Why Are People So Angry About The New A90 Toyota Supra?

On paper, bringing the famous Supra nameplate back at all is a mountain-moving operation, so why is the web still full of hate for it?
Why Are People So Angry About The New A90 Toyota Supra?

There was a time when you could have put the word Supra on a lawnmower and people would have gone nuts for it. Written in that iconic paint-brush script we’d all recognise a mile away, it was a name that fuelled - or even ignited - our passion for cars.

Things seem to have changed a bit. Go on Twitter today and search for general Supra conversation and there’s a tonne of negativity about the rebirth of what was a stone-cold legend. Surely we should all be ecstatic it’s back and already be counting the days until the first drives, right?

Err, wrong. Sections of the public and media alike have grabbed their pitchforks and flaming torches, and the new Supra is the subject of a witch hunt. The angry mob says it’s not a Toyota; that it’s just a re-bodied BMW Z4 and unworthy of the Supra nameplate, which has been placed on a pedestal so high that only astronauts could have a hope of bringing it back down to earth again.

The reality, of course, is that if Toyota had had to complete the Supra project alone, it never would have got past the drawing board. To even think about competing with the legend of the A80 Supra Toyota knew that the bar had to be set ridiculously high. The A90’s torsional stiffness matches the incredible Lexus LFA’s, after all, despite using only metals rather than carbonfibre.

Why Are People So Angry About The New A90 Toyota Supra?

It’s also, in the words of the great Tetsuya Tada, the A90’s chief engineer, “the last present from Toyota to those who enjoy hearing the pleasing sound of a pure petrol engine at high revs,” so it really does have to be good. To fail here is not just to fail the Supra legacy, but to publicly shame Toyota. The company took more than double the normal development time over the car in order to get it just how it wanted. It’s going to be good.

Look on parts all around the car and you’ll see no end of BMW logos, the furious commenters have said. To that, we say: well, duh – BMW’s obligations within the contract involve supplying all that, and we’ve known as much since the project was announced. The interior is vastly more BMW than Toyota, which is a bit weird, but the Japanese giant has spent four years since last speaking to BMW about the car tweaking and honing it.

Why Are People So Angry About The New A90 Toyota Supra?

In any case, having a BMW chassis tuned by Toyota best sounds like the best of both worlds. Likewise with an engine that’s every bit as ripe for tuning as the 2JZ in the A80. The cheaper 2.0-litre Supra meanwhile is great news for anyone wanting to drop anything else under the hood, with chief engineer Tetsuya Tada instructing them “Please buy the four-cylinder. It will be cheaper,” Road & Track reported last year.

The range-topping 3.0-litre item will be boosted to within an inch of its life by tuners within months of the car going on sale. The aftermarket scene will be a distant but fully-formed echo of the A80’s. There’ll be options to lower it, add new wheels, widen the track, add more aero and so on. What’s not to love?

The number of fake vents has been blasted as well. Sure, on the road car they cheapen the look despite lowering drag versus functional vents (because emissions ratings matter). But here’s the key to Toyota’s thinking: they’re there because they can be made functional when you start to tune it. They provide neat solutions; more places to route induction tubing, mount radiators or draw hot air away, all without needing to budget for new bodywork. Call us nuts, but that’s actually really clever.

What would Toyota have had to do to avoid all the criticism it’s receiving? It would have had to come up with an impossible formula consisting of fully in-house engineering and a brand new engine instead of the unsuitable Lexus sixes. That would have led to spiralling R&D costs and a price to compete with the Porsche 911. That’s not a fight a Supra would win. Performance targets might have been clipped by budgets and the whole thing could have ended up as an under-baked, overpriced travesty.

Why Are People So Angry About The New A90 Toyota Supra?

What we’ve been given is, granted, a BMW-branded product in many areas beneath the skin. Any Supra, though, should be more than the sum of its parts no matter who supplied them. Toyota’s uncommon amount of hard work and dedication will give the A90 a DNA that’s far more in tune with what people expect in continuation of the A80 era. It may hide a few German roundels, but you can bet the new Supra has Toyota blood.

Comments

Chewbacca_buddy (McLaren squad)(VW GTI Clubsport)(McLaren 60

They hate it because it’s not the A80 and doesn’t have a 2JZ or a manual transmission option in it. It’s that simple

01/20/2019 - 14:57 |
214 | 6
BenPaye(JDMSquad)(MX5Squad)(LFAsquad)(Subie Squad) (Rotary F

In reply to by Chewbacca_budd…

Yup. And i love it

01/20/2019 - 15:11 |
6 | 2

Tuning the 2JZ to comply with today’s emission standards….

That would not happen 😂

The chief engineer says a manual is a possibly be coming in the future.

01/20/2019 - 15:45 |
88 | 2

Exactly what I say, people don’t like it because it’s not the exact same as the A80, people didn’t want a new Supra they wanted a new A80

01/20/2019 - 16:47 |
36 | 0
Lil/Turkic\Chungus 🐺🐰 (Kebab Squad) (Otaku S

In reply to by Chewbacca_budd…

If it don’t have a 2JZ, make N54 engine swap. Yes It’s still a BMW engine, but it’s based on 2JZ.

01/20/2019 - 19:39 |
2 | 8

Don’t care for the fact that it isn’t a Mk IV, it has no 2JZ or any sort of Toyota sourced Engine but i’m pissed that they don’t offer a Manual Box.
Yes the Auto is faster, more Economic and every idiot can drive it (even if the shouldn’t) but where is the fun and engagement of sorting through the Gears with your own ham fisted paws?

01/20/2019 - 22:13 |
4 | 2
Anonymous

I hate how much bmw is in the interior, Toyota just could’ve used parts from their own parts bin.

01/20/2019 - 15:02 |
18 | 4
Anton 3

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

What’s bad about a BMW interior, honestly?

Having the interior bits and pieces from a German premium manufacturer doesn’t sound too bad to me.

01/20/2019 - 15:19 |
26 | 4
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Buddy, the whole interior + the mechanicals are from BMW 😂

01/20/2019 - 15:20 |
4 | 2
Jordan 5

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

We’re all going to be tossing it in the bin here soon when we strip out the interiors ahaha

01/21/2019 - 02:15 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

People don’t want it because they were extremely vague with their demands and can’t be satisfied. While yes, it’s kinda sucks it won’t have a manual option from the factory, that can be fixed in the aftermarket soon. People are just ridiculous with the backlash over something they can’t even afford and haven’t even given a chance yet. If ya don’t like it, move along. That simple.

01/20/2019 - 15:02 |
18 | 2
Matt Robinson
Matt Robinson

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I can’t wait to see what the aftermarket world does with this thing. Only a matter of time before some drops one on massive wheels to make it look like FT-1. And then there’s the engine - a simple Stage 1 remap from Litchfield ups the B58 up to 435bhp and 425lb ft of torque. I’m with the other Matt here - BMW ingredients refined by Toyota seems like a damn good thing.

01/20/2019 - 15:15 |
42 | 2
PorscheBoi996

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The fanboys forgot to note that Toyota never said a Manual Option was off the table, they’ll probably add that option next year, and you know DINAN and AC Schitzer will go insane over the new Supra

01/20/2019 - 18:31 |
2 | 0
Twopoint0

Just bear with me for a second, if you do not like the new supra, there’s a remarkably simple solution to your problem: don’t buy it

01/20/2019 - 15:09 |
116 | 2

Most people moaning couldn’t even afford it.

01/20/2019 - 19:17 |
56 | 2
Anonymous

Point is, Toyota can make an entire car like the previous gen in the 90’s all without having to do with collabarating with another company like how they did now. Fast forward 20+ years later, Toyota sure will have the R&D capability to develop the new Supra entire by itself. If it can do that with technology that is considered to be from the Stonehenge today, Why can’t they?

I think there’s not enough competition or the era of sport cars is dead thanks to the rise of the hideous SUV’s. From the competition pov, remember when all JDM manufacturers bust their ass releasing good O’l classics like the Rx7, R34 GTR, Impreza STI, Lancer Evo, NSX etc….

Maybe there’s no point in Toyota spending millions or billions to develop an entire car of their own so they resort to collabarating with BMW for this project.

01/20/2019 - 15:18 |
42 | 8
For the love of the car

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t the 2jz made by yamaha

01/20/2019 - 15:27 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Or they could be spending that money into the Next gen Pirius 😨

01/20/2019 - 15:33 |
4 | 8
Martin Burns

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Good place to point the Lexus LC500, and the RC F, both proprietary creations of Toyota, are generally well recieved. Toyota COULD have made the new Supra anything they wanted it to be, and THAT is the issue in my opinion. The car will be a great car no doubt, the sacrilege is that they totally TOTALLY could have made it 10x what it is all on their own.

To reiterate . . . This will be a great car nonetheless

01/20/2019 - 16:27 |
20 | 4
Ruben Willems

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

You don’t seem to understand, in the 90’s Toyota had a huge sportscar branch with know-how, after they stopped making sportscars they probably lost these people that knew how to make sportscars to other places/ other expertises. Not to mention they might not know very well how to make a sporty, yet ecological engine: they outsourced the LFA’s V10 to Yamaha, most of the GT86’s boxer engine comes from Subaru asides from the direct injection (which is a Bosch technology) and the new Supra has BMW engines.

What I’m expecting is that they’re training a new sportscar division through these collaborations, so they eventually do have the know-how again to fully make their own creations again. It’s more complicated than you think: how to design and engineer the steering to “feel just right”, how to design a sporty chassis, clutch, brake system, interior, engine and then get everything to be reliable under high performance use, know the possible points of failure in each system. Unexperienced engineers possibly could leave you with something half baked, or just feeling off, plenty of historical examples of that.

01/20/2019 - 21:31 |
28 | 0
CannedRex24

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I feel like you’re not making a reasonable point.

Toyota may have billions, but to make even the slightest bit or bolt change to a car cost millions. And this is Toyota,bit somewhere in Sheffield to dump a v8 into a coupe.

Every part is built to perfection in realiablity.

It would cost just tooo much to design an entire sports car from stock

01/21/2019 - 14:29 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

hurr durr new supra bad me no likey

01/20/2019 - 15:24 |
6 | 8
Anonymous

Finally someone with good arguments that make complete sense about the Supra. Well done Matt

01/20/2019 - 15:30 |
2 | 2
Anonymous

But did you know Alcantara is a brand?

01/20/2019 - 15:54 |
4 | 24
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yes, we have all known for atleast half a year

01/20/2019 - 16:51 |
2 | 2
RonTheCarGuy (CT Jedi Order)

Am I the only one who actually likes this car

01/20/2019 - 16:05 |
0 | 0

Nope, I like it too. I think the A80 is overrated.

01/20/2019 - 16:26 |
8 | 2
ParPar Parmesan (Parmesano)

Food for thought: If Toyota went independant and made a new Supra using the now Lexus LC500, would you be upset if the price and specs are that of the LC500? (Reminder the LC500 is approx 103 000 CAD at the moment).

01/20/2019 - 16:24 |
0 | 0

Also cannot wait for the aftermarket to reap more of the car’s secretes it holds…quite happy with this turn out of a new era design of a classic :)

01/20/2019 - 16:25 |
2 | 0

Using the RC as the basis would be much more reasonable

01/20/2019 - 16:50 |
2 | 4

If the LC500 was given an inline 6 it would probably drop it down to around what the mkiv supra cost which is in the 80k range

01/20/2019 - 23:56 |
2 | 0

Topics

Manufacturers

Sponsored Posts