2001 Toyota Supra

Toyota Supra A80 (Coupe), 1993-2002

The Toyota Supra A80 was in production from 1993 to 2002. Styled in house, it is a front-engine, rear wheel drive coupe seating two adults.

The Supra shared many of its underpinnings with the Lexus Soarer coupe - but with 13 inches cut from its overall length. There were 2 versions, a naturally aspirated 3.0 producing 220bhp and a twin turbo model producing 276bhp. The fact that 276bhp was the limit agreed upon by Japanese manufacturers in 1988 to prevent a big game of one upmanship is neither here nor there, of course, nor is the suspicious ease with which these cars can be tuned to provide in excess of 500bhp. Export models produced 326bhp, courtesy of smaller turbos and bigger injectors. British imports began in August 1993, and changes to official UK specifications were limited to a CD autochanger in 1994 and locking wheel nuts in 1995. Official imports ceased in May 1996. Officially, Britain got 600 Supra A80s. However, there are scores of grey imports in the UK, and you shouldn't be surprised if the car you're looking at is a later model. In Japan production and sales continued to 2002, with a total of 45230 built.

While Toyota didn't replace the Supra in period, the new BMW-based Supra launched in 2019 is arguably a spiritual successor to the original car.

Alternatives are few and far between, and depend upon exactly what you wanted the Supra to be. You could opt for a grey import Lexus Soarer, though the majority of these are automatic and they are by design far softer than the Supra. Alternatively, an earlier or later Supra might bring you a similar degree of driving pleasure. If you want a big, six cylinder grand tourer, the Aston Martin DB7 might be worth considering but offers its power delivery in a very different way appropriate to its more genteel image. If the idea of an all out Japanese rocket appeals, consider a Subaru Impreza or a Nissan Skyline GTR. If you want a bona fide Japanese supercar, look at the Honda NS-X.