EVO First Drive Review of Toyota 86 - Calls it Brilliant!

[Hachiroku]

Via EVO Magazine

Driven: Toyota GT 86

By John Simister - December 2011

Rating:

We've driven Toyota's new GT 86 rear-drive sports coupe - and on first impressions, it's brilliant


What is it?

It seems like this car has been speculated over and reported on for years, but finally this Toyota coupe, and its Subaru sister, are here in final production form.

Known in Toyota guise as FT 86 ('Future Toyota') up to now, the car you'll be able to buy from June 2012, with prices starting around £25,000, is now called GT 86. Subaru's version, the BRZ, differs only in the shape of the front air intake, trim details and some suspension settings.

The GT 86 is that now-rare concoction, a simple, affordable, rear-drive coupé designed for pure driving amusement without being burdened by excessive technology – a sort of faster, sharper MX-5 with a coupe body. It uses Subaru-flavoured componentry, specifically a 1998cc flat-four engine and a platform derived from that of the just-launched new Impreza, but the idea of a front engine and rear-wheel drive is a welcome return to what used to work so well.

GT 86 development engineer Yoshi Sasaki says the GT 86 is for those who are bored with cars that are too powerful with their turbo engines, have too much grip with their huge tyres and four-wheel drive, cost too much and don't let the driver do enough. 'A fun car,' he says, 'is a car that you control.'

Technical highlights?

There's 197bhp at 7000rpm on offer here, but the fact that the 152lb ft torque peak arrives at 6600rpm tells you much about how this engine is going to feel. It has both indirect and direct injection, switching between them as needed, and a high 12.5 to one compression ratio. The six-speed gearbox is borrowed from the Toyota Altezza (Japanese-market Lexus IS), or you can have a six-speed, torque-converter auto from the Lexus IS-F.

Suspension is by struts at the front, double wishbones at the back, there's a Torsen LSD and – cue flash of techno-anxiety – the power steering is electric. Weight distribution is slightly rear-biased, total weight is 1190kg and the centre of gravity is said to be lower than a Cayman's.

What's it like to drive?

It restores your faith in cars. No excuses, no unsaid undercurrent that makes the best of the fact that cars are generally becoming more synthetic and less involving to drive. The GT 86 is a complete cracker.

Here's why. Our encounter took place on the Sodeguara racetrack outside Tokyo, full of bends and dips and lightly coated with rain. You need a car with sensitive controls for a track like that, and within half a lap you feel completely at ease in the GT 86 as rush right up to its limits. Via possibly the best electric steering system we've yet encountered, with much more subtle sensitivity than the new 911's system and a more mechnically-connected feel about the centre, you can exploit a balance perfectly tunable with the tiniest throttle inputs. Take a corner briskly and there's stabilising understeer; accelerate a bit and the understeer vanishes as the tail starts to dominate. From there to a drift is a land of opportunity with abundant signposting. Seldom is a car so up for a friendly game.

The brakes are similarly progressive, while the engine does its best work at high revs where it emits a beaty rasp somewhere between the sound of an Alfasud and a regular Subaru, but without the bass throb. Six closely stacked gear ratios make the best of the engine's peakiness. The auto alternative works well enough, if without quite the smappiness of a double-clutcher, but the manual is obviously the one to have.

Obviously we will have to wait to get one in the UK to deliver the definitive verdict on how it copes with real, bumpy roads - but on first impressions, it's brilliant.

How does it compare?

It makes a Scirocco seem synthetic, an RCZ anaesthetised, a 3-series Coupé over-complicated. This is a pure driving device like an Elise or an MX-5 with sharpened sinews. This is how a proper sporting coupé should be. Toyota intended it to embody elements of the 1960s 2000GT and the 1980s rear-drive Corolla Twin-Cam (AE86), and it does.

Anything else I need to know?

It's a two-plus-two, but Yoshi Sasaki says hopes the rear space will be used to carry trackday wheels – it's that sort of car. The interior is functional and well-finished, with a low driving position and no unnecessary gadgetry.

It's also the first front-engined, rear-drive, flat-four sports car since the 1950s Jowett Jupiter. Tell that to your mates at the pub. (On second thoughts, don't.)

The car looks better in the metal than in pictures. And if you drive one, you'll want to own one.

[Giccin]

Too much...



Excitement...






Built in 1 post..



Ugah~~

[RRnold]

Thanks again Hachi!

Do you know any details about the body kit and wing? Will it be an option for the FR-S?

[Sabastian]

"It restores your faith in cars."


Damn.

[keiri]

The blue one with the wing is just so luscious. Each and every "review" for these cars is making me even more impatient to test drive, and buy, one.

Thanks Hachi!

[Midnight Run]

cool article! thanks for sharing

[Aki]

Awesome review. Love what they say about the EPS... sounds like everything I've been wanting in a sports coupe.

On another note, is there going to be a cleaner-looking spoiler available? The ones I've seen are a bit too gaudy.

[Dark]

Via possibly the best electric steering system we've yet encountered, with much more subtle sensitivity than the new 911's system and a more mechnically-connected feel about the centre, you can exploit a balance perfectly tunable with the tiniest throttle inputs.

Now that's what I want to hear.

[Spaceywilly]

Via possibly the best electric steering system we've yet encountered, with much more subtle sensitivity than the new 911's system and a more mechnically-connected feel about the centre, you can exploit a balance perfectly tunable with the tiniest throttle inputs

Wow... better steering than the new 911?

[lancie]

"A back to basics sportscar that seems to tick every dynamic box"

[TRD_07]

The body kit on the dark blue ft86 looks killer although i thought there was going to be a duck tail option?

[MannyO]

Originally Posted by Hachiroku

Via EVO Magazine..."too much grip"

Not something I though I would ever hear (even though it's directed at AWD cars and not the GT86)

Nicely written review though.

Hachi!

[Zaku]

Such a exuberant review I love it, can't wait to hear some BRZ one and ofcourse to drive one my self.

[old greg]

Originally Posted by Dark

Now that's what I want to hear.

That is very good news.

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

Wow... better steering than the new 911?

Well, it's not quite as amazing as it sounds. The electric power steering in the 911 has not been well received by the Porsche fans. Supposedly it's not bad, it's just not as good as a 911 is expected to be.

[DuMa]

'Weight distribution is slightly rear-biased'

thats a first. i thought most ppl say its around 53/47 favoring the front.

[Mari0]

OMG I don't think it was possible for me to get more excited than I already was, but...

"Possibly the best electric steering system we've yet encountered, with much more subtle sensitivity than the new 911's system "

"It makes a Scirocco seem synthetic, an RCZ anaesthetised, a 3-series Coupé over-complicated. This is a pure driving device like an Elise."

[Ikaros]

" The auto alternative works well enough, if without quite the smappiness of a double-clutcher, but the manual is obviously the one to have."

Guess I better learn to drive a manual. I have talked to some of my friends who drives a manuals, and although they say it's fun to switch gears, they said the hills and traffic here makes driving extremely tedious. One of these reporters should seriously do a review on the automatic version, I want more info than just a sentence =.="

[Syldrin]

so when they say Altezza tranny do they mean the old IS300? or are the New IS' also called Altezza in japan? if they mean the old one does that mean that this car comes with the that bullet proof Getrag tranny that also came in the supra or am i remembering wrong and the altezza didnt have that same bullet proof 6 speed.

[Dragonitti]

Blue + Aero...in an FR-S Please.

[ryude]

Originally Posted by Ikaros

" The auto alternative works well enough, if without quite the smappiness of a double-clutcher, but the manual is obviously the one to have."

Guess I better learn to drive a manual. I have talked to some of my friends who drives a manuals, and although they say it's fun to switch gears, they said the hills and traffic here makes driving extremely tedious. One of these reporters should seriously do a review on the automatic version, I want more info than just a sentence =.="

They are reviewing this car on a racetrack, I would guess that most of the people buying this car have never been on a racetrack and probably never will be. If you just plan on having fun on your local twisty roads, you'll have fun in either one. The manual is going to give you a bigger grin, but it will also give you the most headaches for daily driving.

[Mari0]

Originally Posted by Dragonitti

Blue + Aero...in an FR-S Please.

Lol I love that wing... and I was never into big a*s wings, but it looks right at home on this car

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by Mari0

OMG I don't think it was possible for me to get more excited than I already was, but...

"Possibly the best electric steering system we've yet encountered, with much more subtle sensitivity than the new 911's system "

"It makes a Scirocco seem synthetic, an RCZ anaesthetised, a 3-series Coupé over-complicated. This is a pure driving device like an Elise."

Fantastic news. EVO is a legit media source, so if they say the car is brilliant, everyone else had better pay attention. Putting quotes out there like that isn't trivial for them, as they don't suffer fools lightly. They're not without their bias; Chris Harris is a Porsche nut-swinger, and the whole staff is noticeably British-biased and USA-negative, but despite that I'm now rather excited to give these cars a couple test drives.