ZF S6-53 / GS6-53

ZF's rear-drive six-speed manual — in the Jaguar S-Type and the Toyota Supra A90.

The Supra pairing is the reason to know it. The A90 is a BMW Z4 underneath, so its manual gearbox is BMW's ZF unit and its literature is German — a Supra owner searching Toyota sources for a manual gearbox is looking in the wrong place entirely, and Toyota published very little because the car is not theirs below the badge.

It is a strong gearbox and its complaints are about feel. These are notchy when cold and reluctant into second until warm, which is normal for the synchro material — and on the Supra it is compounded by the throttle-blip and rev-hang the engine management applies, which is a control question rather than a mechanical one.

Where something wears it is the shifter bushings and the clutch hydraulics, not the gearbox. A crunch into every gear is the clutch not releasing; a crunch into one gear on a fast change is that gear's synchro. The distinction decides whether the gearbox comes out at all.