My dealer only has an AT. But I want MT
 

Hi Guys!

I am considering buying a GR86. I waited for one month and my dealer finally got something for me. I like that car except that it is an auto transmission. I don't know what to do and please give me some advice.

I now have two options:
1. Buy this one.
pros: I don't have to wait anymore and the price is super reasonable.
cons: who would buy a racing car with auto transmission??? [Just kidding. No offence.]

2. Wait for who knows how long.
pros: I will get what I want.
cons: Only God knows how much longer. (Maybe two weeks, maybe two months)

WAIT.

Even if its 2 months it is worth it. Hell, worth it to wait a year if you ask me.

Don't settle for something you don't want. Search wider at more than one dealership. You don't owe them any loyalty

I realize you are asking for advice because you don't know what to do. But we can't provide you anything of real value. Only you can know whether you are willing to live with an automatic when you really want a manual.

For me, personally, I wouldn't even let it become a decision I would have to make. If it isn't a manual, I won't even consider it - period.

Exactly. This shouldn't even be a question if you wanted an MT in the 1st place. You WILL regret buying the AT.

Use another dealer

Just wait for the transmission and color you want. These will be rolled out in masse. You don't always have to be "FIRST"

I could see taking a color you didn't want due to availability. Same goes for base vs premium.

But transmission? No way... don't settle.

Here's how I see it:

If you're torn over the decision it's because it's enough money to matter to you. If you have enough money that a $30-35k car is something you buy on a whim, you don't give it a second thought. You buy one today, and you buy another later.

Given that it's enough money that what you buy matters to you, buy what you want. Don't compromise. You don't want to walk into the garage for months/years to come and wonder "what if". You don't want to look at that car and see the thing you didn't get.

Personally, I'm getting an automatic. I'm not going to race it, and I want my wife to drive it. She can drive stick but pretends not to be able to because she doesn't like it. I want her to love the car and start asking me to make it faster. Then we talk transmission on the next one.

Plus, I'm going to use every excuse I can to drive this everywhere I go. I have a manual pickup and an automatic compact, and for daily driver duty the auto is just enough more pleasant that I'm not personally going to regret getting the automatic GR86.

At the same time, I 100% understand seeing this as a "manual or nothing" car for people.

Stick to your guns, don't compromise. Look farther from home. I found exactly what I wanted 90 miles away. Your local dealership might be willing to trade with another one to get what you'll buy from them today. If not, go get it yourself.

I like this one better.

Don't do it!!! Wait for an MT. It'll be worth the wait, and if you instead jump on an AT, you'll regret it later.

Fishermen are not patient - they are expectant.

Expect something better than an AT.

Can you not order one with everything you want?

Not for GR86s. You can place a deposit with your dealer with a preference on trim level, transmission, specs, etc. but all you can do is hope that they get an allocation for the one you want.


Such a stupid system.

Maybe look at the BRZ instead. Historically Toyota has sold a higher of the 86 with automatics, while Subaru is heavily skewed to manuals on BRZ sales.

It sucks but you just have to wait… in the mean time just don’t visit this site or watch anymore car porn. It only builds unnecessary anticipation. GOD HELP ME.

And BRZ orders closed on the 13th so I doubt that 86 orders are still active even if they did take them.

Look, it depends on what your goals are with the car. I personally love manual trans cars, but we have the occasional manual WRX or BRZ at work, so I get my stick shift enjoyment from that.

Anyways, when I go to the track, I like to concentrate on cornering as fast as possible, and for me it's a lot easier not taking your hands off the wheel. Also when I'm feeling lazy and just want to cruise, I have no desire to use a clutch or shift through gears.

Of course, the manual will feel better when spirited driving, no doubt. There are pros and cons for each. I bought the auto, I'm happy.

My 2c

If I were the OP, I'd wait. With the move toward EVs, there aren't going to be many more MT cars. If you settle for an AT now, you might not get a chance to get a new, affordable MT in the future.

We're talking about a low-volume sports car in its first model of year of a new generation. The production numbers were going to be low even without a pandemic. If we're willing to wait a year, the situation will get a lot more friendly for consumers.

Here's a video that talks about supply vs demand of cars with respect to when a new generation goes into production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tS5KmM0R9o

I really want a premium MT. If I see one available this year locally for MSRP, I might go for it, but I refuse to settle for anything less than exactly what I want.

I'm waiting for the 2023 version of the car, going MT ofc.

buy the car you want

never buy a car because 'its a deal'. Manual 86s will be available. you might have to pay up a bit or wait a while but... its better than 'settling'.

i checked autotrader daily for 6-7 months before buying my GT3. i didn't want to compromise on options or color.

It's your money, but if you've hesitated enough to go out of your way to make a forum post about it, I think you'll regret not buying what lead to this thread.

As everyone else pointed out, don't settle.

We live in a society where one expects almost instant gratification, but that doesn't make "getting something fast" the right choice.

I also tend to get overly impatient, but as my better half often says, being patient is almost always worth it: you'll eventually get what you want (unless it's a unicorn).

TL;DR: you want a manual, get a manual. Even if that means waiting weeks.

This is what my local dealership was doing, in addition to slapping $3000 on the sticker price of any car that hits their lot, and calling that higher price "MSRP".

You're a Toyota dealership - not Toyota. That's the DSRP. MSRP is set by the manufacturer, not you.

They also didn't want to find the car I wanted and trade for it like they usually will do. Then, after weeks of "do you want to buy this car?" showing me stuff that isn't what I asked for and me sticking to my guns they finally "found" a GR86 somewhere else.

Well guess what - so did I. And at actual MSRP.

When they asked me if I wanted to put a deposit on a car I wanted, but they had no idea if they'd ever get allocated, I looked at them like they were crazy and they changed the subject.

I don't know, but get the impression this is the way Toyota works (you can request a configuration but you can't order one) for any of their cars. Of course, in this case it's complicated by Toyota not actually building the car.

With most it's models, Toyota builds so many of them that the near exact configuration you want is probably already in the build plan somewhere. I think that's one of the reasons they keep the options down on the 86, to keep with their build model.

This is in contrast to someone like Mini where every car is built to a specific order in one of 10M different configurations.

Not sure about the US but the Canadian Toyota dealer network works very well together so they can fulfill most "orders" amongst themselves.
My Hakone was a great example. They said they could order one from the factory but had no idea when or even if it would come (turns out it wouldn't have) or they could see if there was a transfer from another dealer they could do. The local dealers had none and the closest place was in Calgary which is halfway way across the country. They transferred and shipped it all the way at no extra cost to me. Good thing since it ended up being the last available MT Hakone in the country!
All this only works if the dealers are all on the same page though.

yep, the USA dealership network is more akin to kindergarten snack time.

Oh I loved kindergarten snack time!

yours was apparently different from mine.

https://raisingchildren.net.au/__dat...ing-fights.jpg

Depends on if you're the kid eating all the choice snacks or the one with extra sand in the snack �� ��

I've found half a dozen pleasant salesmen at various dealers but non have the car I want.
Definitely seems like they are building more AT 86s than MT at least on the buyatoyota.com website

There were6 people in my kindergarten class so there really was no pecking order established.

Gram crackers, milk, and nap time.

I made it full circle.

By then there might even be a GRMN or STI version available on the horizon.

You can't order these cars

Most modern performance sports cars have automatic transmissions or a DCT (dual clutch transmission). The automatic transmission in the 86/BRZ has been tuned to mimic a DCT to the extent that a six speed with a torque converter can. A human just can't manually do what a modern transmission can. If you are going to confine your driving to the public thoroughfares and not a race track, you might want to consider an automatic if it suits the majority of your driving situations. You need to actually drive both manual and automatic to make a sound decision. If you ever intend to take to the track or you are on the fence which way to go... don't compromise and get a manual transmission model. The 86/BRZ does not have the stones for an automatic.

Understood. I know a few friends who ordered BRZs, but as others mentioned, Toyota is different.

Yea but this isn’t a performance car, it’s a sports car. There is a difference.

For a performance car I agree 100%, an automatic makes more sense for most people. For a sports car, MT all the way. Get them while you can, because the manuals will disappear with the ICE.

unless you want a luxury/commuter car don't get the AT.

This car is so noisy that you don't really get what you are suppose to get when you pick auto. :bonk:

I’ll say what others said. If you want an MT don’t get an AT. The AT is a great commuter and still a blast to drive, but less so for someone who wants an MT.