The fifth-generation Supra gets criticized way too often for all the wrong reasons by people who clearly don't understand sports cars. Ignoring the faux vents and base four-cylinder mill, Toyota's flagship sports car is a surprisingly competent machine, even in a straight line. Case in point: the gray-painted model in the video below shames the Nissan Z and new BMW M2 in three out of four races!
How did it do that? For starters, it hooks up much better than the G87 and RZ32. Secondly, the B58 that BMW M used to develop the S58 in that M2 is a seriously impressive lump.
Proven to more than 1,000 horsepower, the modern-day equivalent to the 2JZ is available in many tunes. In this application, the numbers are 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet (500 Nm) of torque. Except they're not because – time and again – dyno testing revealed that BMW is underrating it.
The same applies to the S58, which could be featured in a future version of the Supra. Hearsay suggests the GRMN handle for this hi-po specification, although we're not sure that BMW M would ever let another manufacturer use their engine. Speaking of which, the G87 is rocking – on paper – 453 ponies and 406 pound-feet (550 Nm). It's a big difference over the Supra's B58, yet power and torque isn't everything there is to straight-line performance. Traction control, the choice of tires, and weight also matter.
Weight stands out like a sore thumb in the Bimmer's case, with the M2 tipping the scales at 3,814 pounds (1,730 kilograms). By comparison, the Z4 M40i-twinned GR Supra 3.0 is a featherweight at 3,343 pounds (1,516 kilograms). The Z slots bang in the middle, weighing in at 3,507 pounds (1,591 kilograms). It also happens to be the least powerful (400 hp) and least torquey (350 lb-ft or 475 Nm) sports car of the three, which isn't all that surprising because Nissan still uses the FM platform from the 370Z and 350Z.
The V6-powered Z really struggles from a dig, and it simply cannot do anything to the I6-engined Toyota GR Supra and 2023 model year BMW M2 from a rolling start. On the other hand, it's also the most affordable of the bunch at $40,999 compared to $59,445 and $62,200.
Equipped with six-speed manuals, the hard-topped coupes in the featured clip all have their strengths and weaknesses. However, the Supra is much obliged to school them in the quarter mile with a 12.4-seconds pass compared to 12.6 for the M2 and 12.9 for the Z. Curiously enough, the M2 once launched better than the Supra, clocking 3.8 seconds to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) versus 3.9 clicks.
The question is, which of these cars would you like to own and why would you pick it over the others?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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