If you're one of the people waiting with baited breath for the new Toyota Supra to arrive so you can put one in your garage, I can almost bet more then half of you will be disappointed. And I’m referring to people that plan and will ACTUALLY buy one. And I say that because 98-percent of the time most cars are hated on loved online, it's done so by people who have never owned and probably will never own previous iterations of said vehicles.

Now if you’re thinking of adding the 2019 Toyota Supra to your future, odds are that you're familiar with the last generation of the Supra (1993-1998 in the U.S. but sold until 2002 in other markets).A surprising amount of MK4 Supras have even been tuned to make OVER 1000 horsepower. Not only has the MK4 Supra itself reached legendary status, its powerplant - the revered 2JZGTE, 3.0-liter, DOHC, twin-turbo, inline-six - has been swapped into just about everything you can imagine from muscle cars to even a Prius.

Almost no car from Japan, aside for the Nissan Skyline is more recognizable, dreamed about, and sought after than the MK4 Supra. Sure, the MK3 Supra’s do have quite a following but never at the level of the MK4. Once it made its Hollywood debut, you couldn't find a used one for a decent price. In fact, you could buy a 911 of the same year for the price of a lightly modded Mk4 and still have enough money left over to buy a Honda Civic of the same year. With heavily modded examples reaching prices upward of $60,000 all the way to one I saw sell for $83,000 on eBay. Now yes, there are people who randomly found that grandma-owned model or just happen to stumble across a lucky find. Alternatively, you could buy a Non-Turbo automatic MK4 for much cheaper. Prices have significantly declined in recent years, but you should still expect to pay more then a 1997 Toyota should be worth because that status is STILL there.

Speaking of Toyotas with a cult following, the original Toyota AE86 (84-87 Corolla GT-S) that went through a massive price hike due to is status in drift videos, and an Anime in Japan called Initial D. Prices literally skyrocketed in value. Especially when Toyota and Subaru announced they were collaborating on the FR-S/GT86/BRZ. Yes, it handled well, the styling was there, the FR layout was there, and the sportiness of it was there. But, it was ridiculously slow, slower than most of their rivals that were priced the same or even less. And, modifying it for any real power was expensive and lead to a laundry list of problems. The Subaru power plant was just not up for the job and why Toyota chose to try and revive a cult car and fumble it with such an awkward partnership makes you wonder. Just look at the rapidly declining and dismal sales numbers from its inaugural first two years to last year, and these numbers speak for themselves. And this is not the first revival fumble for Toyota. Remember the MR-S the MR2 replacement? How about the last Celica GT-S? All had redeeming features, but none captured the original car's spirit.

And now here comes the new and even more anticipated Supra - the child of a Toyota/BMW collaboration. But then again, given its older brother's status as a legend and a performance car how did it ever stand a chance? If Toyota could take one piece of advice from this, it's to find a way to make the new Supra something new and try not to sell it based on its sibling’s status in the world. In fact, unless it’s got some staggering performance figures and can compete with the GT-R or best its Lexus IS-F siblings, do everyone a favor and leave the Supra name on the shelf for now.

Futher Reading

Read our speculative review on the 2019 Toyota Supra.

Read our full review on the 1993 - 1998 Toyota Supra.

Read our full review on the 1986 - 1992 Toyota Supra.

Read our full review on the 1982 - 1986 Toyota Supra.

Read our full review on the 1979 - 1981 Toyota Supra.