Toyota GR 86 News

After arriving in Australia in September 2022, the Toyota GR86 has come in for another mild update headlined by a special edition. The revised sports coupe will arrive in Q4 this year.The GR86 Limited Edition – known as the Ridge Green Limited in Japan – is a familiar formula, with uprated Sachs dampers and four-piston Brembo front brake calipers distinguishing it from the GTS.Limited to 86 examples, it also wears an exclusive Forest Shadow Green paint colour matched with bronze painted 18-inch alloy wheels. Inside, there are black and tan synthetic suede and leather-accented upholstery and trim features.“For those looking for an even more exclusive GR86, the new Limited Edition is a standout with its exclusive exterior colour, wheels and interior trim and high-performance suspension and brake package,” said Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley.There are a few small changes for all GR86s, though none of them cosmetic. Refined damper settings and sharper throttle and brake pedal responses start things off.Toyota has also revised the electric power steering tune for better experience on track – specifically: "an improved steering sensation at the upper limits of performance."Finally, each transmission (manual and automatic) gets a few unique changes. The throttle is now more responsive for easier downshift blips in manual cars.Automatic models will allow downshifts at higher rpms at feedback from customers who use their vehicles on track.Otherwise, the GR86 remains unchanged with a 174kW/240Nm 2.4-litre flat-four engine.There will be two regular variants, the GT and GTS, sold alongside the Limited Edition of the Mazda MX-5 and Nissan Z rival.Pricing changes are yet to be confirmed however expect small increases over the GT's current $43,240 before on-road costs start. The latest update follows Toyota and Subaru applying safety systems as standard to GR86 and BRZ manual vehicles last year.It is not known if Subaru will roll out similar updates for its BRZ twin.The latest update comes ahead of an expected facelift for the GR 86, with Japanese sources suggesting the GR Corolla's 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine could be on the cards for the coupe's mid-life refresh.

Manual gearboxes are being killed off by the soulless, unromantic savages who want a car with an automatic transmission. Which is nearly everybody. So, the car manufacturers are making hardly any manual cars now. But for the few beacons of hope trying to save this rare animal from extinction we’ve made a list of new cars still with manuals that are for sale in Australia. But for how much longer?

Critics of the Toyota GR86's natural aspiration may soon finally have their way if reports from Japan claiming the rear-wheel drive sports car will get a turbocharger are accurate.Trusty Japanese publication Best Car Web has confirmed with sources that th

Toyota Australia has defended the steep pricing position of its new GR 86 sports coupe.

The Toyota GR 86 sees a bunch of new gear and a bigger engine, but it also scores a significantly bigger price tag compared to the first 86 model.

Hiroshi Tamura took an unconventional approach to ensuring the manual transmission remained a part of the new Nissan Z - tricking his bosses. When Mr Tamura, the product planning tsar behind Z and GT-R, was presenting the sales split details for the automatic compared to manual across the 370Z range, he had a slide featuring a very large ‘40/60’ in the centre of the screen. This shocked Nissan’s senior management and they realised that they couldn’t risk alienating 40 per cent of their customers.The thing was, Tamura had included a very small disclaimer in the bottom right-hand corner of the slide that indicated this sales split was specific to the 370Z Nismo high-performance model.It wasn’t that he lied, he simply presented the facts in a manner that suited his needs - and the needs of those who still love manual sports cars.In an era when dual-clutch transmissions and improved torque-converter automatics have become the only choice for so many performance cars (neither Ferrari or Lamborghini offer a manual vehicle anymore), the three-pedal layout is an endangered species.But it’s a species that’s in demand in the right circles, such as Nissan Z buyers. Pre-orders for the car are running at approximately 70 per cent in favour of the manual - with no tiny disclaimer either. Even though Nissan admits over the life of the vehicle it’s likely to drop to 40 per cent, Mr Tamura is a passionate advocate for the manual gearbox and the role it plays in making driving more exciting for purists.It’s a view shared by Travis Maher, Nissan Australia Senior Product Manager, who told CarsGuide: “The new Z had to have a manual option to live up to its heritage and to provide our customers with a transmission option that matches their driving style.”But here are some of the other sports cars fighting the good fight for fans of the three-pedal transmission.The German brand is a big believer that its dual-clutch ‘PDK’ is a superior transmission and is the more popular choice for its customers. However, it continues to offer the manual transmission, albeit in limited variants in its iconic sports car, with only the 911 GTS and GT3 currently available in Australia. Despite this limited use each car uses a separate manual gearbox, the 911 GTS has a seven-speed unit, while the 911 GT3 runs through a six-speed version.The Japanese brand learnt the hard way that there is still a passion and sizeable audience for the manual transmission. The revived Supra was originally only available with an eight-speed automatic (like its twin-under-the-skin BMW Z4) but with buyers - particularly those in the US - wanting a manual Toyota has developed and will shortly introduce a new six-speed ‘box to meet “the demand of driving purists”.While Toyota may have hesitated with its more expensive sports car, it never had a second-thought about keeping the manual in the second-generation 86. Along with its Subaru twin, the BRZ, the GR86 is offered with a six-speed manual to ensure it’s both more affordable and has the appeal driving enthusiasts demand from it.The Blue Oval hasn’t revealed any official technical details of the upcoming new-generation Mustang, but it’s a 99.9 per cent certainty that it will continue to offer a three-pedal transmission.The American audience loves the manual (there’s still an element of derision about automatic sports cars in the US), so Australian enthusiasts get to benefit.The outgoing Mustang is available with a six-speed manual alongside a very nice 10-speed automatic.Mazda may have dropped the 1.5-litre engine, but it has kept the six-speed manual. In fact, it added a new entry-level 2.0-litre manual model for $37,790 (plus on-road costs) to keep the MX-5 under $40k.This combination means the MX-5 stays true to its roots, as a driver focused roadster that harks back to 1960s British convertibles which always put driving enjoyment first.

The new car market may be down, but Toyota is up... again, by an even greater margin, and there's a batch of new models on the way before the end of the year.

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 has a performance car problem - popularity.

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.