Toyota Supra vs BMW Z4 2020 comparison review

I'm Tom Baker, this is Chasing Cars, and if you're watching this video, you know exactly what is going on here. Supra, Z4, now very much brothers under the skin, a highly controversial point for people that have always loved the Supra, one of the greats of Japanese motoring, is now a European car in so many ways. Built in Europe, running a BMW engine, BMW gearbox, sitting on a BMW platform. Has it ruined it, or does it elevate the Supra to something of a great modern sports car? Basically, we're going to be finding that out in this video, but to remind ourselves what's going on, both of these cars have BMW's B58 3-litre turbocharged straight-six engine, exactly the same outputs, 250 kilowatts, 500 newton meters, rear drive, some obvious difference in terms of the form factors, and little bits and bobs here and there. Toyota say they've basically done the suspension and steering themselves, we're going to be putting that to the test, and finding out if it's true. I think what we need to do is basically assess these cars on the driving first, and then come back to all the other bits that don't matter so much, interiors, practicality, but let's say our benchmark in the car that really is the original of this mix, in terms of the underpinnings, the BMW Z4. Now, I know the windows up look is a bit dorky, but it's so you can hear me, because an inherent part of the Z4 being a convertible is that it's pretty noisy in here, both with the roof up and the roof down. It's kind of more a car you take out for an occasion than a grand tourer, and that's one way that it differs in character to the Supra, as we'll chat about soon, but in many other ways, these two cars are so, so similar. So that starts with the engine, so it's the BMW B58 6, as I already explained, 250 kilowatts of power, 500 newton-metres of torque, 3 litres in displacement, single turbo, and it's a nice engine. It mates very well with the 8-speed ZF gearbox, which has BMW's own software running through it. That really makes the difference between a good and a great gearbox. However, a 6-speed manual is definitely a possibility for these two cars in future, and I think that will be a nice additional bit of engagement for the BMW and the Toyota alike, but the engine, it pulls hard, it sounds good. You know, it sounds like a straight 6 should sound. Despite the fact it's turbocharged, BMW have got this engine to a position where it now sounds sonorous and interesting. There's a pop and crack sort of effect on the overrun in both cars, but the exhaust isn't the same. The BMW is tuned for a bit more of a bass note, a bit more of a grumble all the time. The I don't really care for the grumble, but that's just me. What these two cars share is a very, very short wheelbase, which Toyota insisted upon, and a very broad track. It's another decision Toyota basically imposed on BMW. So even though kind of all of the bits on paper are BMW, Toyota had a hell of a lot to say, and as such, the handling of both of the cars is very good, but it's quite different actually, and that makes sense when you chop a big chunk of metal out of a car, you lose a lot of rigidity. So the Z4 does handle quite differently to the Supra. Part of that is that although the chassis is very, very good, and the car feels secure, the limit is a bit lower than in the Supra. In the Supra, you really can feel it being loaded onto the outside wheel, and you just know when it's going to give, but in this car, there's slightly less rigidity, there's a little bit, just a hint of scuttleshake in the chassis, so there's a few variables there that make it a bit harder to tell where you are in terms of the limit of the vehicle. And then there's the steering, which I'm not the biggest fan of in the BMW. It's sharp and quick, no doubt, but off-centre, immediately off-centre, it's quite okay, but as soon as you get to sort of 5 degrees, 10 degrees off-centre, it becomes quite resistant and hard and treacly for a patch, and then it opens back up again. It's just a funny software tune on this steering, and I say a funny software tune because although the mechanicals of the steering are the same on the Toyota, the tune is completely different, which we'll talk about in just a minute. But there's stacks of grip, really good Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber on both of these cars, the front end's communicative, the ride is also pretty good. Definitely the 19-inch wheels create a bit of sharpness on hard edges, but it's very livable every day. It soaks up bumps in the Australian road network pretty well, doesn't send that much vibration up your spine. But I'm mostly interested in what this car is like compared to the Supra, and I think what we all want to know is, is it a carbon copy, or does the Toyota have some of its own charms? Let's jump over there now. And into the quiet of the hardtop Toyota Supra. Let's figure out how this thing is different, if at all, to the BMW Z4 to drive. Well, spoiler alert, it's pretty different. The engine, the gearbox, you know, the entire drivetrain, that's virtually a carryover, apart from one small element of gearbox tuning, which is that the Toyota Supra's sport mode gearbox is just slightly better tuned, I think, than the BMW's. It doesn't hold low gears for as long if you sort of back off the throttle and clearly demonstrate that you're just kind of cruising in sport mode, so that's kind of cool. But otherwise, yeah, the three-litre engine, the eight-speed auto, totally familiar. A bit quieter, even in sport mode, it doesn't have that grumble, as I mentioned. What it does have, though, is that nice sort of six-cylinder straight-six smooth sort of whine to it, as well as some nice kind of crackles and pops on the throttle lift, so that's kind of nice. Basically, what Toyota have done is they have redone or retuned the steering and the suspension. What Toyota says is that they basically diverged and they worked on those things completely independently. I think that might be overstating the point a little bit. Instead, I think it's more accurate to say that Toyota have sort of picked and chosen from BMW's suspensions and they have kind of done a bona fide job on the steering. So the suspension, we think, is from a Z430i, so it's a little bit softer, so there's a little bit more roll in the Supra, but that's okay. It actually works to positive effect in this car because you load up the outside rear tyre, you get on the throttle, and it doesn't want to step out as easily on you. Instead, it's quite easy to balance, it's quite easy to throttle steer a little bit, it's actually really quite nicely done. The BMW feels a bit more ragged toward the limit, the Toyota is more linear, more sure of what's going on, and you have to work quite hard, actually, to induce a slide. Like, you really have to give it a go here. I mean, it can be done, we're sending 500 Newton metres to the rear axle, but it's more in control, definitely. The slightly softer suspension also means the Supra breathes quite well with Australian country roads. You can definitely feel the road surface, but it doesn't jar the cabin. Just a little bit softer than the Z4, so I think that works quite nicely. Then there's the steering. The steering is the biggest difference between these two cars. Toyota has just stripped out that weird sort of treacly bit off-centre in the Z4's steering. Instead, the Toyota is really nice and linear, straight off the mark, predictable, and the ratio is really, really nice. So it may not be that mechanically there's many differences to the Z4's steering rack, but the Toyota is the one that actually lets you connect better with the road, and for a car like this, that's tremendously important. This is the car you engage with more, and given that basically all other things are equal powertrain-wise, that steering really knocks it over the edge into the car that I would like to drive on a good road. Yeah, I sort of miss the open-air nature of the BMW, but that's okay. In so many ways, this car just feels like the Z4, but 20 or 30% better. So that's the driving. Personally, I think the adjustments Toyota have made to the Supra have been really worthwhile, but that's not where the differences end, because actually living with these two cars is quite a different experience. There's the bleeding obvious, which is that the BMW Z4 is a convertible and the Toyota Supra is a coupe, so if you want those open-air summer thrills, this car's the way to go. But there's also fundamental differences on the interior design and technology, because BMW have reserved their latest tech for themselves on this car. So the Z4 runs the company's iDrives technology, which means it has a new operating system up here, touch capacity, digital driver display that is a little bit more immersive and has more functions, like the ability to display an elementary sort of map in front of the driver. We've got significantly expanded voice control in this car, and wireless Apple CarPlay as well. So if you want sort of the bang-up-to-the-minute tech, it's got to be the Z4. That's not where it all ends for this car though either, because the seat sits lower in the BMW. If you really like to get the absolute lowest driving position, this is the car to go for, but I actually find the Toyota's seat height a little bit more natural. There's also quite a different aesthetic in the Z4, so it's very up-to-the-minute for BMW. A very sort of stacked infotainment system here, a new design steering wheel which is incredibly thick. I can't actually get my hands around it, so that means that steering the car actually feels a little bit unusual for me. Up here on the dash, you've got sort of nice grey stitching, and the seats themselves are all leather as opposed to having the option of part Alcantara in the Supra, though you can get Alcantara seats in this car if you really like that. I really like the diamond stitching up here on the headrest, got this cool aluminium trim. It's quite cold, it's quite Teutonic, but it's very BMW. The Toyota, well the Toyota's weird, because it's actually a mishmash of current and old BMW interior design, plus a bunch of stuff that has never been seen in a BMW, and is in fact Toyota's own, which would have been quite expensive to do, so I'm surprised they did. You've got to watch your head getting into this car, because this roofline is quite nice and low, but there's actually a lot of head space because of that double bubble roof. I love, love the way that looks, by the way, but you get in here and it's like, it's familiar, but it's not familiar. There's a weird sort of deja vu to it. Up here we've obviously got an iDrive screen, but it's the old version iDrive. That doesn't feel outdated or anything like that, it just works differently. It has sort of small icons as opposed to the big aesthetic on the new BMW iDrive system. Similar controller down here though, similar sort of controls for the climate and the radio station presets, and then this steering wheel. It's an old BMW steering wheel at first glance, or is it? It definitely has BMW buttons, but this ultra-thin rim, I haven't seen that in the BMW for a long time. I think it really adds to the Supra's drivability, and yeah, we do have a different design here. So we've got Toyota plastics up here on the dash and the doors. It looks very Toyota, because we have this sort of longitudinal air vent thing. It's a bit like the new Corolla, I reckon, and then we have this sort of organically shaped centre console thing. That's very, very Toyota. Different seats, they're similarly comfortable though. They've still got the adjustable bolsters like you'd expect in a BMW, but not a thigh extender down here, and we've got carbon trim. You know, I don't think it looks too bad. I think it kind of suits the Supra. So, the other thing it's got, just before I finish, is it has a really cool driver's display. Totally different design to the BMW. It's got its own mechanical sort of taco labelling, even though the screen itself is digital. It can't do anywhere near as much as a BMW screen, but that's okay, because it looks cool. So it's a bit of a matter of taste, actually, about whether or not the Supra or the Z4 appeals in terms of a car you're going to have to sit in all the time. In terms of practicality, well, they both have small boots. The Supra has a little bit more space in the back than you'd expect, and the Z4 does too, but these are not a car that you would buy to do everything in life. These are a bit of fun. So, that's the BMW Z4 and the Toyota Supra compared. Despite all the furore around the commercial underpinnings between these cars, the fact they share quite a bit, I'm glad they both exist, because we have a really nice driver's convertible, a really nice driver's coupe, with big six-cylinder engines up front, rear-wheel drive in the back. I mean, that's awesome. Like, sports cars are disappearing at a rate of knots, so we need to celebrate them where they do exist, because otherwise, car makers will just say, stuff you, and they'll build a range entirely of SUVs, and then we'll all be genuinely sad. In terms of picking between them, for me, it's an easy choice. Not only is the Toyota Supra up to $40,000 less expensive here in Australia than the BMW Z4, with the exact same oily bits, it's actually better to drive as well, because it lets you engage so much more with that front end because of its superior steering tune, and also the slightly more breathable, slightly softer suspension tune actually suits Australian roads. That's not to say the BMW Z4 isn't highly accomplished, because it is. I love the recipe of a short, broad, open-top, six-cylinder roadster. It works so well. It's just pretty expensive here in Australia, to be honest, when it can be compared directly with its brother that achieves just as highly, if not more. 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