Toyota Supra review

Do you care about the brand overlap and associations? This is a curious one. Normally BMW branding enhances a car’s value. Here we're not sure it does. Toyota has proved it can build its own sports cars before and long-term we're not sure this one will be seen so favourably.

It’s expensive to buy, with the 2.0-litre priced from £50,545 and the 3.0-litre from £58,580. But an Alpine A110 and a Cayman S are probably £10k more once you’ve specced it as comprehensively as the Supra.

It’s a bit galling to see that BMW’s equivalent Z4 – bearing in mind roadsters are traditionally more expensive than coupes – is six grand cheaper, though. The Supra will be a rarer beast.

Weirdly, Toyota insisted at the Supra's debut it would never build this car with a manual gearbox because sports car buyers want paddles for speed and ease. Then they announced that they would do a manual after all, and that 30-40 per cent of Supra buyers would choose it. That's one heck of a U-turn, and one we suspect wouldn't be happening unless the initial reaction to this car had been less lukewarm.

Previously you could save £2k with the manual, but alas we've come full circle: you can no longer spec it on Toyota's configurator, and we don't know when - or if - it'll be coming back. Boo.

The trim levels have been slimmed down too: Pro used to be the top-spec, but now it's all you're getting. Instead it's the engine choice that brings you more kit, with the 3.0-litre adding 19s, a stainless steel exhaust, powered mirrors, adaptive cruise control, a (distracting) HUD, memory-function drivers seat, wireless phone charging, front and rear parking sensors, blind spot monitoring and a 12-speaker JBL sound system.

Either way... do you really want to own one? Over and above an Alpine A110, Porsche Cayman or BMW M2? Before driving it, we’d have said no. But the dynamics are good enough to put it firmly in the mix - if you can accept something a bit heavier and ultimately softer.

Oh, and we've run one in the Top Gear Garage. Read all of our updates right here.