Sunday 30th April 2017

Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ: PH Buying Guide

Five years on from launch there's plenty to recommend the Toyobaru twins

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As joint ventures go, the development of the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86 pair was very one-sided, with Subaru doing most of the heavy lifting to get the car ready for production. The reasons for that were down to Toyota being at full production capacity yet still wanting a 2+2 coupe that was fun to drive. Having a stake in Subaru, a solution was at hand.

This is a BRZ, in case you hadn't guessed

It also helped the smaller Japanese firm had its FA20 2.0-litre boxer four-cylinder engine - an evolution of the EJ20, with Toyota D4-S direct injection - at the ready. Mounted 12cm lower and 24cm further back in its chassis than the EJ20 in an Impreza, there's no question this was a car aimed at keen drivers.

With 200hp delivered at 7,000rpm and peak torque of 151lb ft at 6,400rpm, this was a motor that demanded to be worked hard but revved quickly. In full flight it takes 7.7 seconds to get from rest to 62mph, and top speed is 140mph for the six-speed manual gearbox model. A six ratio auto transmission is another option.

One of the defining features of the BRZ/GT86 is its tyre choice. Fitted with Michelin Primacy tyres, grip levels were deliberately set lower than other comparable coupes. The reason was to make the rear-drive Subaru/Toyota more fun at lower speeds and it proved an instant hit with most road testers and customers alike.

In 2013, Toyota launched a limited edition of 250 TRD (Toyota Racing Development) models with 18-inch TF6 alloy wheels, body kit and freer flowing exhaust, though performance was unchanged. This reflected the tuning culture that was fast growing around these models, which continues today.

Well yes, plenty to discuss here

A mild update in mid-2014 was followed by more improvements in mid-2015, but it wasn't until the start of 2017 that real upgrades were introduced with more low-end power to further improve day to day driving.

Regardless of whether you choose the Subaru BRZ or Toyota GT86, both cost from around £12,000 for early cars with reasonable mileages and full service records. That makes them a good bet for everyday duties and weekend blasts, and plenty are also used for track days.

Toyotas outnumber Subarus by about five to one on the used market, but the choicebetween them is mostly down to personal badge preference. Back in 2012 PH compared the two if you really need to know the differences!

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PHer's view:
"These cars deal with everyday driver really well and the supposed lack of performance just isn't an issue."
Martin Wrigley

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Buying Guide contents:
Introduction
Powertrain
Rolling chassis
Body
Interior
At a glance

Search for Toyota GT86s here

Search for Subaru BRZs here

[angelicupstarts]

Just walked past a black one outside work , did the double look .
I think these are ageing very nicely

[sandman77]

Still worth 50% of their original price after 5 years. I wonder why lease deals were always so expensive on these.

[spikyone]

sandman77 said:

Still worth 50% of their original price after 5 years. I wonder why lease deals were always so expensive on these.

Yes, residuals are bizarrely strong, and the finance deals (much like the car itself) are the anti-BMW. My GFV is something like £11k at three years, and that was with most of the options ticked - not that there are many.

Article said:

it wasn't until the start of 2017 that real upgrades were introduced with more low-end power to further improve day to day driving.

I don't believe that's true. Even PH's own news story on the facelift model said that there were no power changes. Everywhere outside Europe got them, but they didn't meet Euro 6 emissions so the original performance is unchanged.
There were other changes for the facelift car; revisions to the suspension and additional welding at the rear of the car, but whether you'd notice those unless you're Chris Harris and driving it back to back with the original version is another matter.

To add to the ownership experience - it really is great fun. There's a camaraderie between owners; virtually every other 86/BRZ driver you see will give you a wave and a smile. There's an owner's club and a driver's club in the UK, both of which have a wealth of knowledge on the car, tuning options, and common faults, and they organise frequent meets, including one at Toyota GB in Epsom last year attended by almost 50 cars.

[Composite Guru]

I'm swaying towards getting one of these but was a bit put off by the future value set by Toyota on the finance agreement.

[Coldfuse]

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

I've always wanted one to run as my daily car, but at these sort of prices i am still umming and arring about it, looking at hard top NC MX5's instead.

What the likelyhood of pulling the trigger on one of these and the value being similar in a few years.

[em177]

If someone could buy mine from the classifieds that would be wonderful

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

[Ved]

That's very good looking

[LordGrover]

em177 said:

If someone could buy mine from the classifieds that would be wonderful

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Should sell okay. Mine took a week before it generated any tangible interest, but then sold to first viewer. I believe they are selling well to enthusiasts.

[p1stonhead]

If I didnt need a family bus right now, this would make a great buy. At £15k it seems great value in terms of how fun it is. Test drove one a few years back and it felt great.

However, coming from a fairly torquey 3litre diesel, I think it may feel a tad slow now. Obvious '300bhp is needed' argument is obvious

[mikey P 500]

Think used values represent the fact they make a better used buy than they did new. They are the sort of car enthusiasts will want to modify and keep, not the sort of cars bought in large numbers on leases for daily use. There is therefore limited numbers (about 5000 in UK) so values will probably never get very low (think s2000 or integra rather than mx5 re future values) but i expect will still fall a bit more yet.

[flight147z]

em177 said:

If someone could buy mine from the classifieds that would be wonderful

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Normally don't like black wheels but your car looks nice

[Mr Tidy]

I got lucky and won one of 86 places to drive one up the Goodwood Hill at the 2012 launch.

Really liked the car - except I got given an auto.

Still I did test drive a manual one 3 years ago and liked that even more, but IIRC it was heading towards £28K with a couple of extras and I couldn't justify spending that at the time. Mind you it looks like it wouldn't have dropped too much!

They are still on my short-list of possible future options - after all RWD options are getting very thin on the ground! Just wish values would drop a bit more (apologies to any owners).

[economicpygmy]

em177 said:

If someone could buy mine from the classifieds that would be wonderful

Tempting!

Ive been looking at them for a daily driver since my scooby was murdered and was after a BRZ in WR blue. However, there are so few about and what is around are holding the value well.

[edo111s]

I bought my 2015 GT86 last September from the PH classified, to become my daily - leaving my old Elise for fun and track.

The GT86/BRZ is really a big-fun daily drive, with great driving position and good steering.
And coming from an Elise it feels super comfortable too :-)

[otolith]

Mr Tidy said:

I got lucky and won one of 86 places to drive one up the Goodwood Hill at the 2012 launch.

Really liked the car - except I got given an auto.

So did I - and I got a manual.

And then got stuck behind some imbecile pootling gently up the hill in a Volvo.

[p1stonhead]

otolith said:

Mr Tidy said:

I got lucky and won one of 86 places to drive one up the Goodwood Hill at the 2012 launch.

Really liked the car - except I got given an auto.

So did I - and I got a manual.

And then got stuck behind some imbecile pootling gently up the hill in a Volvo.

+1 me too. So frustrating! The one time I will EVER get to drive the hill and I had to go 20mph!

[RemaL]

Had our Orange 86 for 3 years and still love driving it. Bought it for the wife but have used in on a euro tour in 14 and will do again in 5 weeks.

Ok not huge power but for the car it's about enough. comfy to drive 1800 miles in a week

OK the read seats are crap but manage to get the kids in for short trips.

[Dakkon]

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

[spikyone]

Mr Tidy said:

Still I did test drive a manual one 3 years ago and liked that even more, but IIRC it was heading towards £28K with a couple of extras and I couldn't justify spending that at the time. Mind you it looks like it wouldn't have dropped too much!

It was easy to get a discount on list price. I think mine, with most of the toys, would have been £28.5ish, had I paid full price. The dealer was falling over himself to offer a discount after my test drive. I went back to 'negotiate' armed with the best price from one of the brokers, and got it down to £24.5 - less than the list price without any extras
It was built to order rather than a pre-reg, the only downside was waiting 4 months for it to arrive from Japan...

[Onehp]

p1stonhead said:

If I didnt need a family bus right now, this would make a great buy. At £15k it seems great value in terms of how fun it is. Test drove one a few years back and it felt great.

However, coming from a fairly torquey 3litre diesel, I think it may feel a tad slow now. Obvious '300bhp is needed' argument is obvious

Our 'family bus' sits at 250bhp/tonne but the (slightly fettled NA) gt86 remains a much more enjoyable drive nevertheless as long as you keep away from the Autobahn.