Hyundai Veloster vs Toyota Supra

What's the difference?

Another good bit of Berry wisdom was the idea that the Turbo is the sweet spot of the range. While the Premium is indeed packed with goodies, they're not must-haves - the Turbo has everything you need while the Premium adds the wants.

So, at its core, this Turbo Premium is good warm hatch fun in a wacky, head-turning body, wrapped around a good cabin that could be a little less plasticky. Best of all, the fun design matches the fun-to-drive personality. It's a thoroughly modern Hyundai and I want (even more) to drive the full-fat bonkers N version we look like we're not going to get.

The Toyota GR Supra GT is a superb sports car that’s relatively easy to live with in the city even with the manual gearbox and incredibly fun to drive out where the roads are free from traffic.

Not only is the GT great for the price compared to rivals but it’s the pick of the Supra range.   

You do not have to find the Veloster pretty to think it's cool. You can see echoes of the i30 donor car that lurks under the more interesting metal, with a big grille, sharper headlights and plenty of black bits to up the aggro for the Turbo model.

The rear bumper sports a pair of drainpipe-sized exhausts that aren't afraid to bellow a bit.

It's different from right to left in profile, with the rear door almost disappearing into the rear haunches on the passenger side. The high rear glass may not be great for seeing out of but it helps keep the Veloster identifiable and influential - there are more than a few cars getting about sporting a similar high rump with big lights.

The cabin is, like its predecessor, fairly restrained and very i30-like. It's all put together very well and is only let down by the centre console's plastics being a bit hard, scratchy and insubstantial.

Perhaps it’s just me but I think the Supra looks exactly how it should look - like a Hot Wheels car.

Seriously, how good does the back view look? I love the spoiler that angles up like a crazy ski jump and the tail-lights integrated underneath it.

I love the huge rear hunches swollen like they’ve been stung by an enormous wasp. Check out the roof - see how it’s curved? And that bonnet with the vent above the wheel arches, I love the styling of every millimetre of this car.

But my neighbour doesn’t. I pulled up and said, “How good does this look?” And he gave me this stare like I was bonkers.

I don’t know, maybe you and I have the same excellent taste, but if there’s anything I hate it's anything that’s boring.

To me the BMW Z4 ‘twin’ is getting very close to the boring end in the styling department. 

Talking of BMW, the Supra's interior is very BMW from the indicators stalks to the media system and climate control set-up.

It’s a modern and minimalist cabin… if only there wasn’t a cupholder right where my elbow goes. That’s a good place to stop and talk about the Supra GT’s practicality. 

I think the Veloster is very clever. M'colleague Richard Berry thinks the third door is a bit silly - say, like a third armpit. I'm of the opinion it's an exceptionally clever solution to a problem: how do I have a funky car without throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

Something like a three door hatch (yes, I know they're out of vogue) makes moving people about difficult even if you only do it occasionally. The Veloster's third door provides relatively easy access to the two back seats for people under about 150cm, and you can get okay access to a baby seat. Try that in an 86.

The new door aperture is quite a bit bigger than the old car and there is a bit more rear headroom which I'd still call marginal for my 179cm frame. Leg and knee room are okay, sitting behind my own driving position.

The boot is a useful if not staggering 303 litres. You have four cupholders across the two rows and door pockets in the front doors. Ahead of the gear selector you'll find a tray with the Qi charging pad and two USB connections, but only one will work with the stereo and is marked as such.

The good news is that if you’re tall like me (189cm) and mainly legs then you’ll have more than enough legroom and headroom because the footwells are impossibly deep and the seats can be lowered to what feels like ground level.

Actually, you are almost at ground height in this car so the bad news if you’re as tall as me you’ll probably have to crawl out of the car on all fours.

The cabin of the Supra doesn’t do the storage space thing well. Sure there are two cupholders but their location is the same place my elbow frequents while changing gears and resting.

The wireless phone charging area is good and easy to access, but the door pockets are as thin as post box slots so if it’s letters you’re storing there you’re in luck.

If it’s anything thicker than that you’ll be left looking around for a place to put your purse or wallet and end up throwing it in the phone charger space if the passenger seat is taken.

You could always ask your co-pilot to hold onto your things which reminds me to tell you that the Supra is a two-seater only. There are no back seats, and there’s no option to have back seats.

If you’re looking for a sports car with rear seats (although space will be limited) for the same money then there’s the Audi A4 45 TFSI and at an even lower price is the Ford Mustang GT.

If you look over your left shoulder while in the driver’s seat of the Supra GT you’ll see into the boot -  there’s no wall separating the cabin from the cargo area. This is handy for throwing a school bag in as I did for my son on the morning drop off, but also means your items may make an unexpected visit to the cockpit if you stop suddenly.

The boot is large for a sports car at 296 litres (VDA) and it managed to fit our large CarsGuide suitcase with space to spare as you can see in the images.

The Toyota GR Supra GT with the manual gearbox lists for $87,380 and you’ll pay the same price for the same car with the automatic transmission. 

Yes, almost $90K might sound like a lot of money for a Toyota (unless it’s a LandCruiser) but it’s actually a bargain considering the GTS grade above costs $10K more and has the same engine plus pretty much the same features apart from a fancier stereo, head-up display and 19-inch alloys (rather than the 18s on this GT).

Also, if you didn’t know already the Supra is a BMW/Toyota joint venture model aligned with the BMW Z4, and if you want the Beemer version with the same engine as the Supra GT you’ll pay $139,800 for it.

So see, it’s a bargain in comparison.

The standard features list of the GT has pretty much everything you need. There’s a proximity key, LED headlights with adaptive high beam, active cruise control, sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10-speaker stereo, wireless phone charger, heated and power adjustable seats, shifting paddles and sports pedals. 

Great features, but let down only by a small 8.8-inch screen for your media and nav. Still, that absolutely shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for you.

The rivals? Well, clearly the BMW Z4 which is way more expensive, but also there is the Nissan Z which costs between $70-$80K and is also a hoot to drive.

Add the Ford Mustang GT to your research list, as well. It’s not as agile as the Supra but it’s quick, fun and sounds better to my ears. 

The 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder is a familiar sight in Hyundais, in this case offering up 150kW at 6000rpm and 265Nm between 1500 and 4500rpm, which is a nice wide torque curve. Power goes to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Performance is swift rather than startling, with the Veloster's 1350kg cracking the ton in the 7.1 seconds, 0.6 seconds quicker than the manual.

You’re looking at a Supra that could be the peak of its model evolution because since the generation’s arrival in 2019 Toyota has increased the power of the 3.0-litre turbo-petrol in-line six-cylinder from 250kW to 285kW (torque remains the same at 500Nm) and introduced a six-speed manual. 

This 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol is the only engine you can have with the Supra, there are no four cylinders or V8s - now there’s an idea. 

Toyota says the 0-100km/h time for the GR Supra with the manual gearbox is 4.4 seconds and 4.1 seconds for the automatic which comes with a ‘launch control’ feature.

Of course, all Supras are rear-wheel drive.

Hyundai claims you'll get 6.9L/100km on the combined cycle. As ever, Hyundai is unusually close to real world figures, with my indicated average landing at a very respectable 8.2L/100km in a fairly urban kind of week.

Toyota says the 3.0-litre six-cylinder straight-six turbo-petrol engine in the Supra GT paired with the six speed manual gearbox should use 8.9L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads.

I did a week’s worth of city commuting and then a couple of hundred kilometres on country roads, but no motorways and the trip computer told me I was averaging 10.3L/100km.

Not bad for a big engine in a car tuned for performance, driven by a big kid who feels like he’s playing with somebody else’s toys.  

Premium 95 RON fuel is recommended, although 'standard' 91 is acceptable. A 52-litre fuel tank translates to a theoretical range of around 580km, dropping to approximately 500km using our real-world number.

I was fortunate enough to have some time on my hands, so I volunteered to take the base spec Veloster to Hyundai to swap into the Turbo. And look, it's fine, but in the same way the second-to-last-Celica was fine - nothing to write home about, more show than go. Comfortable, quiet, hatchy.

And the Turbo is many of those things. Except, as in the i30, when you step up to the turbo engine it wakes up a chassis that is truly terrific.

While it rides really, really well, it also piles through corners with even more enthusiasm than a similarly powered i30 N-Line, which is no slouch.

The Veloster is lower and slightly lighter, adding to the fun. And it doesn't spend half the time hitting the bump stops like the old car.

There are almost no duds in the Hyundai range when it comes to ride and handling, but the steering is in another league compared to the outgoing model's.

It's quick and points the car where you want, the front end digging in and tracking clean and true. It's terrific fun.

But, like just about every other Hyundai, its compliance and daily drivability is super-impressive. Only bad roads upset the rear suspension but the front is largely unflappable.

Flappable is the dual-clutch transmission. It occasionally hunts around looking for a gear and I spent a lot of time pulling the paddles to get it to do the right thing.

It was particularly recalcitrant downshifting without manual intervention, no matter what drive mode I chose. It can also clunk a bit when it's confused. I reckon I'd take Richard's advice and stick with a manual.

Ah, but what about living daily with a manual? As a car enthusiast most of the cars I’ve owned have been manuals and I’ve rarely cursed them because I love to drive.

But there were times when they were a pain, such as in traffic, or in traffic on steep streets and in traffic in shopping centres. Did I mention in traffic, also?

But on the nice roads with bends and dips, hills and sweeping corners, hairpins and twisty parts in places without traffic, then all is forgiven. 

And so it goes with the manual version of the Supra. 

Making life easier in the Supra GT is a clutch pedal without much travel so you don’t feel as though you’re at the gym doing a one-sided leg press.

I found the shifts themselves, while short, to be less than smooth. At first, I thought that the clunky changes might have been because the gearbox hadn’t been run in yet, but the odometer was saying 7500km, so this could just be the nature of the gearbox and after a few days I became used to it.

The rev-matching feature of this gearbox is a nice touch, especially on those sporty drives when you change into a gear and you’re thrown straight back into the power band again.

Superb balance, great steering with a nose which points exactly where you want it to and that magnificently smooth turbo-petrol in-line six posting all its meaty grunt to the rear wheels just behind your shoulders makes for a sports car that’s fun, talented and quick.

Good brakes (348mm ventilated rotors with four piston calipers at the front and 330mm discs with single piston calipers at the rear) and grippy Michelin Pilot Supersport tyres (255/40 fr - 275/40 rr) complete a great package. 

A ride that’s still comfortable over bad Sydney roads and surprisingly good visibility made the Supra easy to live with in the city, from parking to school drop offs.

Yes, used it each day for the school run with my older child and the grocery shopping. 

The GR Supra GT has not been crash tested by ANCAP, but its BMW Z4 twin scored a maximum five stars when it was tested by the European equivalent Euro NCAP.

Still, the Supra has seven airbags, there’s AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping assistance and blind spot warning, plus front and rear parking sensors. There are seven airbags on board.

There’s no spare wheel, but there is a tyre inflation kit which should get you out of trouble.

As always, Hyundai's solid five year/unlimited kilometre warranty is along for the ride. Slightly annoyingly, you'll need to return to your dealer every 12 months or 10,000km for scheduled service and prices are capped.

Four of the five services cost $299 with the fourth year at $375. Over the first five services, you'll average $314.

Toyota covers the GR Supra GT with its five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km and is capped at $415 per service.

The warranty is the industry standard in terms of time and kilometre length, and the capped service prices are very reasonable - a lot more affordable than a car with a prestige badge on the bonnet, too.