Toyota GR Supra (2019–2024) review: the BMW underneath is the whole point
4/5motorssouq Editorial Team
Buy the 3.0-litre, post-2021 GR Supra if you want a sports coupe that is genuinely quick, well resolved on Bahrain's highways, and backed by a Toyota dealer network rather than a specialist import shop — the shared BMW mechanicals mean any competent independent or franchise workshop with German-brand experience can service it. Skip it if you carry passengers or luggage regularly; the four-cylinder base car and the two-plus-two rivals it gave up exist for a reason.
Pros
- 382 hp B58 straight-six is genuinely quick and well resolved after the 2021 update
- Shared BMW mechanicals mean any German-car-literate workshop can service it
- Chassis tuning is sharper and more direct than the Z4 it shares hardware with
- Cooling engineered for hot-climate use copes well with Bahrain summers
Cons
- Two-seat layout with a small boot rules out most family use
- Low ride height needs real care on Bahrain's speed bumps
- Early pre-2021 cars made noticeably less power (335 hp)
- Production ended in 2024, capping how much this generation will spread
The joint development with BMW's Z4 was the most argued-about fact about the fifth-generation Supra before anyone drove one, and it is the least interesting thing about the car once you actually do. The B58 straight-six is one of the best turbocharged sixes BMW has built this decade, and Toyota's chassis tuning — stiffer, more direct, less isolated than the Z4's — makes the shared hardware feel like a genuinely different car.
What the 2021 update fixed
Early cars made 335 hp; the 2021 revision brought that to 382 hp along with sharper steering calibration and a stiffer suspension tune, and it is the version worth seeking out. The eight-speed ZF automatic is quick enough in manual mode that the manual gearbox Toyota later offered feels like a purist's choice rather than a practical one for daily Bahrain traffic.
Living with a Supra here
The upside of the BMW partnership shows up at service time: the engine and much of the electrical architecture is well understood by workshops across Bahrain that already service German cars, which is not something you could say about a genuinely bespoke Toyota sports car. Summer cooling has been engineered for European autobahn use, and it copes with 45 °C traffic without the anxiety some turbocharged coupes generate.
The trade-offs are the ones any two-seat coupe accepts: a small boot, no rear seats for a second passenger pair, and a low ride height that needs care on some of Bahrain's speed bumps. None of that is a surprise for the car it is trying to be, and none of it changes the fact that this is genuinely the best-driving Toyota sold new in the country.