The route out of town is a pretty boring affair, with long wide open stretches of highway to dispatch prior to arriving at our twisty-roaded Zen Garden. It was on the cruise that my first disappointment arose, and it concerns the engine.
For a 2.0-litre, Subaru-designed boxer engine with 197bhp, it feels somewhat underdone, and not as capable or zippy as I expected. On initial impressions, it felt peaky and incapable of doling out the power in the way I wanted.
This isn’t to say it’s gutless, but driving the 86 means you have to think about the process, work for the performance and ensure you’re in the right gear at the right time. Be prepared to keep the revs high to really get going. There’s no rolling onto the gas in fourth or fifth and expecting a nice wave of torque. If you do, you’ll find yourself frustrated at the lack of any meaningful pull. Use that lovely gearshift though, stir the cogs and the car begins to show you what it’s all about.
In the twisties, it means you have to be smart about the way you attack a corner. It’s a thinking game, one of forward planning, balancing the car’s pace and ensuring you’re feeding it just what it needs to stay on the boil. You can’t just hook it in, stomp on the accelerator and expect the reserves of torque to be there to give you big lairy drifts. Get it wrong and you’ll find yourself rushing to find the cogs. Get it right though, use that admittedly small power band in the top 3000rpms, and the car really starts to make sense.
The 86 is light on its feet; not dainty exactly, but fantastically accurate and beautifully balanced. The front end is something special and with the delicate steering and rear end that wants to play like a yapping dog, that rollercoaster of emotion is beginning to roll in the right direction again.
It’s certainly not a power oversteer kinda car. Without that reserve of horsepower, tail-out activities require the clever use of weight. Get the car moving around, use the weight transfer and balance it all on the superb throttle pedal and you’ll soon be happily sideways. However, the 86 is a car that you need to study to learn, and without that patience needed to understand it, you’ll be parking up, hopping out and looking back at it confused.
Tada-san, the car’s designer, told us at the launch that there were three aspects the team fought so hard to see through to final production. One was to steer clear of turbocharging, the second was that it should be rear-wheel drive and the final one was to use narrow tyres.
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arvi
hy guys which road is this.
Steve Smuts
What about those people that want a manual full option 86? Isn’t it true that only the base model comes with an MT?
Phil McGovern
Unsure at the moment Steve, however if there is very little demand for the full option manual, we can understand the dealer not bringing them in for stock. We are sure you could go and place an order for one though.
Yassyyy
Any pictures of the launch in Yas Marina Circuit?
Phil McGovern
We will upload the press shots into a separate gallery. Nothing from our side as it wasn’t really an event that favoured us taking pics.
Hopefully, if we pull off our next article on the car, you’ll see plenty of Yas activity.
YAS2000
We need to see pictures of the Toyota GT 86 on the Formula 1 Track @ YAS Marina Circuit going side ways . i Just love seeing drifting on that beautiful F1 race track on YAS Island.
Phil McGovern
When we get it there, we will get the pics posted up just for you 🙂
Tom
Have to agree with the post and Michael’s comments. The 86 is a nice little ‘learner’ car to get people into the real wheel drive mindset. Biggest issue for me is the over styling – those rear lights look cheap, the exhausts are tiny, and the fog light and rear diffuser are horrid. Clean up the back end and overall it would be very nice.
Michael
Its a fun little car….. it’s a bit of a “my first car was a Toyota 86, and it was great fun” kind of thing. I’d have loved one when I was 18 or 19, as it makes for a great entry level “sporty” car. Closing thoughts; modify for looks and not performance!
ToxicSneakers
Quite alike the TR-6 and the Elva Courier, but much refined and perfected. My choice whip at age 69 is a whiteout AT – gotta love sport/paddles!
Phil McGovern
Almost agree with you there Michael