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Toyota Keeps the Manual Alive for the Most Unsuspectingly Awesome Reason

The Big T just rolled out a special Corolla aimed at teaching new Japanese drivers the art of the manual transmission.

Two white Toyota sedans with Japanese learner driver plates on a gray textured surface.Toyota
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By Chris Chin

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You don’t have to be a car enthusiast to really appreciate all the manual transmission has to offer. Sure, on the one hand, it’s a definitive way to show and embrace your love for driving, four-wheeled machines and the open road.

But the manual has other, more practical perks. It’s with this in mind that Toyota Japan just rolled out some new Corolla models. It’s all to combat distracted driving and teach new drivers to appreciate the act of operating a vehicle and paying attention while motoring about.

Teaching new drivers the art of the manual

Silver Toyota sedan with black side mirrors and Japanese text on front license plates.
Look how cutely modest this JDM-spec base Toyota Corolla is for new drivers.
Toyota

The manual transmission might be the car enthusiast’s ultimate calling card. However, it has many more practical benefits that can also be hugely beneficial to new drivers.

Three pedals and a stick don’t just keep drivers involved. They also keep them alert and free from distractions. That’s because manual transmissions require constant input and gear changes to maintain momentum.

On the road, this means you can’t pick up the phone to text, scroll TikTok, or fiddle with the radio. You’re too busy shifting gears and anticipating your next move, which depends on what gear you’re in.

Two white Toyota sedans with Japanese learner driver signs on front and rear license plates, parked on a textured surface under a blue sky.
Chances are, most people learned how to drive on some version of Toyota Corolla.
Toyota

All of this is the reasoning behind Toyota’s latest Corolla roll out. In addition to porting its 60th Anniversary Edition from the Taiwanese market and refreshing the Japanese Domestic Market Corolla ACTIVE, the Big T also just launched a new base-model trim aimed directly at educating new drivers. And it retains its optional manual.

The Toyota Corolla is arguably the preferred vehicle of choice for most driver education programs. It’s why the company decided to create a special version of the base Corolla aimed specifically at teaching new drivers.

Mechanically and visually, it’s nothing special. Other than the unique Japanese-spec multi-view side-view mirrors, it comes with a stripped-down interior and no infotainment screen.

Black and beige Toyota car interior with digital dashboard, touchscreen display, and automatic gear shift.
When’s the last time you saw a Corolla without an invotainment screen?
Toyota

The driver’s ed Corolla still comes with the choice of the model’s regular 1.8-liter four-cylinder-based gas-electric hybrid powertrain and automatic only.

Schools can also specify the gas-only 1.5-liter Dynamic Force naturally aspirated four-cylinder. It’s the only way to get the manual in the standard ‘Rolla.

Now, if only American driver education saw similar benefits and paths to safer drivers…

Toyota Japan finally celebrates the Corolla’s 60th

Two Toyota Corolla cars, one white and one dark gray, driving side by side on a highway with a city skyline in the background.
Toyota also updated its JDM Corolla ACTIVE models.
Toyota

In addition to the special, driver’s ed Corolla, Toyota also finally rolled out updated versions for its Corolla ACTIVE Sport and Corolla Touring ACTIVE Sports with commemorative 60th Anniversary models. The celebratory editions arrive in the Japanese Domestic Market after originally breaking cover in the Taiwanese market.

But the ones in Japan get slightly better perks with sport-tuned suspension (on the two-wheel-drive cars only), black-painted 17-inch wheels and lots of other exterior and interior tweaks.

Two Toyota Corolla cars, one gray hatchback and one white sedan, driving on a curved elevated highway with a city skyline in the background.
Of course, Japan’s lucky enough to get the standard Corolla Touring wagon.
Toyota

Additionally, JDM customers are lucky to be able to get the regular Corolla Touring wagon. We yanks only get the sedan and the hatchback.

Either way, the writing is on the wall for the end of the current Corolla. It’s been a great eight-year series production run. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next-gen model.

About the Author: Chris Chin is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, trucks and anything else with four wheels. He has over a decade of experience writing news and reviews but considers himself an enthusiast first, with a passion for classics and European cars. His daily driver is a 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL with nearly 250,000 miles (87,000 are his).

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