Buffeting fix = they just yanked the mirrors out of the parts bin so the airflow is jacked up. I guarantee *someone* drove the prototype car with the windows down. They must have been the extreme team player the way only Japanese business can do.

That is... disappointing on so many levels. And it reaffirms my overall impression of the latest BMW 3 series as being a slightly nicer Camry.

 

There is a lot of depth on the 3 series, and the 340 and M3 makes up some of the deficiencies by having a lot of motor, but the "base" 3 series my dad has a 320, and I'd rather have a V6 Camry or 2.0T Accord.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I've personally only seen one. While interesting to look upon at first glance, the more you look at it the more it looks like a hot mess (my opinion).

It did sound good and made some cool burbly noises from the exhaust. I've seen the power figures are very understated; typical BMW. There's just something about it that doesn't capture the character of its predecessor. Any one who defends it can point out the performance all they want but when it comes to cars like that, they need to have some sort of character that makes them fun to drive and connects the owner to the car. At the end of the day, it's just a re-shelled Z4. I think this is where Toyota really needed to add a manual option to distinguish it from the Z4 and make it a driver's car first.

If it were me, I wouldn't be saying to myself "Holy crap, I own a Supra!" as I drove off the lot. I know I'd be lying to myself.

 

Supra has been hit or miss. When they first came out a couple guys in my car group got one...(20k over msrp) and another dude came in with a new z4 he bought msrp and everyone kinda chuckled when they were side by side

 

Been looking at the Q70, their pretty nice !!...great styling, a lot nice than the Q50 or Q60, I think

 

At risk of being accused of reverse ageism, the new Supra simply doesn't look like a car that a grown up would drive.

Whereas the 3rd Gen Supra... that looked serious and respectable. Well... out the outside at least, LOL.

 

HOW DARE YOU.....100% correct. I kinda see it as a fast brz/frs type clientele or you are a YouTube who needs to widebody it for the clicks

 

…..had a 91' Supra for years, like 20 years, was a great car, unfortunately it was a non turbo, I couldn't maintain 2 cars any longer, got rid of it a few years ago sadly

 

Those late 90s Supras are what got me interested in the Japanese car scene. I lusted after a targa-topped turbo. I've always liked GT cars more than the pure sports cars I guess. What can I say, I was 18 and the height of car coolness was a Camaro or Firebird where I was from. From similar time frame I think I prefer the egg-shaped 300ZXs and 928s... but the supra is damn nice.

I drove a 330d in Germany for a week early last December; I think my thoughts are upthread somewhere. Having said that, the driving experience I was anticipating by renting a BMW wasn't there. It was nice, sure, and it had decent power. In sport mode it handled...OK. But the electronic geegaws were mostly overcomplicated (and I'm NOT a luddite) and hard to use - PS3 more than M3. The styling was amazingly similar to the new 'edgy' Camrys (Camries?) and the interior was meh. My mother's 96 Camry LSE was as nice.

 

Another bad review for the new Supra. I just have no interest in this car right now and I really thought I would. Maybe some heavily tuned models will catch my interest in the future. I agree that it does look better in person, but I have only seen one in all of WI- very rare for a new sports car that is any good.

The wind buffeting is a weird issue. I am glad there is a fix for it, but I am just imagining how pissed off I would be if I just dropped $50k+ on a new Supra, rolled down the windows on my way home, and proceeded to have my ear drums blown by the horrible buffeting. That would not work for me as I have the windows on the G down for almost the entire summer, especially since you can roll them down with the remote before you get in to let out the hot air.

I feel like Toyota's idea to save money initially by joining with BMW to develop the car is just causing them to bleed money in the long term due to low sales because the car has no soul. I hope Nissan gets it right with the Z. At least they are developing their own car- if they ever bring it to market.

 

Good choice. When we were looking for the M56 we drove an S before. Those 20 inch S rims (like the one in the pic) are unbelievably hard. It just doesn't fit that style of VIP Japanese car. I chose the X since the grip when taking corners is amazing when good ol' Atessa kicks in and the ride was much better. The VQ37 and VK56 variants get practically the same MPG. The VQ struggles in this car compared to the lighter Gs. Not many on the road either, so when I see a fellow with one there's always that thumbs up being shown

On a side note, I helped my neighbor change his mk 7 Volkswagen Golf GTI's fluids. After that he let me take it out for a spin with him. I've got to say, even though I like my neighbor since he is very nice and doesn't cause any problems, the whole dynamics of the car felt bland. And it looks bland like a bar of soap the more you look at it from each angle. I used to have a mark 1 Golf with a carburetor conversion which was loads of fun compared to the mark 7. The steering on the mark 7 was numb and disconnected, even when I changed between the modes such as sport which felt even worse than the normal mode. It just didn't feel like a Golf, if anyone who has owned a mark 1 or 2 know. My friend in a different state also just bought (yes, he bought, not leased) his first German car: a brand new mk 7 Golf GTI. The next week it would not operate and eventually broke down in close range to his house. Thank God he had the lemon law in his favor. Instead of learning his lesson, he put an extra couple more grand in deposit to get a Golf R instead At the end of day the mark 1 and 2 were the last good Golf generations, in my opinion. They felt like Golfs should feel and wasn't a sort of brand or badge of coolness back then. Been looking at some in the US for sale, but it sucks that you guys got the ugly US-spec headlights and bumpers compared to Europe's subtle design features.

After the ride along I still thanked my neighbor for letting me take a spin. He's a very good guy.

 

Did they ever make an M56 RWD with a manual transmission? I always thought that would be a rad setup with the Titan V8 in it.

My family had a lot of cool used VW's growing up because we did not have a lot of money, but I never noticed because the cars were always interesting. We had an Mk1 GTI and an Mk3 GTI with the VR6. The Mk1 looked cool and was fun to drive, but it was horribly unreliable and was in the shop most of the time. I always lusted after an Mk2 GTI with the big bumpers, flared fenders, Recaro seats, and BBS rims with Pirelli tires (pic below), but never owned one. Our Mk3 GTI VR6 was a lot nicer and faster than the Mk1 and Mk2, and probably more reliable except for a $1,000 ABS sensor. I still look for a nice used Mk2 every now and then, but there are so few of them left.

I agree with you about the styling of these hatches looking better than the current cars. I am not sure what it is, but the new ones look like roller skates from the back. The steering probably felt better in those old cars because they were so much lighter. With all the new safety and technology features that manufacturers add every year it is no wonder that the cars keep getting heavier and heavier. It would be nice if they could figure out a way to start making cars lighter. That seems to be the best way to improve performance in every category.

 

Yeah it's really hard to justify them, but with some of those widebody kits they do look good. No worries, MK3 Supra will always be king for me.

I'm back to thinking about getting a Q50 redsport for my G35X replacement. This is probably my favorite 4 door sedan look right here:

 

They never made them with manual transmission unfortunately. I do know that a T56 can be transplanted into them, but you would need a special adapter plate. I'm unsure if there is an adapter plate for sale, but there are some people in the Skyline community that swapped in the VK56VD into their R32s that have the adapter plate dimensions and structure blueprints.But of course, then there would be some tinkering involved with electronics. I even think a 370Z/G37 6 speed manual transmission could bolt up since the automatic transmissions are the same and maybe use a G37 6MT wiring harness to make everything work since the electronics used are more or less the same with different trims.

The mark 2 rear taillights always reminded me of a Rubik's cube from the 80s. It is still a nice car, and you can get really good miles to the gallon if you get a diesel version. When I had another diesel golf mk1 I would get 25 kilometers per liter (about 55 to 60 mpg in American units) which had the 1.6 diesel engine. It didn't have any aerodynamics, and was basically a box. So when I see cars coming out with the new high mpg I just laugh it off since there have been economical cars for decades.

The roller skate observation, I can see it now Never noticed that they really do look like roller skates. I've been looking at importing a Scirocco into the US and have relatives hold it in Europe while getting the whole plan of importing sorted. Not too many Sciroccos in the US, and even then the US specs just look awful. This one is in Deutschland. There's a lot of Golfs in Europe selling for pennies if you're ever interested. I've also been looking at importing an Opel to America. Those cars are really fun, especially when they're RWD. An LS swap would be amazing for an Opel.

 

Rolling in a G37X and scoffing at a GTI. OK