Can the Toyota Supra 2020 compete with the BMW M2 Competition?

Can the Toyota Supra 2020 become a tough rival for the BMW M2 Competition? There has been talk that, with a starting price close to 50,000 euros, the new Toyota Supra that we were lucky enough to test at the Jarama Circuit is too expensive, especially when compared with the nearly 60,000 euros that the new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C8 costs. However, things are not always so simple.

The price for the Toyota Supra 2020 sits at roughly 25,000 euros more than the lighter and less powerful Toyota GT86. That may seem like a lot, but it is worth bearing in mind that although the new Toyota Supra is not so big, it offers many more features and is significantly more powerful and faster.

To be honest, the two belong to completely different segments. A fairer comparison is with powerful rear-wheel-drive sports cars such as the BMW M2 Competition. You see, while the new Toyota Supra starts at a price of around 50,000 euros, the high-performance BMW could cost you about 60,000 euros.

With this in mind, our colleagues at Cars decided to see how the Toyota Supra would fare against one of its most desirable and expensive rivals. They therefore lined up the pair to face off in a quarter-mile endurance race, and the result shows they are quite evenly matched.

Toyota Supra or BMW M2 Competition, who will win?

The journalists appearing in the video decided not to use launch control, since it was a very cold day and the drag strip was exceptionally slippery and glass-like, which is not exactly ideal for the conditions such systems need, and helps explain why the Toyota was so playful off the line.

Under the long bonnet of the new Toyota Supra sits a 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder inline engine in a longitudinal layout. The brand has focused heavily on keeping the centre of gravity very low (lower than on the Toyota GT86) and on achieving an ideal weight distribution, so this engine is the right choice to achieve that goal. This unit is another of the points of connection between the BMW and Toyota. It produces 340 CV and a maximum torque of 500 Nm, enough to take the Toyota Supra from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds and let its handsome bodywork reach an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h.

The engine of the Toyota GR Supra delivers its peak torque between 5,000 and 6,500 rpm, so revving it all the way to the red zone of the tachometer and hearing the roar of the six cylinders combined with the faint whistle of the turbocharger becomes addictive. This engine is paired with an eight-speed ZF torque-converter automatic gearbox. In addition, another factor that cannot be missing in a sports car with the ambitions of the Toyota Supra is the limited-slip differential. Gazoo Racing, the brand’s motorsport division that developed the car, has fitted an active differential that adjusts continuously from 0 to 100% lock.

For its part, the BMW M2 Competition uses the same inline six-cylinder with twin turbochargers found in the BMW M3 and M4, although here BMW has limited the power to 410 CV, delivered at 7,000 rpm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=OG3ldG_IOSQ

With a maximum torque of 550 Nm between 2,350 and 5,200 rpm, the BMW M2 Competition accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds in the version with the M DCT seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and needs two tenths more with the manual gearbox. Top speed is limited to 250 km/h as standard, a limit that rises to 280 km/h when fitted with the M Driver package. The claimed consumption is 9.2 l/100 km for the M DCT version and 9.9 l/100 km with the manual gearbox. To reduce polluting emissions, the BMW M2 Competition is equipped with a particulate filter. The exhaust system is also new, featuring two electronically controlled butterfly valves.