Dyno Tested: 2021 Toyota Supra Appears More Powerful Than 382-HP Rating (2024)

• During our previous dyno testing, the 2020 Toyota Supra made more power than advertised.
  
• The 2021 Toyota Supra gets a revised turbocharged 3.0-liter engine and a claimed higher output of 382 horsepower, 47 more than last year.
  
• We dyno-tested our long-term 2020 Toyota Supra back to back with the updated 2021 Supra, and the results were impressive.

A year ago, the Toyota Supra made its highly anticipated return. In that year, we've tested, shaken it down at Virginia International Raceway for our annual Lightning Lap competition, and deemed it worthy of our 10Best list. We also have a 2020 Toyota Supra in our long-term fleet for a 40,000-mile test. Now we’ve also put the 2021 model on the dyno and compared its results to those of the 2020 Supra.

In our testing, the 2020 Supra hit 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds and flew through the quarter-mile in 12.2 seconds at 113 mph. For 2021, the Supra has 47 more horsepower, but with our test facility closed for the shelter-at-home order and unable to perform instrumented testing, we decided to do the next best thing and take the 2020 Supra and the 2021 Supra to Livernois Motorsports and Engineering in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, for some back-to-back dynamometer testing to measure the difference between the two Supras.

Dynamometers, or dynos as they are often known, measure engine torque. Once you measure the torque, you can calculate the horsepower. The Dynojet dynamometer we used for this test measures the engine output at the wheels, unlike an engine dyno, which measures it at the engine's flywheel. Our last visit to the dyno required us to use the all-wheel-drive setting on the dyno, as the Supra's stability control system interfered when it noticed that the rear wheels were spinning wildly while the fronts remained stationary. Since then, we've discovered a Diagnostics mode with a Chassis Dyno function that allows the car to be tested on a two-wheel dyno. Accessing the menu requires a bit of a secret handshake, but it's an easy one: push the Start button three times in succession, and the Diagnostics mode menu will appear in the instrument cluster.

For this test, we selected Manual mode and put the eight-speed automatic transmission in sixth gear. Sixth has a 1.00:1 ratio, which means no torque multiplication. There are a couple of advantages to performing the test in a 1.00:1 ratio: it is more efficient, and it yields a nice long pull to the power peak. During our tests, the peak rpm in sixth fell about 500 rpm short of the 7000-rpm redline, because the top-speed governor cuts in at 162 mph. Fortunately, the power peak is from 5500 to 6500 rpm, so we're confident these engines huffed out all the power they had.

First up: the 2020 Supra. Even with the power-sapping driveline losses of the transmission and rear axle in play, the dyno recorded 345 horsepower and 409 lb-ft of torque. That's an improvement over the 339 horses we observed with a different Supra last year. The extra power is likely due to production variation, but both 2020 models made more than the 335 horsepower Toyota claims the engine makes at the crank. The old thinking that a 15 percent loss happens in the drivetrain is outdated. Modern drivetrains are far more efficient, and the losses are likely somewhere between 5 to 8 percent.

Next up on the dyno: the 2021 Supra. Engine revisions for this year include a new cylinder head and exhaust manifold, plus redesigned pistons. Toyota claims the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six produces 382 horsepower and 368 lb-ft of torque at the engine's crankshaft. After a few runs on the dyno, the 2021 engine put down 388 horsepower and 421 lb-ft at the wheels. Remove the driveline losses, and the engine appears to be capable of 400 horsepower at the crank.

One caveat: the dynamometer measures torque at the wheels, but there's no way to guarantee or confirm that the transmission's torque converter is fully locked or remains locked until the engine is spinning at high rpm. So the lower rpm torque numbers may read a bit high, since a spinning torque converter multiplies torque. Still, the back-to-back nature of our test does show that there's a real, measurable difference between the 2020 and the 2021. The dyno put the new engine's advantage at 43 horsepower, so it's right in line with Toyota’s 47-hp claim. We can’t wait to see how that translates to acceleration numbers—and we'll get you those numbers as soon as we can.