Four Years Later: The A90 Supra

Four Years Later: The A90 Supra

The MKIV Toyota Supra produced for US markets between 1993.5-1998 turned out to be one of Japan’s most iconic Touring cars during a time where Dodge released their ever- famous Viper in 1992. The styling and design alone during the early 90’s were simply mentally challenging to process especially coming from Dodge. As a matter of fact, the Viper with its roadster chassis stuffed with an 8.0-liter V10 was an homage to Carrol Shelby’s Cobra from the 60s. The early 90s was a time of vibrant yet pronounced colors, the evolution of hip hop music with timeless yet cringey dance moves, along with the birth of reality-TV and talk shows. To say that those times were simpler, perhaps they were.

As the world pays much closer to the climate crisis whether if you believe in it or not, the air today is much cleaner than it was back in the early 90s with less carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, with less pollutants remaining in the ozone. During the 90s, vehicle manufacturers collectively sat down and played chess with who could be the fastest. While the rest of the world in an exaggerated way used aerosol spray cans in hairspray, sun tanning oil, air fresheners, and we had TGIF television on Friday nights. In the 90s for sports car manufacturers, they were going for the moon, baby.

In the 80s, Porsche had a large presence in the turbocharged market with the very expensive 930 models but had the more attainable 944 model. The 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S cranked out 250 HP out of a 4-cyliner and relatively lightweight chassis. But it wasn’t until 1989 when Nissan threw a nuclear bomb in the market when they released the 300 ZX.

This particular car stopped the 80s wedge-like designs with this highly attractive and sleek chassis that grabbed your eyes and wouldn’t let go. Sensory overload all over the place. Wait, it had fixed lights through clear lenses? Oh, it has a twin turbo engine??? This Z made the executive teams at Mitsubishi, Dodge, Chevrolet, Porsche, and especially Toyota turn around, and head back to the drawing board in one of the most important huddles in the automotive manufacturer performance history. The goal was to out flex each other in US markets to see who could be the fastest under the exclusive territory held by the likes of the Ferrari Testarossa’s and the Lamborghini Diablo’s who shared the king’s throne.

As everyone went to the drawing board, Acura/Honda released their first true exotic that has become one of the most coveted drivers’ cars of all time. A vehicle that had input by one of Formula 1’s most legendary drivers of all time, Ayrton Senna. And a vehicle that inspired the design of the McLaren F1, behold! the Acura NSX.

The NSX featured a naturally aspirated 3.0-liter V6 that was mounted in the middle which was a massive gamble for Acura, and the engine produced 270 HP and was offered in a standard 5-speed manual transmission with an automatic option. The NSX featured an all-aluminum chassis and even though it was naturally aspirated in a world of twin turbos, it was the driver’s mod that won the races in one of the most balanced vehicles still to this day. Acura released a second generation NSX in 2017, but it could not replace or be a predecessor to the original NSX because for many die-hard enthusiasts, a twin turbo hybrid with all of the modern amenities only added weight. When thinking of a modern replacement for the 1991-2005 NSX, many owners have made the move or have added the 991 Porsche GT3 due to the related raw nature of the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Dodge and Mitsubishi teamed up to release a couple of all-wheel-drive twin turbo variants with the Dodge Stealth RT Twin Turbo, and the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. Both models had a twin turbo V6 that came with AWD and all-wheel steering! What made these cars neck-breaking was that they were larger examples when compared to the DSMs at the time with the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, the Plymouth Laser, and the Eagle Talon that shared the 4G63 engine. The Stealth and the 3000GT made 300 HP at 6000 RPM, and they offered very sleek styling for 1991 in a world of boxy vehicle designs that flooded highways such as the Dodge Caravan’s, the Ford Taurus’s, the Chevy Suburban’s, the Jeep Cherokee’s, and luxury brands such as the BMW 3-series all had square profiles. The 90s in terms of aesthetics, was about rounding off the edges.

Mazda on the other hand, knocked out one of the most timeless and iconic designs considered to this day, to be one of the most attractive designs of the 90s. The FD RX-7 debuted in 1993 as the new variant that replaces in a grand fashion, the previous FC Turbo II model.

The FD RX-7 made from 1993-1995 was available in limited quantities. Hence if you can find one today in good condition, expect to pay $50k+ and beyond. The heart remains a 1.3-liter Wankel rotary producing 255 HP with the help of twin turbochargers. It is speculated that the reasoning for the two-year run for US production is because out of all mentioned models in this article, the FD RX-7 had the most unreliable engines among the group, and it required educational finesse to keep the car on the road. The rotary engine uses a thick iron triangle that spins inside an iron encasing if you will, and at the “apex” or edge of the triangle the seals are these thin blade-like units that slide into the slots or grooves of the rotary triangle if you will. It maintains a compression seal just like a piston ring as it spins inside the rotary iron. When the seals wear, it makes the engine lose compression. The remedy has been thicker seals, and using a mixture of oil in the gas to keep the iron walls lubricated, making sure you rev the engine out every time you drive it. And mods only made things worse unless you absolutely had upgraded fuel and didn’t lean the motor out. To own one of these cars today takes a certain tenacity much like owning a dog that you’re okay with peeing all over the house because it’s so cute. But on the other hand, making an RX-7 last is to drive them every day, and drive them hard. Garage queens in this case don’t fair too well.

1993-1998 Toyota Supra: The MKIV

The MKIII adapted the front engine-rear wheel drive with a sharpish nose and rear hatch glass which was the benchmark set by Porsche when the 4-cylinder 924 model debuted in 1977. Mazda’s RX-7 had about the same design, and the MKIII Supra was designed for some could say, those who could not afford the Porsche 944 and especially the 944 turbo models. In the 90s turbo quest for greatness that the RX-7, 300ZX, as well as the 3000GT VR-4/Stealth RT Twin Turbo models participated in, Toyota certainly lived to the meaning of the name Supra which meant “looking beyond”.

That’s right, Toyota looked beyond these models and had the Dodge Viper, the Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6, the Ferrari 512 TR, and anything else that wanted to get in their cross hairs as an opponent. Toyota didn’t want a repeat of the 7M-GTE with its history of blown head gaskets. Toyota teamed with Yamaha to build TF out of their next inline-6-cylinder engine. The 2JZ-GTE featured a 183 cubic-inch iron short block with a forged crank, strong rods, and cast pistons cooled by oil squirters. The dual overhead cams on the head were paired with twin sequential turbochargers that generated 320 HP and 315 FT/LB of torque. For 1993, this car was big in its overall profile much like a Camaro or corvette. The masses considered it to be too “bubble” looking. And the rear wing in the back made the car appear funny-looking when compared to low and wide profiles of the Corvette and the Dodge Viper. But what really stopped the music was the fact that in stock form, the 1993.5 Toyota Supra Twin Turbo with the manual transmission option blasted a 4.6-second 0-60 time.

For 1993, the majority of automotive press was centralized on America’s new icon the Dodge Viper with it’s insanely wild looks, and they even made a show about the car at the time. Corvette released their first ZR-1 model as well in the race to be one of the fastest street-legal production cars. Porsche had released their 911 Turbo 3.6 model, and again at the top were Ferrari and Lamborghini with may one ultra-exotic model which was the Bugatti EB110 at the time.

The attitude for the 1993.5 Toyota Supra Twin Turbo was that “it’s a Toyota”, and it belonged in the same class as the 300ZX, RX-7, and the Stealth/3000GT which is true, it was. But going back to the previous-generation MKIII Supra, Toyota was going to make the MKIV as best as they possibly could, and with the help of Yamaha, it had been simply over-engineered to say the least.

Because the field was vastly wide for sports car consumers in the early to mid-90s, sales for the MKIV Supra were off to a very slow start. Objectively, and subjectively in stock form, the 300ZX, the RX-7, and especially the Acura NSX are better looking cars. And the other major factor is that obviously these cars were new at the time, so you really didn’t get to see how these cars faired from a reliability standpoint.

Still, from a performance spectrum, the Supra was a thorn on the sides of the cool kids. As major publications such as Road and Track tested the heavy hitters, the “Toyota” was butting in line of the performance numbers in acceleration, and braking. In these moments the Supra was considered fast, but because it came from a brand who mass produced the world’s all-reliable sedans such as the Camry and the Corolla, it was never really taken seriously.

Yet in Japan, companies such as HKS, Greddy, and Blitz didn’t really pay attention to what the papers and the magazines said. They had their own experience, research, and development with previous-generation Supra models. They were already discovering that the almighty 2JZ-GTE was something very special.

HKS quickly learned that an intake, a downpipe, and a cat-back exhaust unleashed another 70+ horsepower from the 2J. Like any other vehicle running a factory ECU, the power was going beyond the limits of the factory settings. HKS and Greddy released their versions of modules that wired into the ECU wiring and added more fuel up top. HKS released their Fuel Cut Defenser, while Greddy released their Boost Cut Controller. In Japan in the mid-90s, this was huge because this a time before anyone had access to the internet, publishers of Turbo Magazine started writing articles about how the MKIV Supra was becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Here in the states, the key champion to grassroots Toyota Racing was performed by world-record setting driver Rod Millen, known for having that wild Pikes Peak racing Celica, as well as the Tacoma.

Rod Millen’s son Rhys was one of the first if not the first to campaign a MKIV Supra at pikes peak as well. They too, realized the potential of the MKIV Supra. And at the Millen’s headquarters in Southern California, they were just a few blocks away from Toyota Racing Development.

Back in Japan, HKS and Greddy soon discovered the limits of the factory twin-turbochargers of the Supra and had to come up with a solution. That solution was a giant single turbocharger. Back here in the US, drag racing was gaining more popularity as enthusiasts on a budget were discovering how fast their stripped all-motor Civics could do against C5 Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs that were new at the time. Fast imports in the drag circuit in the mid-90s mostly consisted of 1G DSMs (1990-1994 Eclipse/Talon/Laser models), and their all-wheel-drive performance platform pushed many of the few existing tuners, while creating many new tuners as the sport grew nationwide.

With the Supra, you have privateers such as Chris Rado seen here in his MKIV with a single turbo kit making 600+ horsepower who was a regular staple in the magazines with his multiple 10-second passes. But what was most notable about the MKIV Supra, and what really put the Supra on the map before the spread of internet availability, and the 2001 release of The Fast and The Furious, was that many of the participating racers such as Chris Rado, Craig Paisley, Vinny Ten, and Ken Henderson were making substantial power numbers on a relatively stock 2JZ engine in terms of stock internals and with an unopened block. Entering the late 90s, these gentlemen were pushing 800+ HP on stock block Toyota engines before really testing the stress levels of the 2JZ. In a manual 6-speed form, or with an automatic, the turbo MKIV supra started making major waves.

In 2001 when the movie, The Fast and The Furious released, it was the hero car of the movie, which then launched the sport compact scene to the stratosphere at the time. And the rest is history. Several MKIV Supras roamed the streets packing 1000 HP under the hood and became highway kings. At the drag strip 9-second quarter-mile times were regular with these cars, with several breaking into the 8s, the 7s, and now, the 6-second ¼ mile time slips with the latest in turbo technology, tuning software, and suspension setups.

20 years later, the MKIV Supra value is deep into the 6-figure range for many reasons. One of the reasons is that when compared to its classmates such as the RX-7, the 300ZX, and the 300GT VR4, it is the strongest, and most reliable. The Acura NSX although an apples to oranges comparison, retains a very high value because it’s a true driver’s car, and the build quality as most certainly stood the tests of time. In fact, both the MKIV Supra, and the first gen NSX like the air-cooled Porsche 911, are considered timeless.

Also, within the last 20 years, many of the produced MKIV Supras especially examples made for the left-hand drive US markets, have been crashed, totaled, stolen, or parted out. Several enthusiasts bought the cheapest versions of these cars, thinking that they could build 1000HP drag cars, tearing them apart and realizing that you’re going to need a budget that costs more than the car to make them that fast.

Additionally, you have the fact that these cars are now 30+ years old and Toyota has discontinued the majority of the parts for the MKIV Supra. Because the MKIV Supra is in 6-figure territory, because parts are discontinued, because now that these cars are collector items, it has left thousands of enthusiasts despondent in terms of trying to make an acquisition. In 2013 when Toyota hinted that they were working on another Supra variant, Toyota had unfillable shoes to wear.

Truth be told, and after all these years, the Lexus LFA was the true MKIV Supra predecessor.

Now nearly a million-dollar car, the LFA had a MSRP of around $375K when it debuted, but no one was going to pay that for a Toyota. The reason why it should have been the MKIV predecessor is because it was co-developed with Yamaha just like the MKIV, and although not a twin turbo inline 6, it had a symphonic V10 that arguably makes one of the best exhaust notes ever created by man.

THE FT-1

In 2013 Toyota teased another sports car variant, the Toyota FT-1. Just look at it. One of the most aggressive-looking spaceships to ever come out of Japan. The pictures depicted this very low and very wide exotic-looking machine that had a Ferrari Enzo-like nose, and it had what appeared to be fans in the air vents that went to radiators or intercoolers. Take my money now.

Another model that deserves an equal amount of attention and an equally long blog is the Nissan R35 GT-R. The R35 has earned and deserved all of its accolades because there hasn’t been a fast turbo Japanese car that loves modifications and horsepower since the MKIV Supra.

So, to say the least when Toyota then said that the FT-1 was going to be the next Supra variant dubbed that MKV, this would be the best news Supra enthusiasts have heard since 1998 when the MKIV production for the US had ended.

The bar was set so high because what was Toyota going to come up with to replace the super strong V-160 Getrag manual gearbox that came in the MKIV? Oh, do you think the motor will be called a 3JZ? How were they going to make the 2J stronger? How are they going to beat the R35? So much excitement in speculation alone.

But then time went on. Then time went on again. 5 years later it’s 2018 and automotive journalists starts capturing camouflaged versions of what appears to be “the next Toyota Supra”. Collectively, MKIV owners who were ready to make a deposit at their local dealerships thought, what in the hell is this? It’s like they put the FT-1 in a 4-sided vise and squished it down.

Based on the spy photos alone, it didn’t really share many parallels with the FT-1 in terms of the size and overall profile. Because Toyota actually brought fully sized scaled versions of the FT-1 to local Toyota Supra evens held in Las Vegas called Supras Invade Vegas. The camo car had the nosepiece that was FT-1ish, it was a hatchback. Then we noticed the little bit of an air vent on the door. As time moved on, the camouflage started coming off. But the biggest blow is when Toyota’s Gazoo Racing Chief Engineer Tada San announced that the new Supra would share the same engine with the new BMW Z4.

THE RAGE

How could Toyota known for building the most reliable cars on the planet and building one of the best if not the best performance Japanese engines farm out a German manufacture not exactly known for their reliability take the wheel?

Here is the speculation. Whether if you’re a Supra enthusiast or not, the expectation was a contender for the Nissan GTR. To design an organic Toyota engine capable of surpassing the 2JZ, along with producing the FT-1 chassis would have cost Toyota would have cost Toyota somewhere in the billions to produce. This would have meant that Toyota would have needed to have a 6-figure starting MSRP of the low 100s.

BMW on the other hand, had the new Z4 already designed up, and they were going to use their B58 engine which is an inline-6 turbocharged platform. Perhaps rather than spending the time and who knows how much money it took to spend to develop a new Supra, Toyota and BMW made an agreement to make the Z4 a convertible, while Toyota took the coupe and just placed a Supra badge on it.

What didn’t make sense is that Toyota was still one of the highest selling manufacturers in the world so if they really wanted to, they could have made their own car.

The other major hurdle for modern times, is trying to produce a vehicle that is compliant with today’s very strict emissions guidelines. The truth is a modern-day MKIV successor would need to make 700+ horsepower. And why not? The new ZR-1 Corvette has nearly 1100 HP from the factory on pump gas. Ford is setting higher benchmarks with their Mustang models. And Chrysler had been producing Hellcats and Demons for nearly a decade so it’s possible. But for Toyota, they didn’t really want to play chess this time around.

The reason why the A90 had so much hate for it is because there are so many enthusiasts that at some point in their timelines, owned a used BMW. The reason why Toyotas are so mechanically reliable is because of the simplicity of their designs. You have metric hardware that holds the engine together. You have aluminum water necks, aluminum intake manifolds, rubber water hoses. Things that last. BMW uses plastic everything. So, their cooling systems are in perpetual failure after a certain mileage. Their electrical gremlins plague the car. You get used to the service *chime* whenever one of the many computers in the car senses a failure. And many believe BMWs are built to make more money in the service department because their mechanically naive customers will shell out the thousands of dollars to keep these cars on the road when the warranty expires. And Toyotas Chief Engineer Tada San, had to be the dart board as the masses expressed their disappointment on social medial and online forums.

For previous-generation Supra owners there have been stages of grief. First was disbelief, then anger, then unacceptance. And to be fair, the A90 Supra is 95% BMW. The engine, drivetrain, from the interior *chime*, the interior design, and even down to the wheel studs. No matter how much you pull it apart, it’s a BMW.

However, if you can get the image of the FT-1 out of your mind, and think of it as BMWs Z4M Coupe, that would be a good debate to have, and it would be viewed as a better choice. There is just so much riding on the name, Supra, and as legendary, popular, and pop culture as the MKIV Supra is, the heads at Toyota really wanted to move away from that 1000+ HP straight-line highway monster stigma. Reliability aside, BMW’s N54 twin turbo engines, the B58 in the A90 and shared with various other BMW models, as well as the S58 in new M-series models, the aftermarket options are abundant for these cars which Supra owners of all generations could appreciate.

The B58 does produce great power, and there is huge aftermarket support for it. The transmission shifts very quickly even though a demand for a manual model was intensely high. 4 years later, there are several 600+ horsepower cars on the road, and many highly modified A90 owners are setting 8-seconf ¼ mile times.

And lowering the chassis on some wide wheels and some body enhancements really does change the overall exterior dynamic.

4 years later, there is enough demand to where Toyota continues production for the A90 at least as far as 2025 models are concerned. Several A90 models are campaigned in sanctioned Time Attack events, SCCA events, and several are enjoyed at your local drag strips.

In conclusion, enthusiasts can collectively agree that at the least, we can still appreciate that Toyota is still producing a performance platform aside from the GR Corolla. Will we ever see a legendary replacement for the 2JZ? Realistically it’s been over 30 years. More than likely not. You can’t replace Jordan, Lebron, or Mahomes for that matter. But for the newer generation of performance enthusiasts, and for all intents and purposes, the A90 Supra is thus far, is a pretty cool car.

And objectively, with the right mods, it’s a very fun car to drive as well. In closing, here are some mods to consider if you already have the A90 or are on the fence about making a purchase.