2022 Toyota GR Supra GT review

The Japanese brand is fast developing a reputation for making great performance cars, and this one has a secret weapon taken from BMW.

Toyota’s Gazoo Racing (GR) has sent the brand’s street cred into hyperspace with its dinky GR Yaris, Gen Z-favourite GR86 coupe and flagship GR Supra sports car.

Here are five things you need to know about the Toyota GR Supra GT.

The Toyota Supra was co-developed with BMW.

Praise the motoring gods that the Supra exists

As the automotive world barrels towards an electric future, we must treasure proper petrol playthings while we can. Toyota could chase easy dollars and sell only SUVs, but instead its performance GR range has breathed new life into the Japanese giant. The Supra sports car, re-born in 2019 after a 17-year absence, carries the weight of expectation from being a Gran Turismo, Fast and Furious and street racing favourite. Two seats, rear-wheel-drive, a 285kW/500Nm turbo straight-six and 0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds equal fun. All for less than $100,000 on the road.

It looks the part with curvy, sporty styling.

Some call it a BMW in a Japanese suit

Toyota needed a turbo straight-six engine to stay true to the Supra’s heritage. Who makes a decent modern one of those? BMW. A deal was cut and the Supra and BMW Z4 were co-developed to share costs. Purists choke at this Japanese hero having a German heart, but BMW’s 3.0-litre turbo six mated to its eight-speed auto is an engineering masterclass. It gives the Supra serious wallop when pinning your right foot, a rorty note in the upper rev range and joyful exhaust pops. Silky smooth power delivery is a welcome constant.

The inside feels more like a BMW than a Toyota.

It’s a superb sports car, but something’s missing

It’s more Fast and Logical than Fast and Furious. It’s not a BMW M engine, nor is the gearbox a race-car rapid twin-clutch auto. More mongrel wouldn’t go amiss. A six-speed manual gearbox arrives later this year to boost engagement – proper drivers should wait for this. Regardless, it’s a marvellous and easy to live with sports car. Ride comfort is unexpectedly good thanks to adaptive suspension – your spine is in safe hands, even on choppy roads. The torque converter auto smoothly picks through gears without a dual-clutch auto’s jerkiness and noise suppression is such you never need shout at your passenger. Find some corners and the balance, grip and steering feedback are hugely rewarding, with a playful, slidey rear end when provoked. It can’t match its Porsche Cayman rival for mid-engine purity, but there’s fun aplenty on offer.

It oodles of fun to drive, too.

There’s lots of shock and awe for your dollars

There are body curves for days. A long aluminium bonnet, squat and well-rounded rump, double bubble roof and low-slung stance tick all the midlife crisis sports car boxes. My tester’s Monza Red added to the theatre. The Supra’s cabin has been criticised for looking and feeling just like a BMW’s. Like that’s a bad thing? It’s the classiest Toyota interior I’ve used with its heated, power and leather sports seats, excellent carbon fibre-look trim, dual-zone aircon, wireless phone charger and BMW’s centre dial controlling the 8.8-inch infotainment screen. There’s a quality European flavour to the gear shifter, switches, climate control and dash design too, while safety kit is generous. Cabin storage is terrible but an eminently practical boot redeems things.

It won’t bleed you dry

You can pay $10,000 more for a Supra GTS version with fancier alloys, optional red leather, better audio and beefier brakes, but the entry-level GT has all you need. The Supra looks and feels pricier than its $94,000 drive-away price, while warranty is five years and capped price services are $390 a year for the first five. Porsche’s warranty on the Cayman is a stingy three-years and you’ll pay an annual average of $900 a pop for servicing. It’s also easy on the fuel. The official figure is 7.7L/100km and I returned 7.9L/100km.