishing credentials.

Overview:

When Akio Toyoda, current dynastic president of Toyota and great-grandson of the father of the Japanese industrial revolution, released the details about the new Supra there was an evident backlash among fans. Instead of building the Supra from scratch, a halo model and made with local hands, Toyota teamed up with BMW. While previous collaborations have yielded satisfactory results, like the GT86/BRZ and Aygo/Peugeot 108, this isn't some run-of-mill budget hatchback or two-seater sports roadster. The Supra is part-and-parcel of Japanese car folklore. For die-hard fans, the news felt like an ominous foreshadowing of a car about to lose its quintessential essence - see new BMW 1-series.

However, chief engineer at Toyota allayed fears that the motivation to build from the Z4 platform and have the BMW Austrian factory roll-out the new Supra, wasn't an attempt to cut corners and perniciously capitalize off a valuable badge. Rather, it was Toyota's only avenue to keep the Supra as close to its predecessors as possible.

The Supra has always housed a straight 6-cylinder engine, going as far back as the 1979 MK1 with the 92kW 5ME I6 and as recently as the twin-turbo 2JZ 243kW inline 6-cylinder MK4. With the new MK5 Supra, the glaring problem that the Japanese manufactured faced was that Toyota doesn't make 6-cylinder engines anymore. So not only would Toyota have to develop a whole new engine design, it would have to build an entirely new plant to roll the MK5 out. Rather than run the risk of a potentially hazardous new platform, Toyota decided to team up with a reliable and knowledgeable partner.

For fans, perhaps this is the silver lining because as far as straight six-cylinder engines go, BMW produces some damn good ones that are also highly tunable, like the N55 engine fitted to the 335i, 135i, M235i and M2 - and the Supra's performance figures show that. Initially, the new Supra was going to be based off the 2-Series coupe with a shortened wheel-base until the last minute when the Z4 was brought in, and the results look promising - on paper at least.

So far Toyota has announced 3 models that will house the RWD 3.0L B58 BMW 6-cylinder engine, with different trim levels. Namely, the standard GR Supra, premium, and the limited-run launch edition.

Exterior

While the Supra was developed in tandem with the BMW roadster, it looks nothing like the fish-grilled, bulky Z4 - thankfully. According to Toyota's design team, the new Supra follows its "Condensed Extreme" design language, which essentially means a short wheel-base, wide and low profile with massive 19-inch wheels that fit perfectly into the Supra's voluptuous hips. An elongated bonnet, double-bubble roof and shortened rear (which looks strikingly similar to the old 2003 BMW Z4 rather than an ode to the old Supra as Toyota declares) complete the modern and slick looking profile. Massive 4-inch Brembo brakes and 19-inch rims come as standard as well. The launch edition will have the unique matte coat and twin-spoke wheels with a matte finish along with the special edition badges.

Despite cutting the wheel-base and length to 2469mm and 4382mm respectively and housing a heavy 3.0L engine, the Supra has a perfect 50:50 weight distribution - those numbers are nearly identical to the exciting, corner killer Porsche 718 Cayman. The wheel to track width ratio is 1.55 - within the goldie-locks zone for optimal handling. All this sounds very promising, and Toyota has undoubtedly done its homework.

But there's one element that ruins the whole picture - for me at least. The front-grille, side panel and underneath the taillights have prominent cooling vents. And you would hope that they would serve their purpose of sucking fresh air over the brakes or to keep the high performing engine well ventilated. But they don't. All of the cooling vents that adorn the Supra are fake. They're about as performance-enhancing as slapping an M-badge on the back of a BMW 320d after you've bought it.

If you can overlook the disappointing marketing gimmick, the new Toyota Supra looks every bit as exciting as its performance entails.

Interior:

Usually, when it comes to cars that have been developed in a collaborative effort, or even models flying under the same marquee, you can expect and overlook the fact that it will share interior parts with other models. You can point out that the dashboard of the Seat Ibiza is precisely the same as the VW Polo, you can see that the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio are essentially twins separated at birth. But slide yourself into the Toyota Supra, and it's like you bought yourself a Z4 instead. Virtually identical. Besides the steering wheel and rev-counter, almost everything you see in the Supra you will find in the BMW Z4. The switchgear, screens, door handles are all BMW's, even down to the USB slots.

Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, many would prefer BMW's iDrive system to anything that Toyota could conjure up, and you know you're getting a quality and comfortable interior that the German marquee is known for, but couldn't one of the world's largest manufacturers at least try to inject some authenticity?

Another upside is that a lot of the potentially expensive luxury components come as standard (hint hint, nudge BMW) in the Supra. The entry-level GR 3.0 Supra will have dual-zone aircon, keyless entry and start, adaptive LED headlamps and cruise control, a wide range of safety equipment, the 8.8 inch BMW infotainment screen, along with Alcantara seats as standard. The entry-level will also house an attractive full LCD digital gauge cluster with paddle shifters. If you move up a trim level, the premium will exchange the stock sound system with a 500W, 12-speak JBL surround-sound system. The premium trim level will also get you the Supra Connect system which is command and voice control, wireless Apple CarPlay and a very futuristic wireless smartphone charging tray. The Launch Edition will include all premium features along with special edition red-trimmed sports seats, a unique serialized number along with carbon accents in the interior.

The interior of the Supra is wholly German. For fans, and owners of BMW's interior, the Supra will feel very familiar - which is why you would want it, but also why you don't. Nevertheless, the Supra's interior oozes quality and with luxury additions that come standard.

Performance:

The most important aspect and where the Supra shines is its performance figures. All models will house BMW's B58 3.0L 6-cylinder twin-scroll turbocharged engine mated to an 8-speed ZF automatic gearbox and to many fans relief, the drivetrain will be rear-wheel drive. The front-suspension will feature a familiar McPherson system layout with a multi-link rear-end suspension system to handle that backend drift. Many fans were hoping that Toyota would introduce a manual gearbox, but that seems out of the question.

The performance figures are pretty much identical to the Z4 M40i and faster than the new BMW M140i, with 249kW/500Nm at your disposal. Stated performance figures say the Toyota Supra will launch from 0-100 in 4.3 seconds and maxing out at a top speed of 250km/h with a fuel economy of 7.7 l/100km. Those figures are in the territory of Aston Martin Vantage, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and the BMW M3's.

Price:

The entry-level Supra will come in at R953,000. With all the premium comforts, the upper-level trims will cost you around R1,092,300.

Summary:

While the decision to build the new Supra in tandem with the BMW Z4 may have seemed like the most viable choice for Toyota, but for many purists, it seems like sacrilege with a market already dominated by German manufacturing. However, there's a reason why the Germans dominate the market. We'll just have to see how consumers react in the months to come.

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