RE: Toyota GT 86: £24,995

[MC Bodge]

Alex said:

otolith said:

To be fair, it is common practice in Japan for cars like this to be sold in that spec for that purpose, rather than an innovation from Toyota.

It's genius. Why won't the UK importers offer it here? Yes, yes, I know the answer is "money", but if it works in Japan?

Different cultural/market/flashy bits preferences?

Is there a bigger racing/tuning culture in Japan?

[jimbobr1]

According to Autocar this week it is due in July but less than 200 have been ordered.

That does sound disappointing !

[Truckosaurus]

jimbobr1 said:

According to Autocar this week it is due in July but less than 200 have been ordered.

That does sound disappointing !

Toyota haven't sold a brand new sporting motorcar since the middle of the last decade, so their contact books must be full of Prius and Yaris owners these days, hardly conducive to hitting the ground running for pre-orders.

Anyone know how Subaru's orderbook is looking? If I could get my hands on 25-large I'd be ordering a Subaru version over a Toyota.

[Gompo]

Toyota have confirmed there will be a soft-top version. Could be interesting.

[WeirdNeville]

Truckosaurus said:

jimbobr1 said:

According to Autocar this week it is due in July but less than 200 have been ordered.

That does sound disappointing !

Toyota haven't sold a brand new sporting motorcar since the middle of the last decade, so their contact books must be full of Prius and Yaris owners these days, hardly conducive to hitting the ground running for pre-orders.

200 orders on a car that won't hit these shores for 4 months, and no-one outside of the enthusiast motoring sector will have heard of? I think that's pretty good going. They can't be aiming to shift many 1000's of these a year.

[Johnnytheboy]

Gompo said:

Toyota have confirmed there will be a soft-top version. Could be interesting.

That will be interesting, as it could steal sales from the upper echelons of the MX5 market.

I could almost see the soft-top being more successful than the coupe.

[Codswallop]

^^ Not really, even the most expensive MX5 is several thousand cheaper than the Toyota, and the cabrio version is likely to cost more than the coupe.

Nonetheless, if I had the money, I'd be getting a GT86/BRZ coupe tomorrow. It's pretty much the only car that's come out in a long while where I can't wait for used models to filter through (and fall within my budget ).

[Johnnytheboy]

Hence "upper echelons", top range MX5 is £22k.

My point though is that the soft top version will take it in to a different market from how the coupe is being pushed, where its relative lack of shove will be less of an impediment to sales.

[LouD86]

I believe UK allocation is 3k this year max!! May well be less, so not looking to sell huge amounts of units, just to redevelop the brand some, and try and bring in a younger audience!! I know everyone in the sales team at our dealership cant wait to see and drive it!

[DanDC5]

MC Bodge said:

Different cultural/market/flashy bits preferences?

Is there a bigger racing/tuning culture in Japan?

Yes massively, also helped by the fact that the manufacturer's support it instead of being against it like over here. The Tokyo Auto Salon (big massive modified car show) had over 250,000 visitors over the 3 days this year. Max Power live in it's most popular years was getting around 20-30k over 3 days.

[Twincam16]

WeirdNeville said:

having watched Harris's video about this car.... I'm really enthused.

All this talk of numbers, weights, specs is missing the point: Toyota and Subaru have built a drivers car again! Bravo!

it's not the specs, it's not the numbers, it's not the vital statistics.... It's the way it DRIVES that is to be celebrated.

Once upon a time when this was all TVRs owned by enthusiastically spannering engineers, it would have been lauded.

Now its all undemanding high-torque German numbcruisers owned by powerfully-built company directors. The first thing anyone seems to say of any vaguely interesting car on here is 'won't sell', followed by a stream of invective that'd make you believe they had their own money tied up in it.

[TankRS]

Twincam16 said:

WeirdNeville said:

having watched Harris's video about this car.... I'm really enthused.

All this talk of numbers, weights, specs is missing the point: Toyota and Subaru have built a drivers car again! Bravo!

it's not the specs, it's not the numbers, it's not the vital statistics.... It's the way it DRIVES that is to be celebrated.

Once upon a time when this was all TVRs owned by enthusiastically spannering engineers, it would have been lauded.

Now its all undemanding high-torque German numbcruisers owned by powerfully-built company directors. The first thing anyone seems to say of any vaguely interesting car on here is 'won't sell', followed by a stream of invective that'd make you believe they had their own money tied up in it.

while im not old enough to remember it as the TVR forum, i know what your saying Twincam.

[deltashad]

Well, saw my first GT86 today, in all honesty the pictures and video of the car do absolutely nothing for it.

In the metal it is truly stunning. Wider and lower than I imagined, it looks more like Porsche territory than Scirocco.

Really, really nice looking car.

[kit80]

deltashad said:

Well, saw my first GT86 today, in all honesty the pictures and video of the car do absolutely nothing for it.

In the metal it is truly stunning. Wider and lower than I imagined, it looks more like Porsche territory than Scirocco.

Really, really nice looking car.

You know I was thinking the other day I have still not seen one in the flesh.

This car is a defo on the future cars to be owned by Kit list.

[DeolTheBeast]

deltashad said:

Well, saw my first GT86 today, in all honesty the pictures and video of the car do absolutely nothing for it.

In the metal it is truly stunning. Wider and lower than I imagined, it looks more like Porsche territory than Scirocco.

Really, really nice looking car.

I saw one leaving my school the other day, looked really purposeful in black.

[deltashad]

Test drive booked for Monday. Not in a position to buy for a while. Don't know what came over me, first I was configuring a car, the next thing I was clicking on a test drive.
Is that bad? It's not exactly saving the planet.
Looking forward to it though...

[blearyeyedboy]

I've seen my first one. A lot of cars look crap in white but this is one of the few that looks stunning.

[Herman Toothrot]

Have not read the tread recently but saw a great looking one at Berkshire show, dealer said it was doing the rounds as a taster for Jan when TRD options are released. Looked amazing totally different body kit fixing the horrid wing, 4 pot fronts, 2 pot rears alloy bells, adjustable height coil overs. Race seats, harnesses etc. said I didn't believe him when I enquirer and the dealer said £5k premium in standard. £5k was probably jut the brakes.

[OllieC]

Herman Toothrot said:

Have not read the tread recently but saw a great looking one at Berkshire show, dealer said it was doing the rounds as a taster for Jan when TRD options are released. Looked amazing totally different body kit fixing the horrid wing, 4 pot fronts, 2 pot rears alloy bells, adjustable height coil overs. Race seats, harnesses etc. said I didn't believe him when I enquirer and the dealer said £5k premium in standard. £5k was probably jut the brakes.

If this was a white one it might have been the car I saw at Goodwood on the Honda stand there. Looked stunning I thought

[Stig]

OllieC said:

If this was a white one it might have been the car I saw at Goodwood on the Honda stand there. Looked stunning I thought

Make sure you're not confusing with the Gazoo racing one at Goodwood. That had a custom body, not just TRD bits on it.