re: Toyota Supra to be discontinued in 2026

Had a z4 rental last week in Houston, not a bad little car but its a freakin flea compared to the 2500s on the jobsite. I saw it on the lot this week but opted for a Caddy so I have some room to move around inside.

Subaru discontinuing the Legacy is a bigger deal than this.

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Had a z4 rental last week in Houston, not a bad little car but its a freakin flea compared to the 2500s on the jobsite. I saw it on the lot this week but opted for a Caddy so I have some room to move around inside.

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Sat in one at the Houston Auto Show and it was ungodly tiny inside but I feel the same way about the current gen 3 series.

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This is some V6 trash made by BMW.

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From Toyota website:

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3.0L Turbocharged Inline 6-Cylinder

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They probably have 1 too many coupes as it is - they can keep the Supra tag if they want as a top trim of the GR86.

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The GR86 is a great little product. Weird looking though and it’s no Supra. I think it may get another generation and hopefully they make it look better.

They might be able to swing a Camry coupe but that’s not even close to the same ballgame here. That’s more of a mainstream GT car, not a sports car. A Camry station wagon would probably be a better seller.

Honda is bringing back the Prelude. It looks awesome but it absolutely sucks under the hood. Honda should be ashamed for having the Civic SI powertrain available but instead giving the Prelude a boring hybrid motor with an E-CVT.

Mazda and Nissan are still running the great little MX-5 and the badass Z car. It’s a shame Toyota could not make the Supra work. It means the BMw Z4 may be on borrowed time.

Had an 89 turbo, was a beast on the interstate and a turd on the street. Too damn heavy.

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It means the BMw Z4 may be on borrowed time.

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I do think the age of the grand tourer is likely coming to and end. Folks want utility (obviously) and GTs are of the least utility. They are the product of the middle aged guy with money who wants to drive some version of the sporty car of the dreams of his youth, but with the amenities of a luxury car.

That market gets smaller every day, IMHO.

You'll pry my GTS fob out of my cold, dead hands, but you better be quick.

My daughter will probably beat everyone to it.

If you take away the inflated price, size and practicality, and the fact that it's a rebadged BMW, it's a sweet ride.

$60k for something that looks that dumb is tough to stomach

If you get a chance to drive one, they are pretty fantastic. Overall, there are just so many issues around this car and really cars like it. The Z4 is actually a great driver as well.

First, is that the sports car market is effectively dead in the US. Go back 15-20 years and it used to have a steady 10-15% of the total market and these days it's at less than 2% and falling. The global market is only around 4% of total sales. Sports cars are currently failing in market. Through July, they've only sold 1,231 units, the Z has sold just over 3,700 units this year and the MX5 has sold just over 7,300. That's a lot of investment by those three companies in rear wheel drive, two-seaters to collectively sell under 15,000 cars.

To even consider building a car like this, Toyota needed a partner, just like the do with the 86. BMW was a perfect partner in that they have extra manufacturing capacity and they are one of the only few companies globally that build a gas powered inline 6 to keep with the Supra format. At the time, I think they were the only manufacturer with an inline 6, Mazda's hadn't entered the market yet. There was no budget for engineering a new one. And people hated the fact that BMW was involved with this.

Second, it never really resonated. It doesn't look classically great, in fairness the Mk4 was pretty odd looking too. When introduced, it didn't have a manual, that didn't sit well. People have the Mk4 in mind when thinking about this one. I had a Mk4 at one point and I can say that they weren't actually that great. Power was okay, handling was okay. What made them so popular is that the 2JZ can make massive power, relatively easily and yes, the F&F series built some legend around it. They really weren't great drivers. Good for their era, but not really great stock.

Third, the pricing occupies a strange spot in the market. Too pricey for the audience looking at MX-5s, 86/BRZ twins or something like a WRX and with it creeping up into the $60s and $70's, folks willing to spend that will go the next step up into something like an M3.

I'm a fan of sports cars and my take is that the market has become too difficult for the manufacturers to play in. Legislation has been a huge hit to them, they are low volume and have high costs to engineer and damage the overall efficiency requirements from legislation. Then when the manufactures do jump in, if they don't get it perfect, the enthusiasts and media roast the cars and no one buys them, losing them a lot of money in the process. It's easier to market and sell a new crossover from the parts-bin on an existing platform.