Page 103 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)
P. 103
Oh, how right you are. Fast and lean, and delivering huge thrills at a low
price, the TOYOTA GR SUPRA is back and ready for a new cult following.
By Kevin Sintumuang Photograph by Alex Bernstein
IN LOS ANGELES, land of cool cars, it’s very likely your fancy young people via racing games? We’ll leave that to the comment-
automobile will be flat-out ignored. Ferrari? “Meh. Seen that.” ers on the Supra subreddit. What we can tell you definitively: It
Porsche? That’s practically the People’s Car here. But the new is pure joy on four wheels. Short with a wide, agile stance, it will
Toyota GR Supra? Folks in pickup trucks will come up to you for leave you with a stupid smile as you toss it through winding roads
selfies. Guys in business suits will flash thumbs-ups. People will with speed, or even just cruise through town, its 335 hp, 365 lb-ft
shout, “SUUUPRA!” It’s like that rare approachable celebrity inline-6 tuned to still emanate an attention-grabbing burble. It
that everyone wants to give a high five. does all of this straight out of the box. But it is a Supra, so expect
It’s been more than twenty years since a new Supra hit the to be asked how you’ve, ahem, souped it up.
streets of America, and it took some unconventional interna- While the future is electric, the Supra makes a big case for the
tional alliances to conjure. The car is a collaboration between internal combustion engine in a way no one-percent V-12 supercar
Toyota (Japan) and BMW (Germany) and is built in the city of ever could. The thrill of a rumbling two-seater is primal and real,
Graz (Austria). As it shares a platform and a drivetrain with the and it should live on in a stylish vehicle with a non-bank-account-
BMW Z4, there is the question: Is this a real Supra, like the tuner busting price—it starts at $50,945. Sports cars need to be for
legend of the mid-nineties that’s been seared into the minds of everyone, and the new Supra delivers. Power to the people.
