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People severely underestimate modern torque converters. There's a lot of high end cars from luxury to performance that have opted for the defacto zf 8hp for a reason and the Supra is no different. Slushboxes might have been shit twenty years+ ago but they've come a long way since then. If it's anything like the 86s AT which will lock up as soon as it's possible, even letting you lug the engine, then in practice it won't be different than a DCT in end result. The fluid coupling component would (should) be practically be nonexistent if you drove manually except at the lowest speeds.
I see nothing wrong with the choice to opt for the 8HP when Tada and his team previously used the 960E for the 86 considering the former is quite literally the best torque converting AT on the market. Add in reliability and wear considerations for most AT transmissions and it's no surprise Toyota opted for it. Even moreso when considering the Supra's beyond expectations performance. It's not only a testament to the transmission's engineering and design, but the transmission tuning itself. There's a good reason the AT 86 is also held in high regard amongst its owners, and as said earlier, I have no doubts the engineering team carried over their experience to the 8HP.
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