We were also a little taken aback by the bucket seats. They were comfortable and had a wide range of adjustability, but we expected a little more in the way of side bolstering in a car with such formidable cornering capability. The rear seat, however, was no surprise at all. Like all 2+2 coupes, getting an extra passenger into this space requires agility on the part of the person climbing into the rear, plus lots of cooperation from the front-seat passenger. Getting two passengers into the rear of a Supra comes close to defying several laws of physics.

Our only other observation concerning the interior has to do with driver sight lines, which are slightly obstructed in the rear quarters. However, the side mirrors are good-sized and do a fine job of compensating for those small blind spots. The view directly to the rear in our wingless test car was only average. (Toyota claims that the turbo's optional spoiler doesn't obstruct vision to the rear, an opinion we don't quite share.) Forward vision over the sloping hood is good, although it's somewhat hard to tell just where the front of the car ends.

For all its weight loss, the Supra is still a big car, which makes its agility that much more remarkable. Even at racing speeds, the Supra displays very little body roll when hurled into corners, and it sticks to the road like barnacles on a ship.

The Supra's extra-wide wheels reduce tire sidewall flex, which lends an exceptionally precise response to the car's all-around handling. And big tires and big brakes add up to unusually strong stopping power. In this area, the Supra's performance may very well be the best in its class. We were also impressed by the performance of our test car's limited slip differential, which helped keep the rear wheels driving smoothly even in hard cornering and emergency avoid-ance maneuvers.
What this adds up to is a driving experience that's at least as satisfying as its major competitors - provided you're on dry roads. On slippery sur-faces, the Supra's substantial power, rear-wheel drive and fat tires - designed for maximum performance on smooth, dry roads - can make for tricky driving.

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Considering its finely honed handling, our test car's ride quality was surprisingly comfortable. It was fairly compliant over reasonably well-maintained roads, although tar strips and pavement ripples provide little reminders of the steel in its sinews. On rougher surfaces, the ride tended toward choppy, and it was choppier still in the Turbo, which has stiffer suspension tuning. In fact, this transmitted a fair amount of road noise to the supra's interior, although we never found this to be really objectionable.

The Supra is the best sports-car Toyota has ever produced and one of the best of its breed. Toyota's smaller MR2, a mid-engine 2-seater, is balanced, beautiful and far more affordable. But the Supra offers a combination of smooth power, fighter-plane response and sheer chutzpah that make it stand out in any crowd.

There's a problem, obviously, with the price. But, just as obviously, that's a problem with the supra's competitors, too. If $37,000 or so doesn't make you clutch your heart, this is a car that's easy to love.