RE: Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ: PH Buying Guide

[R0B.]

Dakkon said:

No mention of big end bearing failures in the review....

Seen this a few times on GT86 forums, seems the flat 4 Subaru trait has carried through from the Impreza.

[Flibble]

Dakkon said:

No mention of big end bearing failures in the review....

Are they that much of an issue? Only a couple have failed on unmodified cars AFAIK. Not to mention, most cars are still under warranty now, so if it does go the dealer should sort it.

[ian2144]

My Aero version is just about to turn 1 year old, so far its been faultless, loving it. Doing Skye & the NC500 this weekend.

[JTN358AT]

I have always liked the GT86 and have considered replacing my RX8, with one. I don't really do new cars due to the depreciation and 12-13k for a five year old does not seem to be a used bargain. The RX8 was 6k for a 4 year old with 17k miles on it. The GT86 seems tom be one of those cars that do not sell overly well new yet are highly value used.

[anonymous-user]

Uhm "clutch should easily last 40,000 miles" comment kind of stands out. This isn't some V12 Lamborghini putting 700NM through the clutch, it's a gutless four pot. Surely the clutch should last 100k+, the same as any other mass production car of this type? Unless the owner is a clutch slipping moron, of course.

[V8 TEJ]

JTN358AT said:

I have always liked the GT86 and have considered replacing my RX8, with one. I don't really do new cars due to the depreciation and 12-13k for a five year old does not seem to be a used bargain. The RX8 was 6k for a 4 year old with 17k miles on it. The GT86 seems tom be one of those cars that do not sell overly well new yet are highly value used.

Didn't the RX8 depreciate quickly due to the bad reputation it (also) quickly acquired?

[MarshPhantom]

Coldfuse said:

Prices are so strong for these still, cannot believe that they are still commanding almost 13K for a 2012 model.

I

Does seem rather strong for a car that sold less than 900 units in the UK in 2014. Is this the price they are selling for or what buyers are hoping for?

[V8 TEJ]

I bought mine in Nov last year for over 14k for a 63 Reg which had 29k miles on at the time. Many of the similar priced cars at the time were selling pretty quickly.

[otolith]

V8 TEJ said:

Didn't the RX8 depreciate quickly due to the bad reputation it (also) quickly acquired?

Combination of factors. They sold an awful lot of them, and there just wasn't that much demand on the used market for 20mpg coupes in the top tax band. What you got in return for your 20mpg was an engine that gave you (via the weight distribution) excellent handling but less straight line go than other 20mpg cars, and that's a bit too subtle a sell for the average car buyer. There were engine durability issues which came on top of a preconception that the engines would not be robust.

I suspect that the Toyota values are holding up because the volumes sold are low and the running costs are affordable.

[spikyone]

MarshPhantom said:

Coldfuse said:

Prices are so strong for these still, cannot believe that they are still commanding almost 13K for a 2012 model.

I

Does seem rather strong for a car that sold less than 900 units in the UK in 2014. Is this the price they are selling for or what buyers are hoping for?

According to howmanyleft it was over 1,000..
Aero: 17
Aero auto: 1
GT86: 789
GT86 auto: 198
Giallo: 26
TRD: 40
= 1,071

Prices would be lower if it had sold more rather than less. Not many of them around, quite a few owners hanging onto them (because it's such a Marmite car that owners almost invariably love them), no-one else offering an affordable RWD coupe, and currently all still in warranty. Stands to reason that residuals will be strong, IMO.

[Chapppers]

I'm going to get an orange automatic one one soon for the missus to replace her Z3, looking forward to it

Obviously I'd prefer a manual but she only has an auto license at the moment and it's going to be her only car. I've heard good things about them, despite not being able to drive one as no dealers have an auto demo on their fleet.

[Bladedancer]

Fantastic car whose appearance made a welcome respite from all that SUV/Crossover madness going around.
I will hopefully get the missus a blue on of these in foreseeable future.

[Bladedancer]

dme123 said:

Uhm "clutch should easily last 40,000 miles" comment kind of stands out. This isn't some V12 Lamborghini putting 700NM through the clutch, it's a gutless four pot. Surely the clutch should last 100k+, the same as any other mass production car of this type? Unless the owner is a clutch slipping moron, of course.

I have a feeling this might be more down to British driving style than the car or its clutch.

[300bhp/ton]

dme123 said:

Uhm "clutch should easily last 40,000 miles" comment kind of stands out. This isn't some V12 Lamborghini putting 700NM through the clutch, it's a gutless four pot. Surely the clutch should last 100k+, the same as any other mass production car of this type? Unless the owner is a clutch slipping moron, of course.

Isn't it actually a rather torquey engine for an n/a 4 pot petrol.

Suspect it also uses a much smaller clutch than a V12 Lambo too.

[otolith]

I would imagine that the clutch of a car with a revvy engine gets more use than that of one with a torquey engine.

[Klippie]

I'am seriously looking at getting a new BRZ, I had a look at one the other week which was lovely.

Any good deals going on them at the moment.

[kambites]

otolith said:

I would imagine that the clutch of a car with a revvy engine gets more use than that of one with a torquey engine.

Probably true, since there will presumably be more gear changes and hence more time spent slipping. Still I'd be thoroughly disappointed if a modern clutch in a mainstream car only lasted 40k miles; as far as I know every car I've ever owned has still been on its original clutch, some of them on four times that mileage.

[mario328]

Klippie said:

I'am seriously looking at getting a new BRZ, I had a look at one the other week which was lovely.

Any good deals going on them at the moment.

I can't comment on BRZs but back in February we were looking to order our new GT86 and found Carwow to offer the best deal. Despite me going around local dealers, taking a car out for an extended test drive (4Hours), and having been invited by Toyota to the Goodwood FOS and drive one up the hill the year before, they just weren't interested in offering a deal directly.

[Distraxi]

otolith said:

I would imagine that the clutch of a car with a revvy engine gets more use than that of one with a torquey engine.

The sharp throttle response and sensitive pedal response at light throttle don't help either. I frequently find myself using 2000rpm+ to take off when 1200 would have done, just because that's what a 2mm twitch of my toe got me.

[Gatsods]

Distraxi said:

The sharp throttle response and sensitive pedal response at light throttle don't help either. I frequently find myself using 2000rpm+ to take off when 1200 would have done, just because that's what a 2mm twitch of my toe got me.

Agreed - I've actually always found the clutch to be the most annoying part of the car. It and the engine's limited low down torque make pulling yourself along in crawling traffic with one foot an impossiblity.

That is literally the only drawback I can find in it as a commuter car though - I average between 36.5-38.5mpg over a tank (A/B road mix), and they're the calculated numbers not what the display says.

I'd originally intended to keep it for just a year and then move it on, but 17 months into ownership I'm having trouble with that 'move it on' bit...