What Suzuki Hayabusa is to Dhoom in India, Toyota Supra is to Fast & Furious film franchise. And now, after about a two-decade hiatus, the Supra is back in a fancy new skin. While fans are excited over its return, there have been mixed reactions as to what they think about it. Unveiled during the 2019 Detroit Auto Show currently underway, the fifth-generation 2020 Toyota Supra takes design cues from FT-1 concept that first broke cover in 2014. In fact, the design and styling on the production car are very identical to the concept.
Toyota have aimed at retaining the original heritage wherever they could. But, the 2020 Supra shares the platform with the 2019 BMW Z4 and the powertrain the same as the one on the Z4’s M40i version – a 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six that sends power to the rear wheels and is paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
The Z4 M40i produces a claimed 382 horsepower and 500 Nm of torque, the Supra is rated at 335 hp and 495 Nm, which is enough for a brisk 0-100 km/h sprint time of 4.1 seconds, according to Toyota. Top speed is electronically limited to 248 km/h.
While a lot of car manufacturers are going for a wide array of drive modes, Toyota have kept it to simple two modes – Normal and Sport. Toyota have also said that the new Supra boasts of a 50:50 front/rear weight distribution, which should help with better handling.
The 2020 Toyota Supra will be available in trims, namely 3.0 and 3.0 Premium. The list of standard features includes a 6.5-inch touchscreen with Bluetooth connectivity, Alcantara upholstery, an adaptive suspension, forward collision warning, launch control, and shift paddles. 3.0 Premium models benefit from an 8.8-inch touchscreen, navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay (but no Android Auto), a 12-speaker sound system, wireless phone charging, and a color head-up display. It also gets heated, leather-upholstered seats.
The two trims will be made available after all Toyota Supra Launch Edition cars are sold out. The Launch Edition is an evolution of the 3.0 Premium with additional features like automatic emergency braking and automatic high beams. It will be limited to 1500 units.
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The interior of the Supra Launch Edition has been given red leather around the driver seat as a reminiscent of the MKIV Supra which had a driver-focussed cockpit. But in comparison, the new Supra’s dash is only a play with colour, while the older Supra’s dash was far more dramatic with sculpting and design that really rendered it as focussing on the driver.
