Toyota GR Supra’s first test drive: the show begins!
Above the whole crowd stands a huge new Kia Telluride, which seems to weigh as much as 14 Kia Forte (in Russia this model is known as Cerato – comment of the translator). We can say that this is the first SUV with its own gravitational field. What will it be expressed in? It will not cut the “eights” around cones, but will rotate in orbit around them.
Next to the Kia is a silver Mercedes-Benz GLE 450 parked, capable of jumping up and down with air suspension. Such a “trick” will appeal to very, very many. Actually, this is done so that the car can get out of the sands of the Sahara, but Mercedes clearly missed, without adding the corresponding button on the key ring. After all, then finding your GLE in the parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl (a concert hall in Los Angeles) after a long evening would be spit.
And next to these giants – I look down strongly – there is a car that resembles the Imperial attack aircraft from Star Wars. He wears white sparkling, but formidable armor. Although under the helmet and equipment he looks, hmmmmm, suspiciously familiar.
“We haven’t met your father by chance?” I ask. He looks strictly forward, concentrating on his task. “I doubt it,” he throws shortly, recalling both Japanese and German at once by accent. “He left almost 20 years ago.”
Bingo! The fourth-generation Toyota Supra Turbo 1993 release! There is definitely a family resemblance to this car! Elongated nose and short duck tail. “Could you take off some of the extra stuff so that I can get a better look at you?”
“Not. This is me. Excuse me”. I go around him and make a joke: “We are waiting for Darth Vader too?” His headlights look at me with an unkind look.
Actually, I rather like how the rear window rests on the tail section. It seems to create the effect of a monoposto single-seater. I’m trying to make friends again. “You know, I tested every branch of your family tree, starting with the first process – Celica Supra.”
“How old are you really?”, – his headlights are expanding. Gone! Honestly, only the last Supra has truly made a name for this model. But in the end, it was she who was too expensive, and people began to frown and whisper: “For $ 39,900 (of that time) I can take myself a BMW.” And many people did just that. I hesitate to scratch my head and ask: “Well, how much are you worth?” “$ 56,180 in the“ base ”,” he answers resolutely. Not bad. “And I’m kind of German,” Supra coughs under his breath.
Then he sighs impatiently: “Look, this is not a car elegance contest, is it?”. He knows very well that it is his time on the straight for the drag and the track that the “eight” will give him a ticket to all the unusual comparative tests in the future. Perhaps it will take a ride on the camera Randy Pobst (American journalist and race car driver, author of the Motortrend publication – comment of the translator), and Supra will be the star of car videos. Who knows?! And if he fails, he will end up in a parking lot next to a Chrysler Pacifica minivan taken for a long test.
I take the car and drive it to the control weighing.
He climbs onto the ramp and sits on the platform: 1525 kg. Mass distribution: 52% front, 48% rear. That is, the front end is heavier, . In proportionate terms, we have the version of the previous generation Supra on a scale of 9/10, 132 mm shorter and 64 kg lighter (despite all the modern security features that have appeared). In all other important points, the novelty is gaining 11 points out of 10 possible. Editor-tester Chris Walton carefully writes down the specifications. Power? 335 hp, they are developed by a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline “six”, which has 1 cm³ less volume than the 320-strong Supra unit of the fourth generation (and another 68 Nm more torque than the fourth Supra, at lower revs – 2400 rpm).
A more significant advantage is the transmission of the new Supra. Now it’s a clear and fast 8-speed “automatic” with under-steering “petals”, which has twice more gears than the old slow 4-speed automatic transmission. And believe me, lovers of ancient boxes, you will like to switch gears with only index fingers, compared to the protracted switching of the old “machine gun” and Texas dances with your left foot on versions with “mechanics”. Although, to tell the truth, the biggest plus of this car is the one you probably wouldn’t even think about – its modern “footwear”, or rather, Michelin Pilot Super Sports tires of dimension 255/35 R19 in front and 275/35 R19 in back . It’s like rubberized squash tennis shirts after Dutch wooden clogs (traditional wooden shoes from the Netherlands – note of the translator) on the 1997 model. That is, compared to the Michelin Pilot SX tires of dimensions 235/45 R17 and 255/45 R17, respectively.
