Do you remember the last election when a lot of people didn’t want to accept Donald Trump as the President, yet they still had to anyway? That’s pretty much what happened when the 2020 Toyota Supra was unveiled. It’s shared BMW underpinnings were rejected by car enthusiasts as they felt that Toyota had let them down by not using an engine somewhat related to the legendary 2jZ engine found in the Mk4 Supra.

For 2021, the Toyota Supra will now be offered with a turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder, which makes the car even further removed from the revised Supra dreams that everyone once had. It could be a good thing, but has Toyota gone way too far?

Supra 2.0

For those who haven’t heard by now, the new Toyota Supra is essentially the same thing as a BMW Z4 but with a different body style and Toyota badging. Even the 3.0-liter V6 under the hood is the same engine, however, the Supra produces less horsepower than the Z4 that it’s based on; the Supra is rated at 335 horsepower while the Z4 has 382. Luckily, Toyota announced that they will be bumping up the Supra 3.0 numbers to the same power as the Z4 for the 2021 model year.

Even more controversial is the new 2.0-liter that will be offered as well. As you might have guessed, the turbocharged four-cylinder is also sourced from BMW and it will produce 255 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, the same output at the Z3 sDrive30i. Toyota says that the Supra 2.0 (as they are dubbing it) will be more than 200 pounds lighter and more fuel-efficient than the 3.0-liter iteration, which achieves 24 mpg in the city and 31 on the highway.

Same interior, but different

The interior of the Supra 2.0 is nearly identical to the one found in the current Supra 3.0 model. However, Toyota decided to use cheaper materials in order to bridge the gap between the Supra and the Toyota 86. As such, they incorporated the use of manually adjustable seats that are covered in Alcantara and leather and if you want them to be heated, you’ll have to opt for a separate package.

To add to the overall lightness, the Supra 2.0 will come standard with a 4-speaker audio system, but a 12-speaker JBL upgraded sound system is available.

Light is right

Aside from the lighter, manual seats, the Supra 2.0 benefits from additional weight savings via smaller brake rotors, a regular suspension (as opposed to the adaptive suspension), and no active rear differential (like the one found on the Supra 3.0).

Is everyone ok with this?

So it looks like the forthcoming Supra 2.0 does have all the makings of a bare-bones sports car that’s ready for some aftermarket parts. While Toyota did intend for the 2020 Supra to be modified by aftermarket tuners, which is probably the same for the Supra 2.0, why didn’t they just make the Supra better and more “Toyota like?”

We might not get a straight answer, but we can say that the Supra 2.0 does make a good older brother to the more anemic Toyota 86, we just would have rather seen a better execution from the get-go with the original remake. This Supra 2.0 might be a good car, we won’t discount that, but it’s so far off from what the original Mk4 Supra was that they might as well have given it a different name.