Now the last time I did a rant, it was on the McLaren Senna, and since then, my opinions on it have changed a little bit for the better. McLaren has done a great job with it and it’s newer lineup for the coming years. Including cars such as the Speedtail, the 720S GT3, and a new Grand Tourer coming soon. But as Geneva drops now, I totally forgot to put my input in on the Toyota Supra. Released earlier in the year at the Detroit Auto Show. So, here’s what I gotta say about the new 2019 Toyota GR Supra...
- The Let Down
Now I remember back in 2007 when I was a young boy picking up two of the coolest movies ever at the time. “The Fast and the Furious” and “2 Fast 2 Furious.” (Fast And Furious 3: Tokyo Drift soon went on to be my favorite because that’s still somewhat alive.) But I watched the absolute hell out of these movies. And nothing was better than seeing Brian’s bright Orange Supra. There was just something about it that made me absolutely adore it. But little did I know every one else was the same way too. So soon the Supra had this huge following (including me) for the longest time. And for the the longest time we all asked for a continuation car. Soon, Toyota would answer to the flash mobs...
- The FT-1 Situation
When the Toyota FT-1 Vision GranTurismo debuted at the 2014 New York Auto Show, everyone dropped what they were doing to crowd the Toyota Stands. This thing looked like the dream child between a Tuned-Out Supra, And a Corvette. This thing was something else. And I got to experience it for myself at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show. Since it was so popular it took another round the Auto Shows the next year. Auto Theorists and Car Rendation Fans were ecstatic for this thing. As it would give us a look at the next Toyota Supra. But that takes us up to today...
- Toyota GR “Slap In The Face” Supra ‘19
The day had come. Everyone had seen the teases by Toyota online, Everyone saw it run Goodwood, and everyone saw the leaked photo of a Grey Supra sitting in a shipping container, Detroit had come, and Toyota ripped the sheets off the new Toyota GR Supra. There it was, in all its glory, the people at Toyota had graced us with- wait a minute... wait... what is this? A BMW?!
- Immediate Scolding
Now we had already known for a while that BMW and Toyota were working together to make the Supra, but we didnt know that 70% of the car would literally be a BMW. The new BMW Z4 had just been released. It was like BMW shot itself in the foot, and thought that by shooting another bullet in their foot, it would heal it. They had just basically built their own enemy. The car had no styling similarities like the original. It was a lot more angular than it was then. (I guess that’s just all car styling now.) But the amount that BMW had done to it, was just silly.
- Comparisons
Now there are some comparisons i’d like to make with the Supra. The FT-1, and a BMW Z4 and X5. I wanna first start with the BMW’s. When the Supra was released, we had already known that it had shared a platform an a motor with the Z4. The engine options however, were a lot more similar to the X5. A 3.0 Litre Turbo inline-six. Now there are a lot of minor mechanical compoments that are also shared with the X5, but most of the German bits are really stashed in the interior. The parking brake, locks, door handles, air vents the whole lot. Not to even mention the styling cues ripped directly out of every BMW.
- But what about the FT-1?
Nothing... Literally nothing alike. It was like ripping out my childhood dreams. The one major detail that Toyota failed to capture in the new Supra was the extreme sportiness of the FT-1, and even the Original Supra. I could completely understand that Toyota’s motto is still about safety, economy, and reliability, but the original Supra was built to be the ultimate sports car. Regardless of the rules. And the new Supra, didn’t shadow that. Toyota knew what we all wanted, but decided not to take that route.
So this was my rant on the Toyota Z4 M40i. I tried to be more civilized about this one than I was with the Senna. Because the Supra was a big deal to me, and I had a lot to say about it. This is just all my opinion, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading. And I’ll be sure to create another humongous rant on the next big car to be laid upon the universe
