Toyota GT 86

[MartynVRS]

And that's exactly what appeals to me. I've driven RWD but not properly and I've said for ages it's something I need to do. Saw a lot of it at Goodwood but I'll go down for a proper look again when I get a chance. Really want a go

[Ootohere]

Plenty used GT86's available now & the Asking Prices are dropping nicely, so there might well be bargains to be had in the new year.

Seems to be no problem of demand outstripping supply.

george

[Felicia racer]

I recently was new car shopping, drove a corsa vxr, clio 200, polo gti, gt86, Fabia vRS.

Well I bought the vRS, I drove the gt86 and vRS back to back, on the same long test route.

VRS was more fun, and faster

The gt86 was nice, has a lovely interior, I was going to buy one but at that price, no thanks, the salesman tried his hardest bless him lol.

I am just going to wait for the supercharged version

For such a big car, it was so small inside, amputees could fit in the back and that's it, I sat with a passenger in the back and my knees and shins touched the dashboard on the passenger side. In the driving seat in my driving position it touched the back seat.

The noise pipe I actually liked, although it makes no noise in 6th gear. Interestingly they must have fitted a valve in it.

Not a torquey engine at all, as for Prius tyres... Shocking.

Plus it's a bit shouty, I think it would get keyed if I parked it where I leave the vRS all day.

Edited 16 November, 2012 by Felicia racer

[TriggerFish]

I've not driven one (doubt any dealership would let me!), but on paper they sound ideal to me.

I had an RX-8 before and my biggest gripe (besides the MPG!) was it wasn't fun. It was too capable. On the roads I drove it on well enough to push hard you never got anywhere near the limits with any degree of safety. You could make cracking progress and there was feel and everything, but you were never pushing the car, it always had enough grip. The lack of torque made it a lot harder to spin up the rears too on exits compared to the 330d where I can get the TCS light on in 4th in the dry. My less grippy Polo is (well, was, it's lunched itself now!) massively more fun for that reason - it needs work to keep it on the road and would move around a lot more.

Anyway, the GT86/BRZ sound ideal to me as they seem to remove that over-reliance on grip and seem to hark back to proper driving, not just steering and braking.

It's on my shortlist to consider once I get a job after graduating if I'm working close enough too.

Edited 16 November, 2012 by TriggerFish

[Matt Bodycombe]

@sk4gw: are they ex demos or are people getting bored with them already?

ADDENDUM: I have just had a quick look on the net and the few used versions I have seen at dealers are up at list or in some cases over list :/

Edited 17 November, 2012 by Matt Bodycombe

[Ootohere]

Matt, i would imagine the ones a are now on offer with low mileages & almost new for 'asking prices' around £23,000 are Demo cars.

Waiting to read anything yet from actual owner drivers of them and how they are liking them.

I might yet have one when the price is right, but that might be a while or it could be sooner.

Time will tell on them being a hit or not.

Lets see how low the price to buy them is at 12 months old or so..

I am just waiting on a BRZ Auto owner to get back in the country & let me borrow his, he is not all that happy with it,

but really it probably was a car he just ordered on a whim as he has quite a collection.

george

EDIT, PS

Matt, are they 'making list or just over', or is that the 'Asking Price' that is showing.?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk

Just here are a few low 'asking prices',

not yet actually tried to see what offer of cash money would be accepted.

[Matt Bodycombe]

George sorry that is what they are up at in the dealers. Interesting that you want to drive the BRZ again, I got the impression you were not that keen on it. Certainly the lack of low down poke would probably irritate you stepping out of a Mark 2 VRS.Funnily enough I test drove a mark 2 Fab VRS just before the Toyota. I was impressed with the Skoda's powertrain but did not like the handling and with the Toyota the engine left me underwhelmed but loved the road manners of the Toyota. I imagine that any rich car collector with a garage full of stuff would be bored with the car already. I hear that the only difference between the Toyota and the Subaru are suspension settings.

However if these are making maybe £12K -£15k and my circumstances are better (don't ask) I might pursuade my bank manager to put me on the never never

Edited 17 November, 2012 by Matt Bodycombe

[Ootohere]

I didnt drive a BRZ, i wanted one since they were first announced, i went south and drove a GT86.

Now the cheapest ones are for sale only a little distance from me.

There are also now BRZ autos at Dealers near to me,

but the nearest dealer has a customer that wants to try a vRS, so that suits me to get a go in his car.,

Looking forward to see if i notice any difference.

I am getting to drive it on roads i know very well,

& its not to be a daily driver for me.

I drive a 1.1 Picanto auto as a daily driver,

all of 68 bhp & it is all fun & all the poke you need for some types of road..

My Jimny is rear wheel drive as well & automatic & 100bhp or so..

Suspension settings and steering are rather important as to having a fun car, and metallic blue.

& i certainly did not consider the GT86 as being enough fun per £££'s compared to many others.

You can pick up a rear wheel drive Sierra for £500 & hange the rear end out, or not as you wish..

As long as we do not have snow before the end of the month, i should be able to get a chance to see how the Subaru feels.

(I never said he was rich, only that he had a collection of cars! Not every collector keeps everything or can afford to.)

george

Blue cars always feel faster anyway when they are rear wheel drive.

[Jockdooshbag]

I think the 86 or brz would be fun when the mood takes you however 99% of the time its the daily commute that is the order of the day so the mood in question is probably a bad one. As a second car i think it would be fun howver more power and more noise would be my preference. I dare say these cars would be quite tiresome on the normal car journeys we make from day to day as the lack of torque is just a pain. Lack of torque is less of an issue when ragging it at the top end of the rev range but i dont want to be redlining it on the way to Asda for more nappies.

[clamberer]

When you all say it's a bit limp torque-wise at lower revs, what is that compared to?
 

When you are giving it around 50% throttle at normal day to day revs, how does it feel compared to a more mundane 2 litre NA car (i.e. 130-150bhp)? the same? much better?

Just curious as to how it compares to other NA engines of the same size (or larger and of the same power), rather than the more common producer of 200-ish bhp (for the last however many years), the two litre turbo petrol.

[dobbey]

I give you http://www.fensport.co.uk/Parts/Model_108/Category_1/4463

No suprise its out of stock.

Video here

[Matt Bodycombe]

When you all say it's a bit limp torque-wise at lower revs, what is that compared to?

 

When you are giving it around 50% throttle at normal day to day revs, how does it feel compared to a more mundane 2 litre NA car (i.e. 130-150bhp)? the same? much better?

Just curious as to how it compares to other NA engines of the same size (or larger and of the same power), rather than the more common producer of 200-ish bhp (for the last however many years), the two litre turbo petrol.

 

When you all say it's a bit limp torque-wise at lower revs, what is that compared to?

 

When you are giving it around 50% throttle at normal day to day revs, how does it feel compared to a more mundane 2 litre NA car (i.e. 130-150bhp)? the same? much better?

Just curious as to how it compares to other NA engines of the same size (or larger and of the same power), rather than the more common producer of 200-ish bhp (for the last however many years), the two litre turbo petrol.

Hi Clamberer sorry to take so long to respond. I found it felt like a normal 2 litre atmo car at around 50% throttle. It is not slow but there is not much low down torque and it only really felt rapid to me once there was 5000 rpm on the tach but there again I am used to a turbo diesel :/

[vindaloo]

Another tuning option - from Litchfield this time: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/276025/subaru_brz_review_price_and_specs.html

 

J.

[BossFox]

Litchfield have been working on it for a while.

Some nice add ons and they say putting decent tyres on makes the car quite capable too as you modify as it's stock tyres are designed to move around.

[Dark_Hero]

Ooh that sounds interesting

[Matt Bodycombe]

I'm not bothered about the tuning stuff tbh. I like the purity of the stock car. Plus if you start paying big money for tuning stuff you are suddenly in a different league with stronger competition. The original stock GT86 is quick enough if you don't mind giving the flat 4 a few revs and is a great way for those brought up on fwd to learn car control safely. It is kind of like the MX5 in that respect. I think is is a few grand overpriced though. If this car sold for £20k it would fly off the shelves like the RX8 did. That car sold despite its complicated engine because it was excellent value for money.

As to second hand values they appear to be strong. I am not a rich man so I will have to wait. Having said that, as i have said elsewhere i have always fancied an S2000....

[Ootohere]