UNMELLOW YELLOW The GR Supra 2.0’s long hood hides 255 horses, enough to propel it from 0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds
Photo: Toyota
ALL HUMANS are mortal. Socrates is human. Therefore Socrates might be in the market for an attainably priced sports car.
The pandemic reminds us of the fragility of life but also its temporality, the end-dates of our pleasures. The Bible benchmarks the well-lived life at threescore and 10. So if I’m ever going to own that Lancia Aurelia B24 I better get cracking.
“ For gearheads, the debut of the softer GR Supra 2.0 isn’t something to live for. But they are wrong. ”
Zeitgeist alert: When the poet Horace published the phrase carpe diem—“seize the day”—Rome was emerging from decades of civil war, real legion-on-legion mayhem. When the English poet Robert Herrick published “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (1647) he was living in Westminster, London, where lodging was cheap because of the many sudden vacancies. Plague, you know.
It’s too soon to tell if there will be a YOLO-inspired mini-trend of buyers out there, scratching their dream-car itch with Jeep Gladiators, Corvette Stingrays…. Or even our test car this week, the 2021 Toyota GR Supra 2.0, saucy minx that it is. But in many ways, it’s the midprice sports car to have if you are only having one before you die.
For those just tuning in: Two decades after “The Fast and the Furious” (2001) made the fourth-gen Supra a nerdy icon, Toyota brought back the nameplate for the 2020 model year, affixing it to the sweet hinder of a car sharing rear-drive mechanicals with the BMW Z4 convertible. Those bits include the superb turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six and ZF multi-mode eight-speed automatic transmission, to which Toyota applied its own proprietary tunings.
One such parameter was horsepower. So as not to tread on the cape of project-partner Z4, Toyota initially restrained the 3.0-liter’s output to 335 hp, a respectable interval below the Bavarian roadster (382 hp). Likewise, the first year’s price ($49,990) kept its distance from the Z4 3.0 ($63,700).
For 2021, Toyota has shuffled the cards a bit. The new entry point is the GR Supra 2.0 (starting at $42,990), powered by a BMW-sourced, turbocharged 2.0-liter four, with its output parametrized at 255 hp and 295 lb-ft (at 1,550 rpm). The performance-parts list is likewise dialed back: no torque-vectoring rear differential; no adaptive suspension; smaller front brakes. With the smaller engine and these bobs, the 2.0-liter weighs 219 fewer pounds, yet still manages to retain near-perfect 50/50 weight distribution.
Meanwhile, the 3.0-liter’s wick has been turned up another 47 hp (to 382), which the company says is sufficient to shave a couple ticks off 0-60 mph acceleration, from 4.1 to 3.9 seconds. Gather citations while ye may.
I know for a lot of gearheads, the debut of the softer, slower GR Supra 2.0 is hardly something to live for. But they are wrong. Compared with the 3.0-liter, the 2.0-liter represents the most painless $8,000 you could never spend.
For one thing, what makes this car interesting isn’t its lap times but its ardent and fearless styling: the bullet nose/codpiece; the fighter-jet canopy; the seemingly pomaded filip of the rear wing; the rear fender flares, exposed like hips peeking through a high skirt slit.
Point is, the four and six-cylinder cars are virtually indistinguishable from the outside. Even the tire widths are the same. Among the few tells: the 2.0-liter’s 18-inch wheels, down from 19 inches; also, different exterior mirror caps and exhaust outlets. But your friends would have to be unbearably knowledgeable to tell.
To the parents pushing prams around my neighborhood in 100-degree weather, our red test car proved irresistible, more inviting than a daiquiri-dispensing lawn sprinkler. If I may translate from their series of gargling, Homer-like noises: They loved the tartness of the design in such a small package; they liked the intimacy of the cabin; they adored the fact that there is no practical way to fit in a child’s car seat.
The vox pop on car styling often surprises. To me, the GR Supra’s exterior styling has always looked dissonant and cartoonish. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Chewed Wad,” by Claes Oldenburg. But guess what? No one cares…
Nor did any of these admirers bemoan the paucity of cylinders or tawdry lack of rear torque vectoring.
I had a track day with first-year GR Supras at an event in Virginia last year. My notes say the car felt a little heavy, a little down on power, and kind of synthetic at the limit, as the dynamics software checked me here and there. But it was lively, capable of drifting and tail-wagging antics coming out of corners, with gutsy torque, refined revs, and perfect, robotized gear changes, thudding like boxing gloves on headgear. Still, I couldn’t imagine an owner wanting to wear out all these lux-y, high-end parts on a track.
The 2.0-liter isn’t as hooked up (5.0 seconds, 0-60 mph) and it doesn’t have the happy power oversteer (open rear differential). But it is still a hoot to drive, a little wild pony, with a brisk, if not snappy, steering response off-center (love that); snubbed down body motions, rolling in and out of corners; and loads of lateral grip. You have to really load up on cornering forces to squeak in these sneakers.
Moi? I would prefer the 2.0 liter. Eight-thousand dollars is still a lot of money. I still have my hot-air balloon lessons to pay for. And for all the performance I could safely and sanely squeeze out on the streets, the two are about the same.
But what if, let’s say, I did want to take the four-cylinder to some tracks days? From the outset Toyota engineered the GR Supra to be amateur-motorsports friendly—to be tuned, upgraded and augmented by factory and aftermarket performance mods. The 2.0’s smaller brakes and wheel/tire sets would be no problem for enthusiasts. They would get burned up during the first track weekend. Stock struts and dampers? Gone. The stereo would get binned too.
Tempus fugit, y’all.
2021 Toyota GR Supra 2.0
2021 GR Supra 2.0
Photo: ToyotaBase Price: $42,990
Price, as Tested: $47,430 (incl. destination and delivery)
Engine and Transmission: 2.0-liter turbocharged direct-injected inline four with variable cam phasing; eight-speed automatic with manual shift mode; rear-wheel drive
Power/Torque: 255 hp at 5,000 rpm/295 lb-ft at 1,550 rpm
Length/Width/Height/Wheelbase: 172.5/73.0/50.9/97.2 inches
Curb Weight: 3,181 pounds
0-60 mph: 5 seconds
Average Fuel Economy: 26 mpg (observed)
Luggage Capacity: 10.2 cubic feet
Write to Dan Neil at Dan.Neil@wsj.com
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