2020 Toyota Supra to Gain Manual Transmission Option

There are few things on the new Supra that need upgrading, but the transmission is one of them.

The new fifth-generation “MKV” Toyota Supra is a damn fine sports car. I have gone on the record about this before. However, after testing the car out extensively on the road and the race track, my number one gripe was the transmission.

Supra fans, and, at this point, car enthusiasts at large, know that the Supra is, effectively, all BMW underneath the skin. The chassis, suspension design, brakes, interior tech, the engine, and, yes, even the transmission, all comes from the Bavarians. It’s from supplier ZF and is called the “8HP” which refers to the number of forward ratios it’s packing. The 8HP is used all sorts of passenger vehicles, from BMW, to Audi, Jaguar, Fiat-Chrysler and, now, Toyota. Depending on the calibration of that transmission, which is bespoke to each automaker, it’s usually an excellent choice.

However, for a sports car like the Toyota Supra, and especially when really driving the car hard, like on the race track, it simply falls short in the dynamics and fun department. Well, now there’s a solution, and, interestingly, it doesn’t come from Toyota, but, instead, a tuning shop out of San Antonio, Texas, called European Auto Group.

EAG, for short, is claiming that they are in the final stages of developing a manual transmission conversion for the new Supra, that uses all OEM parts, well, except for the shift knob.

Now, manual swaps are nothing new in the tuner world, so what’s special here? Well, besides being the first company to really come to market with a solution, EAG has built something of a name for themselves when it comes to, frankly, amazing manual transmission conversions. You may recall that they recently showcased a manual swapped Ferrari F430 Scuderia that also used almost entirely OEM Ferrari parts.

Ferrari sold base model F430s with either the F1 automatic transmission, or the seldom chosen 6-speed manual. EAG found the correct cocktail of F430 manual transmission components to offer complete transmission swaps for the souped up, and very desirable Scuderia model, and has monopolized the market for them. YouTube personality Tavarish has a very in-depth technical video which shows how the conversion is handled, and it is absolutely worth your time.

With that said, EAG has focused on the Toyota Supra, which is proving to be a highly desirable car at the moment. They claim the conversion will cost around $12,000 for parts and labor, and all-in, it takes between 30-45 business days to complete at their shop. They will also bundle in a tuning package, offered in conjunction with Pro Tuning Freaks (PTF), which boosts power output to over 420 WHP. At the present time, EAG is taking $6,000 deposits for Supra owners to secure a spot with them.

Knowing a bit about the BMW parts bin, I suspect EAG is sourcing the conversion parts from the BMW 440i coupe, which uses the same B58 six-cylinder turbo engine, and is available with a 6-speed manual. Fingers crossed that European Auto Group wraps up the details on the conversion soon, because a 6-speed swapped Toyota Supra sounds just about perfect to me.

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