SUPRANOVA SHOWDOWN

LICOLA: 37°37’40.18”S, 146°37’25.13”E. Permanent population: 2. Distance from nearest Maccas: 96km. Grid power: none. Mobile signal: none. Well-sighted, traffic-free, 100km/h-posted corners: countless.

YOU THINK you know the Toyota Supra, don’t you? Its development story is well documented. You know that there’s a heavy dose of Munich in its DNA and that it reincarnates a badge many thought had gone for good. Its interminable gestation has dulled the sheen of its novelty, tempering the excitement of Toyota’s breathless early promise. Get behind the wheel of the Supra, however, and it might just be the most surprising thing you’ll drive this year.

It would be a pointless exercise comparing the $94,900 Supra GTS with a BMW Z4 M40i. Although the Supra shares most of its underpinnings with the BMW, the convertible Z4 is 30 percent more expensive and competes in an entirely different category. To properly test the Toyota’s mettle, we chose a far tougher assignment. The BMW M2 Competition is a known quantity. It managed to see off the beguiling Alpine A110 in the May 2019 edition and would have won sister title Performance Car of the Year crown had their guest judge not nobbled it with an outlier downvote. This Pure model is priced at $99,900, a mere $5K more