Some Toyota Supra aficionados are strongly criticizing the all-new coupe that revives the nameplate, calling it derivative and pointing towards its co-development process with BMW. Some are even criticizing the fact that the new Supra has BMW engines - for those people, a solution is brewing, in the form of a kit that will allow anybody to discard the BMW lump and replace it with a more suitable 2JZ power plant from Toyota.

Now I’m sure a 2JZ engine swap sounds like a great idea to these purists (many of which have probably never even seen a Supra up close), but I think it’s rather daft to even consider throwing away the BMW six-cylinder and replacing it with an older engine from an older car. It’s not like Toyota didn’t follow the formula - the new Supra has a straight-six engine, as God intended, and not only that, but the BMW 3.0-liter mill (codenamed B58) is an absolute peach.

Moreover, that engine, in stock form no less, sounds like an older Toyota straight-six that’s already been tuned. Did I already mention it sounds absolutely delicious?

But even so, a California-based shop, CX Racing, has taken up the challenge of developing an engine swap kit for the new Supra. The company seems to specialize in engine swaps and associated parts, so this looks like a credible attempt - it even shared a rendering showing what a 2JZ-swapped might end up looking like on its Facebook account.

Interestingly, if you check out the comments section for said rendering post, you will notice that (like the author of this article) not everybody is unanimously on board that this is a) necessary and b) a good idea.

But even so, there will still be those who just have to get rid of that BMW engine and replace it with something more suitable. Unless it’s a V-8 with 500 horsepower, they shouldn’t really bother, though. Besides, no timeline for when this engine swap kit will be available has been announced, although the company does say “you will soon be able to pre-order it,” so it might be sooner than you think.

2020 Toyota Supra

Old Toyota Supra

Engine

3.0-liter twin-scroll turbo six

Twin-Turbocharged I-6 2JZ-GTE

Horsepower

335 HP

326 HP @ 5,600 RPM

Torque

365 LB-FT

325 LB-FT @ 4,000 RPM

Transmission

8-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters

6-speed manual

0 to 60 mph

4.1 seconds

4.6 Seconds

Top Speed

155 mph

155 mph


Further reading

Read our review of the 2020 Toyota Supra

Read our full story on the first-generation Toyota Supra.

Check out our full review of the second-generation Supra.

Read our full story on the third-generation Toyota Supra.

Check out our full review of the fourth-generation Supra.