Let’s not mince phrases; this automotive is misplaced right here at duPont REGISTRY. The information tells me that you just and different readers like you aren’t excited 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 most costly model at the moment on sale.
Why spend the effort and time to cowl the GR Supra, you ask? For one, among the most enjoyable and attention-grabbing automobiles on sale in the present day don’t include a six-figure price ticket, and it contextualizes the usually homogenized efficiency choices on the different finish of the value 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 “Remaining Version.” Nonetheless, this two-door sports activities automotive has obtained notable upgrades all through the years, with essentially the most vital being its adoption of a six-speed handbook 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 listing of non-obligatory 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 Bundle 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 count on from one thing with a Toyota badge, the GR Supra is well-equipped from each a expertise and a efficiency perspective. It encompasses a digital instrument cluster and an infotainment display that may be operated both by contact or bodily buttons. It rides on a set of 19-inch cast 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 not often harassed.
When the Toyota GR Supra arrived within the US, its BMW origins virtually dominated the dialog, and with good cause. Its turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six is straight from the Bavarian components bin, whereas its eight-speed auto is precisely 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 optimistic. Distill this automotive to its essence, and also you get a religious successor to the thrilling Z4 M Coupe.
In contrast to 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 strains 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 a number of days behind the wheel.
The Supra pairs its cramped cabin with stellar appears to be like that don’t require added splitters and spoilers to excel. Its physique strains make use of flowing curves slightly than sharp creases, guaranteeing it’ll age nicely. It’s a gorgeous machine that doesn’t exit of its means to make sure your consolation. It’s paying homage to a bygone period of sports activities automobiles.
This theme continues as you sort out a winding street within the Toyota GR Supra. That is the sort of sports activities automotive that’s pointless to purchase if you happen to don’t have entry to nice roads or a observe. Its electrical energy steering communicates no street suggestions, whereas its inline-six stays comparatively muted, even in Sport mode. Its suspension is agency, appropriately damped for a again street, however considerably bouncy on the freeway, and did I point out it’s arduous to see out of?
The factor is, as soon as on an excellent street, the Supra reveals its edge. As muted as its steering is, it’s ultra-quick, that means this automotive’s nostril will dart left or proper in response to the slightest enter. It’s to the purpose of being too fast, 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 completely different machines, needing a good quantity of re-calibration to settle.
On the flip aspect, nevertheless, the Toyota GR Supra is a sports activities automotive that can chunk again if provoked. It forces you to be easy 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 yr, 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 seems like its torque and energy scores ought to begin with a 4. It’s fast, 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 implausible, with a classically easy inline engine notice that might do nicely with a extra free-flowing exhaust setup.
Because the Toyota GR Supra nears the tip of manufacturing, there’s little question 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 totally loaded as-tested value of $61,840, the Supra’s flaws make it extra attention-grabbing. If we recall many of the automotive greats, few might be described as approachable and cozy. 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 mild your hair on fireplace.
