In 2014, the automotive world received great news – there will soon be a Mk5 Supra. The concept shown to the world at that time was the Toyota FT-1, which was undoubtedly a very beautiful thing.
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The FT-1 was a car loved by many. Not only for the beauty of the thing, but for the name it may end up taking – Supra. The Mk5 Supra is also a car even now on many’s dream car list. Especially people born in the 90s and 90s because the Mk4 Supra was so popular yet so rare that you couldn’t get it cheap on the used car market. So they want the Mk5 Supra to be something they can own and modify.
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It’s safe to say that I’m not one of them. Not only do I dislike the mk4 Supra, but I really dislike the Mk4 Supra.
What are you talking about exactly? Hate a Mk4 Supra? You are crazy?
You can call me crazy if you want, but the mk4 Supra was never my cup of tea. It was still too heavy and too soft for me in terms of stock. There are also much nicer cars to be seen in the same segment of the market. Yes, you can add cages and support bars to stiffen it up, but my goodness, looking at the thing that rolls around Tsukuba in the old Best Motoring videos, that thing is like a pig in the corners and so on . It was horrible.
But the Supra when tuned is blazing fast. Extremely capable too.
The key word here is “listening”. I freely admit that Supra’s 2JZ is extremely capable. I often see them easily go up to 1000 hp without major modifications. The problem here is that the stocks, they’re not big. Even if the engine is, the car still won’t be as good because of an engine. Hell, you can even get one of the 2JZ engines from a Toyota Aristo, which looks like the Japanese version of the Lexus GS300. Being a company’s flagship sports car, I’d say Toyota would develop an engine from the ground up, and not just take whatever was in the company’s parts box and put it in the engine. I don’t find anything appealing myself.
The competition, however, is much more attractive. The NSX, for example, has a C30B/C32B engine built from the ground up to scare the world and show the world it can do great things. You might say “But the NSX is way more expensive than the Supra”. I get it, then, and the RX-7, a front-engine, rear-drive car like the Supra, costs about the same as the Supra. The RX-7, however, has a twin-turbocharged 13B engine, which is unlike anything else. Handling is also excellent. The Mazda is able to beat Tsukuba, stock, to the 1:04 mark, which was unheard of at the time. The Supra… no.
Credit: https://garagedreams.net/buyers-guide/buying-a-toyota-supra-mk4Credit: https://garagedreams.net/buyers-guide/buying-a-toyota-supra-mk4
I think the reason for all Supra fame is because of the Fast & Furious franchise. It made most of our minds say that a Supra is a drag race car, it’s very powerful and capable. However, that’s about it. You could say the Supra dominated the early JGTCs (Japanese GT series), but let’s not forget that when Nissan took over with the R34 GT-R, it also dominated the series. The NSX was also super appealing, the ARTA NSX even broke Tsukuba’s lap record, showing that the Supras aren’t the only great 90s Japanese-era GT race car.
Myself, unlike most people, I think the Supra is a GT car. Grand Tourer. Rather than a full-fledged sports car. That’s my problem with that, people tend to see these Supras as goddesses and so on, and yet they don’t think about other cars…that’s how overrated (if such a word exists) is sheer madness!
However, I would really like the Mk5 Supra to succeed. This would make the majority of the automotive community happy. And potentially, cool some of the heat on the Mk4 Supra. That’s my hope anyway.