2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Review: Mixed Messages
Toyota has given the Supra a hoist of updates for 2021, but some questions remain with the BMW-built sports car.
“Is that a Supra?!” Stopped at a red light with the windows down, the call came from an adjacent parking lot where three young car enthusiasts were perched up against their modified rides. It only took a day behind the wheel of the 2021 Toyota GR Supra to live up to the meme.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Premium review DriveBreakFixRepeat.com Jake Stumph Racing
This wasn’t a one-off occurrence, either. Despite being on sale for over a year, and being in the sun-soaked sports car and super car hotspot that is Southern California, the Supra garners an unbelievable of attention. Enough for me to wonder aloud if the bright red Corvette I had just been driving was somehow fitted with an invisibility feature that I was unaware of.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Premium review DriveBreakFixRepeat.com Jake Stumph Racing
Despite having a footprint not much larger than the Toyota 86 sports car sold alongside it, the Supra ensnares the attention of passersby with its chiseled good looks. Curb appeal helps sell cars, and this in no doubt explains why buyers lined up in droves, willing to pay many thousands of dollars over the $56,780 asking price that this GR Supra 3.0 Premium commands, when it debuted.
On paper, the hardware looks solid, as well, with the BMW B58 engine — a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six — offering up 382 horsepower and 368 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. That’s a healthy boost from the 2020 model which had a claimed 335 horsepower, though, we all know BMW and Toyota were sandbagging with the real numbers.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Premium B58 engine review DriveBreakFixRepeat.com Jake Stumph Racing
The power bump, which now sees the Supra matching outputs with the BMW Z4 M40i that it shares much of its hardware with, comes via a revised cylinder head, lower compression pistons and new ECU mapping. Supra charges hard to the 7,000 rpm redline, but now lacks the explosive low-end torque of the 2020 model. As a result, the 2021 model doesn’t seem perceptibly faster than a 2020 Supra. Though, no one will have time to complain because the 0-60 mph dash happens in under four seconds.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Premium review DriveBreakFixRepeat.com Jake Stumph Racing
There are complaints elsewhere, though.
The 8-speed automatic transmission, supplied by ZF and tuned by BMW, is still one of the best in the business, effortlessly toggling between imperceptible smoothness around town and absolute ferocity while going through the gears on a winding road, but it’s the only transmission available. Do-it-yourselfers will have to look, well, pretty much anywhere else because most all of the Supra’s competition still offers a third-pedal option, including the forthcoming next-generation Nissan Z car, which is set to be a fierce rival.
A revised suspension setup does slightly lessen the propensity towards snappy handling at the limit, but it does still feel like the Supra rides on its rear bump stops and once the rear suspension compresses enough, runs out of travel all too easily and will have you bouncing out of the driver’s seat and headbutting that sexy low roofline. It’s a blast on the track, but blasts the neck and back on bumpy LA freeways.
Mercifully, the relationship with BMW shows in the interior with Supra feeling notably more luxe than something like a Camaro SS or Mustang GT. There is a slight disconnect when hopping into a Toyota product and having every single thing inside scream “BMW!” at you (barring a few trim pieces and the JBL Audio system), but the efficacy is hard to ignore. iDrive is clever, sometimes overly so, and everything feels substantial and leather-clad.
Unfortunately, hiccups like the well-documented, and truly unacceptable wind buffeting issues are still present, making it all a bit less pleasant that this is a sportscar that makes a nice noise, but cannot be enjoyed with the windows down for fear of having your head explode once the speedometer hits 40 mph.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 Premium review DriveBreakFixRepeat.com Jake Stumph Racing
Supra is ultimately best experienced as those kids in that parking lot in the first paragraph did, from a distance. It’s fast, competent and devilishly good looking but clinically sterile and in desperate need of some more distinctly Toyota personality infused into it. Oh, and don’t forget the stick.
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