Toyota GT86: PH Fleet
Epic Scottish road trips are all well and good, but what's a GT86 like on the 10mph crawl to work?
This seems a long while ago now!
Furthermore, even on the dull trudges to the airport and office the GT86 remains delightful. Sure, it's not as much fun as blatting round Scotland but it's not as unpleasant as you might imagine. The visibility is great, the gearbox is sweet enough to make rev matching into first doable and it's genuinely small as well; at 4,240mm long and 1,775mm wide, it's shorter and narrower than an A-Class. Really. I will work out true urban fuel consumption over the next month but the trip computer is currently saying low-30s which is fine. A relatively small 50-litre tank and a bit of range anxiety means I very seldom put more than £40 in it. Finally, while we're on the less interesting aspects of running a car, it will need some oil soon and there's a washer fluid dipstick. Gotta love the attention to detail!
Dream garage planning at Brands
In fact it promises to be a much more interesting few weeks with the Toyota as I have a few days holiday coming up, with a trek up to Hull and some drives on sleepy Suffolk back roads planned. There's only so long I can hack London commuting without a break! Toyota has also just introduced new wheels for the GT86 which finally look quite good. At present they're only available on the regular GT86 and are 18-inch diameter but it would be interesting to give them a try. Take a look on the website here.
Lastly a point that's even more tedious than checking oil and screenwash: bird mess. For some reason the Toyota is attracting more attention from the local wildlife than other cars and leaving nasty marks that are taking a long time to remedy. If anybody has any cleaning advice for the excrement of the little blighters then please let me know. Back to hooning round next month, promise!
FACT SHEET
Car: 2015 Toyota GT86 Primo
Run by: Matt
On fleet since: July 2015
Mileage: 4,251
List price new: £22,495 (and £22,495 as tested! List price £22,700, GT86 Primo currently available with £205 dealer discount until September 30)
Last month at a glance: More miles but less smiles as the GT86 faces daily duties
Previous reports:
Press car without a single option? Welcome the GT86 Primo!
Three thousand miles in a month gets the 86 run in...
Never seen a BRZ though, but my nearest Toyota dealership is a hell of a lot closer to where I drive than the nearest Subaru garage...
Mine's just coming up to 40,000 mile service and it's not needed any oil apart from services in all that time. Screenwash reservoir must be on the large side too; I've only run dry once and that was on the way to the two year/20,000 mile service so they filled it then anyway.
Matt
It's very comparable to a MK2 MX5 RS Import I once owned, only a LOT more refined (obviously) and less snappy. As much as I want to put nicer wheels on it, I don't want to upset the hilariously playful driving dynamic of the car. So I'll take my time sourcing a set. I actually prefer the ones they stick on the Primo.
I drive a few miles every day from a Village, down some twisty B Roads, then on to traffic on A roads and into town. I don't think I could find a better car for my Budget requirements and preferences (Manufacture Warranty, Fun to drive and not overly expensive to run).
Only pictures I have of it are these.
My GT86 by Jason.Easton, on Flickr
DSC_0854 by Jason.Easton, on FlickrI'll post another write up like I did for my Skoda in a few weeks over in Readers Rides.
)Any excuse to post a picture of my car...
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