Wednesday 13th February 2019

Toyota reveals GT86 British Racing Green Limited

This vintage-spec '86 proves Japan still loves classic Brit metal

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They say Japan is the country that made the best British sports car, so maybe it’s fair that it feels like it can freely emulate the vintage styling of something made in Blighty, too. The nation's Anglophile bent is in evidence again with the Toyota GT86 British Racing Green Limited - a model cruelly limited to domestic market buyers only.

Note the combination of British Racing Green paintwork and tan leather interior inside. And the lack of infotainment screen in the dash. It’s all an effort to mimic something from the good ol’ days. The lightweight gold wheels might not be so clearly associated with classic Brit tat, but they do look good, don’t they?

Behind them are a set of larger than usual Brembo brakes - normally an optional extra for the ’86 - and there are also Sachs dampers on this special edition, which you’d normally have to fork out more for, too. The rest of the setup is all standard, which is to say it includes a 2.0-litre boxer that drives through a six-speed gearbox (or optional auto) with up to 200hp and 151lb ft of torque. Not potent, but better out the box than, say, an MG B. And jolly good fun.

This being Japan, domestic models are seriously cheap, so even this special edition variant starts at lower than the entire range here. You’ll need 3.25 million yen for one, which equates to about £22,770 in the Queen’s notes. Jealous? Us too.

[JMF894]

Hmm not sure about that colour tbh

[TaylotS2K]

I've never been a fan of British racing green on modern cars.

[Zoon]

Foul. Not sure this was a massive sales success in a decent colour.

[chickensoup]

in honour of Lotus - a limited edition paint job, nothing more british

[TommoAE86]

I like it different colours are always welcome, went on Toyota.jp yesterday and had a play in the configurators and out of all of them I'd love to have the latest Crown and a GT86, though I'd want a Chaser and an AE86 more

[Honeywell]

Very nice. They are quite colour sensitive these and reward a bright metallic paint. Why is 200 horsepower in a 1200kg not potent?

A BMW E30 M3 has 197hp and weighed damn near the same and had one less gear.

Edited by Honeywell on Wednesday 13th February 10:58

[vz-r_dave]

Zoon said:

Foul. Not sure this was a massive sales success in a decent colour.

PistonHeads where car sales matter........

[mrbarnett]

I like it, though that blanked off infotainment screen looks awful. They should have popped some classic analogue dials in there for oil pressure and voltage.

[Ahbefive]

I like it but would want a stereo still (and another 50bhp).

[Robmarriott]

Honeywell said:

Very nice. They are quite colour sensitive these and reward a bright metallic paint. Why is 200 horsepower in a 1200kg not potent?

A BMW E30 M3 has 197hp and weighed damn near the same and had one less gear.

Edited by Honeywell on Wednesday 13th February 10:58

Atrocious power delivery is the problem. If you look at the dyno graphs of standard cars all over the internet, there's a dip in power at 3500 rpm.

The figures don't tell the whole story, if you keep it at 5000rpm or more all the time it's fine, not what you'd call slow, but you simply cannot drive them like that all the time.

They really don't need more power, just more mid range.

[source: owned (and sold because I couldn't live with) one]

[s m]

Honeywell said:

Very nice. They are quite colour sensitive these and reward a bright metallic paint. Why is 200 horsepower in a 1200kg not potent?

Edited by Honeywell on Wednesday 13th February 10:58

I have a car with the same power that weighs 2 blokes more and it is quicker
I can only say it doesn’t ‘feel’ like 200bhp.....maybe down to power delivery.
Steers well though for a modern car

[Zoon]

vz-r_dave said:

Zoon said:

Foul. Not sure this was a massive sales success in a decent colour.

PistonHeads where car sales matter........

It sold poorly for a reason, which I think has been covered above.

Polishing a turd springs to mind.

[alorotom]

Wow; mega colour dependant aren’t they!

Do JDM models seriously not come with an infotainment unit as standard??!

[550M]

£22770 in Japan. Add on the 10% import duty on Japanes cars. Plus the VAT on the duty. Plus the £1295 for the first years tax, and hey presto you get to £26797.40. A new BRZ is £27025 OTR (£260 Cheaper than the Toyota). Ergo, it only costs £227.60 to ship one half way around the world!!! You can't cross the channel this weekend for that...

It is still a cheap car over here, we just get stiffed by European legislation....

Edited by 550M on Wednesday 13th February 12:23

[Car-Matt]

Honeywell said:

V
A BMW E30 M3 has 197hp and weighed damn near the same and had one less gear.

Edited by Honeywell on Wednesday 13th February 10:58

And does the same laptime round donnington park as an ST150 Mk6 Fiesta......... Not a fast car sorry

[AmosMoses]

i think this is awesome!

[counterofbeans]

Honeywell said:

Very nice. They are quite colour sensitive these and reward a bright metallic paint. Why is 200 horsepower in a 1200kg not potent?

A BMW E30 M3 has 197hp and weighed damn near the same and had one less gear.

Edited by Honeywell on Wednesday 13th February 10:58

That was 30 years ago.

[LordGrover]

Not my idea of BRG.

[Mr-B]

That blanking plate in the middle of the dash is VERY 70's retro, makes it look like the owner cheaped out on the options and didn't go for the radio cassette player.

[vz-r_dave]

Zoon said:

vz-r_dave said:

Zoon said:

Foul. Not sure this was a massive sales success in a decent colour.

PistonHeads where car sales matter........

It sold poorly for a reason, which I think has been covered above.

Polishing a turd springs to mind.

How original.......