Another month, another work vehicle to drive.
This is a company owned 2020, and it has definitely not lived the easiest life for the last two years. I don’t regularly build parts for these, it’s basically just been bastardized testing a hundred other brands parts by our sister company marketing department. It was broken and needed some cleaning up, so I borrowed it for a couple weeks to get it back to good condition.
This car is the 3.0 model, so from the factory something like 330hp at the crank, but it does have a few mods and the butt dyno says it probably is pushing 375 at the wheels. It’s very quick, enough to totally get myself in trouble. I was honestly very excited to have it to myself for a bit, but I have to admit that I’m a little let down, for reasons I’ll explain.
First, the good. As mentioned, very quick. It will hit 110 before you know it, and it only feels like 65. Great high speed stability. When in normal mode, it’s also fairly quiet and comfortable on long drives. It would be a great car to take on a weekend getaway on a long highway.
Hit the sport mode button, and it changes 4 settings. Damping, steering, engine, and transmission. I don’t know if this car has an active exhaust (currently has an HKS cat back on it and I didn’t need to mess with it), but either way, hitting the sport button totally wakes up the cad. Revs bump up to 3k, and the car is noticeably peppier. The DCT does bless with you with amazing “burps” on upshifts at WOT and nasty pops on the downshifts that make you feel like you’re in a race car. It’s glorious. In normal sport mode, the stability control does a fantastic job of converting all throttle to direct acceleration without letting the back end out one bit, but one more button push will get you into a freeing mode that lets you swing the back end around as much as you want. It does have super wide and sticky rear tires, so it’s a little tricky to control. You can get a little bit of slide, while it fights for traction, then the next second you’re completely sideways. I’ll admit that I had flashes of mustangs leaving car meets while trying this.
Steering feel is 8/10, better than most modern cars I’ve driven, but not perfect. Brakes are EXTREMELY touchy, I felt like I was even a bit jerky coming to a stop at stop lights. Great at higher speeds when a deer jumped in front of me though.
I know people have been screaming for a manual transmission, but I actually really enjoyed the DCT as I felt like it compliments the better features of the car.
Because of all the above reasons, I quickly decided that this was NOT a good car to play in on the streets, and at that point the car lost a lot of appeal for me. It is still a great car for a daily drive, reasonably comfortable and ergonomic driving position, decent quality interior, wireless car play, steering assist cruise control, etc. I found myself annoyed at slow left lane drivers a lot because the car is so much more comfortable driving at faster speeds.
It got a LOT of attention everywhere I went. Younger guys in riced out beaters wanting to race or just asking me to rev it at a stop light (dumb auto trans). Kids in the street jumping up and down if I gave it a little downshift next to them. I swear I even had not one, but two women checking me out after getting out of the car at the grocery store. Can’t understand why I don’t get the same attention in my STI (kidding, I totally understand).
But here’s the hard truth. As much fun as this car is, today I find myself excited to get back in the 86. I know I’m gonna get some skepticism for this, but I actually believe that the 86 is the better car, and if they were both priced at 30k I don’t think I’d pick the Supra. The 86 is just a much more fun and engaging car for a daily driver. The 86 can be pushed a little bit on the streets and feel perfectly safe. The Supra can not, and since you can’t, it becomes an appliance for most of the drive.
The Supra feels heavier and less nimble. I’m sure on paper it’s no question quicker and more responsive, but it’s missing some of the sharpness that I love about the 86.
The Supra also feels more cramped inside. Ergonomically it’s still very comfortable, but I felt a little more “claustrophobic” inside than I do in the 86.
Anyway, that’s your random internet dude’s review of the Supra. Don’t get me wrong, I do totally love this car. I’m just comparing it to my absolute favorite car I’ve driven in the last 10 years, which happens to be the little brother.
Edit because I've been corrected that this car isn't a DCT, but a true torque converter auto. It is a damn good one.
