Toyota places the Supra at the top of its performance ladder, above the 86 coupe that’s longer, slower, and slimmer. The Supra makes up for the 86’s shortcomings with excellent grip and far more power; it’s an autocross slayer that’s fun on a racetrack, with an asterisk.
We give it a 9 for performance, thanks to excellent power in either form and supreme agility, provided you choose carefully.
The Supra’s borrowed-from-BMW running gear gets breathed on this year. Last year’s 3.0-liter turbo-6 picks up 14 percent more horsepower, rising from 335 hp to 382 hp. Torque is up 3 pound-feet, to 386 lb-ft. The big boost in output drops the 0-60 mph times from 4.1 to 3.9 seconds, and boost seems to be available anytime, since peak torque shows up at 1,600 rpm. It’s electronically limited to 155 mph. The turbo-6 has a lovely, sonorous sound, and flicks through its paddle-shifted, 8-speed-automatic gears with military swiftness.
It may be heresy, but the 255-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4 works well enough for us, thanks to its 295 lb-ft of torque, identical transmission and identical gearing. It rifles along and grunts out enough torque to hurl the Supra to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds or less. It lacks the epic soundtrack of the 6-cylinder, but it also lacks the more expensive Supra’s high-tech adaptive dampers and electronically controlled limited-slip differential.
Those pieces confused the handling of the Supra 3.0 we sampled last year during our Best Car To Buy 2020 track time. The turbo-6 Supra has a five-link rear suspension, double-jointed front strut suspension, and Comfort/Sport mode adjustable dampers. Shorter than an 86 but far more powerful, it proffered great grip, and exceptionally quick moves in and out of corners. Its electronically controlled differential would fidget as it shifted power across the rear axle on off-camber corners, and that made it difficult to press the Supra to its limit.
Toyota had set up track time with the newly refined version, but canceled it in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We haven’t been able to test what Toyota says are more refined moves thanks to better programming and a reinforced front end with tower braces and new damper tuning on the turbo-6 car.
They did provide both cars for test drives on public roads, where we fell under the Supra 2.0’s spell. With a similar suspension setup, but with smaller 18-inch wheels and less capable brakes, the turbo-4 Supra still felt more predictable and tossable than the turbo-6 car—in part because it weighs just 3,181 pounds, versus the 3.0’s 3,400 pounds. Stable but stiff of ride, the Supra 2.0 neatly flicked its way through 90-degree corners in Florida farm country, without a trace of the 3.0’s indecision, with a harmony between its steering feedback and ride control that made up for its power deficit. Big-horsepower sports cars exist for bragging rights, but sports cars as drift-worthy as the Supra 2.0 don’t need to brag.
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