The 2023 Toyota Supra ＊MANUAL＊ Is a Huge Upgrade

This is the new 2023 Toyota Supra and it's different from the current model that's because it offers a manual transmission. Toyota revived the Supra back in 2020 but it's been automatic only until now. The manual Supra is here and today I'm going to show you everything. Before I get started be sure to check out Cars and Bids which is my enthusiast car auction website for cool cars from the modern era with free listings. You can list your car for free and auction it on Cars and Bids. And we've had some fantastic sales recently including this 997 Porsche 911 which sold for over $55,000. This fantastic Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage which sold for over $100,000. And this old school Jeep Cherokee which brought $24,000. These older Jeeps are getting more and more interest these days. If you're looking to buy or sell a cool enthusiast car from the modern era, Cars and Bids is the place to do it with daily auctions and great selection at Carsandbids.com. So let's talk Supra. The Supra name is of course an iconic sports car brand going back decades. So when Toyota revived the Supra a few years ago there was a lot of hype. Now there were a lot of great benefits about the new Supra but also a few drawbacks and the biggest complaint was no available manual transmission. But now it's here. You can get a new Supra with three pedals and there are some other changes for 2023 which I'll show you. I can't drive this Supra yet but I can take you on a thorough tour of its quirks and features. So let's get started. All right I'm going to start the quirks and features of the new manual Supra in the obvious place with the new manual transmission. A few basics to get us started here. This is a six speed manual. You can see the gear lever here with GR printed on top. The GR logo which stands for Gazoo Racing, Toyota's new high performance arm. To access reverse it's over and to the left. The lockout is just a hard push to the left and then go up and you're in reverse in the six speed manual. You might be wondering where exactly does this manual transmission come from? When the Supra launched back in 2020 they told us it was automatic only and suddenly they found a manual. Well the answer is it comes from BMW which is no surprise because the Supra is largely a BMW underneath. Most of the mechanical components in this car come from BMW and that includes this new manual. Although Toyota was very clear to tell me it doesn't come from any one specific BMW. They had to kind of adapt pieces of various different BMW transmissions in order to create this so it is not plug and play from any BMW. It's not a transmission offered on the Z4 or the M3 but it has various pieces of transmissions from those vehicles to make a distinctive bespoke Supra manual transmission for this car. And indeed Toyota told me it was a lot of work to get this transmission to work. Not only various pieces adapted from BMW models but adjustments to the gearing the housing the drive shafts all sorts of different stuff and a lot of engineering in order to get a manual into the Supra. But now it's here and although I can't yet drive this car it's a pre-production model production cars are too far away to get behind the wheel just yet. I will say going through the gears sitting here it feels good notchy shifts it feels tight short throws exactly what you'd want from a manual transmission at least from the perspective of sitting here and going through the gears it definitely feels pretty good so it'll be interesting to see how it is on the road. One interesting thing about this transmission when you're shifting gears in the little moment between gear shifts an indicator light comes on in the gauge cluster letting you know you're in neutral which I guess technically you are for that very split second between like first and second and second and third kind of interesting to see that happen wonder if that will still be on the production model but regardless it's on this one and kind of strange. Now just adding a manual transmission to the Supra is not the only change to this car it's not just plunk in a manual and you're done there are a few other interesting changes that had to come especially to this interior and specifically the center console had to be widened and the reason for that is the manual is partially taking up the spot where the infotainment controller used to be. This little knob and set of buttons to control the infotainment system used to be further over and now it had to move out of the way to make room for the manual transmission so the center console was widened and this controller was relocated into sort of the new widened area almost encroaching on the passenger compartment in order to make room for everything in here and there's more to the center console than just that the manual transmission lever is a little bit further back than the automatic gear selector is in the automatic Supra models. They did that so that clearance was possible between the manual shift lever and the climate controls which are directly in front of it they didn't want people to be like hitting their hands on the climate controls when they shifted gears so the manuals pulled back just a little to optimize that clearance and another interesting change to this center console in the automatic Supra the regular Supra up until now there was a line on the side of the center console like a trim panel going angularly down on the left side you can see it here it was a very distinctive styling feature of the new Supra's interior well for the manual model that line has been completely changed the panel has been redesigned to curve far further down in order to make it easier to access the manual transmission in order to shift the gears because if the original Supra's panel had been here you'd kind of be bumping your hand on it when you went to shift gears so a lot of different changes to the center console area to accommodate the manual transmission and other changes to the manual than just that for one thing there's a shorter final drive ratio compared to the automatic they did that in order to make the manual feel a little bit quicker since the automatic is so fast they didn't want the manual to feel sluggish so they shortened that up a little bit also manual transition super models have a rev matching feature so when you go to downshift it'll automatically rev match you can turn that off if you want to but it's a good feature a lot of good manual transmission cars have i tried out toyota's in the gr yaris when i reviewed it last year and i felt it was excellent so i'm excited to see how it's been deployed on the new manual supra so then your question might be how exactly is this coming to be what is going on they're adding a manual transmission now after being adamant the supra was automatic only and in its fourth year on the market super came out in 20 this is coming in 23 usually cool features come like one or two years after a launch i asked toyota what's the deal with the delay and they told me the manual is coming solely because of customer demand it wasn't something they had planned it wasn't something they were thinking about until they launched the car and saw just how many people said they wanted a manual and that's when they started the development and that's why it's taken a while for the manual supra to arrive which is pretty cool toyota listened to its customers and gave us a manual supra now when i first reviewed the new supra about three years ago i was very harsh on this particular aspect of the car that it was automatic only and that video review i did with the supra is the most popular super video online almost six million views now so i'd like to think i had a little part in helping to convince toyota a manual was right for this car and i really believe that a manual is right for this car especially considering the competitors toyota said they benchmarked the porsche cayman which is very popular with its manual transmission and now nissan is coming with a new z which will also offer a manual so it only made sense that the super has one too and now it does now as for manual availability toyota says they're only going to offer the manual on the six-cylinder supra models there's two different supra versions a four-cylinder about 255 horsepower and then a six-cylinder with a little over 380 horsepower you gotta step up to the six-cylinder to get the manual i asked toyota what the reason for that was and they said that they were actually open to the idea of a four-cylinder manual supra if demand suggests that they make it but they also told me that four-cylinder super sales are a small part of the model mix only about 20 to 25 percent of supras are sold with the four-cylinder engine so it made sense to put the manual on the one that most people are buying plus toyota said that most people looking for a manual sports car at that lower end price bracket just go for an 86 so the manual didn't make as much sense on a base model car as it does on the more powerful six-cylinder which i think is a totally fine decision now as for cost toyota has not yet announced pricing for the new 23 super models including the manual transmission models the manual is coming out for the 23 model year but toyota says pricing will be announced in july now interestingly in toyota press materials about this car they've been referring to the manual transmission as an option i asked them about that and they didn't tell me whether it would cost extra but to me it makes sense if it does the manual is not faster not more efficient it's just something people want and generally if you want something you pay extra and if toyota is going to go to the effort and trouble of developing a manual transmission i guess it makes sense to pay for it and so it might actually be an extra cost option i think it would still be worth it compared to an automatic now as for an on sale date for this car toyota tells me officially later this year they're hoping to get it on sale late in the summer but with all the supply constraint production issues that could get pushed a little bit that's their target but officially later this year but anyway next up moving on to another interesting component of this specific car and of the manual supra in general for the 23 model year this is a special edition version there is a special edition limited production manual supra called the a91mt version and that's this and it has some interesting revisions compared to a standard supra probably the most noticeable is on the inside this brown leather interior is only going to be offered on the a91mt it looks very nice very beautiful and it's distinctive to this version now on the outside colors will also be limited toyota says only two available for the a91mt this matte white is one of them and the other is gray wheel design will also be distinctive to the a91mt version 18 inch wheels just like the regular supra but they have a distinctive gunmetal finish that will set apart the a91mt you also have a red supra badge on the back for the a91mt to distinguish it further and red brake calipers which also set it apart even more and under the hood you have these strut tower braces i guess the theory is they will help add a little bit of rigidity and improve handling ever so slightly those are unique to the a91mt model other changes on the inside you have this little plaque on the side of the dashboard reminding you that yours is special one of the 500 a91mt versions and you also have a jbl sound system standard in a91mt models a 12 speaker sound system to provide maximum sound and also some subwoofers in the trunk that go along with that extra sound system now like i said a91mt limited to just 500 units for the whole world and even though most of the changes are pretty cosmetic to a91mt models i suspect this is gonna be kind of the one to have sort of like the s2000cr of the manual supras at least in time but that's the special limited edition version that's launching with the manual supra but anyway next up beyond all of the manual transmission supra's quirks and features a few notable changes to the supra in general for the 2023 model year toyota says the 23 super will have revised stability control and traction control intended for better performance and toyota is also revising the power steering system also for better steering and handling again those changes on all 23 super models automatic or manual not just limited to the stick toyota is also adding a new hairpin plus feature to super which is intended to improve the car's handling prowess when going around corners and uphill supposed to allow the wheels to rotate at different speeds a little better than before giving it a little more of an advantage on those tight hairpins uphill also for 23 there is a new color called stratosphere blue and that's kind of a summary of the changes for the 23 model year supra but anyway next up under the general perks and features of the supra because it's been a long time since i've reviewed a new supra so let's do a little quirks and features refresher one of the most notable quirks of the latest supra is all of the bmw stuff inside bmw switches in the center console out of every bmw model switches for the headlights on the steering wheel the seat controls the window controls all of this stuff is bmw now again this makes sense like i said earlier bmw is responsible for a large portion of the parts in this vehicle and that includes a lot of the interior components in addition to the powertrain but it just kind of messes with your mind you're getting in a toyota supra and there's just bmw stuff everywhere i kind of forget that until i get in one of these and i'm immediately reminded now with that said toyota has done some cool toyota touches to this car and two of my very favorites are in the back one the taillights are meant to kind of mimic the look of the old school supra taillights they have a distinctive design they look very cool and they're very uniquely supra maybe even more uniquely supra is the badge on the back that actually says supra in the very same font toyota used for the super badge on the 90s model the iconic mark 4 supra same font carried over 25 years later onto this model which i've always thought was a great toyota touch for this car but anyway next up onto some general interior quirks and features the latest supra one thing i absolutely love in this car is the gauge cluster screen it's not as configurable or as heavy on information and displays as it could be but i think it just looks cool as you can see i love the tachometer right in the center using this cool font i like how the gauges on the side are displayed with these horizontal lines like the fuel gauge it almost looks kind of fighter jetty in here and very sporty and it's definitely a cool touch and a perfect fit for this car now one interesting thing about this gauge cluster is that sport mode livens it up a little bit you go into sport mode you can see it gets redder and it emphasizes the tachometer a little bit more one other thing that sport mode does is improve the exhaust note take a listen to the exhaust note in regular mode and now also take a listen to the exhaust note in sport mode sounds pretty good but something i just noticed about the sport mode and the gauge cluster doesn't that sport mode gauge cluster red line look like candy corn take a look at the red line in the gauge cluster and then take a look at this piece of candy corn tell me that they don't look rather similar there's something there people how about the sport mode button which as you can see is the same size of all three buttons below it combined of this massive sport button which is they really want you to press it and it looks very tempting there in the center console but interestingly while the sport button is very large in this car one thing that's unusually small maybe disappointingly so is the infotainment screen it's tacked on here at the top of the dashboard and you can see it's relatively small and it's not as user-friendly as easy or as comprehensive as these systems in modern bmw models the brand new bmw stuff now it works okay it does exactly what you'd need it to it's responsive to your touch and pretty intuitive it just doesn't have all the controls and features you might want frankly i don't think that's a huge drawback with this car since i suspect sports car buyers don't quite have the infotainment needs of luxury car or big family car buyers it's good enough just not amazingly great one other interesting item here in the center console is the wireless charging pad which is mounted in front of the gear lever and there's a little panel above the wireless charging pad i guess that's there to keep your phone from shooting out if you go over bumps or around curves and that's a pretty good idea a lot of wireless charging pads are just completely open so your phone can go flying but not this one thanks to that little panel but anyway next up we move on to some other interesting quirks of the new supra starting in the cargo area and one thing you'll notice back here is the cargo area is actually rather large you can see quite a big space two seat car see a thing not very practical but it does have a lot of space for stuff even if not for passengers one disappointing thing about the cargo area though is just how much it pinches on the sides you can see how much the bodywork kind of comes in and tightens up the cargo area which might compromise it a little bit large flat area in here but a little smaller than maybe you'd like because of that one other interesting thing about the cargo area there is an emergency release handle in here you can see it here in case you try to kidnap someone in your supra and they want to get out the weird part though is the cargo area is actually open to the passenger compartment so i'm not exactly sure why they would need that emergency release handle this would be a terrible car for kidnapping but it's in there anyway in case you got to climb out of the cargo area and open the tailgate in the back of the supra now since i'm on the outside of this car let's talk styling the styling of the new supra has always been somewhat controversial or maybe largely controversial personally i like it or at least i really like it from some angles and don't love it quite as much from other angles that seems to be the general opinion about this car it looks good in some places it doesn't in others but i think it is generally a decent looking car i certainly wouldn't call it ugly but from some angles maybe a little bit awkward or ungainly one thing i don't like on the outside of the car is the fake vents that it has kind of all throughout the exterior you can see quite a few if you look closely like this big vent in the door yeah that's fake it's just on there for style same thing with this one next to the headlights it doesn't actually do anything it's not even a vent it's just a plastic piece and same thing again on the hood this vent here again fake just for style doesn't have any actual function i'm not a big fan of adding vents and kind of visual drama to a car if it doesn't really have a purpose i think it kind of can screw up the lines and it just looks stupid to have vents that aren't actually vents they just look like vents probably my biggest complaint about the exterior design of the newest supra and finally we move under the hood which in this car is accessed like in most cars the latch in the driver's footwell the interesting thing here though is you pull the latch once to unlatch it and then you pull it a second time to fully unlatch it just like you do in all bmw models and basically no other cars again a lot of bmw in this new supra but under the hood you do have a plastic engine cover with a toyota badge on it not a bmw logo although it doesn't take you long if you're looking around to find bmw printed in various places like right here now when this car first launched with the bmw powertrain it was very controversial the new supra is back but it's a bmw however i think in the four years since it's come out this car has really proven itself this powertrain is excellent 382 horsepower turbo six-cylinder great power it's a punchy potent like fun engine it's nice to drive and i guess it also helps that toyota up the power originally when the super came out it was 335 horsepower they boosted it to 382 when they launched the four-cylinder model to try to create some space between them and frankly that's a pretty strong figure for this car and i bet it'll be especially enjoyable to exploit with that six-speed manual transmission and so that's the latest supra the 2023 model with a manual transmission if you've wanted more from the supra well it's here and you can finally get a new supra with three pedals and that's a big deal and i can't wait to drive this car closer to its on sale date later this year for now there's your most thorough tour yet of the new manual supra