2018 Toyota 86 Pricing and Specs

Buying the dealership’s paint protection certainly won’t do any harm, Sue, but it can be expensive as mark-ups are often huge for these products. You might do better with an aftermarket paint protection product from an independent specialist. But here’s the proposition I’d be putting to the dealer selling the car: If you can’t, in 2020, sell me a car that won’t fade or have its paint peel off, I fear we are wasting each other’s time. In fact, you could make the same argument for all those dealership add-ons, the upholstery protection, window tint and extended warranties.

Here’s another fact to consider: Regardless of whether you do or don’t buy the paint protection, the car’s finish is protected by the factory warranty just as the rest of the car is protected against faulty parts of poor assembly. Toyota even spells it out, saying that the factory warranty covers every part, panel or factory accessory. So you’ll only ever need the optional paint protection after the factory warranty has run out. Will a paint protection applied now be of any use five years – and a couple of hundred car-washes – down the track? That’s up to you.

If you don’t want a convertible, which rules out the MX-5 as my easy first pick, then the 86 is the car for driving enjoyment on a reasonable budget. But don’t overlook its Subaru twin, the BRZ, which is my choice of the two. Both get The Tick, having shared our Car of the Year award.

Wow, that is a major change of direction. Before you make such a change I would suggest you actually test drive each of the cars you're thinking of to see if they really suit you. The Mazda MX-5 is a two-seater and not very practical for instance. It's hard to advise you because we don't anything about what you want from the car you buy. If it was me I would probably buy the MX-5, I would have no problem with a two-seater.