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Toyota Is Testing A Manual Gearbox For The New Supra

The Supra has overall gained positive reviews. It seems as though, while the Supra isn’t quite what we were expecting, its balance and chassis has hit the mark, despite it not being overly deserving of the Supra badge.

But Toyota is already planning on how to improve the car to appeal to those in need of a pure driving experience – one way being the use of a manual gearbox.

At the European launch for the new Japanese sports car, Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada said the following:

“I’ve been asked this 100 million times across the world,” he admits. “There is a website that polls what you want in new Supra, and manual transmission is always high on the list. I get a notification when people vote for it!

“We’ve considered it and things have been tested.”

So Toyota is obviously listening, and what he says next certainly places a light at the end of the tunnel.

“People should give the automatic gearbox a try,” he urges. “But come to it with an open mind. If having driven it people still want a manual, then of course as with normal sports cars there’ll be yearly updates – and we could introduce it.”

What can we take from this, then? Well, if you’re seriously thinking of buying a Supra but are put off by the automatic gearbox from BMW, it could be worth waiting. However, while manual gearboxes are cheaper than an auto setup, would prices still be driven up? That’s taking into account though, that people would want to buy the manual.

Over years of working in this industry, it’s fair to say that there is a big difference between what people say on the internet and what they actually do. This could be a very good example of such thing.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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