Five generations of the Toyota Supra have resided with us, along with its 3-door lift-back coupe body design and rear-wheel-drive layout since 1978. After the initial discontinuity of the fourth Gen in the year 2002, Supra fanatics waited for almost 2 decades, until March 2019, for its return when the 5th generation successor was re-introduced — the Toyota GR Supra.
The new GR Supra is equipped with a 2.0L B48 turbocharged 14 or a 3.0L inline-six turbocharged engine and producing 225 hp or 382 hp depending on the variant. It comes along with a ZF 8HP 8-speed automatic transmission, adaptive variable suspension, electronically controlled rear differentials, balanced and advanced aerodynamics, alloy wheels, and much more. Although these were the ingredients for a worthy successor, enthusiasts still wished for a traditional manual transmission option that was not offered to date.
Even after repeated inquiries, Toyota’s chief engineer has declined the intention of offering a Supra equipped with a stick-shift. It’s not surprising, as looking at other competitors in the same segment might turn out to be a steep bet turning towards a manual option. However, there might finally be a light at the end of the tunnel!
Tetsuya Tada, the chief engineer of the GR Supra, commented earlier this year that they had been testing a manual gearbox for the car, but also that this is a long term plan and will not be in effect any time soon.
Meanwhile, a new rumor has surfaced, according to the Japanese publication Mag X which claims that a manual transmission is under preparation and could be made available shortly.
The 2021 Supra model is expected with a higher-powered six-cylinder engine, advanced chassis, and also a new 4-cylinder entry-level engine producing 255Hp. Looking at the above, we can see that the manufacturer is highly active towards modernization, customization, and advancements. Furthermore, the A91 special edition and the GR Supra GT4 should be available by mid-August.
We have already witnessed the availability of a manual transmission option from tuners like the European Auto Group (EAG), which was released earlier this year. In this case, they swapped in a BMW manual transmission, which was the best possible option as the Supra already houses a chassis and engine developed in collaboration with the German manufacturer. The model offered by EAG is still in development and the production model would be much better tuned and customized. We also fully understand the difference between a custom-built and an original factory model but this does show that it’s actually possible.
Sources reveal that the current generation equipped with a manual tranny might receive a boost with a high-performance GRMN edition BMW M3 based engine producing 500 hp and above.
Will we witness the birth of this bad boy soon? We sure hope so.
Source: CarAndDriver
