The Myth of the Toyota Supra vs Nissan Skyline GTR

What's up guys? There is a myth going around that the Toyota Supra's direct competitor is the Nissan GT-R. That is just not true. It's funny to see heated debates come up because of this and I'm not even sure where the misinformation came from. But before I start, please hit that like button for the YouTube algorithm and to support my channel. So now let's get on to the story of the Toyota Supra versus the It was the 1970s. Bell-bottom jeans were still in. The war was coming to an end. The Beatles disbanded. The Apollo 13 incident. The Boeing 747 first took flight. Hippies, disco music, the gas crisis, and government regulations were starting to get implemented for car manufacturers to meet stricter emissions and safety standards. The 1970s was an interesting and unpredictable time. This era was when the rivalry started. Toyota saw their success and their best solution was found in the second generation Celica. For 1979, they increased the Celica's wheelbase, added an inline six-cylinder engine, and called it the Celica Supra to distinguish it from the lesser Celica. It's kind of a hard thing when the name Celica is already in there but I guess being confusing might have worked for this time. This was Toyota's hot rod of sort as they were throwing a bigger engine in a smaller car but it wasn't a hit. It didn't look as sporty, it wasn't as powerful, and it didn't handle as well as the other car but it was a start. The car they were competing with was released nine years earlier. It was inspired by the British Jaguar E-Type's sporty exterior, inline six, independent suspension, performance, and great driving experience. This car would compete with the American and Europeans at a much lower price though. This car would be called the Dasun 240Z. Its sales were great because of its performance per dollar and Toyota took notice and made their move. The second generation Z called the 280ZX was released in 1978. The X transitioned the Z from an affordable sports car into a luxury grand tourer. There was also another transition taking place as the by Nissan subscript was placed beside the Dasun logo as they started to phase Dasun out. Despite being less driver focused and significantly heavier than the previous generation, it was recognized for its refinement and technology. It did appeal to many first generation 240Z enthusiasts despite its great sales. A turbo version became available in 1981 called the Dasun 280ZX Turbo with 180 horsepower and 203 pounds foot of torque. It was at this time the fastest Japanese import in the US, even beating out some of the more expensive Italian, German, and British cars. This would also be the last generation to bear the S chassis code. Toyota followed up with a second Celica Supra in 1982 only three years after releasing the first Celica Supra. It got more powerful with better handling with Lotus assisting with the tuning and this was also the first success with the Celica Supra and it received recognition from magazines. The next generation Z arrived in 1984 called the Nissan 300ZX. The Dasun branding was officially replaced by Nissan and the new chassis code designation Z was used replacing the S designation. Technology, aero, and power were greatly improved. This was also the first introduction of the V6 which was more compact compared to the inline 6. The US received a 300ZX Turbo making 200 horsepower and 227 pound foot of torque and the Supra just could not compete at this level. In 1986 the third generation Supra was finally freed from the Celica platform sharing. The icing on the cake was the introduction of the 1987 Supra Turbo which put the Supra in the spotlight. Not to be outdone by the Z, the Supra offered 230 horsepower and 246 pounds foot of torque beating the Z. The Supra also offered better handling, refinement, and performance than the 300ZX. Nissan now had to go back to the drawing board and came out with a newly designed 1990 300ZX. It was sleeker with lots of technology and the most exciting part was the top version called the 300ZX Twin Turbo. It made 300 horsepower and 283 pound foot of torque which was over 70 horsepower more than the Supra. There were rants and raves from magazines and enthusiasts all over the world. The Z became the first best-selling sports car reaching 1 million sales in 1990. Toyota not to be outdone had something in the works. It had been testing under the disguise of the third generation Supra in secrecy. The fourth generation Supra appeared in 1993 and it surprised everyone. It had a sportier look and that legendary 2JZGTE making 320 horsepower and 315 foot pounds of torque. It would beat out the 300ZX Twin Turbo in many tests. The fourth generation would become the icon for the Supra brand and legendary in the car community. Financial troubles, the rising yen to dollar, emissions, and SUVs eventually caused both cars to become discontinued in the USA. The 300ZX in 1996 and the Supra in 1998 and of course we all know the rest of the world in 2000 and 2002. Nissan went through a restructuring and resurrected the Z in the form of the 350Z in 2003. The Z was an icon of the company so they just had to do this. The X was removed recalling back to the original 240Z. There were no twin turbos but it did make around 300 horsepower naturally aspirated. Nissan moved on to the 370Z in 2009 which also received a more powerful engine making up to 350 horsepower. Rumors spread of a next generation Supra at this time but nothing really ever happened except in 2014 where we saw the future Toyota One or FT1 concept which was supposed to be a culmination of past Toyota sports cars and not specific to any model or so we were told. The 370Z would continue on for over a decade despite Z enthusiasts begging for a new Z, 370Z sales dropping, the competition getting better, and Nissan again finding itself in financial trouble. The Supra would then reappear in 2019 thanks to a collaboration with BMW similar in style to the FT1 concept and it was outsourced to the same plant that builds the BMW Z4. The Supra is offered with a BMW sourced 255 horsepower turbo four-cylinder and a 335 horsepower to 382 horsepower turbo inline-six engine. Both engines are only offered in automatic. The naturally aspirated 370Z by this time had been out for over 10 years and would be no match for this Toyota Supra Turbo. Nissan finding itself again in a rebuild unveiled the Z Proto on September 15, 2020 paying homage to the 240Z and 300ZX while offering a V6 twin turbo and six-speed manual transmission to satisfy manual enthusiasts. We're still waiting for this new Z to be released and all we know is that the battle of the Z and Supra will soon continue for this decade. Well I know that people will disagree that the Z is not a competitor to the Supra but that's the reality guys. If it wasn't for the 240Z the Toyota Supra would have never existed. Some may consider the Skyline GT-R to be the Supra's contender but historically it's not. It was never offered in the US where the Z and Supra battled. The Supra and the Z are both very similar using six-cylinder engines being rear-wheel drive producing similar power figures and priced similarly as mid-level GT sports cars. The and straight dominating races to the point handicaps were imposed and bans. If there were to be a Skyline contender it would most likely be the rarely talked about R32 GTS-T, R33 GTS-25T or R34 GTT which are the turbocharged rear-wheel drive versions of the Skyline and most people arguing it's the GT-R probably don't even realize those versions exist. The Supra's performance can match or exceed the GT-R as well as any other supercar but its direct competitor has always been the Z. Well that's it for this video. I hope you learned something and if you did hit that like button to support my channel and that subscribe button for future content. Also if you can please share this video it would be very much appreciated to motivate me to get more content like this out to you guys. Thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next one.