2021 Toyota Supra fuel economy takes small hit with extra power

Toyota surprised us all with its 2021 Supra announcement a few months ago. After only one model year, the turbocharged inline-six is revised for more horsepower, and the whole chassis has been re-tuned for sharper handling. Output went from 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque, to 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque. Predictably, the extra speed has resulted in slightly worse fuel economy numbers.

Motor Trend spotted the news first, and now the numbers are official on the EPA’s fuel economy reporting website. We’ve laid the numbers out below.

• 2020 Toyota GR Supra: 24 mpg city, 31 mpg highway, 26 mpg combined
• 2021 Toyota GR Supra: 22 mpg city, 30 mpg highway, 25 mpg combined

The 2021 Supra’s biggest loss is in city mileage, dropping 2 mpg, whereas it only drops 1 mpg on the highway and combined ratings. That small hit in fuel economy isn’t all that terrible for the extra performance you gain. Toyota says the 0-60 mph time drops from 4.1 seconds to 3.9 seconds for 2021. The main changes for the updated engine include a different piston design, lower compression ratio and a new dual-branch exhaust manifold.

Toyota also released a four-cylinder turbo option for the 2021 Supra, but fuel economy numbers are not yet available for this model. We can use the BMW Z4 to predict what those numbers will be, though. The inline-six-powered M40i (same engine and power numbers as the 2021 Supra) achieves 24 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 26 mpg combined. Those are identical to the 2020 Supra. Drop down to the four-cylinder turbo, and those numbers bounce up to 24 mpg city, 32 mpg highway and 27 mpg combined. The increase is so minimal that downgrading to the four-cylinder is hardly worthwhile if you’re just doing it for the fuel economy. We’ll see if the Supra’s shape is anymore conducive to efficiency with the four-cylinder engine, but we’ve tempered our expectations for greenery in this case.

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