👣 Official: Toyota Announces Manual Transmission Supra!

Turbro said:

I’d gladly pay $4k-$6k extra for a manual option worst case scenario. Heck would be a hard choice for $60k manual supra vs dct c8. I bet that manual steals sells from Chevy if it existed.

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Jeff Lange said:

The Century has a V8 now. Toyota’s V12 is gone.

Jeff

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Jeff Lange said:

The Century has a V8 now. Toyota’s V12 is gone.

Jeff

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mkivalex said:

he told me without me asking. Was that the 2021 will have the 40HP power bump like we have heard. .

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First. I applaud your plan!

One thing to keep in mind, if you do this you will either need to get it approved at a referee station (probably impossible, really but you can look into what is required for a grey market import to get an idea), or eventually export it out of California when smog check kicks in (8 years after registration for new cars, right now). The reason is, once you do the mod you will have an ECM CALID (calibration ID) and CVN (calibration verification number) mismatch with what FiatChrysler has reported to CARB for the particular model year car you will put under the knife. CARB and BAR will be rolling out CALID/CVN verification in 2020 according to BAR, the starting targets will be commonly modified cars like GTR's, C and E-class AMG models, Subaru WRX, etc. Then, they will move to all other makes and models. Once that happens, you will fail smog check with the MT-version ECM(s).

All tuned cars will have the same problem, too. This is kind of the last low-hanging fruit for BAR so they will pursue it aggressively as soon as they have the technical means to do it without causing false failures.

Going OT now, but, a BAR guy I know told me recently that they have been looking at smog check data for GTR's and something like 65% came back with ECM CALID/CVN data that would come from a Cobb tuner (BAR has one, apparently), and less than 20% had original data values... BAR really wants to put a stop to this and this is going to put the hurt on owners of ECM-modded cars in California.

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Since there was a manual transmission version, then the NHTSA requirements could possibly be satisfied with minimal equipment changes (i.e. no crash test requirement), since the basic structure would be substantially similar. You would need to install DOT-compliance lamps (if the European ones are not marked DOT), a speedometer that reads in miles per hour, US specification airbags (if the euro ones are different), etc.

Emissions are a whole different story. You would need to verify compliance with OBD as well as exhaust and evaporative emissions (if you wanted to register it outside of California, you could follow EPA OBD which is much less severe than California OBD 2). It probably already complies with EPA OBD, but I think that EURO OBD is not quite compliant with CARB OBD-This would be a real task to do, and some other elements may not be compliant such as ORVR. Expect to spend least $10,000 to perform the tests and if you fail any one, then you would need to figure out the problem and re-run the test at your expense (one evaporative test sequence alone is over $6,000 at a contract lab that I have used for my company). Essentially, you become a manufacturer of one car, and have to comply with the same standards that FCA did with respect to constituent emissions.

If you really want to import and federalize a grey market Giulia, you should reach out to an independent commercial importer (ICI) and start a conversation. I did something like this years ago when I imported a 1995 R33 model GT-R…it was a real adventure, and not in a good way…but ultimately I did have a CA-certified GT-R.

As far as smog check, unless you can get someone to code in a VIN correct CALID and CVN, eventually you will get hung up at smog check. It is true that there are some parts of California that are not part of the smog check program, but these are very low population areas typically and unless you live there you will need to go through the program every 2 years (once it kicks in for your model year). Also, there is a tremendous effort underway now to enable BAR to remotely detect fraudulent tests, OBD simulators, etc. My feeling is that in the next 2-3 years the systems BAR has will be so strong that it will be almost impossible to fake a smog test, for any amount of money. That is their goal, anyway.

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