34 replies to this topic

[ENGINR]

Bloody awesome vehicle platform for both companies to come out with. The Subaru version looks fantastic IMO.

[Evo-00x]

^^^ exactly. Thats a very realistic price!!! Smack on target too so well done to Toyota for holding up on their promise.
Thats well within budget and should become as popular as the Celica was.
Even their top of the range GTS coupe is still under $40k!!!
Subaru are going to have to prove more value for money if they had their eyes set on charging more for the BRZ.
Watch all the Silvia & 200SX owners sell up and make the upgrade now lol

[ozyvr4]

From what I have read about the 86 is that they used the boxer engine to lower the centre of gravity as the motor is not very high. The engine has also been to Yamaha for refining.
Looks great tho.

[leadfoot]

I've driven the Toyota version and all I can say is meh was no where near as fun as my coupe or even a slightly worked gsr

[DOUGMO]

I've driven the Toyota version and all I can say is meh was no where near as FAST as my coupe or even a slightly worked gsr

your doing it wrong

[D3bb4]

I wouldn't mind test driving one... Genesis has some good reviews though, so that'll be interesting.

[evo-gsr]

your doing it wrong

Agreed...I saw the Toyota being driven by Neal Bates at Wakefield on Saturday...he had the thing sideways all the way round...me and all of the spectators all agreed that it looked like a lot of fun!!

[leadfoot]

I will agree it could be quite a lot of fun the car has its positives. However when I drive the gts version it just did not have enough to make me want to go and slap down 2k to maybe see one early to mid next year and at 40k inc onroads I'd much rather a cj rally art the folks just bought a my12 cj hatch platinum edition and I must say I prefer that over the 86 and a good 15k cheaper as well I'm sorry but driving just the rear wheels isn't a good enough sales point for me.

Wall of text review follows photos and words are my own

ok as promised mighty modders i went and took a test drive in the new toyota ft 86. and here my impressions and photos of the car that has the community in a spin!.

so after a 2 week delay for my local dealer receiving their very own ft86 demonstrator i rock on up to Toyota to see if it had finally arrived and what do ya know there it sits. a typhoon orange ft86 wearing qld personalized plate new 86 real subtle Toyota.




my first impression after seeing the car in the flesh cool. its low slung lines remind me of the rx8 a car while unimpressive performance wise to me looks quite sexy and it's a similar sentiment here. the ft86 has tonnes of little quirks that you could spend hours going around and looking at. such as the fake cf weave that too me looks like the Stargate Atlantis Pegasus mission patch. the nobs and controls nestled and hidden all over the place the comfiest seats i have ever sat in. overall it's a car that you could own for a few months and notice something different every time you drove it.

some have commented on how the boot looks ugly well photos don't do it justice it's not very overstated and to me look like it was designed with mounting a gt wing on it (yes we all know those are ugly but on a track they can be quite purposeful). open up the boot and under the flimsy floor cover you'll find a full size spare no tiny little space saver (well done Toyota) even it it does intrude into the boot space as i said just those little quirks. the boot is quite large and would be quite capable of carrying some large spares.



under the hood you'll find a subaru boxer as we all knew with toyota d4s direct injection again noting we didn't already know. my first impressions are that one servicing of anything in the head area is going to be a prick. however oil filter and other essential fluids are easily accessible. another cool little design thought i notice was the battery is located in the far left rear of the engine bay which is good for weight distribution as its as close to in the passenger seat as you can get. forget about accessing anything easily from underneath because a mess of exhaust manifolds and aero are in your way. silver painted brake calipers (not red so only +20kw)



moving inside is where things you as the driver will spend most of your time for me have to be both functional and a little interesting and i can say the 86 succeeds the cluster is bold and easy to read at a glance and has to speedometers and analogue one that spends most of it's time pointed at Terra firma and a digital readout nestled just under the 9kmax rpm the tachometer reads to. the leather bucket seat are oh so comfy and as a smaller person of stature held me just tight enough to give me probably a little more confidence than i should have the advantage of this is every lateral g is transferred right back to you the driver a very good thing. the steering wheel to me felt awkward and wasn't something i liked holding onto the stitching on the wheel was right in the grip section and it felt a little to bulky with contours in the wrong places (im not a fan of aftermarket wheels shaped the same way either). the gear box felt super notchy as if it had a metal grate like a lambo hidden away something i could get used to but not something i enjoyed as someone who is used to something with a little more play it's also slung super low in the dash and the nob is almost level with the rest again not something i liked but could live with. and the there's the supposed 4 seater claim unless your friend is a double amputee from the knees down forget about loading up the back seats.

onto the drive the engine has a nice throaty note to it almost like something you expect to hear from a v8 and has none of the Subaru burble something i attribute to the equal length headers and mess of exhaust piping under the engine. being a n/a the power deliver is very linear and predictable and the only shove you back feeling i got was dealer induced (he dumped that clutch like a pro /sarcasm) the steering was weighty and was a good compromise between power assisted and straight rack and pinion which equated to a very pointy and precise response. while i could definitely feel the car 200hp on tap i didn't really get a chance to unleash it with the 60km speed limits of the place i got to drive another thing i noticed is your speeding before you realize thanks to the short range 6speed manual gearbox i got to man handle.

overall a nice car something i would own but not something I'd go out of my way as a must have automobile probably because i love my mitsi's way to much and because my cars a little power house as it is my dealer has already clocked up 200kms on this puppy and has about another 20 test drives lined up and they are sold out until early to mid next year. you get 4 choices gt auto/man gts auto/man color and aero package thats it. the aero rear wing to me look like it was ripped of an evo X

full gallery of photos
http://122.148.77.132/photos/86/

tl:dr GET BENT!

[Gianni]

My mate tested the Toyota. His in love with Toyota. He said he was very in impressed with the new Toyota. Said it handled better than anything else he has ever driven. But had absolutely no power

[Evo-00x]

Nice feedback. I cant get over the the boot floor. That moulded raised section for the spare wheel is a total waste of practical boot space.
What were they thinking? [rolls eyes]. Common sense gone right out the window there.

[leadfoot]

under that raise section is a full size spare mounted upside down. so as stupid as that bit is is server the purpose it's meant for

[EVL20T]

BRZ -

Genesis -

[D3bb4]

i'm sort of wanting a genesis now... for a runabout anyways...

[Evo-00x]

The Genesis engine sort of sounds like a diesel at 8 mins. He did mention it runs on premium unleaded, but those tappets sound noisy? probably just the video.

[D3bb4]

better if he'd actually driven the freaking thing... looks promising. Good to test drive at least