Top Gear Calls Toyota GT 86 one of the best driving sports cars of the last decade

[Mitch]

Originally Posted by miata

Optimal? Maybe. Cheaper? Definitely.
BMW M cars are always staggered.

And this shift to staggered tires has been widely held to be to appease the corporate lawyers.

My '95 M3 was the last year of "square" tire sizing and no traction/stability control.
'96 onward got both staggered tires and traction/stability control.

I run 235/40/17 on my M3, and I couldn't be happier (for what I do with it). I wouldn't go wider in the rear for fear of throwing off the balance in the direction of understeer.

[TheMadMan]

Great review! And a FYI I have Michelin Primacy MXM4s (215/45/17) on my Scion TC and they are pretty decent tires IMO. They are relatively quite and smooth and grip much better than the OEM tires on my 2008 TC. I think the review calls them "Prius Tires" just for fun since they are only offered on the Plus Performance Package of the Prius.

[Mitch]

Originally Posted by TheMadMan

Great review! And a FYI I have Michelin Primacy MXM4s (215/45/17) on my Scion TC and they are pretty decent tires IMO. They are relatively quite and smooth and grip much better than the OEM tires on my 2008 TC. I think the review calls them "Prius Tires" just for fun since they are only offered on the Plus Performance Package of the Prius.

I had MXM4s on my Si (non-Summer tire) and they weren't bad, [per se] but they weren't great and they were expensive and s*** to replace.

[Harinjo]

Originally Posted by miata

Optimal? Maybe. Cheaper? Definitely.
BMW M cars are always staggered.

130i 3-door is faster with standard 205mm tyres on all 4 corners than the same car with m-package (215front and 245rear)

[lupehoops26]

I went to the Houston Auto Show on Sunday to see the FR-S concept. The Scion rep there made a statement that 90% of the body from the concept will be present in the production version, and indicated (as others have suspected) that they expect it to be available "late spring, we're expecting in the June timeframe".

A question I had...anyone know the height of the tallest driver that has sat in one of these is so far? I had heard that 6'4 was the target, but seeing the car in person, I'm a little skeptical. I'm 6'3 so I'm really curious...

[7thgear]

staggered production cars are staggered because they have no aero downforce and make too much power, so to keep it balance the engineers simply balance by putting a wider tire on (reducing tenancy to lose lateral traction compared to front)

[Sasquachulator]

Originally Posted by lupehoops26

I went to the Houston Auto Show on Sunday to see the FR-S concept. The Scion rep there made a statement that 90% of the body from the concept will be present in the production version, and indicated (as others have suspected) that they expect it to be available "late spring, we're expecting in the June timeframe".

A question I had...anyone know the height of the tallest driver that has sat in one of these is so far? I had heard that 6'4 was the target, but seeing the car in person, I'm a little skeptical. I'm 6'3 so I'm really curious...

If tall people can cram themselves into a Lotus Elise, this car should be no problem lol.

[lupehoops26]

Originally Posted by Sasquachulator

If tall people can cram themselves into a Lotus Elise, this car should be no problem lol.

I suppose I'm more interested in what height can still have a comfortable fit...

I have the same problem on motorcycles - sure I can force myself into a tuck on a Yamaha R6, but my face is out over the nose, my knees are digging into my elbows and after about 30 minutes my back is screaming bloody murder.

Even if I'm looking for a performance weekend/track car, excessive body punishment isn't something I'm going to volunteer in exchange...

[AIRMAX]

Originally Posted by Steve

Since you are not the only one that seems to be planning to run a staggered tire setup I wanted to give my 2 cents on this aswell,

As far as looks, I am in complete agreement that this cars body work demands a staggered setup (which I think is the main reason people are looking as getting a staggered setup). If aren't too worried about taking this car around corners at high speeds on the track, you can probably stop reading and order your wheels/tires.

As far as handling, I personally would not even consider putting a set of staggered tires on this car until,

1. I drive this car and get a feel for the car balance (which as far as reviews go so far is that it is perfectly neutral) because...

2. Not enough, if any at all, thorough testing has been done with staggered tire setups to see exactly how this is going to affect the cars balance. It is pretty much guaranteed that the car is going to either tend to understeer, or oversteer more once a staggered setup is put on this car. I think logically the car will probably tend to understeer since with the added grip the back end will stay more planted, although I read that the staggered setup on an s2k produces more oversteer (and that a non-staggered setup on extremely common on japanese tuned s2k's.)

I'm pretty confident in assuming that the 86/BRZ, a sports car built solely for handling and driving feel, is sold with a non-staggered tire setup because it is optimal.

(1) I plan to drive this car as my daily driver, I dont plan to track it.... getting the tail to swing when turning = $200 fine here in Australia... and Im too old to attract attention too.


(2) 225 is stock Rear tyre, bumping it to 245 makes a difference but its not ridiculous.

[daiheadjai]

Originally Posted by mastawyrm

What other reason would you choose one or the other? There looks to be less difference between the two than camaro/firebird so I think most people will make the decision based on badge. I know I'm more interested in driving the brand that is so well known for WRC compared to the brand that is known for eco-bland. The rumors that the Subaru will have just a slightly tighter suspension doesn't hurt either but I wouldn't expect that to matter much.

Had to comment on this:
Toyota has had a storied career in the WRC.
Carlos Sainz drove the Celica to the WRC championships in 1990 and 1992.
Toyota was also the first adopter of the anti-lag system in the WRC, something which other manufacturers soon followed.

The Corolla WRC took the 1998 championship before Toyota withdrew from WRC competition.

As much as Toyota earned/deserves it's current bland image, to say that they aren't well-known for F1 or WRC or other forms of motorsport is just crazy.

For what it's worth, I do think the BRZ looks better though.

[eliminist]

Originally Posted by Mr Franky

Ah well there you go. I was going off of the Magazine. In fact on the website the GTR only has 17, so forget my previous post. But either way you look at it, 19 is still a very very good score.

Look again, theyve reduced the score to 17 now for some reason. Probably thought 19 was too high for a toyota..

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by lupehoops26

I have the same problem on motorcycles - sure I can force myself into a tuck on a Yamaha R6, but my face is out over the nose, my knees are digging into my elbows and after about 30 minutes my back is

I have the opposite but same problem at 5' 7". I refuse to ride a cruiser, and every other bike has either not enough pullback or is way too tall. I ride a Honda 919 (Hornet) now with 1.5" pullback risers and its pretty good. About the only other thing that fits "off the rack" is a Goldwing.

[suprachica79]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I have the opposite but same problem at 5' 7". I refuse to ride a cruiser, and every other bike has either not enough pullback or is way too tall. I ride a Honda 919 (Hornet) now with 1.5" pullback risers and its pretty good. About the only other thing that fits "off the rack" is a Goldwing.

I hit the same problem as an average-height female riding a motorcycle. Both Kawis I have bought I have had to lower at least a couple of inches to feel comfortable. I'm currently building a bobber and trying to build forward controls that aren't too far away for my short 5'6" legs lol

[Exage]

Top Gear starts a brief talk about the 86/BRZ at 13:35 during their news segment.

Videos taken down. Sorry