Toyota 86 News

Toyota hosts the second Festival of 86 gathering for fans of Australia’s favourite sports car.Sydney’s Inner West throbbed to the tune of 2.0-litre boxer engines at the weekend, with hundreds of Toyota 86 owners converging for the second running of Toyota’s Festival of 86. Moving to Sydney’s new White Bay Cruise Terminal after last year’s event tested the capacity of Toyota’s NSW headquarters, the 2014 gathering once again encouraged owners from around the nation to gather in celebration of Toyota’s instant cult classic.Australia remains the third-largest market for the 86 behind Japan and the US, and on a per-capita basis, it’s fair to say we love the low-cost rear-driver more than anyone else. Proving his ongoing passion for his creation, 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada once again flew from Japan to attend. Helping to justify his trip was a hero’s welcome from the 86 devotees, queuing in their hundreds to meet the Waku Doki master.   Speaking with CarsGuide, Tada-san expressed his delight with Australia’s embrace of the 86. “When I started the 86 project, it was my dream that owners would have such passion for the car,” he said. Among the 400-plus vehicles in attendance, there was a cross-section of standard and modified examples, with a few of the 86’s Subaru BRZ twin and the 86-inspiring Corolla AE86 from the 1980s thrown in for good measure. When I started the 86 project, it was my dream that owners would have such passion for the carAsked what he thought of the many owners who’d dared to modify his pride and joy, Tada-san was surprisingly supportive. “Most manufacturers are against aftermarket modifications. I am happy that 86 owners can grow with their car as their driving improves,” he added. Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing boss Tony Cramb also used the event to confirm plans for an Australian 86 one-make race series, which could happen as soon as 2016. "The concept is a pro-am with amateur drivers from across Australia competing against selected professional drivers," Mr Cramb said.Toyota Australia also used the event to test the waters for possible factory-backed personalisation options, with four uniquely-styled show cars on display. The 2014 Festival of 86 forms part of Toyota’s Oh What a Feeling! Discovery Tour, showcasing several models at events across Australia.

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. 

Updated Toyota 86 brings sharper handling and more equipment.

You can now rent the sports car money can't buy. Despite there being up to a six-month wait for the Toyota 86 coupe, the budget-priced two-door has begun appearing in limited numbers on the rental fleets of Hertz and Avis.The Toyota 86 is still in strong demand almost two years after it stunned the industry with a $29,990 starting price, about $15,000 less than the previous generation Toyota Celica 10 years ago.Supply is still tight (deliveries are down 22 per cent so far this year) but Toyota has let a handful of 86s on to the rental fleets so potential buyers can have an extended test drive."Because the Toyota 86 is in strong demand there are not a lot of dealer demonstrators available for people to take on an extended test drive," says Toyota Australia spokesman Stephen Coughlan. "This is a different way for customers to experience the car."Toyota says it has no way of knowing how many customers bought a Toyota 86 after a rental car test drive but says it will continue to support the program. "By all accounts the cars have been well received and given potential buyers the chance to sample and evaluate the car prior to purchase," Coughlan says.Hertz and Avis took delivery of 30 Toyota 86s last year, for rental from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne airport bases. Both companies are renting out the more expensive and most popular version of the 86, which typically costs nearly $40,000 on the road.They are understood to be replacing their vehicles with another batch of 30 due on their fleets midyear. A quick check of their websites this week found that the Toyota 86 can be rented from about $130 a day, about $20 less than a BMW 3 Series and more than twice the cost of the cheapest cars available. Hertz and Avis say the 86 can be reserved, so intending drivers won't lose a booking and suddenly end up in a Nissan Micra.The Toyota 86 has been the top-selling sports car in Australia since it went on sale in June 2012, with more than 9600 sold so far. At the current rate of sales, the 10,000th Toyota 86 probably will be delivered this month.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

There have been plenty of suggestions about extra versions of the Toyota 86, including the carmaker itself talking about extending the range with a sedan, convertible and high-powered variant.But it now sounds like no additional models will roll out, with a senior executive revealing that the car has failed to live up to Toyota's sales expectations in major markets around the world.The 86 was intended to add some halo to the brand, and spearhead the fulfilment of global boss Akio Toyoda's promise to banish boring from the stable.But Toyota's head of European research and development, Gerald Killmann has revealed the company now doubts there is a business case for more variants of the 86, including the high-performance version."A faster version of that car would be at the top of most people's wish lists, but like the cabriolet, it is hard to justify a business case to push either model into production based on the current sales," Killmann told Auto Express in the UK.He said Toyota was not sure why the sales were lagging, as the car had been well-received by media with positive reviews, including from Carsguide.  "Personally, I think that engine could use a little bit more," he said.See our video review of the Toyota 86 prototype.There have been plenty of rumours pertaining to additional variants for the GT 86 and its FR-S twin. They include the aforementioned convertible, a new hybrid model and even a sedan. Sadly, it sounds like none of these will be coming.In Australia, the 86 (which starts at $29,990) sold 6,700 for 2013 -- its first full year on the market -- nearly double the closest contender in the affordable sports car category.And the fan base has become something of a cult. The visit last year of the 86's 'father' Tetsuya Tada saw him nearly mobbed at an event at Toyota's Sydney HQ by owners wanting him to sign their cars -- most of which were taken straight to a signwriter to have the signature made permanent.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

Nissan is stoking up its sports car mojo. It's developing the next-generation GT-R, looking at developing the IDx Concept, and has unveiled a slew of hot variations of the GT-R, Juke and Pulsar from its Nismo tuning arm.So what's happening with the Z car, with the 370Z having been around for six years and starting to now look a little long in the tooth against new rivals like the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ?Expect to see a departure from the current car, with a smaller vehicle powered by a similarly downsized engine -- a turbo-charged four-cylinder, according to Autocar -- rather than the 3.7-litre V6 carried by the 370Z. Power is likely to slightly rise over the six's 245kW, while torque will likely at the least match its 363Nm, depending on the expected lighter weight of the new Z (the 370Z rings the bell at 1468kg).The design is yet to be signed off but Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura confirmed to the Britsh site that a plan was already in place and that the coming Z "could be smaller" while product chief Andy Palmer pointed to the turbo four engine, adding that we'll see both a standard version and a Nismo one.With Nissan Australia still working on a business case for the Nismo offerings, there's no certainty we'll see that model here, but we're sure to get the cooking Z, following in the footsteps of the 370Z that arrived first in 2009, and a lineage of 44 years that stretches all the way back to the Datsun 240Z in 1970.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Toyota’s FT-1 concept was arguably the star of the 2014 Detroit motor show -- prompting considerable comment about whether or not it points to a successor for the iconic Supra – with an outright perfo

The fanfare surrounding Nissan’s IDx and BladeGlider concepts at last year’s Tokyo motor show was such that the Japanese brand has green-lit plans for production versions, according to Autocar.

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