Let’s not mince phrases; this automotive is misplaced right here at duPont REGISTRY. The info tells me that you just and different readers like you aren’t eager about autos priced beneath $100,000. With an as-tested value of $61,840, the 2025 Toyota GR Supra doesn’t even come near that determine. And I haven’t but talked about that the automotive I’m on this week is the range-topping 3.0 Premium, making it the costliest model presently on sale.
Why spend the effort and time to cowl the GR Supra, you ask? For one, among the most fun and attention-grabbing automobiles on sale right this moment don’t include a six-figure price ticket, and it contextualizes the usually homogenized efficiency choices on the different finish of the worth spectrum. Extra importantly, this two-door Toyota serves as a reminder of what we’ve misplaced, of a time when sports activities automobiles had an edge. Whereas virtually each new quick machine is user-friendly and approachable, that wasn’t at all times the case. The Supra bites again, and it’s all the higher for it.
Toyota GR Supra is on its means out. Unveiled in early 2019, this fifth-generation mannequin is predicted to exit of manufacturing within the close to future. The Japanese carmaker just about confirmed this by unveiling its newest “Closing Version.” Nonetheless, this two-door sports activities automotive has acquired notable upgrades all through the years, with essentially the most vital being its adoption of a six-speed guide transmission, making my tester’s ZF-sourced eight-speed auto now not the default choice.
Provided in each 3.0 and three.0 Premium trims, the Toyota GR Supra has a brief record of non-compulsory extras. The bottom automotive begins at $57,385, together with a $1,135 vacation spot price, whereas the range-topper bumps that determine to $60,535. For that small premium, power-adjustable seats trimmed in both black or, like my tester, hazelnut-colored leather-based. This Absolute Zero-finished instance provides a Driver Help Package deal for $1,195 and a Carpet Cargo Mat for $110, bringing its as-tested value as much as that aforementioned $61,840 quantity.
As you’d anticipate from one thing with a Toyota badge, the GR Supra is well-equipped from each a expertise and a efficiency perspective. It incorporates a digital instrument cluster and an infotainment display screen that may be operated both by contact or bodily buttons. It rides on a set of 19-inch solid wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Tremendous Sport tires, measuring 255/35 on the entrance and 275/35 on the rear. It slows itself with four-piston Brembo calipers up entrance, though given this automotive’s 3,411-pound curb weight, they’re hardly ever confused.
When the Toyota GR Supra arrived within the US, its BMW origins virtually dominated the dialog, and with good motive. Its turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six is straight from the Bavarian components bin, whereas its eight-speed auto is strictly what you’ll discover in its mechanical twin, the BMW Z4. Nevertheless, for these nostalgic of early 2000s sports activities automobiles, this can be a constructive. Distill this automotive to its essence, and also you get a non secular successor to the thrilling Z4 M Coupe.
Not like many trendy M automobiles, such because the M2 and M4, that are luxurious cruisers masked as sports activities automobiles, the Toyota Supra is the actual deal. It sits low, accented by bulging fenders, an extended hood, and a cabin positioned simply forward of the rear axle. You additionally get a low seating place, made all of the extra evident by the Supra’s excessive shoulder traces and slim entrance window.
The place of its steering wheel and pedals is ideal for a sports activities automotive, though its sloping roof makes ingress and diploma difficult. Outward visibility is abysmal, though you get used to it after just a few days behind the wheel.
The Supra pairs its cramped cabin with stellar appears that don’t require added splitters and spoilers to excel. Its physique traces make use of flowing curves relatively than sharp creases, making certain it’ll age effectively. It’s an attractive machine that doesn’t exit of its means to make sure your consolation. It’s harking back to a bygone period of sports activities automobiles.
This theme continues as you deal with a winding highway within the Toyota GR Supra. That is the sort of sports activities automotive that’s pointless to purchase for those who don’t have entry to nice roads or a observe. Its electrical energy steering communicates no highway suggestions, whereas its inline-six stays comparatively muted, even in Sport mode. Its suspension is agency, appropriately damped for a again highway, however considerably bouncy on the freeway, and did I point out it’s onerous to see out of?
The factor is, as soon as on an excellent highway, the Supra reveals its edge. As muted as its steering is, it’s ultra-quick, which means this automotive’s nostril will dart left or proper in response to the slightest enter. It’s to the purpose of being too speedy, which, mixed with most of its weight sitting nearer to its entrance axle, leads to a rear finish that comes round immediately and with out discover. It’s as if its entrance and rear ends belong to totally different machines, needing a good quantity of re-calibration to settle.
On the flip facet, nevertheless, the Toyota GR Supra is a sports activities automotive that can chew again if provoked. It forces you to be clean together with your inputs and aware of what that rear axle is doing always. Whereas the Japanese carmaker retuned this automotive’s suspension for the 2023 mannequin 12 months, that includes MacPherson struts up entrance and a multi-link setup within the rear, its snappy persona endures. Get it proper, and the Supra rewards you with little physique roll within the bends and a good quantity of high-speed stability. It’s solely as you strategy its limits that its persona shifts.
Its turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six is a monster of an engine. The Supra’s 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque really feel grossly underestimated in the actual world. Paired with this tester’s lightning-fast eight-speed auto, this BMW-sourced coronary heart appears like its torque and energy scores ought to begin with a 4. It’s speedy, with glorious torque availability throughout the rev vary, and regardless of being turbocharged, it doesn’t exhibit a lot lag in its energy supply. It even sounds improbable, with a classically clean inline engine notice that may do effectively with a extra free-flowing exhaust setup.
Because the Toyota GR Supra nears the tip of manufacturing, there’s little doubt that it stays a flawed sports activities automotive. Its cabin is cramped, its restrict dealing with is unpredictable, and it’s far too quiet for a machine that appears this good.
Nevertheless, for its absolutely loaded as-tested value of $61,840, the Supra’s flaws make it extra attention-grabbing. If we recall a lot of the automotive greats, few may be described as approachable and comfy. It’s this slight discomfort paired with an edgy persona that creates a memorable driving expertise. And whereas the Supra isn’t fairly one of many greats, it serves as a reminder {that a} machine that’s too buttoned down won’t ever gentle your hair on fireplace.
