By The mad lads actually did it– they came out and soft-rebooted their most legendary nameplate of all time. After a decade-and-a-half hiatus and years of poorly-kept secrets, Toyota showed off the 2020 GR Supra. The world collectively wretched when it was announced that the new Toyota halo car would be a different kind of hybrid than they’re known for: the car bearing the A90 Supra name is a collaborative effort between Toyota and BMW, using a Bavarian engine and running gear. Once reviewers got themselves a first drive, it finally made sense: these things are like Voltron. The more manufacturers you hook up, the better it gets! Another half-year later, and 2020 Launch Edition Supras are finally in dealerships and on the streets in the hands of YouTube vloggers, influencers, and mere mortals like you, dear reader– and people are loving them. I like to think of myself as something of an authority on Supras; I’ve owned my fair share of A70s and laid hands on enough other Supras to be considered someone riding the fine line between “connoisseur” and “nutcase.” That being said, I haven’t yet graced the fine curves of a MKV Supra. The good news: the aftermarket has!
If you’ve made your way here, you’re probably looking for cool new go-fast parts for your Supra, or one for a friend’s Supra, or just really like the 2020 GR Supra. No matter which one of those categories you fit into, we’ve got some cool mods we think are must-haves for the new axis-alliance sports car.
Intake
Under the hood, the 2020 Supra is a low-key rat’s nest. It’s got all of the usual plastic covers to keep things looking clean, but under that, you’ve got a BMW-designed, Toyota-tweaked B58B30M1.
Oh, wait, you don’t know what all those numbers and letters mean? Well, let us enlighten you: it’s a B-family 58-series inline-6, with a twin-scroll turbocharger, producing “335” horsepower and “365” lb-ft of torque. These numbers seem to be seriously underrated, as pre-production and customer cars alike have dynoed more in the 350 wheel horsepower and 390 wheel torque; this means it makes more like 435 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque at the crank. So… Some pretty serious power.
The B58 has been around for a while in a few different cars and various states of tune, including all of BMW’s _40i models for the last three years as well as the new BMW Z4. So, obviously there are plenty of fun goodies available. It’s weird to think about Dinan and Alpina providing modification options for a Toyota, but that just may be the day and age we live in. Dinan already makes an intake for B58-powered cars like the BMW M240i that offers a gain of 15hp without any supporting mods, and Injen has followed suit with their EVOLUTION series cold air intake that provides similar power.
Exhaust
Things get even juicier as you move through the rest of the Supra’s respiratory system. The B58’s twin scroll turbocharger spools fast and hard, delivering about 10 psi of boost very early on. 10 psi is a great number for a stock, 6-cylinder car– especially one with an already high 11:1 compression ratio. De-restricting the exhaust that spins that turbo helps with that flow– downpipes for the B58 earn an additional 25+ wheel horsepower with a basic tune, and a free-breathing exhaust system from Akrapovic, HKS, or even Toyota’s own TRD behind that will easily bring that number up another 10-15 horsepower.
Tuning
Engine tuning has come a very long way since the introduction of the previous Supra in 1993. In ye olden days, the furthest you could go with ECU tuning was basic air-fuel ratios. Through modern software and OBDII connections, nearly every aspect of a vehicle can be controlled electronically, including things like turbo wastegate pressure, boost-by-gear, launch control and rev limiting. Many turbocharged cars come from the factory with relatively conservative tunes to ensure reliability, and it seems that the Supra is no exception: speed shops like Titan Motorsports have already managed to eke out another fifty wheel horsepower out of an otherwise completely stock Supra.
By some rough armchair-tuner math, that brings our guesstimated grand total to an eye watering four hundred and fifty horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Before coming through the eight-speed automatic transmission (which could probably use an oil cooler if you’re bumping the power), that’s close to 560 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque at the crank.
With just basic bolt-on parts and electronic witchcraft, on a car that puts down 12.5-second quarter mile times off the dealer lot.
Nissan and their GT-R had better watch their asses, ‘cause we haven’t even looked at turbo and internal upgrades yet.
Tires
Now that you’ve got power figured out, it’s good to be able to actually put it down to the road. New tires go a long way. Every GR Supra comes off the lot with wide Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and while these are excellent original equipment, they’re only gonna last you for so long. Whether you’re opting for low-tread, super-grippy DOT-R semislicks or doing the American thing and getting drag radials, stickier tires can only do better things for your Supra’s grip.
There’s also the more casual option: say you actually want to embody the Toyota spirit of “Let’s Go Places.” If you’re driving your new Supra every day, to and from work, or on vacation wherever that may be, a high-performance all-season tire might be a good idea. Not everywhere is as drought-ridden as California, so if you encounter some wayward rain or snow in your rear-wheel-drive super coupe/investment car you won’t bin it immediately.
Suspension
The MKV Supra has only been available for customers to buy for a short while, and already KW offers a full coilover suspension package for it. This kit includes fully adjustable dampers with independent rebound and compression damping, as well as low and high-speed variation. Fun fact: this is almost exactly the same setup as what’s used on Toyota’s GR Supra GT4 racecar, so if you’re looking for an excuse to go track your brand new investment, there you go. Tein will be producing suspension for the GR Supra as well: their suspension already underpins Toyota’s NASCAR Supra for the 2019-20 season.
Cusco has also jumped on the A90 train, producing chassis stiffeners and harness bars for the new platform. They’ve got crossmember supports for the front and rear of the car, as well as a harness bar that bolts into the stock chassis support location (that’s right, Toyota thought of everything when they mentioned this car was “moddable”).
Aerodynamics and Styling
The new Supra’s lines are sensuous, smooth, and controversial. While it hasn’t retained the Nigel Thornberry-esque schnoz of the FT-1 concept, it doesn’t look like the MKIV Supra either, and that had a lot of people up in arms. Full fourth-generation-style front bumper and wing kits are almost certainly on the way from third party manufacturers looking to cash in on the ancestry factor.
If you’re looking to embrace the future, TRD Japan is delivering tons of cool carbon fiber goodies and new wheels for the fifth generation Supra. The bad news is that they aren’t yet available in the US; as well as that, on a straight Yen-to-US Dollar conversion from their site, the full list of TRD gubbins including wheels totals at over $20,000.
If you’re looking for something a little bit more wild and further in-vogue, Pandem is already producing a widebody kit with massive fender flares, a longer lip, and a massive GT wing. The full kit ships soon for a little over $10,000, but parts are available individually as well.
Whether you’ve got simple tastes or you want to fill out your new fender flares, the 2020 Supra’s wheel bolt pattern is 5x112mm with a 66.6mm center bore. It should fit pretty much any standard BMW wheels if you’re into that kind of sacrilege, but if you’re looking aftermarket stuff there are loads of options from BBS, Wedsport, Volk (including their ever-popular TE37s) and others.
So what’s the big picture?
The 2020 Supra isn’t exactly what we expected. But, then again, in some ways it is; sure it’s got a BMW engine and infotainment system and wheel bolt pattern. It’s also got a predictable and stiff chassis, an honest-to-god turbocharged inline six cylinder engine that makes silly horsepower numbers, and curves like a racetrack. The Toyota GR Supra is ready for anything you can throw at it.
If you’re looking for inspiration, take a peek at the Explore page on Motoroso. We’ve got tons of cool builds and fast cars to give you the ideas you need. If you need parts for any of your vehicles, check out the Motoroso Marketplace. While we’re still sourcing stuff for the A90 Supra, we’ve got plenty of awesome performance parts and accessories for your BMW or Toyota!
