Feature

New Toyota GR Supra vs Alpine A110

Alpine recreated the A110 and immediately topped the sports car class. Has Toyota repeated the trick with its all-new Supra?

Behind the wheel

Driving position, visibility, build quality

The Supra’s driving position is hard to fault. You sit low, snuggled between a wide central armrest and another placed perfectly on the door. The pedals are a little offset, but not unreasonably so, while the wheel adjusts widely for height and reach and the electric memory seat has comfy cushions plus lumbar adjustment.

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The A110’s manual adjustment doesn’t include height or lumbar, and the latter shapes your spine like a banana. The side bolsters better lock you in, though, and while there’s less adjustability to the wheel, it’s still enough.

It feels like you’re sitting slightly higher in the A110, but that’s more to do with its low window lines, which give a better view forwards and to the sides to help you place the car perfectly through corners. Mind you, the letterbox of a rear screen is considerably less useful than the Supra’s, so it’s good that both cars get a rear-view camera and all-round parking sensors.

There’s no doubt which car is plusher inside: the Supra. Many of its precise buttons are shared with the Z4, and although the materials aren’t all as good as BMW’s, they’re still pretty posh. The A110 features a leather dashboard and flashes of carbon fibre, but the trade-off of its dieting is a flimsy feel in places.

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