BMW 4 series VS Toyota Supra
BMW 4 series
Likes
- Great tech
- Terrific to drive
- Reasonable servicing
Dislikes
- A bit pricey
- Tight rear seats
- Needs more safety gear
Toyota Supra
Likes
- Wild styling
- Advanced safety tech
- Outstanding dynamics
Dislikes
- Limited visibility
- Not easy to drive in the city
- Hardly any cabin storage
Summary
BMW 4 series
BMW's new 4 Series blasted onto the world stage with a chonky schnozz on it that only a mother could love. If BMW didn't want anyone to look at the rest of the car, it did a cracking job of it, because everyone had something to say about the big gnashers now grafted to the 4's front end.
I was nervous about it, too, because the 4 Series has always been so elegant and the current 3 Series - on which it is based - is quite nice to look at. It also threatened to overshadow just how good a car the BMW 4 should be, based as it is on the excellent 3 Series.
And, of course, one also had to wonder if a sports coupe like this would be any good around town. Limited vision? Hard to get in and out of? A true four-seater, or just a squishy 2+2? So many questions.Â
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Premium Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.4L/100km |
| Seating | 4 seats |
Toyota Supra
Does the Toyota Supra call your name in the night? It calls mine. It whispers things. Tries to convince me that despite living in an apartment with my family only seven kilometres from the city it'd be perfect for us.
Of course, when it's daytime and I'm thinking straight I know a sports car in the city is impractical. But then I see one parked out the front of our flat and I start to entertain the idea of having one all over again – maybe it could work, it's not large, it has a boot, and it's a Toyota so it's probably reliable and not too pricey… Right?
Well as it happens the Toyota Supra parked outside my apartment was the car I was road testing for the week for this Urban Review. It was the base grade GR which lists for $84,900 and if you want to know what it's like to give into those voices and live with it, in the city, daily, I can tell you.
Read More:
Toyota Supra 2020 review: GTS| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 3.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Regular Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 7.7L/100km |
| Seating | 2 seats |
Verdict
BMW 4 series7.8/10
The BMW 420i is a terrific car if you're after a bit of style and sophistication. Not everyone will warm to your car's nose, but if you get it de-chromed, like this white one, it really does look pretty good. It's a car that uses very little fuel, moves along smartly and is brimming with a decent amount of tech, even if it could do with a bit more safety gear at this price.Â
I reckon this car is settling well into the automotive landscape and ignoring it because of a few loudmouths think the grille is too big would be a terrible waste.
Toyota Supra8/10
I think you can guess what I'm going to say: Yep, the Supra GT is great to drive, just not in the city.
That's why I've scored it this way.Â
If you live outside the city, even in the suburbs, daily driving will be fun and rewarding, but venture into the an urban environment and life behind the Supra's wheel will become frustrating.
If you live in the city, you'll have to be completely in love with the Supra to make it through the hard times in the urban landscape of car parks and traffic.
Still the Supra GT is great value, has a comfortable ride, looks awesome, and comes with excellent advanced safety tech.
So, if the Supra is calling your name in the night, keep all this in mind before you answer it.
Design
BMW 4 series
The internet exploded when it became clear the big kidney grille was for real. To be fair, BMW did itself absolutely no favours by ensuring the photos of the 4 Series made the twin grille look Easter Island statue sized.Â
And it persisted in doing them naked, without number plates to break up the look. In the flesh, it all works, the nose is striking but not completely overblown.Â
BMW coupe elegance reigns supreme in profile, however, with excellent proportions, and even in base form the wheels are the right size. The slim tail-lights and sculpted tail complete the look. It's a car I think most people love looking at. Hardly anyone mentioned the grille.
The cabin is excellent, as are all of the newer BMW interiors. It's not really a base model, given the price, but the mix of Alcantara and synthetic leather is very pleasing.Â
The big screens for the media and instruments headline the cabin with high-tech style and while it's not avant-garde, it's sharp and feels premium, which is just as well.
Toyota Supra
Ever seen the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well if the Z4 and Supra GT are twins under the skin then the latter is definitely the Arnie of the pair.
Okay, that's not fair. The BMW is pretty and sleeker than an otter, but the two look so different that from the outside you'd never know (if you didn't know) they are essentially the same car.
The Supra is like a mutant superhero with its enormous pumped up rear guards, the huge bulging bonnet, and the hungry looking grille with giant air intakes.
Some people don't like the headlights, but they're a hat tip to the previous-gen Supra and I'm a fan of them.
Then, there's the rear-end. You could stare at it for hours. The sinister tail-lights, the big 'duck tail' spoiler, the dual exhaust, and it's also from this angle that you can see the 'double-bubble' roof shape better.
The Supra lineage goes back to the 1967 Toyota 2000GT and if you Google that car you'll see how much of a stylistic homage this new car is to the original.
If you were wondering what the GR badge is all about, it refers to Gazoo Racing, Toyota's performance brand. The Supra's official name is the GR Supra.
The only outward difference in looks between the entry-grade GT which I tested and the GTS above it are the wheels. The GTS has bigger 19-inch rims and red brake calipers.
Inside both are almost identical, too, but it's in the cabin where you can spot all of the BMW bits and it confuses my brain big time.
The door handles, the switch gear and the media controller dial are the same as the Z4's. Meanwhile, the climate control systems and radio controls seem to be from a 2014 BMW 3 Series.
And although the media display and digital instrument cluster are different in their design to the Z4's it's easy to see they're the same, just repackaged.
I'm being a car nerd, but some of you will appreciate it. BMW bits or not, it's a great interior that's uber modern and stylish.
Now to get numbers nerdy. Let's look at the dimensions of the Supra. The length is 4379mm. That's the width of your pinky nail longer than a Toyota Corolla hatch. That's small. It's 60mm wider than a Corolla, though at 1854mm, and way lower at 1292mm tall. What does that mean for practicality? You're about to find out below.
Practicality
BMW 4 series
As a sports coupe, it's hardly a practical all-rounder but it's not a squishy 2+2 either. The rear seats are sculpted for maximum headroom and have the added bonus of holding onto rear passengers.Â
Six footers won't be super-comfortable but it's bearable for short trips. There are two ISOFIX points back there, too.Â
The front seats electrically fold out of the way for ingress and egress, but it's not an elegant process.
Front-seat passengers score two cupholders and bottle holders in the doors and a black hole for your phone and its wireless charging pad.
The boot takes an impressive 440 litres and the rear seats split and fold like good little soldiers.
Toyota Supra
All Supras are two-seaters, and while this is a small car at less than 4.4m long leg-, head-, shoulder-, elbow and headroom are excellent.
I'm 191cm tall with a 2.0m wingspan and I fit into the cockpit of the Supra better than a Porsche Boxster and most other sports cars. That said, the seats are snug, well for me anyway, so if you're 'big-boned' like me you might find them a bit tight, too.
Just don't expect to fit many people in. That's right, you won't find a couple of tiny seats in the back. Actually, if you sit in the driver's seat and put your hand behind your chair you can feel the boot floor.
The boot has a hatch opening and a cargo capacity of 290 litres but you may be able to fit more into it than you think, as I found out after going to the supermarket to do a big weekly family COVID-19 grocery shop.
As I pushed my overloaded trolley back to the car I remembered I'd brought the Supra. Not sure how I forgot that, considering it was so tricky to park (see the driving section) but my new problem was working out how to get all the shopping bags in.
Take a look at the before and after photos. There was no way I thought the shopping would fit, but it did and without the bread getting squashed.
You can see in the rest of the photos that I even managed to fit the CarsGuide pram into the space, although you'll have to leave the baby at home because there are no anchor points or mounts for a child seat or capsule inside.
As for cabin storage, it's almost non-existent. The door pockets are only big enough for a phone and there's no centre console bin. But you do get two cupholders, a small glove box and a tray in front of the shifter which doubles as a wireless charger. There's also a 12V outlet and a USB port.
Coupes tend to have long doors, and if you've ever owned one you'd be well aware of the problems this causes in trying to open them in carparks. They can also be heavy and that makes opening them on steep hills a struggle, too.
The low height of the car could also see you having to leave the car on all fours if you're tall and not a flexible as you used to be, like me.
Price and features
BMW 4 series
The 420i starts at $71,900. That's a fair bit of money, I think you'll agree.
You get 19-inch wheels, a 10-speaker stereo, LED headlights with auto high beam, head-up display, power front seats, lighting package, auto-parking with reverse assistant, synthetic leather and Alcantara interior, 'Live Cockpit Professional' (fully digital dash), wireless phone charging and digital radio.
The massive 10.25-inch touchscreen may be smaller than the 12.3-inch digital dashboard, but it still looks huge. BMW's Operating System 7.0. is a cracking set-up, and you can control it via either touch or the 'iDrive' rotary dial on the console. It also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Both of them, wireless. You don't read that every day.
You also get 'BMW ConnectedDrive', with some remote services that last for three years. The subscription includes things like the endearingly weird 'Caring Car' and the far less weird real-time traffic information.
The 4 Series is available in eight colours. 'Alpine White' is the only freebie while 'Black Sapphire', 'Arctic Race Blue', 'Portimao Blue', 'San Remo Green' and 'Mineral White' are $1538 each (or part of the 'Visibility Package'). 'Tanzanite Blue' and 'Dravit Grey' are a hefty $2962.
My car for the week had the $6300 Visibility Package (metallic paintwork, sunroof, BMW Laserlight, Ambient Light, which is worth it for the amazing Laserlights alone), the $2860 'Comfort Package' (lumbar support, electric boot, heated front seats, 'Comfort Access' with 'BMW Digital Key') and an $800 black pack. All this took the price to $81,860.
Toyota Supra
Excuse the language but, gosh yes! See, a joint venture between Toyota and BMW resulted in the Supra and the Z4. Thing is, if you want the six-cylinder engine version of the BMW (the Z4 M40i) you'll need to hand over $128K, whereas the base-grade Supra GT tested here lists for $84,900.
Sure, the Supra isn't a convertible or as powerful as the Z4, and yes it's expensive for a Toyota, but the equipment list is extensive and much of it is BMW tech such as the digital instrument cluster and media screen – both 8.8-inches.
Standard too is sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, 10-speaker stereo, wireless charging, dual-zone climate control, paddle shifters, proximity key, LED headlights and taillights, rain-sensing wipers, heated folding wing mirrors and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The standard upholstery is leather, and the seats are heated and power adjustable.
Then there's all the safety equipment such as the reversing camera and advanced tech which you can read about below.
It's good value, especially when you compare it to the Z4 and also the entry-level Porsche 718 Cayman, which is $118,690. Nissan's 370Z is a traditional rival to the Supra and lists for about $50K.
But it's old – like, been-on-sale-since-2009-old, and having driven a manual one in peak hour traffic daily through the CBD I'd not recommend it as a great urban car.
If you're wondering where the Toyota 86 fits into all this think of the Supra as it's bigger, more powerful and way more expensive step-brother.
Under the bonnet
BMW 4 series
The 420i’s 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, codenamed B48, spins up 135kW/300Nm. Driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, you'll go from zip to the 100km/h mark in 7.5 seconds, which is brisk, if not staggering.
Toyota Supra
Inside that long snout is a BMW 3.0-litre turbo-petrol in-line six-cylinder making 250kW/500Nm.
It's not an enormous amount of power but perfect for the Supra, because it isn't a muscle car or a supercar, but a sports car which is more about fun and handling than massive grunt.
Besides, the Supra weighs just 1495kg (about 100kg more than a Corolla hatch) and that mumbo (especially the 500Nm of torque) is plenty.
Is it fast? Well 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds is a tenth of a second quicker than the fastest Porsche 718 Cayman sold in Australia, the GT4. So, yes.
The eight-speed (ZF-sourced) automatic transmission is smoother than smooth, but also slower than fast at changing gears.
Drive goes to the rear wheels and there's an electronic limited slip diff.
An outstanding engine matched perfectly to the car. But there's something you should know. Later in 2020 a more powerful Supra is coming. Keep your eye out for that.
Efficiency
BMW 4 series
BMW's official combined-cycle figures seem to be slowly moving towards reality. The 420i's sticker figure of 6.4L/100km was met with an indicated 6.8L/100km, which was excellent going for almost exclusively suburban and urban running.Â
It's a solid result, but being a BMW, it's premium unleaded only for its 59-litre tank.
With my generally unsympathetic (but not psychopathic) right foot, that means a real-world range of over 800km between fills.
Toyota Supra
Toyota says that if you were to stick to just urban driving the Supra GT should use no more than 6.5L/100km of petrol.
My own testing found that after 125.1km of mainly urban driving plus a trip to a national park to stretch its legs I needed 11.7 litres to top up the 52-litre tank.
That's 9.4L/100km. The official economy for a combination of open and urban use is 7.7L/100km. Not bad for a 340 horsepower sports car.
Driving
BMW 4 series
One of the main things that sets a BMW sedan or sedan-based coupe apart is that they're good everywhere, except perhaps in quicksand.Â
As the platform has matured and BMW's persistence with run-flat tyres has yielded improvements in tyre construction, the 3/4 Series platform (and many others - the internal name for the platform is CLAR) has once again become the benchmark for ride and handling.
For some people reading this, that's a lot of blah blah blah but the main point is, it's a terrific thing to drive whether you're dawdling along in traffic, dealing with traffic calming or bombing down your favourite deserted road.
The Bridgestone tyres on the 420i aren't as ultimately grippy and sticky as the alternative rubber on the 430i but they work well in town and are quiet on the 80km/h roads so prevalent in Sydney.Â
The steering is absolutely lovely, providing just the right weight at any given speed and throwing in the road feel to inspire confidence.
Ride around town is compliant but with the whiff of fun if you decide to push things outside of the city.Â
Its capabilities are still more than worthwhile day-to-day, however, because the way it handles the need to duck in and out of spaces in traffic is extremely handy.
The 2.0-litre four-cylinder is as smooth as rival Audi's. It doesn't sound like much (with a few vestigial pops in Sport mode) but it's certainly got the power to get you out of sticky situations and a transmission that's willing to play ball, whether in Sport or Normal.
Without the adaptive suspension of its 430i and M 440i brethren, this is a very smooth, easygoing sports coupe, with just enough sportiness to keep you interested, if you're that way inclined.
Toyota Supra
Go out into the street and sit on the road. Oh, and do it wearing your letter box on your head. That's how it feels to drive the Supra GT. Well it's more comfortable than sitting on bitumen but that's about how low you'll feel in the traffic and how much visibility you have through the mail slot of a windscreen.
Okay, it's not that bad but you are super low and visibility isn't terrific. Take a look at the view out of the cockpit in the images.
There will be some who will love this driving position because it offers such an engaging 'you're-a-part of-the-car' connection. And they'll gladly suffer a bit knowing that that's just the design of a classic sports car, and in return you get superb handling.
Then there will be others who loathe that low-letter-box feeling. They'll hate not being able to see ahead in the traffic, detest looking out their window and staring straight at the wheels of buses, and be anxious when parking because it's impossible to tell where the front of the car ends over that long bonnet.
My passion is hot rodding which means I love driving cars which are awful to drive, but even I became frustrated with the Supra daily in the city over a week where it rained nearly non-stop.
I remember being in a car park in torrential weather and me not being able to open the long driver's door enough to get in because somebody had parked close to me.
But then at the end of the week I took the Supra to a national park for a test drive and loved every corner, hill and straight in it. The steering is direct with plenty of feedback and the feel of those rear wheels just an arm's length away pushing you along is wonderful. This is a modern classic sports car for sure.
But is it an urban driver? Well the ride is surprisingly comfortable, and the engine is quiet and pretty docile with controllable predicable acceleration, but this is really a car wants to be free, on a nice twisty road away from the city and its traffic lights and parking lots.
Safety
BMW 4 series
The 4 Series comes with six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB, forward collision warning, lane-departure warning, reverse cross-traffic alert and reversing camera.
The 4 Series hasn't been tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP and the 3's five-star rating can only be a guide because of the very different structure of the 4.Â
Sports cars rarely fare well in the sometimes complex rules so carmakers tend to keep them away from the clutches of crash testers.
Toyota Supra
The Supra hasn't been crash tested and awarded an ANCAP score yet. But the safety equipment on-board is impressive with urban-focused standard tech such as AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, front and rear parking sensors with clearance detection, blind spot warning, rear-end collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, speed limit recognition, and a reversing camera (with a clear picture).
Seven airbags, ABS with a brake fade and drying function and hill start assist complete the excellent standard equipment list.
As mentioned, there are no mounts or anchor points for child seats.
There isn't spare wheel, either. What you do get is a puncture repair kit. It's under the boot floor.
Ownership
BMW 4 series
BMW offers a ho-hum length of three years and 100,000km of warranty coverage. Mercedes has gone to five years so one wonders why BMW (and Audi) hasn't joined its German rival.
Servicing is entirely reasonable at $1650 for a five-year/80,000km package that covers the 12 month/16,000km servicing regime.Â
At $330 per service, it includes things many carmakers don't, such as brake fluid and spark plugs.Â
You can go full noise with the 'Plus Package', which costs $4500 and chucks in brake pads, rotors and even windscreen-wiper replacement. That doesn't seem like terribly good value to me unless you drive like a lunatic.
Toyota Supra
The Supra GT is covered by Toyota's five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Servicing is recommended annually or every 15,000km with the first four services capped at $385.
That's excellent value especially compared to the servicing and ownership costs of its BMW Z4 twin.