2024 Toyota GR Supra Review: Please get the manual

The 2024 Toyota Supra is an excellent and entertaining two-seat sports car with a storied nameplate. If you were a Supra fan in the '80s or '90s, rest assured that the resurrected model lives up to the name. And, even better, it’s now available with a manual transmission. It’s a compelling and worthy competitor to the newly revamped Nissan Z and, due to its underpinnings, is also a great substitute to the BMW Z4.

Yes, its chassis, engines and transmissions are all sourced from BMW, and you’ll notice some similarities in the drive experience. But mostly the Supra feels like its own car, and most of what it shares with the Z4 is beneficial to the package. There are two powertrains — a 2.0-liter four-cylinder and a 3.0-liter inline six. Unfortunately, you can only pair a manual transmission with that upgrade engine, but you won’t regret doing so. And for 2024, the Supra offers a 45th Anniversary Edition with a manually adjustable spoiler and a number of aesthetic upgrades to help set it apart.

Regardless of which version of the Supra you choose, you’ll be blessing your garage with an athletic, agile and attractive sports coupe that you can’t help but love after your first couple turns in it.

The big (and really only) news for 2024 is the addition of the 45th Anniversary Edition to the lineup. Based on the 3.0 Premium trim, it features a gloss black rear spoiler, 19-inch matte black wheels and a slick looking Supra stripe decal along the sides. This edition is available with either “Mikan Blast” orange or “Absolute Zero” white. Yes, you can get it with the manual transmission.

Toyota was basically handed a box of BMW buttons, knobs and screens, and then used it all to create a cabin that's indeed stylistically different from its BMW Z4 platform-mate. The materials quality is not quite up to a BMW standard, but the Supra also costs considerably less and is still to an acceptable standard for its price point. To that point, the cabin is also of a higher quality than that of the cheaper Nissan Z.

Although the instrument panel screen features Supra-specific graphics and is surrounded by a unique frame integrated with fuel and temperature gauges, what you see on the standard