The Toyota GT86 is more relevant than ever: TMIW
Stop moaning and just go and buy a GT86, says PH's in-house curmudgeon
Yet all this time there's been a car on sale - two, if you count its identical in all but badge sibling - delivering on exactly the attributes these self-affirmed purists say are being eradicated from the motoring landscape. Namely, affordability; rear-wheel drive through a proper limited-slip diff; a lovely manual gearbox; a naturally-aspirated motor that thrives on revs and size and visibility that you can exploit on a British B-road. These plus skinny tyres that let you play with its cornering attitude on the throttle at speeds that won't get you into trouble.
This car is the answer to pretty much all the complaints we throw at modern performance machinery, from hot hatches to supercars. And yet is written out of the argument by virtue of 'not having enough power', and costing a bit more than turbocharged hatchbacks with more impressive 0-62 times. Mainly from those who haven't driven it. Spotting a pattern here?
(Less) power to the people
You'll have guessed from this I'm something of a GT86 advocate, the more so having driven the facelifted 2017 version you see here.
Indeed, my heart lifts on the (disappointingly rare) occasions that I see an '86 or Subaru BRZ on the road. Choosing one of these cars is a deliberate statement, one that proves the owner gets it. It also means another in the stock of used examples from which I will one day buy one. This brings me cheer.
So what has Toyota done to this new GT86? Well it's not added a turbo or anything like that for starters. Nope. Engine, transmission and performance stats are all exactly the same as before. Some will see this as a crushing missed opportunity. I happen to view it as a rather amusing up yours to those who the project boss told me "don't get it".
Because to my mind the GT86 strips away the crap from modern cars and focuses on the important stuff. So it doesn't have a bunch of driver modes, damper settings or other distractions. What you get out of the car is merely as good as what you put in. So if you can't rev-match you'll get jerky gearshifts and rear-wheel lock-ups. If you're afraid of revs you'll miss out on the engine's real sweet spot. If you can't steer smoothly it'll feel over-sensitive and twitchy. If you secretly get scared carrying speed round corners and prefer a point and squirt driving style to demonstrate your masculinity it WILL feel slow. And if 200hp isn't enough to overtake slower traffic you're simply not reading the road or planning ahead.
In the zone
Thankfully everything about the GT86 is geared towards you doing all of the above properly. It's in the detail too. The boxer engine means a low centre of gravity and a low dash for great visibility. The pillars are thin and your ability to place the car accurately helped by the shape of the front wings. The driving position is spot-on, your legs stretched out, the wheel to your chest, the gearstick's relation to it perfectly judged and the pedals positioned and weighted for easy footwork.
In that wonderfully Japanese way Toyota proudly boasts of a steering wheel that's 3mm narrower in diameter and shaped to turn your arms inward for what it claims is a "sportier feel". Me neither but I like the fact it's small, round and the response to it is sharp, precise and uncorrupted by nose-heavy dynamics, driveshafts or anything else. OK, it's electrically assisted but the weight is well-judged to that of the car and tweaked suspension settings emphasise the enthusiasm to dive for the apex.
Details are frustratingly sparse but the gist would seem to be slightly softer damping, less friction in the struts, a slightly stiffer rear anti-roll bar and some additional body stiffening around the suspension mounting points, rear arches, body and transmission tunnel.
Which would tally with how enthusiastically it turns it. Even just rolling it into the turn with your wrists has it changing direction in an instant. Lift or trail the brakes a tad and it's already starting a subtle rotation which you can then hold in a lovely neutral balance or play with on the throttle, the instant and uncorrupted naturally-aspirated response from the throttle pedal such a breath of fresh air in this turbocharged age.
Point and shoot
Driven at pace on dry tarmac you can provoke enough oversteer with the weight transfer to then maintain the slide on the throttle if you wish, though such antics are probably best kept for the track. Indeed, the transition from neutrality to oversteer is so clearly communicated it makes everything else feel inert and desensitised. On the road you can just enjoy the same sensation with barely visible corrections, so clean is the feedback.
Toyota says the biggest change it's made to the car is in the electronics, specifically the ABS, traction and stability control based on what it's learned in its various GT86 motorsport programmes. You can progress through TC off to TC and VSC off (Toyota's branded stability control) via one button or choose the new Track mode, which puts both to a new 'minimised' background setting. All very nice, but the smoother intervention with everything in place on that wet roundabout on the way to work is more impressive. Because even motoring journalistss don't spend every journey on the lock-stops. The fact this is a 'soft limiter' rather than the rug-from-under-your-feet of before lets those new to rear-wheel drive enjoy the sensations without feeling they've had a ticking off by the black boxes.
For this and so many other reasons I think the GT86 - and similarly tweaked BRZ - are more important than ever. If you're fixated with mid-range torque, interior plastic squishiness and what the neighbours think, by all means stretch that bit further to get on the first rung of the front-wheel drive, turbocharged Audi TT ladder. Those who get it can - and should - enjoy a GT86 for all that it says about your priorities in life.
TOYOTA GT86 (MY17)
Engine: Exactly the same as before
Transmission: See above
Power (hp): And again
Torque (lb ft): Guess what...
0-62mph: Slower than a Fiesta ST
Top speed: Fast enough to get you banned
Weight: Still a bit disappointing, truth be told
MPG: Nothing to get excited about
CO2: Worse than a Prius
Price: A bit too much, if you believe what you read
A BMW M3 E30 has roughly the same power and weight and everyone gets very moist about it.
GT86? Not enough power/too heavy etc.
I will admit to not having driven one, but I "get it" 100%. Makes so much sense - but when did sense matter on PH?
a. It looks good
b: looks practical and usable daily
c. good value
d. a bit different.
e. power is not everything, I get more fun driving an Abarth 595 than I do an F type Jag..
In summary it's on my list to buy although I shall go secondhand and see what bargains are out there.
The lease deals are rubbish as well, for £380 per month you can get a lot more for your money from different manufacturers.
I don't get why people rave about how it's good on crap tyres, it's not really a selling point imo.
You can't hoon around corners, even if you aren't 'scared' (what ever that means..) especially when you drive on our crowded southern roads during rush hour, which, lets face it, is what most people have to do, and so you end up following someone dawdling along, and then you think "i'll just overtake them on the next straight" and blammo, their bl**dy TDi just scampers off into the distance whilst you wait for your asthmatic (and dull sounding) 4 pot N/A to wind itself up, meaning you can't actually easily overtake them.
This why they have only sold about 7 cars..............
(BTW, the boxer ENGINE may have a low CofG when referenced to its crankshaft centreline, but the CAR it ends up in does not, because that crank CL has to be much higher to get the necessary clearance for the exhaust system underneath! And the boxer layout is also why the engine is so lame (both in terms of BMEP and sounds) because it's not possible to leverage exhaust tuning from 4 cyls (because the heads are about 3 foot apart!))
I do like the GT86, and i wouldnt mind having one in the future, but the amount of (pretty capable) metal you can buy for the price...
Still does good skids though.
Dan
You can't hoon around corners, even if you aren't 'scared' (what ever that means..) especially when you drive on our crowded southern roads during rush hour, which, lets face it, is what most people have to do, and so you end up following someone dawdling along, and then you think "i'll just overtake them on the next straight" and blammo, their bl**dy TDi just scampers off into the distance whilst you wait for your asthmatic (and dull sounding) 4 pot N/A to wind itself up, meaning you can't actually easily overtake them.
This why they have only sold about 7 cars..............
(BTW, the boxer ENGINE may have a low CofG when referenced to its crankshaft centreline, but the CAR it ends up in does not, because that crank CL has to be much higher to get the necessary clearance for the exhaust system underneath! And the boxer layout is also why the engine is so lame (both in terms of BMEP and sounds) because it's not possible to leverage exhaust tuning from 4 cyls (because the heads are about 3 foot apart!))
That "playful back end" the reviews love, in real life to me it just felt skittish. Back end steps out under power over a crest, or an off-camber corner, or accidentally when exiting a roundabout, or even when pulling away from a junction a little too urgently. So you end up being delicate with it around corners because you don't want to be attacking a bend only to have a little dip in the tarmac send the back end out towards Mrs Lewis who's coming the other way in her Zafira. And yes, the alignment was correct and I tried the factory tyres AND some wider stickier ones.
You also can't overtake without a huge long straight, so you rarely get any clear road to enjoy, and when you do wind it out it feels wheezy and sounds crap.
I also hated the gearshift and clutch feel despite having everything checked and adjusted to suit.
Swing and a miss. Sold it at a loss and haven't looked back.
I live in the south, i drive mostly during rush hour. I commute 16 miles a day (each way) on B roads. Back in 2001 that trip took 16min, with just one 30mph limit through a small village. In 2017, that same commute now takes 45min, and has huge swathes of 30 and 40 mph limits, double white lines to prevent overtaking and hordes of dawdlers, paying no attention what-so-ever to their driving, doing 40 as a maximum.
If lived in Scotland, or Wales then yes, perhaps i'd enjoy driving a bit more, but today, where i live, driving is a chore.....
(which is why i have an EV and a pokey diesel........ ;-)
Why not open up the appeal by adding some fat tyres and a Turbo/SC? 300bhp and some sticky tyres and this would be a totally different proposition. No different to say other manufacturers offering a 2.3/V8 Mustang, 4cyl/V8 F-type, Focus ST/RS, Audi TTS/TTRS etc?
I had one for 6 weeks or so and would never buy one, if there was a factory standard car offering 300bhp for £30-32k or so, I'd certainly be willing to consider one though, especially if it was a bit more "lairy":-
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