Toyota hits a home run with the all-new Supra
Deanne with the all-new 2020 Toyota Supra at the Royal Gorge in Colorado.
Up on top of the world at the continental divide Monarch Pass 11,312 feet!
On the way home just outside of Gunnison, Colorado by a frozen lake!
Leaving the Visitors Center at the Colorado National Monument.
What a fantastic National Monument, well worth the extra 2 hours just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado.
After a 21-year absence from the American sports car scene, the Toyota Supra is back to make a statement with a bold new look. In the late 90s, Toyota chose to pull the sports coupe from the American market because of declining sales. That decision, however, has been reversed with an attitude.
We had been caught up, just as much as many other auto enthusiasts, in all the excitement of the return of the Supra, having got our first glimpse online when it was introduced last year at the Detroit Auto Show, and then seeing one at the Salt Lake Auto Show in January. At that time we could only hope, and perhaps pray a little, that one would make its way into the Denver press fleet so we would have a chance to drive it.
So when Toyota invited us out to Denver for a first look at the new Highlander and offered up the Supra as a ride home, we could hardly control our excitement as the eight weeks slowly dragged on until our trip out to the Mile High City.
After a couple of hours with the new Highlander — which, by the way, is a fantastic new design — it was time for the real weekend to begin with the new GR Supra Premium as we got the keys and headed for our first night in Boulder. Right off, it was evident the new design was what many enthusiasts would be looking for in a sports coupe as, without fail, whenever we stopped, there was someone there to comment on the fact we had a new Supra.
This would become a testament to the new design that Toyota has created for the Supra, as for over the entire 700-mile drive home (we might have taken the long way) we got more comments, honks and waves than any car we have test driven since having the BMW i8.
Exciting as it was, it is hard to find words to describe how exhilarating driving the new Supra is as we put it through the paces on the way home. The drive included everything from tight mountain roads and high altitude passes to long, drawn out stretches on a freeway. It became obvious that we would be unable to get enough seat time no matter what the terrain or drive might be.
The last Supra produced was also turbo charged, had an inline 6-cylinder engine and got to 60 in a mere 5.8 seconds. That would have been considered very quick back in the late 1990s.
Now, in the new Supra, there is a 3.0 liter, 6-cylinder engine with a twin-scroll turbocharger that propels the two-seater coupe to 60 in a mere 3.8 seconds, which is exhilaratingly fast. This new engine is the same motor that can be found in the BMW X4.
The big difference in this new Supra is that it only comes with an automatic transmission. We had to wonder if that would take some of the mystique out of the drive. At the end of the week, we loved having an automatic as it made the drive easier for us and we could put our attention to handling that sports car and how beautiful the drive was through the mountains.
Plus, the dual-clutch transmission slipped so easily through the gears that there is no way we could have done better with a manual. Of course, the engineers have added a sport mode, and when used in conjunction with the standard paddle shifters, the exhaust note when down shifting turned out to be a sound we kept playing for three straight days.
Inside, the Supra was laid out much like a BMW as it has gotten some of its DNA from that company along with the engine and transmission. We especially enjoyed the wireless Apple CarPlay that allowed us to put our phone in the charging station, allowing it to wirelessly charge. We also used it through voice commands with no cord cluttering up the small cabin.
The seats were comfortable and easy to ride in for the almost 900 miles we drove over our week with the new Toyota. The seats were, of course, leather clad and heated. It was nice because our first day in Denver was very chilly — only getting to a high of 45 degrees. Luckily the snow stayed away.
We would have to call the ride that of a refined sports car as, yes, we were able to feel the road and everything that went with it. The seating position is seemingly right down on the road. This made our first few age-advanced attempts at getting in and out comical for others to watch, but after a few tries we were able to add some grace to the movement and it became second nature.
One of our worries when we headed out was if there would be enough space for a couple of carry-on pieces of luggage, a computer bag backpack and a couple of pillows. The rear storage seemed almost cavernous as to what our expectations had been and we were even able to get some stuff from a local Costco to bring home with us.
We would have been hard pressed to get a bag of golf clubs into the rear as it was deeper as opposed to longer. The sound system was also an excellent 12 speaker JBL sound system that is standard in the Supra including two large subwoofers for those that love their bass.
The only extra that we got was adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic detection, emergency braking and parking sensors, all of which we would highly recommend with the only $1,195 price tag.
The parking sensors came in very handy with the low profile of the Supra. There were a couple of times it stopped us from hitting the curb in front of us, as we parked.
The new GR Supra turned out to be one that we would have loved to have kept longer in our driveway, it is hard to disagree with any type of sports car especially one that makes the drive as exciting as this new Toyota.
Base Price: $53,990
Price as Driven: $56,220
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