Car & Driver Mag: Supra vs 86 Center of Gravity

[LimitedSlip]

Car & Driver Magazine: The 86 has a lower center of gravity than the Supra:

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2...-claim-tested/

I was wondering about Toyota's claim . . .

[James H]

Its the typical marketer's tune, the newest and more expensive product is always better in every way. Toyota is playing with fire if they made false claim, especially in the litigation happy US of A. Any engineer can prove the claim is fraudulent and if someone said they bought the car based on that claim, they can take it to court and the sale would be null and void. I think one can reasonably construe that for a sports car, center of gravity is a key consideration in the purchase decision.
Even if there are no lawsuits, it will make them look like fools and be a big embarrassment for Supra owners. Bad move on Toyota's part. Its the spirit of the older generation Supra coming back to haunt them for tainting their legendary name with this abomination of a car.

[FR-Sky]

why compare...both cars are not the same class....

[Tokay444]

Doesn't the 86 have one of, if not the lowest COG of any production road car?

[Adam_L]

Originally Posted by FR-Sky

why compare...both cars are not the same class....

True, but people like to compare things .... lesser dollar value versus a bit higher dollar value, or two vehicles from the same manufacture (which in this case isn't the same : Toy/Subaru vs. Toy/BMW ).

The COG thing, yeah it depends upon where they are measuring from/to. Did they then measure 2-3 times to get a good accurate measurement ? I'd think it's easy to make a claim like this, but be off by 3mm (the new Supra say is 3mm taller) , and come out in some press meeting saying "it was an honest mistake" after the fact.

Some posters here have said a certain generation Miata and late model Corvette has a bit lower COG then the 86. There was a posting/info here that clearly said the LFA and .... I think it was a 455 Ferarri has a bit lower COG by 10-20mm then the 86. Motor Trend/Car and Driver needs to do a dedicated article just on COG, how it's measured , and say the top 25 sports cars that have the lowest...... in the last 50-60 years of production.

[steel86gt]

Its stated in the article that Toyota is claiming a lower CoG on the Supra because they measured it with 18" rims fitted to the car. However in the US the Supra will come equipped with 19's, hence the discrepancy.

[Adam_L]

Sweet. Also the GR package will , pretty sure lower the car by roughly 1" , so there is a element there as well.

Hey, Toyota also claims this Supra 3L turbo gets better MPG then our twins. I call BS on that one as well , unless it's someone with a 86, shifting well above 4k RPM on every shift .... then maybe, maybe the Supra gets better MPG by 1 , since the Supra is a automatic

[OwlDance]

Originally Posted by Adam_L

Hey, Toyota also claims this Supra 3L turbo gets better MPG then our twins. I call BS on that one as well , unless it's someone with a 86, shifting well above 4k RPM on every shift .... then maybe, maybe the Supra gets better MPG by 1 , since the Supra is a automatic

Aren't those EPA ratings? You can't exactly lie about that. That and the MT car has extremely short gears for 6 speed. Meanwhile the AT 86 has extremely tall gears that allows it to beat out the Supra's MPG ratings at 32/24.

The Supra also has the flexibility of an 8 speed transmission, so it has all the benefits of short gearing with the economy of tall gearing.

[Adam_L]

I'd trust my right foot and shifting habits , and actual calculated MPG results in filling / refilling , over what some kind of whole number EPA wants to feed me.

Real world MPG from Supra, we'll see what people are getting later this summer/Fall then compare.

[James H]

Originally Posted by FR-Sky

why compare...both cars are not the same class....

Agree, 86 is much better. its in the true sports car class. GR Supra is in the overweight with 14 way adjustable seat debatable sport car class

[James H]

Originally Posted by Adam_L

Sweet. Also the GR package will , pretty sure lower the car by roughly 1" , so there is a element there as well.

Hey, Toyota also claims this Supra 3L turbo gets better MPG then our twins. I call BS on that one as well , unless it's someone with a 86, shifting well above 4k RPM on every shift .... then maybe, maybe the Supra gets better MPG by 1 , since the Supra is a automatic

when the 86 was launched, Toyota said that its COG is less than one inch higher than their almighty over $300K LFA. So now they are saying the GR Supra COG is one inch lower than the 86 which makes it lower than the LFA??!!

[Dake]

Originally Posted by steel86gt

Its stated in the article that Toyota is claiming a lower CoG on the Supra because they measured it with 18" rims fitted to the car. However in the US the Supra will come equipped with 19's, hence the discrepancy.

It goes on to say they don't think that is enough to make up the difference.

[LimitedSlip]

Originally Posted by Dake

It goes on to say they don't think that is enough to make up the difference.

C&D determined in their measurements that the 86 had a COG that was 1.5 inches lower than the Supra. Putting wheels that are 1 inch smaller in diameter on the Supra should only lower it's COG by .5 inches, correct?

[NLSP]

Originally Posted by steel86gt

Its stated in the article that Toyota is claiming a lower CoG on the Supra because they measured it with 18" rims fitted to the car. However in the US the Supra will come equipped with 19's, hence the discrepancy.

Originally Posted by LimitedSlip

C&D determined in their measurements that the 86 had a COG that was 1.5 inches lower than the Supra. Putting wheels that are 1 inch smaller in diameter on the Supra should only lower it's COG by .5 inches, correct?

There is basically no difference in height/CoG between the 18" and 19" wheels because of the tire diameters:


255/40/18 - 26.0"
275/40/18 - 26.7"


255/35/19 - 26.0"
275/35/19 - 26.6"


Crappy attempt from Toyota to cover their lie with more lies lol