When you hear or read the phrase "Japanese legends" you immediately think of the big 3; Skyline GTR, 300ZX and the Supra. All Japanese made with love and dedication from their respective companies in the pursuit of perfection and homage to the previous generation's legacy.
For me, the "mkV" is a black mark on what was once a proud and pure heritage. Always an actual GT car, more refined than the last; a 2+2 mountain pass carver. Always manufactured with the typical quality you'd come to expect from Toyota. Always relatively easy to work on and modify.
The basic chassis design of the "mkV" has been floating around since the early 2000s. Meaning Toyota wanted to bring this car back almost 20 years ago, but kept it on the back burner so as to develop hybrids and more quality trucks and minivans. Toyota's fiery passion slowly died in this time, and most of us gave up on any of the "fun three" coming back (Celica/Supra/MR2).
In 20 years, they couldn't have bothered to task a team with R&D on a reliable, more powerful and more efficient inline 6 to keep up with/surpass BMW for installation in their flagship car they teased bringing back. They just basically gave the entire idea to BMW.
The chassis, the suspension, engine and transmission (at least) are all BMW, it is even made in Germany/Austria, and has a "W" fronting it's VIN number. The only "real" Toyota I see on this car is the badge and half-assed regurgitation of a 25 year old logo that belonged to the last real Supra.
You can attempt to retort with the ever insightful thought process of "the only people whining can't afford it anyway", but it doesn't change the fact it's a BMW with a Toyota badge, literally. It is factual. And many of us don't want a BMW of any kind, or we'd have one already. Brand loyalty got us nothing but a slap in the face and comments of "err be grateful it even came back".
I'll be keeping my 34 year old Toyota, because it is actually a Toyota and I respect what they used to be. Selling out their flagship to Germany is lazy and disgraceful from a formerly honorable and quality company. For shame, Toyota.
