When Toyota announced a few years back, that the Supra would be returning, it really gave their brand a shot of excitement that it needed. However, many Toyota fans were not happy when they found out that the 5th generation Supra would feature many BMW parts from the Z4 convertible under a Toyota shell.
Another fact that turned off Toyota fans was that the Supra would be in automatic transmission only. While there are rumors that a manual transmission will come to the Supra, the M3 and M4 are the only way to get the classic BMW inline-six while rowing your own gears.
Since the market is moving more towards SUVs and EVs, we are happy that Toyota partnered with BMW to make the Supra.
The Supra and the BMW M4 are so similar on paper, so it is natural that comparisons are becoming more common. The new Supra has battled against its sister BMW Z4 in a drag race before, but it is a different story when the M4 comes into the picture. In the YouTube video by Sam CarLegion, a tuned Toyota Supra takes on a stock BMW M4 Competition G82 with some interesting results.
Putting The Power To The Ground
When talking about drag races, the main factor is being able to put the power to the ground. You can have hundreds of horsepower, but that doesn't matter if it has so much power that it is just spinning the tires.
The new M3 and M4 do have an all-wheel drive option, which would have helped in this race. Since both the Supra and M4 in the video are rear-wheel drive models, though, they both struggle to put that power down off the line.
Even with the ECU tune that the Supra has, it is no match for the M4's 503 horsepower engine. The cars are fairly matched off the line, but the M4's extra power really kicks in near the top end of the motor. Despite both cars' traction issues, the Supra just can't keep up.
BMW Engine Tuning
Since both the Supra and M4 have BMW turbocharged engines, they are excellent candidates for ECU tuning. BMW detune their engines from the factory for better fuel economy, emissions, and durability. However, famous BMW tuners like Dinan and Burger Motorsports are able to remap the engine to produce a lot of extra power.
For example, a JB4 tuner from Burger Motorsports for the Supra and M4 can produce an extra 80 horsepower to the wheels with no additional hardware. That is a very impressive power increase. With that in mind, don't expect Toyota or BMW to honor your factory warranty if something breaks.