Among the many JDM efficiency giants that spawned within the late 1900s (that’s certainly what the youngsters are calling that period, I’m informed), the Toyota Supra was all the time one of many extra divisive examples, even discounting the BMW discourse that also canines that new one.
Entrance-engined, rear-drive, and lengthy accused of being a bit heavier than its later repute would counsel, it didn’t have the motorsport dominance of the Skyline GT-R, the mid-engined Senna aura of the NSX, the rotary quirk of the RX-7, nor the scrappy rally vitality of the Evo or WRX STi. It was its personal factor, for higher and worse, and for lots of its historical past was very a lot neglected… till, in fact, it very a lot wasn’t.
On this newest installment of Motor101, we check out each technology of the Toyota Supra, what they have been like, and what every represented on this automotive’s journey from $10,000, hunchbacked, GT spin-off to the gamer/meme-coded, half-German “10-second” icon it’s right now.
Bounce To: A40 | A60 | A70 | A80 | A90 | What’s Next?
Celica Supra A40: 1979-1981
Picture by: Toyota
Like Higher Name Saul or The Simpsons (look it up), the Toyota Supra began as a spin-off of one thing else earlier than ultimately rising right into a legend in and of itself. Initially referred to as the Toyota Celica Supra (or Celica XX in Japan), this was principally an extended, liftback, straight-six model of the Celica, launched to compete with automobiles just like the Datsun Z.
Launched for 1979 and solely on sale for 3 mannequin years, the Mk1 Celica Supra was powered by a 2.6-liter engine (a smaller 2.0-liter was additionally accessible in Japan), however this grew to 2.8 liters for the ultimate 1981 mannequin. That last iteration additionally launched an non-obligatory Sports activities Efficiency Package deal involving extra aggressive suspension and styling, however for many of its life, the first-gen Supra was very a lot a “private luxurious” coupe, and that confirmed within the styling: lengthy, breadvan-like, and vaguely regal.
Initially referred to as the Toyota Celica Supra (or Celica XX in Japan), this was principally an extended, liftback, straight-six model of the Celica, launched to compete with automobiles just like the Datsun Z.
Interval evaluations verify it from behind the wheel, with Car and Driver reporting a wallowy, Detroit-inspired experience, severe understeer, and that “you’re higher off cruising within the Supra, as a substitute of attempting to make life into one large gymkhana.” I’d additionally wish to take the chance to spotlight a line in that overview pointing this automotive out as “a TEN-GRAND Toyota” with the identical incredulity all of us had with “FIFTY-GRAND Hyundais,” like, 15 years in the past.
In any case, the OG Supra was undoubtedly a cruiser first, sports activities automotive second, however C/D concluded that “subsequent editions might go both path,” foreshadowing a transition to sports activities car-dom that might start virtually instantly however arguably wouldn’t totally full till a long time later.
Cellica Supra A60: 1982-1986
Picture by: Toyota
Ergo, the second-generation Celica Supra dropped for 1982 with a tauter, extra muscle car-esque form and, par for the ‘80s, a turbo engine. Different extraordinarily ‘80s issues included pop-up headlights and a leaner, extra chiseled design that form of makes it seem like a finances De Tomaso Pantera.
It was extra sporting as a driving machine, too, with impartial suspension throughout, designed with enter from Lotus. It was additionally the primary Supra to go racing. British touring automotive driver Win Percy (sure, that’s his identify) drove one for the 1983 and 1984 seasons, scoring an general win at Manufacturers Hatch and ending third in his class championship in the course of the latter.
The second-generation Celica Supra dropped for 1982 with a tauter, extra muscle car-esque form and, par for the ‘80s, a turbo engine.
On the road, this extra athletic nature didn’t go unnoticed with C/D declaring it “a whopping massive leap” and “the primary sports activities/GT automotive from Toyota that know [sic] its approach down the highway.” It was nonetheless a grown-up grand tourer that evoked comparisons to the outdated E-Sort Jaguar, but it surely gripped and steered properly, and the engine was easy and keen.
In the present day, the A60 Celica Supra doesn’t reside rent-free in automotive tradition’s collective head, as a few of its contemporaries or its eventual successor do. However again within the day, it meaningfully moved its lineage ahead from “barely flabby 280Z imitator” to “stable driving Toyota coupe.” It might not have been revolutionary or heroic, however it’s foundational to the Supra’s journey.
Supra A70: 1986-1993
Picture by: Toyota
A key second of stated journey is lastly dropping the Celica identify, which lastly occurred with the third-gen Supra. At this stage, Toyota had determined to department the Celica off because the front-wheel-drive coupe most knew it as within the later years.
Spanning from 1986 to 1993, the A70 Supra took the A60’s boxy, long-hooded design and smoothed out the sides a little bit. Powerplants remained straight-six-only, rising to three.0 liters exterior of Japan. However throughout the Japanese market, Toyota introduced out a brand new engine in 1990: a 2.5-liter twin-turbo known as the 1JZ-GTE, the primary in a household of motors that’d grow to be synonymous with the Supra as a complete. The Mk3 was additionally weirdly modern, debuting one thing known as Toyota Electronically Modulated Suspension (TEMS) that permit the shocks alter between three stiffness settings—principally an early model of the adjustable dampers ubiquitous right now.
A key second of stated journey is lastly dropping the Celica identify, which lastly occurred with the third-gen Supra.
In accordance with C/D, this automotive firmly belonged in “the massive leagues” and was deceptively speedy in Turbo kind, in a position to “clip apexes with one of the best of them.” The mannequin peaked with the 270-horsepower 3.0GT Turbo A, a homologation particular that Toyota claims to have been the quickest Japanese automotive on the time.
Nearly as good because it was, the A70 Supra nonetheless very a lot lives within the shadow of what would come subsequent. However its relative lowkey-ness is strictly what makes it accessible to its followers, who principally include JDM fanatics on the lookout for Mk4-like tuning potential with out the hype tax.
Supra A80: 1994-2002
Picture by: Toyota
For individuals who can certainly afford it, although, that is the one. It’s the automotive most individuals nonetheless image when the phrase “Supra” is uttered. It’s the one fanatics want have been nonetheless reasonably priced to allow them to construct one which makes 1,500 horsepower with out blinking. It’s the one actual reply to the massive query of, “Is {that a} Supra?!”
It’s the Mk4. The A80. The Toyota Supra.
Powered by the legendarily stout and tunable 2JZ 3.0-liter straight-six whereas rocking a flowing, borderline bulbous design that harked again to the 2000GT, the fourth-gen Supra first dropped for the 1994 mannequin 12 months within the U.S. (Japan acquired it in ‘93.) This period is now widely known because the golden age of Japanese efficiency, with the A80 Supra sitting alongside machines just like the FD Mazda RX-7, the unique Honda NSX, and Nissan’s Skyline GT-R on Japan’s automotive Mount Rushmore—all making “276” hp, in fact, per the nation’s gentleman’s settlement. (European Toyota literature now admits it made 326 hp.)
For individuals who can certainly afford it, although, that is the one. It’s the automotive most individuals nonetheless image when the phrase “Supra” is uttered.
Lighter and decrease than the earlier gen, C/D praised the A80’s sturdy straight-line efficiency—zero to 60 mph was handled in simply 4.6 seconds—”granite tombstone” high-speed stability, and a guide shifter that was “virtually as slick and speedy as that in a Miata.”
Nonetheless, like Walter White or Bryan Cranston himself, the Mk4 Supra made its greatest splash comparatively late in life. Automobile-obsessed avid gamers already knew it from Gran Turismo, however widespread cultural recognition didn’t come till a little bit film known as The Quick and the Livid dropped in 2001, and the phrases “2JZ, no shit” grew to become canon. Painted vivid orange and pushed within the film’s climax by the late Paul Walker, the Supra was the hero automotive during which JDM tradition as a complete entered the automotive mainstream.
In the present day, the A80 Toyota Supra is automotive royalty for fanatics underneath a sure age. Between Brian O’Connor positively smoking that finance bro’s Ferrari 355 up PCH, “Smokey” Nagata getting arrested after going practically 200 mph on a public highway within the U.Okay. in an RB26-swapped instance, and blasting by profession races in a Castrol Tom’s JGTC race automotive in your PlayStation 2, everyone is aware of the Supra and what it’s able to. On public sale websites like Bring a Trailer, the ground for twin-turbo A80s is about $50,000 now, whereas clear, low-mileage examples can simply commerce for over $100,000 and past.
“TEN-GRAND Toyota?” Yeah, we want.
Supra A90: 2020-2026
Picture by: Toyota
The Supra went quiet for a lot of the 2000s, however rumblings of its return began close to the tip of that decade. The 2010s have been an extended, excruciating drip-feed of rumors, trademark filings, spy pictures, and camouflaged teasers, however eventually, the production-ready Mk5 Supra was unveiled on the 2019 Detroit Auto Present.
Impressed by the wild FT-1 idea from 2014, the brand new A90 was styled very very like a modern-day tribute to the A80 with wide-flowing fenders and vaguely related fascias on each ends. Controversy adopted, nevertheless, whenever you regarded beneath the pores and skin. Presumably spurred on by the success of the Subaru three way partnership that was the revived 86, the A90—formally referred to as the GR Supra, as in Gazoo Racing—is, in most materials methods, a BMW beneath.
Impressed by the wild FT-1 idea from 2014, the brand new A90 was styled very very like a modern-day tribute to the A80 with wide-flowing fenders and vaguely related fascias on each ends.
The chassis is claimed to be co-developed, the skin-deep aesthetic could be very a lot a Toyota creation, and Japanese engineers did do last tuning on the automotive to make it really feel distinct from its Z4 twin. However there’s little getting round the truth that it actually smells like a BMW inside, it makes use of BMW switchgear, the infotainment system is simply reskinned iDrive, and the three.0-liter turbocharged straight-six underneath the hood is BMW’s B58, making 382 horsepower—or 335 should you purchased a first-year automotive due to… causes.
As if that wasn’t divisive sufficient, the Supra may very well be had with an entry-level four-cylinder for the very first time: BMW’s B48 2.0-liter. Oh, and it additionally took till the 2023 mannequin 12 months for Toyota to lastly supply a guide transmission.
The excellent news, although, is that by most goal measures and opinions, the GR Supra is an excellent sports activities automotive, with Motor1 editor-in-chief Jeff Perez calling it “stupidly fast” and “a hell of a superb time” in guide kind. Dropping just about any pretense of comfortable, long-legged grand touring, the Supra lastly developed into the rowdy sports activities automotive its fanboys all the time secretly hoped it may very well be. All it took was 40 years and a partnership with Germany to make it occur.
What’s Subsequent?
After seven years of level-headed skilled reward countered by BMW-snark feedback on-line, GR Supra manufacturing is ending in March 2026. Don’t fret—the Mk6 Supra Rumor Industrial Complicated is already operating, with a Japanese publication alleging the subsequent one shall be a mid-engined hybrid four-cylinder making 500 hp.
Earlier than that does or doesn’t occur, although, Toyota is making 300 pumped-up Remaining Version A90s for Europe and Japan with a bunch of carbon aero bits, KW suspension, an Akrapovic exhaust, Brembo brakes, Recaro seats, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, and 429 hp.
Not a nasty spot to land for a automotive that started off life as an elongated, barely floaty Celica.
