Toyota 86 News

The interior of the eagerly awaited next-gen Honda Prelude has been revealed thanks to a Japanese YouTuber who has given us a glimpse into the cabin.When the Prelude concept made its debut in 2023 at the Tokyo mobility show it had blacked-out windows so the interior remained a mystery. It’s also highly unlikely it even had a finished interior at that point.Now thanks to Japanese YouTuber Unadon we’ve been given a guided tour inside the two-door 2+2 seater sports car and it's not quite as groundbreaking as we hoped.If anything the cabin, dashboard, controls and instruments are much the same as the cockpit in the current Honda Civic.Sure the new Prelude’s cabin is sporty and the two-tone sports seats with embossed Prelude headrests look modern and luxurious, but the climate control dials, honeycomb mesh air vents and steering wheel will all be familiar to anybody who has bought a Honda in the past few years.The rear seat is more or less a hard grey-coloured featureless bench without any form of obvious lateral support or even moulding for rear passengers.It’s unlikely the back seats will ever house the two people they’re designed to accommodate given the lack of space back there with the heavily sloped roofline and limited legroom. Unadon discovered how cramped it is when we ventured back there. There are also two ISOFIX points if child seats need to be installed.Unadon also gives us a look at the boot under the Prelude's liftback tailgate, revealing a small but deep area behind the rear seats that appears to be about 200 litres in capacity. He also folds the rear seats down to open up even more load carrying space.The Prelude, which is expected to make its European launch by the middle of 2025, will be hybrid only and use a petrol-electric system similar to the unit in the Civic. A manual transmission won't be available either.It's still not been confirmed for Australia, but our fingers are crossed.

Toyota has dropped another breadcrumb for us to follow on the path to a rumoured sports car onslaught.Rumours and speculation started to appear a few years ago about the revival of classic performance cars such as the Celica and MR2.Now an official Toyota Anime series, Grip, has hinted at the next-generation icons.Hidden on a whiteboard in the back of the frame were a range of cars: Supra Mk6, Celica Mk 8, MR2 Mk4, GR86 Mk3 and GR GT3.The GT3 car has been shown in concept form and the road going version was spied testing at the Nurburgring recently in the form of the Lexus LF-R and next-gen 86 and Supra are likely to follow.Japanese outlets such as Best Car, which is known for well placed sources in Toyota, has been reporting on the next-gen GR86 and the rebirth of the Celica and MR2 for some time.At the 2023 Tokyo motor show Toyota showed the FT-Se concept that screamed an electric MR2. It is expected to reach production in 2027 using Toyota's next-gen 'square cell' performance batteries.The company is also working on solid state batteries that are lighter, smaller, more energy dense, faster charging and less prone to fire than current cells and has earmarked 2028 for the first application to a production car.The Celica and GR86 could be hybrid-powered, though.Earlier this year it also revealed it was hard at work developing new engines that work better with hybrid power.A 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre turbocharged engine are under development.Best Car has repeatedly reported the mooted next-gen Celica would use a turbocharged 2.0-litre unit paired with hybrid power to deliver an astounding 300kW.The GR86 has previously been linked to hybrid power with the 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo engine found in the Yaris GR. The recent engine developments could mean it’ll house a 1.5-litre engine and hybrid set-up under its bonnet, though.It has been previously speculated to be able to produce 220kW, which is a massive jump over the current version’s 152kW.Toyota isn’t alone, though, there is a groundswell of support for small, fun sports cars out of Japan.Mazda is believed to be turning its head-turning Iconic SP concept into a reality with a rotary-hybrid range extender at it heart.Honda is likely to bring back the swoopy Prelude as hybrid answer to its Japanese rivals.

Is the small sports car the latest victim of the cost-of-living crisis?

It’s been a little more than a decade since the Toyota 86 landed in Australia to herald a return to ‘fun’ cars for the brand, and things have only escalated since then.

Nissan has a chance to claim the title of Australia's best-selling sports car in 2023 as its key rivals for its new Z play catch up.

Toyota Australia has confirmed local specification for its hotly-anticipated second-generation entry-level sportscar - now christened GR86.Two variants will be up for grabs like before - the base GT and equipment-rich GTS - though Toyota is still keeping

On arrival in 2012, Toyota's 86 brought traditional sports car performance to the masses, with a sleek '2+2' coupe design, a rear-wheel drive layout, and an affordable price.

Australians used to be spoiled for choice.

If you’re a long-suffering fan of Japanese performance vehicles, you’re probably used to extraordinarily elongated product lifecycles and extended periods where it seems the Land Of The Rising Sun has simply forgotten about sporty vehicles altogether.

Each year, car brands promise us exciting new metal that has the potential the change the game, but seldom do they actually deliver the goods.In 2022 however, there are some genuine mould breakers coming from some of the biggest names in the industry that