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Last month, we were suddenly frozen in fear of the prospect of a front-mounted U.S. license plate on the 2020 Toyota Supra, as the open-orifices of the car’s design didn’t leave a lot of room for mounting a thin, ugly rectangle of government-issued metal. Sadly, it’s almost exactly as bad as we feared.
According to screenshots of the Gran Turismo Sportvideo game sent in to Jalopnik by a reader (thanks, Joe from Chicago), the new Supra bumper gets a fill-in mount right in the middle-hole of its grille, sort of hanging off of the forward tip of the hood, just under the emblem:
That’s... something.
Keep in mind this is just a video game, but it seems pretty obvious that this is the likely setup shipping off of dealer lots in the near future. I’m going to admit that this isn’t very shocking. Does it look bad? Yeah, it does. For a few reasons.
First, we need to blame America for its dumb and ugly squarish-rectangular license plate shape that doesn’t really fit the design language of any car produced after 1990. Then we need to blame the 31 states in America that require a front-mounted license plate.
Then we blame society as a whole for enacting laws and law enforcement, and organizing people into coded identities that are meant to be tracked, which quite clearly constrains our world’s most creative minds and spoils everything that is natural and good.
Then we blame Toyota. I’m not going to say they should have changed the design language of the car to account for the government’s dumb and ugly metal. But we have to blame them because there’s really nowhere else to put the license plate on the front of the car.
One of the other orifices of the face design houses safety and parking sensors you can’t block with a plate, though it’s unclear if anything is on the other side, and there’s hardly any room left between the holes and the headlights to get fancy with some sort of sticker plate that isn’t even allowed.
All in all this is just one of those unfortunate situations no one can really do anything about. If you’re worried about it, just keep the plate under the windshield on your dashboard. If you’re real, you’ll move to a state that doesn’t require a front plate.
Toyota claims it partnered with BMW on the 2020 Toyota Supra, in part, because it wanted to keep an inline six-cylinder powertrain which the Germans could supply. Of course, to purists, that was never going to be enough, and now it looks like somebody has already started work on the first new Toyota Supra with a 2JZ engine swap.That person is Daigo Saito,a champion in both D1GP in Japan and Formula Drift here in America. Today he posted photos of his new Supra build, hood up with a shiny turbo 2JZ, the iconic engine from the previous generation, heart transplant to many a drag car and drift car ever since.
Daigo is working on the car with Japanese mega-tuner HKS, which claims it’s expecting 800 horsepower in a press release. They’re hoping to be completed in time to compete in the D1GP All Star Shoot-Out exhibition event in Tokyo scheduled for March 23.
Daigo’s previous lineup of cars includes his big-power 2JZ Lexus SC that conquered American drifting, a 1,000-hp Nissan GT-R that didn’t, a Lamborghini Murciélago V12 and all, the Ferrari 599 that went on to compete in FD (with a great deal of changes), and probably the most extreme Corvette in drifting right now.
Here’s a look at the new car, rendered here
There will always be those who say they still don’t like the looks of the new Supra. For me, it all changed when I saw it in person, and now I like it even more in this drift body. It makes a lot of the dramatic curves look like they were always meant for ridiculously large fenders.
I think the car would look much much better if it was a little wider, and a little longer... basically Supra Size instead of the Z4 size
Originally Posted by oonowindoo
That is what i am saying... The Supra should have stayed relatively the same size as before. and NSX got bigger but it should have stayed around the same size as NSX.
The issue here is the new Supra just went from Mid size to compact like if 1G NSX is now S2000 size.
There is nothing wrong with the car itself.... But the moment they named it Supra... that is where the issue starts ...
If this car was developed solely by Toyota I could see it approaching $100k... at which point the value proposition and comparison to the GT-R would make it look like a waste of time.
Having the Supra name, it would could never satisfy everybody.
If this car was developed solely by Toyota I could see it approaching $100k... at which point the value proposition and comparison to the GT-R would make it look like a waste of time.
Having the Supra name, it would could never satisfy everybody.
which is why if they weren't gonna do it right, then dont do it at all. or call it something else.
Sure, it was said long time ago.
Now, if the next gen R36 GTR uses Mercedes's C43 (360hp)'s engine and it is about the same size as the SLK and that is what happens here.
Normally, a TT V6 SLK sized Nissan would be great for the brand - think 370Z....but see what happens if Nissan named it GTR.
Originally Posted by oonowindoo
While i am no diehard Supra fan obviously. But i would not bitch as much if it was a little wider, longer. Similar size as the Concept without a DETUNED Z4 engine.
Or they could just call it something else. like AE86 Turbo or Celica.
Imagine Acura introduced next gen NSX with C43's V6TT and C300's 2.0T.... oh that hurts just by thinking about it.
Originally Posted by justnspace
Because the Celica was the first to have the supra nomenclature.
Last edited by oonowindoo; 03-11-2019 at 06:23 PM.
It doesn't feel right that this new FR sports car is called the Supra. However, I can't pinpoint why that's the case. It's got a 3.0L I6 turbocharged engine like before. It's got a FR chassis just like before.
Is it because it's not built solely by Toyota? Or are the performance figures aren't too impressive, given that other Japanese iconic sports cars moved the bar much further?
It doesn't feel right that this new FR sports car is called the Supra. However, I can't pinpoint why that's the case. It's got a 3.0L I6 turbocharged engine like before. It's got a FR chassis just like before.
Is it because it's not built solely by Toyota? Or are the performance figures aren't too impressive, given that other Japanese iconic sports cars moved the bar much further?
A reskinned Bimmer aside, this car went from a 911 competitor back in the 90s to a 370Z wannabe is the biggest issue IMO.
Ah yea, I guess so. Just thought about it more and that makes sense. The Supra is closer in performance to a CTR than a 911 now. The GT-R, NSX, and Supra all used to be about the same performance wise. The former two are now way ahead. I guess calling it a Supra isn't such a good idea after all.
Every nameplate from the '90s has ballooned in weight and size, even sports cars. I was giving you an example that was relevant to you
You're the one that complained about the size in the first place bigger = heavier.
Maybe they shouldn't have made it at all then. They already "did it right" I suppose, with the LF-A. That car cost almost $400k.
And LFA is probably one of the best cars ever built in term of engineering.... this Supra... 0 effort.
It is normal to have 3800 lbs sports cars nowadays... NSX and GTR are all up there.... i dont think any one should expect anything less if Toyota were to do their own Supra.
But to cut the size by 30% to save weight is not called saving weight... it is just smaller... Considering how much smaller it is about it weights bout the same as the old Supra...
Last edited by oonowindoo; 03-14-2019 at 02:03 PM.
And LFA is probably one of the best cars ever built in term of engineering.... this Supra... 0 effort.
It is normal to have 3800 lbs sports cars nowadays... NSX and GTR are all up there.... i dont think any one should expect anything less if Toyota were to do their own Supra.
But to cut the size by 30% to save weight is not called saving weight... it is just smaller... Considering how much smaller it is about it weights bout the same as the old Supra...
so you would be cool with the Supra being gigantic and heavy like the GTR?
The MKIV and the new Supra are almost identical in size. My point earlier is cars are much heavier these days is because of modern safety standards and all.
Even Acura decided not to use exotic materials on the NSX. The LF-A was a one time thing, it's just not practical for a manufacturer - whose bread and butter is regular sedans and trucks - to build a bespoke exotic.
You could argue Toyota was the only one, and maybe Ford to an extent. The LF-A V10 wasn't based upon existing architecture. The NSX had a V10 at one point, then that was scrapped.
If literally any other manufacturer made this car, they wouldn't get shit on nearly as much. I feel the same way about the new NSX, but there's more to that, too...
so you would be cool with the Supra being gigantic and heavy like the GTR?
The MKIV and the new Supra are almost identical in size. My point earlier is cars are much heavier these days is because of modern safety standards and all.
Even Acura decided not to use exotic materials on the NSX. The LF-A was a one time thing, it's just not practical for a manufacturer - whose bread and butter is regular sedans and trucks - to build a bespoke exotic.
You could argue Toyota was the only one, and maybe Ford to an extent. The LF-A V10 wasn't based upon existing architecture. The NSX had a V10 at one point, then that was scrapped.
If literally any other manufacturer made this car, they wouldn't get shit on nearly as much. I feel the same way about the new NSX, but there's more to that, too...
If it has the performance to back it up sure...
I am not sure what yo mean by almost the same size... they are not.
Actually Toyota would not get as much shit if they did not call it Supra... That is all.
While it is not as bad as Mitsubishi named their CUV Eclipse, but the same logic applies... While the new car is not a bad car, but it does not deserve the Supra name... it is a freaking Z4... an inferior Z4 too ...
Last edited by oonowindoo; 03-14-2019 at 03:26 PM.
If you do, you might as well get the Z4... higher MSRP, with more options and power. i think it will probably be cheaper too in a few years...
Z4 looks nasty and Supra and Z4 are tuned completely different in terms of handling. Zero interests in Z4. If I wanted a fun roadster, it'd be a ND2. haha
I'm still a huge fan of underpowered Toyota+Subaru car. It's not a surprise that I'm a huge fan of this Zupra. And pretty sure Tetsuya Tada did his homework.
And like you said we don't know about the actual driving experience yet, that's why I'm being so optimistic.
02-25-2019, 01:23 PM
bigger = heavier. 
so you would be cool with the Supra being gigantic and heavy like the GTR?
