FT-86 "Best in the world" for drifting!
 

Heres something ineteresting.....

http://www.motortrend.com/auto_news/...ame/index.html

i just don't see why it would be called celica, it's not fwd, it's rwd. and shares nothing similar... i also don't know why they would want this to be off-balance weight-wise and WANT it to drift: not all drivers are drifters...

Indeed not all drivers are drifters, and most people that think they are drifting are actually just diong powerslides (ie sliding out of control). Nevertheless, a car designed to be a drift monster can and probably will do other styles/tasks well. I mean, Landrovers are arguably some of the best off road vehicles but they also make great commuter right? Bad example but you get my point.

Also, Celicas were historically RWD until they changed them in 1986. I'd hate the Celica tag too but what else can they call it in the US??? Trueno? Levin? COROLLA? haha. So yah... Celica ftl :( I'd take Celica over Scion branding any day.

Could call it something completely new. Not like Celica historically carries the same brand power as say the Supra, at least not for me.

No "Celica" please :paddle:

the name celica would totally dumb this car down, just like that

That's great news:thanks: :w00t:


The drivers who don't feel like drifting can...
a) go slower
b) buy a turbo'ed fwd hatchback

There is a need for a sports car that will go sideways if you try to push it.

Back to the ancient art of (true) driving!

The original Celica was RWD, but it sounds like the article is speculation it says could get. That is just their way of stirring the pot.

Like i said in the nomenclature post, it wold be pointless to call it a spiritual successor of the AE86 and then name it Celcia.

Toyota FT-86 is fine with me.

I must admit that FT86 is much better than Celica.
Celica reminds of something for soft cruising.

You do know that the "Supra" started out as just a top of the line trim option on the Celica right? It meant that you got the bigger inline 6 engine, a tiny supra badge, and a different front facia. Having owned a MKII Celica Supra, yes that's what they were called, I can tell you that it wasn't all that much different from the base celica of that time. The supra was to the celica as the STi is to the WRX, same car with a more powerful engine and a few differnet body panels. It wasn't until the third generation did the Supra break away into it's own model when the celica went FWD. So technically the Celica has been around much longer and carries way more historical value.

The problem is that nintendo generation fanbois only think of the MKIV when you say Supra and have no sense of where that car came from. If it wasn't for the Celica there would have been no supra. And since Toyota is trying to get back to it's roots with cheap affordable RWD sportscars then the Celica name fits a lot more than the luxo gt cruiser supra.

Not to mention tne Supra is a Heavy Dyno/Highway queen... not the idea behind the FT-86

agreed. back when the celica first debuted in the 1970s, the celica was the true sports car in the toyota lineup, while the levin/trueno was more of a sporty corolla. even in the 80s when the ae86 was out, the mark I and mark II supra were actually called "celica xx" in japan. even after the celica went FF, there was always the GT-Four spec which carried on the true sports car mantle, all the way up to the 6th gen celica (during the same time, the levin had become FF as well). it was only the 7th gen celica that was only offered in FF(at least in japan). so historically speaking, the Celica name has more of a true sporting heritage within the toyota hierarchy. well, before '99 anyway.

I agree. Despite toyota claiming the AE86 as the inspiration for this new FT-86, in my mind, the car is really a throwback to the original celicas. Cheap, lightweight, RWD, dedicated sportscars. Nothing against the AE86 it's a fun car but it was not designed to be a sportscar it just happened that people found out later how capable they were. The celica was designed from the start to be a sportscar just like the FT-86. I would not be disappointed at all if they revived the celica name with this car.

I hope they choose a new name. Celica has had a negative reputation among many in the US. It would not make sense for Toyota USA. I think it's a bit premature to say that the FT will be a mean lean drift machine. I personally won't be drifting when I purchase. I like time attack and road racing and that's what I plan on doing. I like to watch drifting but I'm not good at it. :(

Who are these many people in the US that you speak of? The MKI and MKII rwd Celicas are well respected and the ALL-TRAC/GT-4 turbo AWD cars of the 1990's are still sought after today. You must be talking about the 2000-2005 model that some saw as soft. That was one model generation out of eight for a car that dates back to the 70's. Toyota puts out one questionable generation of car and all of a sudden they should just scrap 40yrs worth of brand recognition? GM put out crappy corvettes all throughout the 80's but they didn't get rid of the nameplate they just made the 90's version better and more what the customer expected. There is nothing wrong with the Celica name and it would work fine on this car.

you know when i first read this i was like " awww no! not celica!" then i looked at pics of the car and then i thought to myself.. "this car could be called the ramrod and i would still get it"

i hope its 50/50 weight dist

^^ agreed. i really dont care what its called as long as it can perform. plus, im going to de-badge anyway so i wont see the name everytime i look at the car haha

while i do agree with you i must admit the 7th gen celica really did ruin the car for me and a lot of other people. really wonky styling and FF only. it's really a shame too cuz the 2zz engine was a nice motor, as can be seen in today's elise/exige. a boosted 2zz could've made enough power for a gt-four, i wonder if it could have been converted to FR like the 3s? oh well, no point in speculating now.

alot of girls wont know what it is anyways. so de-badge it and tell people its the new ferrari :thumbup:

Ok then.

From a marketing stand point naming it a celica would be genius.

Toyota has said that it wants to get back to making fun sporty cars. Apparently there are many of you who believe the Celica name has been tarnished by recent generations. SO:

They could roll out a huge marketing campaign about how they are now listening to customers, refocussing/re-inventing itself, starting with returning the Celica back to it's cheap RWD sportscar roots. They could do an in your face come drive the new (FT-86) Celica and experience the new Toyota campaign.

No need to spend money on trying to build brand recognition with a new name and it gets the message out that Toyota is no longer just going to build boring reliable cars. Ask anyone what a Celica is, love it or hate it, and they'll tell you it's a sportscar made by Toyota. That kind of brand recognition/association doesn't come cheap so it would be a waste of a nameplate to throw away 30+ years of Celica history.

^ i like that idea, however ask any girl and she'll say it's a cute sporty little car. not a sportscar. perhaps that's ok; looks sexy enough to me to pick up a chick in (sure beats a yaris haha)

HA! What a girl car!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbdown:
















Jk, I used to own one too :scared0016:

Well coming from knowing the history of the Celica, there is nothing wrong, but for regular people the Celica progressively got softer and softer. Toyota tried to keep the sporty-ness with the All-Trac and GTS but it still did not capture the imaginations of consumers. This is an opportunity for Toyota to start fresh. I loved the old Celicas. I owned a 84 GTS but I think Toyota should take a different route. Even if they decide to go with the Celica I'm still going to buy it. However, they are trying to pay homage to the AE86 not the RA or ST Celicas.

I understand your position and I'm not really arguing against it.

I just think the whole homage to the AE86 and the FT-86/086A name during the concept/testing phase is just a wink wink nod nod to us the enthusiasts letting us know what type of car this will be.

When the car goes to production I think it will either be named a celica or something completely new because realistically how many, as you say, "regular people" know what an AE86 is? Only enthusiast know about the AE86 and we make up a very small percentage of customers. Everyone knows what a celica is and can tell you it's made by toyota. It's just easier, and from a marketing stand point more cost effective, for Toyota to use a household name and call it a celica.

this really should be in the naming thread by now but... I believe LF-A was the pre-production concept car name, which now I believe has officially made it as a vehicle with this name;
guess that bodes well for FT-86

Wow, someone needs to relearn their definition of 'sports-car'.

AE86 had:
One of the FIRST DOHC, Fuel injected head on an mass-produced I4. This right here just negates what you said completely.
4 wheel disc brakes, factory
LSD optional
light weight
RWD (in a time when toyota was converting the mass of its cars to FWD)

Was it THE sports car to have? Of course not. But you put the stats down on paper and my AE86 is more of a sports car than my brothers base-model 1985 RX-7 sitting in the garage.

Hm... Maybe he was talkin' bout GT-R, Fairlady, Evo, Supra, Silvia, STI and all those High Powa~ cars. lol It's okay, only the real sports car maniac knows that AE86 is sports car. If not, Dorikin wouldn't own AE86 for half a century.

Woo good point!! Hopefully the buzz around the FT-86 keeps up as much as during the LF-A's development and they just decide to stick with it. :party0030:

This is a great point you make, and why I agree that the car will not likely get a production name related to the 86 moniker. However, I also think the name Celica will not be used, because to the car buying audience at large to which you are referring (i.e. not the enthusiasts), the Celica name doesn't generate an excitement. Furthermore, the car sold poorly in its last few iterations, and was axed without much fanfare.

I want them to use something that ties it to the hatchiroku somehow, but realistically I expect them to try something new.

Or you can go back and re-read my posts and see that I was comparing the car to the celica and celica-supras of the same era. Which as cyde01 said were toyotas sportscar and levin/trueno were just sporty carollas. And I did say that I liked the AE86 for what it was. I never mentioned EVO, Silvia, GT-R, Fairlady or any high powa mad JDM tight yo cars. :iono:

It's cool i understand that you AE86 guys are super defensive when it comes to your baby and don't like it when people say anything other than it's the greatest "sportscar" of all time.

Haha, maybe someone else should go re-read. Never stated that in the first place.

All I did was point out that you said it wasn't -DESIGNED- to be a sportscar.

And all I did was pretty much just prove you wrong.

Either way, my bad. I was just joking around. If I offend ya, my bad.

Truce

Let's get back to talking about the upcoming FT-86 instead of the cars in the past.

Never been into drifting. Always considered it a show sport. :iono:

hey i'm a huge fan of the ae86 and i own one myself, but i'll be honest with you man, even other club4ag members have agreed that the levin/trueno was really the sporty grade of the corolla/sprinter more than anything else. the ae86 engineering wise does have the ingredients to be a sports car, but if you look at later models (ae92, ae101, ae111) and compare them to the celica xx or even the FF celicas that had the GT-Four, it's easy to see that the levin/trueno name occupied more of a sporty niche than full blown sports like the gt-four or supra. the only reason why the ae86 was RWD was because the toyota engineers decided to have one last harrah with the older RWD corolla architecture rather than updating to the newer FF architecture like the rest of the corolla lineup. that said, it was one great last harrah. perhaps saying it isn't a sports car is a little extreme, but compared to the ft-86 which has nothing in common with the current corolla, i think the ae86 is more entry level.

"Celica" is a totally appropriate nameplate for this car for all the reasons noted by zigzag, and will automatically gain more interest from consumers than it would lose.

Calling it "Corolla" would have the opposite effect, and any other more esoteric or new nameplate would be an unknown to most consumers.

Toyota is trying to develop a car that will be loved by car geeks but also be of interest to Joe Q public.

I'd say 60% chance of "Celica", 30% of something totally new, and 10% chance of something esoteric (e.g., "Levin").

It was more of a shot-down at the word 'designed'. If Toyota didn't want the AE86 to be a sportscar, they wouldn't have designed half the crap on it to be the way it is. Like I said, my AE86 is more of a sports car, stat wise, than my bro's SA, which I think we can all agree, is in the traditional sense, a 'sportscar'.

Toyota even raced the ae86 chassis in the 1600cc class back in the 80's.

And if I'm not mistaken, Toyota didn't convert the sprinter lineup to FF becase they wanted to save on factory conversion costs. They were already converting most of their lineup at the time, so it makes sense in that case. Don't really think it was a hurrah, it was just a way to keep costs down. Remember, the AE86 does use a lot of older technology from the previous generation corollas.

See my last post on page 2 for why I think you are incorrect about the Celica nameplate. Only the celica enthusiasts themselves would want it, and there are so few of you. The general public could care less about that name, since the car really doesn't generate much of an emotional response. Toyota is trying to change their image. That means breaking from the unsuccessful image of the recent past, and that includes the celica.

how high does a AE86 rev up to?