Not content with thrashing about in the McLaren P1, Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar kept in touch with the common man by thrashing about in an Alfa Romeo 4C on the track with two of its natural rivals, the Porsche Cayman and Toyota 86.
It turns out you may not have your pre-conceived ideas altered, but we expect you’ll still enjoy the journey to having your thoughts confirmed.
Toyota has produced this slick video showing its 86 sportscar come to life. It’s been online for a bit over a month and deserves more views than it currently has, so we’re doing our bit to help out the little Toybaru.
Word is Toyota has shelved plans to put the FT-86 Open Concept into production. Officially, Toyota hasn’t put a comment on record, but reports suggest we won’t be seeing a chopped 86 anytime soon.
Supposedly Toyota’s product plans for 2014 and 2015 have no slot for the topless Toybaru. Although due to the fact engineering work on the production model had progressed since the concept was first shown in March it shouldn’t take too much for Toyota to get things back on track if they decide officially wreck the back to basics sports car.
[Source: What Car]
Chances are you may have already seen the topless Toyota 86, but if not here it is. At this stage the 86 convertible is being referred to as a concept model, but production prototypes are undergoing testing as we speak. Apart from that Toyota hasn’t really said much else about its chopped 86 other than it has a pretty white interior to match its white paint scheme.
Overall, if you’re a fan of convertibles, we reckon you’ll probably like this FT-86 Open Concept, it looks quite smart. As is often the case though, there may be a reason we’ve not been presented with any photos of the electrically controlled roof in the closed position.
We knew it was coming, but this is one of the first images we’ve seen showing the topless Toyota 86. And given we saw the pic posted to the Toyota UK blog we reckon that’s a pretty good unofficial endorsement that this car will be on display at the Geneva Motor Show next month.
It’s probably also safe to expect the 86’s Toybaru twin the Subaru BRZ will also drop its top when the time is right.
[Source: carmag.co.za via Toyota Blog]
The Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 twins have been awarded the Wheels Car of the Year award. It joins a host of other awards collected by the Toybaru, including the Carsguide top honour.
Wheels editor Stephen Corby acknowledged the success of the Subaru–Toyota partnership, “Seldom do joint projects produce something remarkable like this.â€
The magazine went on to describe some of the key attributes for the winning pair: “Never before has pure driving pleasure been so accessible. Affordable, remarkably rewarding to drive, efficient and safe, the collaboration between Toyota and Subaru left the competition behind and drove—with just a dab of oppo—onto the Wheels COTY podium.â€
We expect the Toybaru will claim plenty of awards from the world’s motoring press. Indeed, we reckon you can already lock in an 86/BRZ shared award for Australia’s most prestigious gong, the Wheels Car of the Year. For now though, the Toyota 86 has just been judged as Britain’s Best Driver’s Car by the influential Autocar magazine:
Instead of being too fast for the roads on which it finds itself, its lowered limits mean that they can be approached at sensible speeds. Instead of tearing through consumables, it is the only car here for whose tyres we didn’t fear, even though it spent the most time sideways. The GT86 has altered the sports car genre. It is the performance car made relevant again; it is the new supercar. And, as such, it is arguably the worthiest winner Britain’s Best Driver’s Car has had.
[Source: Autocar]
Chris Harris is back this week to entertain us with the it car of the moment, the Toyota 86. He’s taken a bit of an armchair critic’s position, in that he’s attempting to answer some of the questions asked by motoring forums the world over.
Questions like, is the Toyota too under powered, or why don’t you spend a bit more and get a 370Z, or even a used Cayman S?
It’s worth noting that, for once, we Australians are not the butt of a pricing joke. In relative terms, it’s an extra AU$5–7K to pick up a new 86 in the UK. Although, that’s offset by the fact you can buy a decent used Cayman S for under AU$25K.
To be expected, Harris is in his element here and we think he sums up the Toybaru quite well when he states: “we need to get back to a stage where we’re enjoying performance because of its nature, not because of its quantity.”
Nino Karotta, you may not know the name, but after watching his review of the Toyota 86 we reckon you’ll remember it. Actually, we got a glimpse of Karotta’s talents last year when he reviewed the new BMW M5.
This time the review is in English, and for a guy who does not have English as his native tongue, Karotta has a wonderful ability to describe what’s happening behind the wheel.
Then there’s the review itself. It has all the ingredients you could want, starting in Spain and taking in a highly desirable trans-European route on some of the continent’s most scenic and inspiring roads, before finally arriving Nino’s home in Hungary. At which point we are treated to some very tasty track action. There’s a great soundtrack throughout as well, which has been just as expertly edited as the pictures.
We’re not going to call this the best car review we’ve ever seen, but we can’t imagine you’ll watch a finer review of the Toybaru than this. Enjoy!
[Thanks to Phil for the tip]
We’re not quite sure if you can make it out, but on the back of that Toyota 86 GTS, if you look very closely, is a rear wing. It’s part of a new factory aero package offered by Toyota dealers, available from today, the official sales launch of the 86 in Australia.
Toyota is asking $3000 for the kit, which also includes a revised front spoiler and side skirts. It’s fancy, too, using words like “dual canards” and “airflow evacuation”. For some reason these add-ons can only be fitted to the high-spec GTS model.
Despite the addition of that, let’s face it, MASSIVE REAR WING, Toyota claim the full aero package reduces drag and increases downforce. Well it would want to do the latter, that’s for sure.
We’re sure there’ll be a lot of 86 fans who think this aero package is the business. But we’re not really sure what else to say.
Here’s a fun video showing the Toyota 86 being driven around a very wet Marulan Driver Training Centre. Supposedly the two cars are being driven by rally aces Rick and Neal Bates.
From inside the cabin, the 86 sounds half decent too.
Rounding out our launch coverage of the Toyota 86, we bring you a healthy selection of press images. We start with the images you saw yesterday, but add to them, most notably with the higher-spec GTS model. For some reason Toyota has gone light on with pics of the entry-level 86 GT.
After the break you can get your hands on over 40 pics of the Toybaru 86; simply click on the photos to open in 2000px super image sizing.