The Supra's Return

I was in book store yesterday and picked the magazine Automobile and there was a little article saying Toyota is talking about bringing back the Supra because of the 350Z, and most likely will.

Toyota has been dropping hints about the next Supra for years but never said anything this promising before. Many people were unsure if the 4000GT/5000GT was going to be the Supra successor or not. I'm happy that the Supra is being positioned against the 350Z and RX8 like it used to be. The $25k to $35k sports car market has been pretty shitty the last few years.

I wonder if it will be built on a new or existing platform. Considering that the Celica is getting a redesign next year, they will probably co-develop that platform which would benefit the Celica and bring down the price of the Supra.

But as for drivetrain, that is a tough guess. The 3 liter from Lexus would make sense but I don't think they can match the 287 hp of the 350Z without forced induction (is 215/220 now). So the next step up would be the 4.3 Liter which is 290/300hp.

Either way, competition is good.

It would be nice if Toyota got back into the market again, I just dont know if they'll call it a Supra again. They'll probably do something similar but it wont be the same.













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I disagree. Why would Toyota spend millions to advertise a new name when they can use the legendary Supra name. Especially since after the Fast and the Furious, a lot more people know about it. They would have to be complete idiots not to call it the Supra.

I disagree because the Supra died here from lack of sales. For the most part, the people who saw that movie probably aren't in the demographic that would buy the car. I dont believe anyone would market a big ticket becuase of a movie that a couple million teenagers saw. They are going to spend millions on advertizing whatever they build. Mass production cars dont sell by word of mouth alone (or past history).













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The supra died because it became too expensive and we were in a recession. If Toyota is going to market it against the 350Z and RX8 it will be less than $30k. Also, import tuning was not a big thing in the mid 90's, now it is a huge market where Honda dominates and Toyota has been trying to get their market for 5 years. The average Toyota buyer is 49 years old and they want a younger demographic. The teenagers who were into imports are growing up and have a lot more discretionary income to spend.

And sports cars do sell by history. Chevy does not need to market the Corvette because everyone knows about the Corvette. You can't buy that kind of recognition. Obviously the Supra isn't as well known as the vette but its still not something you want to throw away.

We were in a recession in 1998?

Originally posted by Gravitom
Many people were unsure if the 4000GT/5000GT was going to be the Supra successor or not. I'm happy that the Supra is being positioned against the 350Z and RX8 like it used to be. The $25k to $35k sports car market has been pretty shitty the last few years.



I heard (rumors) that the 4000GT wont be in that price range and it was going to be in the $50k range...due to the fact that it would be using the 4.0 Liter engine (ie the 4.3 engine 300HP but w/massaging and tuning to get it up to around 400HP or so)

So it wont really be in that segment.

Originally posted by Fliquer
We were in a recession in 1998?

No, we haven't been in a recession (at least nothing serious) and back in 98 we were growing like mad. The markets have tanked, but the indicators used for a recession such as economic growth is still not in the red.













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The last model year was 1998, which means they were really produced in 1997 so the decision to stop production was made in 1995/1996 when the US economy was uncertain. And the Japanese economy was crashing at that point as well.

The 4000GT is no longer the 4000GT. It went up to a 4.3 then 4.5 and is now a 5 liter. If it is released it will be in the $80-$100k range, over 400hp, will use a varient of Toyota's F1 engine and is designed to compete with Porsches and Ferraris.

Just to set the record straight...

Toyota scrapped the Supra because nobody wanted to pay $40K for a sports car, but they were glad to hand it over for an SUV. Hence the MR2 and Supra have way to the 4Runner and Land Cruiser. Thank God for the return of the MR2 (MR-S).

The Supra was simply doomed to being axed just like all the other Japanese sports cars. The 3000GT, 300ZX, and RX-7 were already dead in the States, so it was only a matter of time. Five years later, the automotive executives are starting to realise that some of us do not fancy ourselves soccer moms or have an obsession with sitting higher than everyone else. There is a decent percentage of the populous that would rather go faster than everyone else and use raw power to compensate for their lack of virility. I am that percentage. I hope to see the Supra once again competing with the next generation Z car and Mazda rotary.

As for the x000GT, I suspect it will be going head-to-head with the NSX, Camaro, and GT-R.

Am I mistaken in thinking the Supra (JZA80) was still available until very recently (like months ago?) in Japan?

Originally posted by Holyterror

As for the x000GT, I suspect it will be going head-to-head with the NSX, Camaro, and GT-R.

Camaro? Is that still around? And how will it compete w/400HP+ cars? Maybe you mean the Cobra (390HP)

Anyways...nice to see you around again, Holy...thought you had dropped off the planet

No, the Camaro no longer exists... for now. Chevy plans to bring it back in 2004 as an entirely different car. Should be powered by a V8 with an estimated 400 hp. There are also rumors that it will be AWD. Domestic Skyline, I guess. It sounds like the Camaro is going to enter the realm of supercars. I figure they might as well save some R&D money and just mate a supercharger to a Corvette Z06. This also destroys my prediction of the Camaro becoming a "bargain sports car" to compete with the Silvia (which we aren't getting either I guess).

I think there was a 2001 model Supra in Japan, but I'm not sure about that. All the Supras I ever hear about (home and abroad) are highly modified, like Top Secret's RB26 monster.

And no, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've just been very busy lately, about to move to Memphis (long, flat roads - yea!)

BTW, anybody got a guess at the price of the GT-R? Nissan prices car very competitively. Mercedes and Lexus are taking a huge hit from the relatively bargain-priced G35, which the car mags won't shut up about. It would be hilarious to see the NSX and 5000GT debut with 420 hp @ $90K, and the GT-R with 450 hp for $50K.

Toyota scrapped the Supra because nobody wanted to pay $40K for a sports car, but they were glad to hand it over for an SUV. Hence the MR2 and Supra have way to the 4Runner and Land Cruiser

Exactly. Even the 240sx got cut to make way for the Xterra. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Yeah, it's pretty sad how they axed the 240, because people were actually buying them. The SUV craze killed off a lot of other cars, but they usually only went off production after sales went through the floor. The 300ZX, for example, had terrible sales figures toward the end. I imagine Nissan would've much rather built Zs than Xterras, but you gotta give the people what they ask for. I've said it many times before: the blame for this sports car dark age lands solely on the consumers.

Dont forget though, that the F&F crowd IS getting older, and by the time the market climbs back up, they'll have the money to buy the cars then.

On another note: i heard that now the RX-8 isn't coming out in the U.S.? If that's true, im gonna be really pissed off. If they don't want to release that, they should at least re-release the RX-7, casue the newest ones here are now approcing 10 years old, and are starting to get geriatric. Maybe with a body redisgn by making look more agressive, and sneaking the renesis engine in (and keeping it a 2 door coupe, not some stupid "sports sedan" like the RX-8)

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The RX-8 is still coming here. But they said it is not going to compete against the 350Z, thats why there are talking about re releasing the RX-7. So the RX-8 isn't made to compete with the 350Z the RX-7 will be and both of them will most likely be released. And so will the Supra.

All the great cars are coming back better.

Originally posted by Steel
Dont forget though, that the F&F crowd IS getting older, and by the time the market climbs back up, they'll have the money to buy the cars then.

Exactly my point, which is why every car manufacturer is trying to get in on the import tuner market. Honda has it covered with the RSX, Toyota tried and failed with the Celica, Ford made the SVT Focus, Chevy is starting its own tuner parts division, NISMO coming to the US, the evidence is all there.

Originally posted by zane11
The RX-8 is still coming here. But they said it is not going to compete against the 350Z, thats why there are talking about re releasing the RX-7. So the RX-8 isn't made to compete with the 350Z the RX-7 will be and both of them will most likely be released. And so will the Supra.

All the great cars are coming back better.

I'm not so sure about that. The RX-8 will be priced around the 350Z so I would say it is a competitior. The RX-8 will be a tad slower but is a lot lighter so it will make up for it in handling. It is also a 4 seater. The cars do serve different purposes but definitely will compete in a similiar market.

As for the RX-7, Mazda said that if they did release it it would not be a turbo but a triple rotor pulling 350hp. Considering how light the car is, it would be competing with the Corvette and would likely be in the $40k plus range. Personally I think that's a bit much and I don't think it would sell but I'd like to see it anyway.

Dont forget though, that the F&F crowd IS getting older, and by the time the market climbs back up, they'll have the money to buy the cars then

F&F stuff isnt limited to one generation. I have no doubt that 10 years from now 16-25 year-olds will be modifying their low-end sportscars like we are doing now.

I think that the Supra should definitly be rereleased. Toyota has nothing to compete with the 350Z or the possible RX8. The best thing that i think they could do for a new supra is work off of the IS300 platform and tweek with that engine, because it is the same engine that was in the 1993.5-1998 supra NA. The compression ratio and other things could be messed with to give it extra horsepower. PLus, if they do come back with it, it has to have all of the features that the final mark of the supra had, like the leather seats and nice sound and so on. ALso, to add on to what had killed the Supra, i had been told that the dealers had something to do with the death of this car. Back then, it was not a general toyota car. The other cars that were available from toyota were mostly economical family cars, not a 40,000 dollar monster. The proof that dealers were being whiny about it is the one year of the Supra SE. A stripped down version of the supra NA, and just was not as good of a car as the other supras. If they do introduce it, they could have many engine options, from the base 3.0 liter straight six, all the way up to a powerful twin turbo 4.3 liter V8 (crazy but possible). That basically all i have to say since i am a big supra fan and want to see nothing less than what the last supra.