Expect A Straight-Six But No Manual In The New Toyota Supra
Will the Supra have a manual gearbox option, or not? The “will they, won’t they” thing has rumbled on for months, fueled by a seemingly endless stream of conflicting rumours. Now though, we’ve had a clearest indication yet than the Supra - previewed by the GR Racing Concept at the Geneva Motor Show - will indeed be auto only.
Autoblog reports that, speaking at a rountable session at the Geneva show, high-ranking Toyota engineer Tetsuya Tada said that “Supra fans don’t think it’s a huge requirement.” Supra fans as a whole would probably disagree, but Tada-san - the man behind the GT86 - is probably more referring to Supra fans who are actually willing to stump up the cash to buy one, and in that case he’s on to something.
Like it or not, the people actually buying sports cars these days tend to opt for automatics - that’s why Alpine with its relatively limited resources didn’t make a manual. There was only scope to make one transmission choice, and a manual-only direction may well have harmed sales.
It’s not all bad news though, as Tada-san seemingly confirmed that the car would have a straight-six, because a Supra isn’t a Supra without one. That we can all agree on. It should be quite tuneable from the sounds of it, which is also a must if the car is to live up to the legendary name. This inline-six won’t be hooked up to a transaxle gearbox, but the Supra will still manage to have a 50:50 weight distribution.
So, when will we see the production car? Not for a while yet, is the answer. Topgear.com - which is also reporting that the Supra’s straight-six will be a “recalibrated” BMW engine - claims we’ll have to wait until the Detroit Auto Show in January 2019.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I think a lot of car people seem to forget car companies are businesses. Building a car with a manual gear box in that price bracket with all the extra tooling and testing costs makes no sense as a business. If they did have a manual less than 10% of orders would be manual. when people are stumping up £50,000 plus they want all the latest tech which includes auto box.
Hopefully you can do a transmission swap with the BMW
Hope it has heart an personality like the supra’s are known for
I expect dct.
Cant wait for someone to jam a manual in either way
INB4 t56 swap kits become available everywhere lol
I seriously doubt this is a good business position. The Supra name in itself is one that draws nostalgia and those who want to buy a Supra will want the purest rendition of the car. A manual could do very well in sales like the 86 does now
In this case, I’d be more worried about tuning the electronic transmission for quicker shifts and such
I think I can settle for an automatic transmission as long as it at least has a manual mode with paddle shifters
If it has a DCT, I’ll be cool with it. I love a manual, but automatics are slowly making manuals irrelevant in racing (mainly, but also in daily use), which Toyota is marketing the current Gazoo team car. Sure, a manual would be great to have for the average driver who still thinks this car should have one (and it should), but a DCT would be straight up faster.
So what if it has a BMW engine? Just because it’s based on a BMW design doesn’t mean Toyota can’t change it. So what if it only has an auto? They’re faster than manuals. This isn’t 1985. Besides, most of the people in this comment section complaining about it wouldn’t buy one even if it had a 2JZ and a 6 speed manual.