Toyota 86 2013 News

Toyota Australia has issued a recall notice for nearly almost 15,000 of 17,000 locally delivered 86 two-door coupes to remedy a potential fault that could affect the car's steering.

Flares have never gone out of fashion in Japan and the annual Tokyo Auto Salon shows why.

Toyota has confirmed that a new low-cost single-make race series based on the successful 86 coupe will join the V8 Supercar calendar in 2016.The announcement, made today at the V8 Supercar's Clipsal 500 series opener in Adelaide, confirms plans first revealed during the Festival of 86 held in Sydney last November.It will be a pro-am involving up to five professional drivers with the balance of the field being amateur driversIn launching the new series, Toyota Australia's executive director of sales and marketing, Tony Cramb, said the series will help develop motorsport talent in Australia with professional drivers acting as mentors to up-and-coming amateurs."It will be a pro-am involving up to five professional drivers with the balance of the field being amateur drivers," he said."This mentoring will extend beyond honing driving skills – it will also focus on teaching them about the business of motorsport because we all know that the hardest part of driving is actually outside the car."Chief engineer of the Toyota 86, Tetsuya Tada has been named patron of the new series. Tada-san said the success of the 86 was due in part to the enthusiasm from Australian owners.Australia will be the fourth country (after Japan, Germany and New Zealand) to host a series of production-based 86 racers, with Tada-san saying he'd like to see the series grow to match the upcoming Mazda Global MX-5 Cup."My dream is that one day we can have a World 86 Challenge with the best drivers from Japan, Europe and other markets – and the champion Toyota 86 driver from Australia," he said.With the series aimed at developing grassroots talent, keeping costs low will be a key priority."Our vision is that a full year's competition, including the car, package, transport and entry fees, will come in under $100,000 in the first year," Tony Camb said.This would make the 86 Pro-Am series $70,000 cheaper than the upcoming Formula 4 open-wheel series, which is also aimed at up-and-coming racers.The Toyota 86 is such a competent carAustralian rally and racing legend Neal Bates developed race-spec Toyota 86 for the new series, and says the design of the car makes it easy to adapt for racing while keeping costs down."The Toyota 86 is such a competent car that it has just been a matter of building race-durable components into it without interfering with its character," he said."The aim is to engineer a car that is pretty much bullet-proof in racing conditions while making it a satisfying and rewarding experience for its driver."Minimal changes have been made to the GT spec Toyota 86 for racing, which retains its 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer engine.Bates and his team have added new extractors and exhaust systems; four-pot and two-pot rear brakes; adjustable coil covers for the suspension; and a programmable engine control unit to make the cars race ready.The ECU provides increased performance for the race-spec 86 over its roadgoing counterpart.Wheel and tyre specifications are yet to be confirmed, but the series will run on controlled rubber.The Toyota 86 Pro-Am series will run at selected rounds of the 2016 V8 Supercar series.Watch Tetsuya Tada talk about the Toyota 86 Pro-Am series here. 

Toyota global boss Akio Toyoda drives prototype 86 rally car as part of Australian visit.

Watch this Toyota 86 careen into a wall in the hands of an unskilled driver. The Toyota 86's tail-happy chassis earned it an instant cult following when it appeared in 2012, but this video proves that even the masterful development work of Tetsuya Tada won't overcome old fashioned over-confidence.  Even though he was smart enough to test the 86's limits on a racetrack, that Armco fencing sure ain't soft. 

Fans of the long-gone and much-mourned Toyota Supra -- and those hoping to see a successor after its 11-year absence -- can perhaps take heart in news today that Toyota and BMW have confirmed a deal to jointly produce a new sports car platform.BMW development chief Herbert Diess told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper the architecture would spawn two new cars. "We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car," Diess said, however declining to reveal more details about the platform.Toyota has previously partnered with Subaru to produce the wildly successful Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ, but while they are near-clones, it seems the Toyota/BMW collaboration will focus on ensuring the two resultant cars are strongly differentiated. "What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands," Diess said.Watch our video review of the tweaked Toyota 86The announcement is not unexpected, following the two brands making an agreement in mid-2012 to collaborate on a range of technology -- including weight-saving strategies and  lithium-air batteries -- and also consider the potential for a medium-sized sports car platform.Toyota is tipped to be unveiling a sports concept that could point to a Supra successor at the Detroit motor show in a couple of weeks, so it's possible that a production vehicle seeded from the show car could include the BMW collaboration. However the Toyota end of the joint development could also end up wearing a Lexus badge.And Toyota is not the only Japanese carmaker partnering with a European brand for a sports car. As we've reported previously, Mazda is collaborating with Italy's Alfa Romeo on a platform that will be the basis for both the next Mazda MX-5 and Alfa Spider.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Toyota’s 86 has already proven its mettle as a circuit racer and a drift challenger, and now Toyota’s German motorsport partner TMG has announced plans to build a rally version of the hugely popular sports coupe. TMG have already developed the European-spec GT86 CS-V3 endurance racer for the German VLN series and Nurburgring 24 Hour events, and will adapt the tarmac racer to suit the FIA’s new RC3 rally category. RC3 is based around two-wheel drive production cars with naturally aspirated engines between 1.6 and 2.0-litres, with a minimum weight of 1080kg, and TMG will add a rally-spec rollcage, sequential six-speed transmission, and brake, suspension and differential upgrades. TMG expects the new GT86 CS-R3 gravel racer to be ready for customer deliveries by the start of the 2015 European motorsport season, with final spec and pricing to be announced in the coming months.   This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn  

Toyota is showcasing its vision of the future with five new concept cars and an updated 86 convertible concept at the Tokyo Motor Show.Leading the charge is Toyota's FV2 – apparently 'fun to drive' -- concept, which is a showcase of technology focusing on creating an intuitive connection with the driver. Inspired by the relationship between riders and their horses, the futuristic three-wheeler pod car uses face and voice recognition to detect the driver's mood and learn their driving style.It is fully customisable and boasts an augmented reality screen but has no steering wheel or pedals. Instead, the driver leans from side to side to steer, and backwards and forwards to accelerate and brake –  making for a similar experience to a Segway.A second concept, the sleek FCV gives an insight into a possible future form for fuel cell technology – in which air and water is transformed into electricity to power the car's motor, instead of it relying on stored energy in batteries.The FCV design is inspired by the transformation of elements in the fuel cell technology, and Toyota hopes to bring a similar vehicle to market by 2015. The carmaker says the concept can drive for up to 500kms before the tanks need to be re-filled, but unlike batteries, the refill process takes about three minutes.The Aqua G concept is a very sharp looking Prius C tuned by GAZOO racing. The hybrid electric drive remains, but sports suspension, 17 inch alloys, a unique body kit and interior modifications turn the mild Prius into a sporty prospect.For those visiting Japan in the future, Toyota has a new concept van that previews a replacement for Japanese taxis. Unimaginatively christened the JPN Taxi, it shares with most Australian taxis the fact that it runs on LPG. However unlike most of our taxis the JPN taxi focuses on a well appointed interior, with an information screen for customers, electric sliding doors, and practical interior ideas to enhance passenger comfort.For the second time this year, Toyota has also taken the roof off the 86, with a soft top concept. It looks to be a slightly more production ready version of the concept shown earlier at Frankfurt, but Toyota says the FT-86 Open is a design study only. This revives debate about when – or whether -- a production soft top 86 will happen, with Toyota recently announcing it was shelving development for the time being.But the working soft top and production ready interior in the FT-86 Open concept headed for Tokyo show that the car won't need much more development to hit the showroom floor.With a next generation MX-5 under way -- and keen to re-claim its dominance in the sports car segment, after the 86 stole its crown as the affordable sports must-have --  Toyota may just be waiting for the right timing to go topless with the 86 and keep up the pressure on Mazda.Closing off Toyota's Tokyo Motor Show concept car line up are the Voxy and Noah people mover concepts. Based on a common platform, the two vans are full of clever packaging solutions that maximise interior space. They will have a petrol and hybrid drivetrain when they reach production, but are unlikely to ever be on sale at Australian showrooms.

Motor shows and carmakers routinely announce global debuts ahead of time, but we're a bit doubtful about the claim on a Dubai event's Facebook page that we'll see the Toyota 86 sedan there in a couple of days."Toyota UAE sets to impress the UAE market with new Sedan! The all new "wave design" Toyota stand will witness the regional unveil of Sedan FT 86 at the Motor Show…Don’t miss it," the Facebook post says.So what's making us think this is a dubious announcement? The image they're using of a Toyota 86 sedan is a photoshopped one that Carsguide posted back in 2010, when the car was first rumoured and was still known as the FT-86.That was a rendering based on the then still-concept FT-86 Coupe, and it seems unlikely that Toyota would use that as a teaser for their new sedan -- if indeed it exists at this stage.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

We're still waiting to hear whether there'll be a convertible version of the giant-killing Toyota 86 rear-wheel drive sports coupe, but we're hearing more every week about a sedan variant -- which is music to the ears of those who lust after the 2+2 86 but have pressing family obligations that make it impractical.Following reports a couple of weeks ago that Toyota was considering a four-door, come further ones overnight suggesting it has been given the green light for production.Citing insider sources, UK's Auto Express says the sedan will be built on the 86 platform, but with a 10cm extension of the wheelbase and feature 'keen look' grille styling that draws on the design of samurai swords.The sedan will be powered by the 86's 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre Subaru-sourced boxer engine and likely be available with the same transmission choices of a six-speed manual or six-speed sports automatic. However there will also be a hybrid version, developing between 185-200kW and offering 10-15 per cent improvement on fuel economy over the petrol version.As previously reported, the hybrid could draw on a detuned version of the petrol engine plus electic motor system from the Yaris Hybrid-R Concept, and capture and store brake energy with a Formula One style kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) for short spurts of extra power.It's suggested the Toyota 86 sedan will be launched around the end of 2015, with prices starting in the equivalent of $35,000 overseas. With Toyota's focus on keeping the 86 affordable here -- despite its hero desirability -- that could suggest a similar starting point in the Australian market.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott