A History of the Toyota Supra: Glorified Celica to Fastly Furious Movie Star
Toyota's reboot of its legendary sports car has a lot to live up to.
The Toyota Supra has been part of the automotive lexicon for nearly 40 years. Its roots trace back to the original 1979 Toyota Celica Supra, the middle name a reference to its shared chassis with Toyota’s smaller Celica sports coupe. The two models eventually split in the mid-1980s, with the six-cylinder Supra sports coupe dropping the Celica name altogether. After evolving through four generations, Toyota's mighty Supra saw declining sales in the late 1990s, causing Toyota to pull the car from the U.S. market in 1998. (Sales continued in Japan into the early 21st century.) Despite failing to show their love with their wallets, American customers maintained an indelible love for the Supra, paving the way two decades later for a redux. That’s right-Toyota has finally filled the Supra-sized hole in our hearts with a new model for 2020. Need a refresher on what made the Supra so great in the first place? Click through for a brief history lesson:
-Greg Fink
What’s in a Name?
For its first two generations of Supra, Toyota officially names its six-cylinder coupe the Celica Supra. The name hints at what the early Supra shares with the four-cylinder Celica underneath: a common chassis. In order to squeeze the Supra’s larger engine into the Celica’s daintier frame, Toyota stretches the wheelbase by 5.1 inches.
About that engine: The original 1979 Celica Supra is powered by a 110-hp 2.6-liter inline-six. A five-speed manual transmission is standard, and a four-speed automatic is optional. In our testing, the torque-rich six pushes the Celica Supra to 60 mph in 11.2 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 18.4 seconds at 76 mph-acceptable for the time but nothing to marvel at. As the first-generation Celica Supra’s run comes to a close, it graduates to a larger 2.8-liter inline-six producing 116 horsepower.
How Supra Found Its Groove
While we appreciate the first-generation Celica Supra for its reasonable power and modern amenities, its tight cabin and numb steering make it difficult to love. Fortunately, Toyota takes our words to heart and blesses the Mark 2 Celica Supra with the sort of driving dynamics that would help it go on to snag two of our 10Best Cars awards (one in 1983 and another in 1984). We also loved our long-term ’83 example.
The second-gen Celica Supra bows for the 1982 model year and swaps the old model’s live rear axle for independent semi-trailing arms, a setup that helps earn it fourth place-beating a Ferrari, a Lotus, and two Porsches-in a 1984 Car and Driver comparison test seeking the best-handling imported car. And in 1985, the Toyota finishes second to the Audi Coupe GT in an eight-car battle to determine the best sports coupe in America. Underhood, a new twin-cam 2.8-liter inline-six corrals 145 horses, making it 29 ponies stronger than the single-cam unit it replaced.
Turbo Power!
Marketed as a 1986.5 model-year vehicle, the third-generation Supra formally sheds the Celica name. The two cars are no longer linked-the smaller four-cylinder Celica moves to a front-wheel-drive platform for 1986, while the Supra retains rear-drive. Although heavier than its predecessor, the latest Supra boasts a new 200-hp 3.0-liter inline-six.
Dick Kelley
For 1987, Toyota introduces an even more potent Supra Turbo model. Thanks to the addition of a turbocharger-bet you didn’t see that coming-the Supra Turbo’s boosted straight-six produces 230 horsepower and 246 lb-ft of torque-gains of 30 horses and 61 lb-ft. The additional oomph helps scoot a five-speed manual Supra Turbo we test to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds, 1.6 seconds quicker than the naturally aspirated Supra.
Dick Kelley
Fourth Time’s the Charm
It isn’t until the 1993 model year, though, that the Toyota Supra truly comes into its own. Redesigned from the ground up, the Mark 4 Supra wears swoopy styling that looks like no other Toyota that came before it.
David Dewhurst
To Turbo or Not to Turbo-Is That Even a Question?
Forced induction remains on the menu. While the standard Supra makes do with a 220-hp 3.0-liter inline-six, the Supra Turbo piles another 100 ponies atop that-courtesy of a pair of turbochargers-for a total of 320. In our testing, a six-speed manual Supra Turbo rockets to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds and crosses the quarter-mile marker after 13.8 seconds at 106 mph. Both figures best those posted by the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, Nissan 300ZX Turbo, and Porsche 968-all sports cars it beats in a September 1993 comparison test in this magazine. (In March of that year, we’d coaxed a particularly brisk Supra Turbo to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and through the quarter in 13.1 seconds at 109 mph.) A 1994 Turbo we test later reaches 60 mph in 6.2 seconds.
Sales Slow Up
Alas, the Supra Turbo loses its place atop the comparison-test throne in August 1997, when it is defeated by the BMW M3. Despite placing third (the then new 1997 Chevrolet Corvette takes home silver), the Supra Turbo exhibits dynamics that continue to impress us mightily, and a mere two points separate the Toyota and the BMW in our scoring. Sadly, media praise and factory price cuts weren’t reversing the Supra’s stalled sales. Toyota ditches the Supra in America, and 1998 marks the breed’s final year of U.S. sales.
Fast, Furious
Although baby boomers ignored the fourth-generation Supra, Gen Xers and millennials hold a special place in their hearts for the sports coupe. As the ’90s progress, young tuners begin picking up secondhand Supras on the used-car market, subsequently turning their prized possessions into autocross contenders, drag-racing darlings, and drift machines. The appearance of a Mark 4 model in 2001’s The Fast and the Furious street-racing flick further cements the Supra’s iconic status.
Toyota, the Tease
By the late aughts, rumors spread that Toyota plans to resurrect the Supra nameplate, and Toyota fans the flames with the FT-HS concept car at the 2007 Detroit auto show. The gasoline-electric hybrid coupe concept promises to reach 60 mph in less than 5.0 seconds thanks to 400 horsepower worth of electric motors and a 3.5-liter V-6. Appealing as it is, the FT-HS never sees the light of day outside of the show circuit.
The FT-1 Sets Fans' Hearts Aflutter
Seven years after pulling the cover off the FT-HS design exercise, Toyota brings another sports car concept to Detroit. This time dubbed FT-1, the low-slung concept car has slinky coupe styling that tugs on fans’ heartstrings. Could this finally signal the Supra’s return?
’sup, Supra?
Not long after the FT-1 lights up the auto-show scene, our intrepid spy photographers snap images of a camouflaged sports car bearing similar proportions and styling details. Then, in mid-2017, Toyota files a trademark for the Supra name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Almost two decades after giving up on the Supra, Toyota appears poised to bring the six-cylinder sports coupe back to life.
Chris Doane Automotive
The Great Gazoo
Toyota unveils the stunning Gazoo Racing (GR) Supra race car concept at the 2018 Geneva auto show. Set up to compete in various global GT racing series, it features a number of exterior parts derived from those of the forthcoming production Supra, which Toyota finally admits is really happening. While the concept lacks a powertrain, class rules require the race car to be powered by a production-based engine-although not necessarily the engine that powers the production car upon which the race car is based. (Got that?)
It's Finally Back!
Toyota's all-new A90-generation Supra debuts at the 2019 Detroit auto show. It owes much of its development and engineering to BMW, while Toyota is credited for the coupe's styling. The Supra is closely related to BMW's Z4 roadster, and instead of the legendary 2JZ inline-six, it has Munich's turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six and a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic transmission. Horsepower stands at 335, although the BMW engine can support slightly more output. Toyota says a four-cylinder model is on its way, and will be priced below the six-cylinder model's $50,920 base MSRP.
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