Obviously the short answer is, follow your heart not your head to your badge of preference. It's no secret that the next BMW Z4 will be sharing its underpinnings and possibly a whole lot more with the long-awaited Next generation Toyota Supra. But both cars have a fair following from each camp so this will not be an exercise in market conversion rather a synergy of (some of the) hardware. Let’s look more closely at the combatants and indeed their legacies.
Toyota Supra
It’s been 16 years since we’ve last seen a fresh Supra. The car is of course a splinter brand off the original Toyota coupe, the Celica. Whereas the Celica now refers to front wheel-driven 4-cyl sports cars, the Supra has become synonymous with turbo-charged six-cylinders, sending all their might to the rear tyres. Their legacy has only further been cemented in pop culture – thanks to the likes of the Fast and Furious franchise, Initial D, and video gaming. And, fortified still in the aftermarket and race worlds including quartermile and drifting, with serious sports participation in touring car racing.
The Supra takes the lead here, it’s fan base is incredibly obsessed and for good reason, even so far as being able to ignore the BMW connection in the new car. This won’t be like the Subaru-Toyota relationship where the GT86 and BRZ were spawned, rather a pooling of resources in the interest of cutting costs. Each car will be unique in their driving experiences and certainly their engines. You can bet on turbo-charged six cylinder engines - think of the unit in the BMW M2 as a starting point and the infamously tuneable 2JZ of the previous Supra as further inspiration - but a point of distinction will be the price, which brings us neatly to the German corner.
BMW Z4
You can bet the more premium BMW will cost more than the Toyota product. Where the Toyota production car has not yet been revealed (look to the FT-1 concept as an idea though) the BMW concept already reveals a high-end finish to the exterior and cabin. This is just a Carshop hunch but we’d guess that the BMW will feature an auto-only range of transmissions where the Supra will still have a manual gearbox as an option, further keeping costs down and of course offering purists more engagement from the drive. The Z4 doesn’t quite have the legacy of the Supra though, that is unless M Division intervenes and gives us a Z4M. We live in hope. We’d rate both cars will however offer multiple models across their respective ranges. Yes, you can expect four cylinder engines and without a doubt some electrification as well.
Verdict
It’s pretty obvious who wins here. We do. The way I see it if you’re a Toyota fan then you’ll benefit from buying the Supra and let’s be honest, you’ll appreciate the slippery aesthetic of the BMW when you pull up alongside one on the highway. And vice versa. Win. Win.
