Purchased Toyota 86 First Drive And Impressions, review & pics from today

[WTF]

Hey guys, sorry for the iPhone pics.. but I didnt actually know I was going to be driving it today til I was passing by the dealership on the way home this evening. I'd missed a few calls from the dealer, and no doubt this is why :P

NOTE: I wrote this for other non-86 forums, so I know some of this info will be common knowledge for you guys :P.


Here is what I saw when I drove past the dealer (their demo car, mine isnt due til July 6th):



I wanted to get a pic of my car next to it to compare sizes, but didnt get a chance, I might try do that later in the week, as well as get some better photos...





More pics here: http://www.facebook.com/streetfx


FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Well as some people may know, we (StreetFX) put a deposit down on the new Toyota 86 back in January..

Today I got to go have a look and play with it in real life, here are my first impressions..

LOOKS:

While it's a far cry from the FT86 Concept II (my favourite) I loved the look of it from the front and the side, the rear, is lacking something. There will be a nice calling for some aftermarket carbon parts which we will be producing as soon as we get the vehicle.

The test vehicle was a GT model, (we bought the top of range GT-S). The rims look terrible, the wheel gap is far too big (needs to be lowered), I love the look of the headlights, and I cant wait to see the GT-S HIDs with DRL LEDs.

Personally I think it will need a wing of some sort, but the "Aero" wing option is ridiculous.




THE INTERIOR:

This was the base spec, so the interior is fairly boring, has a few accents of red which is a nice touch, the radio looks kind of clunky, and there is nothing that really takes your breath away inside. The GTS hopefully is a lot nicer. The seats are VERY nice, sporty, nice bolstering, all the way up to the shoulders, without being uncomfortable..

There is ZERO room for rear passengers, its worse than a JZA80 supra. The front seats literally can compress the cushion on the base of the rear seats, don't buy one if you want to take people in the back regularly.


THE DRIVE:

I took the thing for a drive, I was disappointed to see a key-start, I am hoping the GTS is push button start, not that it really should make much difference, but its a psychological thing for me, I love Push-To-Start :P.

The clutch is VERY light, personally I like a bit heavier clutch, but with only 200hp I guess its not really necessary. The first thing that you notice is how loud the engine is from inside. They have ducted induction noise into the cabin somewhere, it sounds throaty and gives you a bit of a sense of sportiness.

The gearbox feels GREAT, I love the short shift, its very direct and hardly needs to move to change gears. Weirdly upon stopping at traffic lights, when you go to push shifter into first, you can feel the car very slightly jolt forward, as if the clutch isnt disengaged, even though it was fully depressed..

The lack of power is a major disappointment, and whoever managed to get 0-100 in 6 seconds must have been going downhill, either that or getting out of my Porsche and into this has really done a number on my ability to gauge how 'fast' a car is. It felt like it would be lucky to get 0-100 in 7+ seconds.. For a car with 147kw, I was hoping it would be a bit more spritely, I mean the S15 only had a similar amount of power stock, was heavier, yet felt a lot faster.. If you want a fast car out of the box, this will not satisfy you.

There was a lot of traffic around unfortunately so I didn't get much of a chance to rev it out, however the first corner I took in it, even though it was fairly slow, you could feel how well it's going to handle. Another thing that surprised me was the stiff ride. That to me, is not a bad thing, it felt very direct and gave you a sense of 'one' with the road, I liked it.. However the ride felt more like a car on coilovers, certainly not a car that has 3 inches of wheel gap ..

CONCLUSION:

I think that Toyota did something great for the entry level sportscar and made them affordable to everyone. The price is not bad at $39k on road for the GTS, and $34k on road for the GT. Considering a Yaris can cost you up to $25k or a Corolla Ultima $35k, I know what I would choose. The car DESPERATELY is crying for forced induction, another 60hp and you could get a smile on your face, unfortunately as it sits, your not going to be smiling unless your facing some nice twisty roads. The high compression of 12.5:1 might be great for economy and to squeeze out that magical 200hp, but it doesn't lend well to forced induction, which is a bit of a stab in the gut If it was a normal 10:1 compression, you could stick a turbo or a supercharger on it without being concerned about fuel and detonation.. At this point it is unclear what path we will take for power mods..

Bottom line is, YES the car is brilliant for what it is, and it slots in perfectly into a section that there is no other competition in Australia (USA has the Genesis coupe, which comes with over 300hp as an option), We still are going ahead with the purchase and take delivery in a couple of weeks (We bought a pearl white one). I can't wait to put it through it's paces up the mountains, and the twisties, where you dont NEED big power.. THAT is where this car will excel, and that's exactly what Toyota designed it for, it was never supposed to be a drag car.

We are going to be using this car for promotional purposes, and as a show car.. If there are any businesses out there interested in getting a look at the car for whatever products they are looking at researching, please shoot me an email at streetfx@streetfx.com.au

Hope this is of some use to anyone considering one












And an unrelated pic from earlier today, at a different dealer (the cops just wanted to have a look!)

[000 Racing]

Too funny, my day drive is a 987 Boxster S and this is the track car... will never be registered in it's life.. I hope it handles like the boxster ! Mine arrives tomorrow

[nix]

Will you keep the supes/bmw?

There is some power to be found but not what we're used to. Stock ecu reacts badly to breather mods but once it's cracked should be some decent gains.

Basic plan is intake, exhaust, cams, fuel mods if needed + flashed ecu. Watching charger kit development closely too. For now will start with just header back exhaust until we can retune.

Also hoping someone docos an ej swap soon.

[spiller]

Originally Posted by nix

Basic plan is intake, exhaust, cams, fuel mods if needed + flashed ecu. Watching charger kit development closely too. For now will start with just header back exhaust until we can retune.

All of this. very keen to see what sort of results the breathing mods and cams get with a reflash. otherwise supercharging is probably the path I will take.

I think with another 30-40hp in NA form this would be a pretty fun car on the street. The stock power curve is just disappointing with that lack of mid-range.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by nix

Will you keep the supes/bmw?

There is some power to be found but not what we're used to. Stock ecu reacts badly to breather mods but once it's cracked should be some decent gains.

Basic plan is intake, exhaust, cams, fuel mods if needed + flashed ecu. Watching charger kit development closely too. For now will start with just header back exhaust until we can retune.

Also hoping someone docos an ej swap soon.

Ill be keeping the bmw M5, I sold the 530i, sold my other supra, but keeping the race 180sx, will sell the blue 180sx, and keeping the porsche for now.


I wont bother modding an N/A.. aside from basic stuff to make noise DONT BOTHER..

If there is something I have learned, modifying an NA is about as useful as chatting to a girl at a strip club.. you might think your gonna get somewhere, but really all it will be is throwing your money down the drain and being disappointed with the results, Unless you spend seriously big money, in which case you might get somewhere but your gonna be pissed at wasting all that $.

ECU/Cams i wouldnt bother, at very most intake/exhaust...

[nix]

From driving the car i feel it needs another 50 kw and that massive mid drop in torque dialed out.. that's an achievable target. It's a different project to my supra or gt4 where I can chuck power onto them but the chassis is good and I'm a bit over 10-15 year old 300+ kw dailys anyway.

Going by suby/evo ecu flashing we will be seeing some good options including cheap stock and breather mods maps coming out. From what people have been posting so far the ecu is crazy rich/quick to retard timing.