BEHIND THE WHEEL: Toyota GR Supra
MONDAY JANUARY 26, 2026
I wrote this in Australia, in Ballarat, in the middle of summer. The light stays out longer there. The air is warm without being sticky. The roads are a mix of tidy roundabouts, open country stretches and the sort of uneven backroads that remind you a car can be both a toy and a tool.
The GR Supra fits that mood. It is not trying to be a supercar. It is not trying to be a grand tourer. It is a two seat sports coupe that still believes the driver should be involved.
PRO
Creamy straight-six
Brilliant gearbox
Pliant ride
CON
No auto-hold
Limited feedback
SPECIFICATION
3-litre straight-six
382hp 500Nm
8-speed ZF
0-100 km/h: 4.1s
Top speed: 250 km/h
From A$ 105,000
Exterior
It still looks good and it still turns heads. People will say the shape is old now but that is the point. It has had time to settle. The lines make sense. The details no longer feel like Toyota trying to prove a point at full volume. I have always liked it from the back. The hips are wide and the stance is right and it sits on the road like it means it.
The front end has aged well too. That F1-style nose looked dramatic at launch and now it looks like it belongs. It is a face you recognise in your rear-view mirror and that is part of the charm.
The size is also a win. You can do a three-point turn without turning it into a public event. Slip it into city gaps and narrow streets without feeling like you are dragging a trailer. In Ballarat that matters because towns like that are full of little turns and odd junctions and older street layouts that were never designed for modern SUVs the size of shoplots.
Cabin
Step inside and the first thing you notice is that it does not feel like a punishment. Some sports cars act like they are doing you a favour by letting you sit in them. The Supra just gets on with it.
The seating position is good and visibility is better than the shape suggests. It feels intimate but not cramped. I expected it to be tight in here but it is comfortable for two. The cabin also feels properly put together. The touch points are solid and there are soft materials where your arms and elbows actually land. Nothing rattles. Nothing feels loose. It gives you that satisfying sense of a car that was assembled by adults.
The infotainment is quick and easy to use. It responds properly and the resolution is sharp enough. The head-up display is also clear and neatly done. Yes it is a touchscreen but it does not turn the whole driving experience into a scrolling session. You can set what you need and get back to the important part which is the driving.
The JBL audio system is average but it is not awful. People love to complain about these things like they are music producers trapped in a factory car. In the real world it plays your playlists and your podcasts and your bad late night choices just fine.
There are no back seats which is both honest and useful. Honest because nobody wants to pretend adults can fit back there. Useful because you get more cabin storage and you also get more of the car’s sound filtering through. You feel closer to the mechanical bits. In a world full of digital insulation that is a good thing.
Drive
The Supra’s personality arrives the moment you move. The steering is darty. It is light and quick and paired with a thin-rimmed wheel that feels like it belongs in a proper sports car. It makes the front end feel alive. You point it at an apex and it goes there without negotiation.
Roundabouts are where you notice it first. The car feels eager and balanced. You can place it cleanly and it rotates neatly and it makes a simple everyday junction feel like a small event. This is one of the rare modern cars that can make you smile at 60 km/h.
Out on tighter roads and gentle country bends it keeps that same energy. The Supra changes direction without drama. It does not feel heavy on its feet. It feels like it wants to play.
But if you go full throttle the conversation changes. When you are really leaning on it the communication is not as strong as I want it to be. The car is fast and planted but the steering stops telling you the last few percent of what the front tyres are doing. It is not dangerous. It is just quieter than you expect when you are asking big questions at big speed. Confidence in a sports car comes from clarity and clarity is what you want most when you are committed.
Ride and Refinement
Here is where the Supra surprises people. It rides well. The variable dampers do real work and the chassis has that pliant edge that makes it usable on imperfect roads. You can daily it. You can take it on a weekend trip. You can live with it without feeling like you have to make excuses to your spine.
Soundproofing is decent and the aero feels settled at speed. The Michelin Pilot Super Sports help too. Road noise stays controlled and the car feels composed over long stretches. This matters because the Supra is not only fun in short bursts. It can also be your only car if you want it to be. Road trip duty will not be an issue.
Why It Works
A big reason the Supra feels so good is weight. At 1505 kg it is not a featherweight by old standards but it is light enough by modern standards and you feel it in everything. It changes direction with less effort. It carries speed without feeling like it is dragging mass behind you. It also helps with efficiency.
No one buys a sports car to hypermile. But having fun without treating fuel like a bonfire is not a bad thing. It is also nice to know a car can be exciting without being excessive.
Engine
The straight-six is the heart of the experience. It is strong and creamy and it has torque spread nicely across the rev range. You do not have to thrash it just to feel something. It pulls cleanly and it feels confident.
There is also a reason to chase the redline. Stretch it out and the engine gives you a sense of reward rather than noise for the sake of noise. In Sport mode you even get a bang up top which feels cheeky and satisfying. It is not trying too hard. It is just having fun.
Gearbox
The gearbox deserves proper praise. It shifts cleanly on the way up and it shifts cleanly on the way down. It does not fumble. It does not hesitate. I tried to catch it making a mistake and I could not.
That matters because a good gearbox makes you want to drive more. It makes the car feel fluent. You stop thinking about the drivetrain and you start thinking about the road and that is exactly how it should be.
Exhaust
It sounds surprisingly good considering modern filters and modern rules. In Sport mode you get pops and grumbles and the lack of rear seats means more of that soundtrack gets into the cabin. It adds theatre without turning the whole thing into a teenage fireworks display.
Brakes
The brakes are confident. They bite properly and they stay consistent. They give you that calm feeling that you can use the performance without constantly calculating your stopping distance like you are doing mental maths in an exam hall.
Downsides
There is no auto hold assist which is ridiculous at this price. It is not a luxury feature. It is basic daily convenience. Removing it feels petty and it is the sort of thing that makes buyers feel like they are being nickeled and dimed.
There is also no lane centering with adaptive cruise control. Some people will clap and say good because you should not be using your phone while driving. They are right and you should not. Still lane centering is useful for fatigue on long highway runs and it is increasingly common even in cheaper cars so its absence stands out.
Verdict
In a world of digital cars the GR Supra is one of the few that still talks to the person behind the wheel. It has real character and real balance and real usability. It looks good and it feels special and it reminds you that driving can still be a skill and a pleasure rather than an automated process.
It is not perfect. I want more communication when you are hard on the throttle. I want basic comfort features that have no business being missing. But the foundation is strong. The engine is brilliant. The gearbox is excellent. The chassis feels alive. The ride is good enough for real life.
If you want a sports car that can make a roundabout feel like a small celebration and a backroad feel like an invitation then the Supra still makes a convincing case. It is not trying to be everything. It is just trying to be a proper driver’s car and most days that is exactly what you want.