It’s legal to have power mods on your P’s and here’s how

[Inferono]

First post on a forum ever so if I mess anything up I’m sorry ahah.

Also keep in mind this applies for Queensland I’m not sure about other states.

I want to first start off by saying I myself am a p plater and I understand the struggle of wanting to modify your car without having to worry about insurance dismissing your claim due to something stupid. So I did some research.

For the longest time I was convinced by the rumour that “any power increasing mods is illegal which is simply not true. And for anyone that wants to check any of my research I’ll be leaving links throughout the post of my sources. It should also be noted that my dad quite literally works for Queensland transport.

Firstly (the best option) if your employer is nice enough/ live far enough away from work or even your family has medical issues requiring a faster car you can apply for an exemption! Which nullifies any mods done to the car funnily enough.

More info can be found here:https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/lic...trictions#high

The second option (the most likely qualifiable option) is to modify it in a way that doesn’t increase the power by more than 20%, or increase emissions over standard
This one is a little more complicated but stay with me.
Queensland transport states that: “High-powered (performance) vehicle restrictions apply to P1 and P2 licence holders under the age of 25.”

Meaning that basically a high powered vehicle is illegal on your p plates (no shit)
This is now up to the definition of Queensland transport as to what is considered a high powered vehicle? Quote:


“A car manufactured on or after this date is a high-powered vehicle if it has:

- a power-to-weight ratio of more than 130kW/t

- an engine modification that must be approved under section 17 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Vehicle Standards and Safety) Regulation 2021.”

Also the date in question is the first of January 2010 which applies to all Toyota 86’s.

Now the Toyota 86 has a power to weight ratio of 118kw/t which is well within the legal limit with some room for a bit more. This part is a little more obvious considering the fact that if you’re reading this you already have a 86 on your p plates.

Now the second criteria is that it would be considered high powered if it is an engine modification that must be approved. Which is basically big talk for what’s more commonly known as a mod plate. Which leaves a lot of room for what can be done considering that a modification plate is only required if the car has more than 20% power over stock. which for the 86s is 40 hp!!!

Now any power mods that doesn’t require a mod plate is considered a minor modification
And a list of minor modifications can be found here:

https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/...c34d3e6e94d2e6

So long as you can meet the criteria of these mods and be below the 130kw/t limit it’s completely legal lmao.

I personally run e85 so that I can stay within the emissions laws due to it being less emissions stock and still fits in the power ratio

[Sam86]

Don’t know if it’s the same for qld as vic but I’d assume so as those rules are the same- pretty much any power mod is illegal. You can’t run e85 as the car wasn’t designed for it, any real gains come from removing the cats which you also can’t do.

Bottom line is, everyone does it anyway. As long as you don’t drive like an idiot and attract attention, you’ll most likely be fine.

If the cops pull you over they aren’t going to listen to your rationale, they’re just going to look for mods and leave it up to you to fix regardless if it’s legal or not. No point really stressing over it as there’s no real way around it. Mod it if you want, just be aware of what you’re doing and whether it’ll attract attention or not. Invest in Jack stands so worst case scenario you can take them off and reinstall at no cost, and you’ll likely use them in the future for more mods anyway