Proof if ever you wanted it that Toyota has finally re-awakened its inner petrolhead: the FT-86 coupe has been reportedly designed with a roll cage in mind.
This little gem of information - namely that the dash has been left with recesses in to accommodate a roll cage with no cutting up of plastic required - has spilled onto the web via Club4AG, a forum dedicated to the most die-hard fans of tuned Toyotas, and courtesy of a chap called Moto-P.
It seems that Mr P was lucky enough to have dinner with the FT-86's chief project engineer, Tetsuya Tada, and that during said meal was able to glean plenty of information about the eagerly awaited coupe. And it isn't just the roll cage-friendly dash that has got Mr Moto-P excited - there's plenty of other nuggets of info that seem to indicate that the rear-drive coupe could be quite a car...
read his post in full on the Club4AG website
, but the salient points run thusly: the EJ20 Subaru engine remains - in basic shape, but they essentially only share the same flat-four layout. Everything has been re-cast, right down to a whole new block design, and the Toyota-Subaru motor has been fine-tuned by Yamaha... but the mounting points are the same, so racers, sprinters or merely keen tuners can simply bolt in a Subaru motor should they wish.
The car has also been designed to be a 'basic and pure' sports car, to the extent that it may well come without nav or even a CD player (Tada-san's argument being, apparently, that we will all be plugged into the world via smartphone come 2012, so we won't need such heavyweight optional extras).
Most intriguing of all - and proof that a car nut really is at the helm of the Japanese motoring giant - Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has often dropped in to test drive the FT-86, including arriving unannounced at a Nurburgring test session, strapping himself into an FT-86 development car, and chasing down a Lexus LF-A.
"Endorsed by CEO Akio Toyoda, designed by passion (of Tada's team), and not by a committee" is what Moto-P signs off with. We hope that means the FT-86 will be quite a car. Sounds promising...