Imagine for a moment that Toyota lied to us. Imagine that Toyota was required by BMW to keep the advertised performance figures of the Supra below a certain level. After all, the BMW Z4 delivers 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque and its Toyota equivalent couldn’t come close to that now, could it? Well, what if Toyota said “screw BMW” and secretly did right by its enthusiasts? Toyota Rated the Supra at 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque – at the crank. That means that by the time that power gets to the wheels, it’s been reduced by as much as 25 percent due to slippage and transitional losses in the transmission, driveshaft, and rear axle. So, at the wheels, the Toyota should lay down around 270-ish horsepower and around 300 pound-feet. Oddly, enough, the Supra is capable of more. A hell of a lot more!
2020 Toyota Supra Dyno Testing
As it turns out, a dyno test done by Car & Driver has revealed that the 2020 Supra delivers a hell of a lot more power… at the wheels. As Car & Driver reports, the Supra actually lays down 339 horsepower and 427 pound-feet of torque. That’s literally 4 ponies and 62 pounds-feet more than Toyota says it should produce at the crank, before it goes through the driveline, and roughly 70 horsepower and 120+ pound-feet more than what it should produce at the wheels. So, what gives? Did Toyota low-ball numbers on the specs sheet? Was it done to make the Supra look less powerful than the BMW Z4? Our guess is probably, and the numbers say it all.
Think about this. The Z4 is rated at 382 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. These figures are downright embarrassing for BMW and casts a whole lot of shade over the Z4. Then again, maybe the BMW Z4 also produces numbers that defy its spec sheets.
The point is that the 2020 Toyota Supra could, indeed, feature a detuned version of the BMW Z4’s engine. Why Toyota would lie on its spec sheet is beyond us, however, if the Supra really is that powerful, something tells us that the sole purpose was to keep BMW happy. The real trick now is to see if various versions of the 3.0-liter Supra are able of delivering the same results. It sure would be a shame if this was just a fluke. At least the source is reputable, though, so it’s not likely that the results were doctored in any way.
Performance And Drivetrain Specs
2020 Toyota Supra |
2019 BMW Z4 M40i |
2019 BMW Z4 sDrive30i |
|
Engine |
turbo 3.0-liter six-cylinder |
turbo 3.0-liter six-cylinder |
turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder |
Transmission |
eight-speed automatic |
eight-speed automatic |
eight-speed automatic |
Horsepower |
335 hp |
382 hp |
255 hp |
Torque |
365 lb-ft |
369 lb-ft |
295 lb-ft |
0-60 mph |
4.1 seconds |
3.9 seconds |
5.2 seconds |
Top Speed |
155 mph |
155 mph |
155 mph |
Weight (lb) Per Horsepower |
10.14 |
9.01 |
12.89 |
Further Reading
Driving the 2020 Toyota Supra On the Track and the Street
Read our full driven review on the 2020 Toyota Supra.
Read our review of the 2020 Toyota Supra
Read our full review on the 2019 BMW Z4.