Toyota Supra fans got exciting news Friday morning when the automaker suggested in a tweet that sports coupe appears to be getting the manual transmission diehards have been clamoring for since the new version arrived in 2020.
“Did you think we were done? Stay tuned … #Supra #Manual #LetsGoPlaces,” the company tweeted with a picture of three pedals: one accelerator, one brake and what appears to be a clutch pedal. Toyota’s public relations folks in Detroit didn’t elaborate on the plan with TheDetroitBureau, offering only, “Supra with manual transmission is coming to U.S. More details to come.”
The news comes on the heels of the company’s debut of the 2023 GR Corolla, which comes with a 6-speed manual. There’s no word if the two vehicles will share the same 6-speed gearbox — or even could.
Toyota’s bringing the speed
The Japanese automaker’s been adding more performance variants to its line-up during the past few years. The GR Corolla, which was developed by Toyota’s Gazoo Racing team, is the fourth GR model the automaker’s developed, following the GR 86, GR Supra and GR Yaris, which isn’t available in the U.S.
In the case of the GR Corolla, the company’s developed an honest-to-goodness hot hatch. The new five-door model comes through with more aggressive styling, a 300-horsepower engine and a tunable all-wheel-drive system.
The numbers are impressive, a 1.6-liter 3-cylinder engine punching out 300 hp and 273 pound-feet of torque. The stunning numbers are a result of clever engineering. The GR Corolla features a triple exhaust that reduces back pressure and ups the horsepower.
The 300 hp body slams the newly redesigned Subaru WRX and barely misses the 306 hp and 295 lb-ft delivered by the Honda Civic Type-R. (Toyota has not released 0-60 times.) Two versions of the GR Corolla will be offered, including the base “Core,” and the more aggressively equipped GR Corolla Circuit Edition.
Supra’s gotten updates
While the manual transmission is a welcome addition, the company didn’t exactly drag it out of mothballs a few years back and do nothing else. The company added to GR Supra models for 2021: the GR Supra 2.0 and GR Supra 3.0 Premium.
The 2.0 gets fitted with a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that generates 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, while the 3.0 premium is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6-cylinder engine rated at 382 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque. An 8-speed automatic transmission, and rear-wheel drive are standard on all models. Premium fuel is required.
However, that inline-6 is gonna be a whole more fun (read: tossable) with a 6-speed manual.
