2012 Toyota 86 Reviews

Everything comes to those who wait, it’s said. And Toyota fans have been waiting a long time for passion to return to the brand.It’s been eight years since Toyota killed off its last rear-drive MR2 and the affordable and stylish – although often maligned with hairdresser references – Celica sports car. So the Toyota 86 holds the promise of disrupting the seemingly endless roll-out of anodyne wheeled whitegoods – for which the boss Akio Toyoda publicly apologised not long after taking the top chair.And as a highly-publicised joint project with Subaru –  it should also be more than the sum of each brand’s best. Is it everything the waiting fans want? Well, yes. And not quite.The aim was always to make the 86 affordable, and the starting price for the manual 86 GT is $29,990 -- a stunning $10,000 less than anybody guessed --  and the 86 GTS starting at $35,490. The auto is $2000 more.Standard interior kit includes all the expected mod-cons, and the becoming-expected features like voice recognition. There’s a sporty three-spoke steering wheel – the smallest on any Toyota – and touches of sporty fabric (think wetsuits) on shift and brake levers. On the 86 GTS look for 17-in alloys with full-size alloy spare wheel, auto-levelling high-intensity headlights and front foggies. It has keyless entry and start, and in-cabin goodies include red-stitched leather/alcantara upholstery, heated front seats, dual-zone aircon and a higher-spec wheel. The premium audio/comms system is worth a special mention, with the 6.1-in touchscreen also serving up satnav, SD card slot and SMS/email text-to-voice. As an affordable, rear-drive 2+2 stylish sports car -- especially at this price -- it’s hard to find other apples to compare against. There’s plenty of choice in rear-drive two-seaters, but buyers looking for an affordable one will have already bought the Mazda MX-5. That leaves you waiting to see what happens with the Toyota’s clone -- the Subaru BRZ -- or looking at front and all-wheel drive options. Ranging in a tight price-tag scale between $38,990 and $40,700, you get some desirable front-drive choices: RenaultSport Clio 200 Cup, Volkswagen Golf GTi, Mazda3 MPS and Mini Cooper S would be at the top of the list. In that range you also get the AWD Subaru Impreza WRX hatch. And handing over another $7000 or so gets you into the Volkswagen Scirocco R. And if the Honda Civic Type R spotted in testing last week comes to our showrooms, there’ll be another to consider.It makes the most of a small body to give a fairly useful capacity. Nobody wants to be in the rear seat of any two-plus-two coupe for long, but it offers more flexibility – we won’t say practicality – than a two-seater. It’s a well-proportioned headturner, and one of the few cars that looks good from the rear at this price. Make that most price levels. Key cabin cues are the small steering wheel and large tacho, the GTS’s mandatory aluminium pedals and sill plates, a charmingly old-school frameless rearview mirror and tacky carbon ‘fibber’ accents. There are some miscues.It’s case of who did what. Subaru donated the basic engineering, including both the chassis and the engine – chosen because its compact size allowed it to be mounted low and towards the rear of the bay. The naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre flat-four engine has an appetite for revs, with the peak 147kW of power hitting at 7000rpm and peak 205Nm of torque at 6400-6600rpm. It’s aided by Toyota’s latest D-4S fuel-injection system with separate twin injectors delivering high pressure on the direct combustion chamber and low pressure on intake port duties. The system’s ability to mix and match fuel delivery is claimed to add 10kW and 20Nm more than would have been possible with port-injection. There’s been special – and very un-Toyota attention – paid to the engine, induction and exhaust sound. And drivers get to hear the end result, with induction sound being piped back into the cabin via a rubber tube. Toyota also brought the new six-speed manual and sequential auto transmissions – the latter with paddle-shifters and some Lexus IS-F input for sharper shifts and a few bars of downchange blips to hum along with in Sport mode. Porsche’s Cayman 2+2 coupe was used as the benchmark for steering and handling, with the stiff and low-squatting 86 underpinned by MacPherson strut front and double wishbone rear suspension.Not tested here yet, but will be hunting a full five-star ANCAP rating. Equipment includes seven airbags, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, traction and five-mode stability controls.With an endless conga-line of marketing blather as every car goes on sale, you can’t help becoming sceptical about any carmaker’s statement. Especially when it’s Toyota promising passion. But just about every box has been ticked and promise delivered – many more than we expected. The 86 is alive and kick-arse.Steering feel is excellent, with good weighting and feedback. The car feels taut and agile, turning in nimbly and gripping the road aggressively. The six-speed manual is one of the best around: short, sweet and snickety. Even hardened stick-shunners could be won over by this one. It gets off the line smartly, and delivers decent in-gear acceleration, despite there not being any sense of huge torque on tap.The in-car soundtrack improves once you push it up above 3500rpm, but apart from that the engine noise is subdued and it’s the tyres you hear. That aside, it’s nearly everything most people could want in terms of bang for the buck. But you can’t help thinking some turbo effort boost the fun. There have been spy shots of the Subaru version testing in Europe with a turbo-hinting bonnet bulge, but Toyota is keeping their version on the pure path.Full of fun and few flaws. Toyota is on a winner with this one. Get in quick or miss out.

It's going to take something very special to stop the Toyota 86 winning the 2012 Carsguide Car of the Year award.The new coupe is the most dramatic Toyota newcomer in many generations and ticks all the right boxes from its styling to driving enjoyment and the crucial starting price. The bottom line is finally revealed in Canberra this morning, with the 86GT opening the action at $29,990 and the heavily-loaded GTS taking the bottom line up to $35,490 with an automatic gearbox.After pushing it over familiar fun roads around the national capital on Sunday afternoon, I can finally confirm the promise that was obvious during a very restricted preview drive at Fuji Speedway in Japan last year. The 86 is the most enjoyable drive you will find without jumping into a Porsche, combining brilliant grip and balance with a sublime ride and steering that keeps you totally in touch with the road. It can feel a little underpowered, and the dub-dub-dub exhaust note on start-up is a constant reminder that Subaru was a 50:50 partner in the car, but there is a huge amount to like in the 86 and very little to complain about. Toyota already knows the car is going to be a huge hit in Australia and the foundation for a range of hot-up work, so shows it in Canberra with a variety of tweaks including a giant TRD rear wing and bigger wheels. But, in keeping with the policy of 86 project leader Tetsuya Tada, the engines are all untouched as hot-up work is being left to tuning companies.VALUEThe 86 arrives in Australia with more promises than a politician on polling day, and it all hinges on the bottom line. Toyota Australia has delivered by providing value without going crazy. There are two levels of equipment in the 86 - GT and GTS - and the obvious mechanical differences are bigger ventilated brakes and wheels not the GTS, as well as satnav, split auto zircon and better seat trim in the cabin, with a strip of LED daytime running lights to tell the world - and GT buyers - that you have the hero car.The predictable package runs from seven airbags to alloy wheels, aircon and power steering, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes. The pricing is just the icing for the 86 fans who have created an over-full waiting list in Australia that's likely to mean a delay of at least six months for slow starters in showrooms.“The 86 is meant to be enjoyed by as many driving enthusiasts as possible, and our pricing will extend its appeal to people who never imagined they could afford such a fun car,” says Toyota Australia's chief of sales and marketing, Matt Callachor. The next big question is how Subaru will price its version of the car, the BRZ coupe, when it arrives in July.TECHNOLOGYEverything about the 86 is focussed on the driver, and was driven right from the top of Toyota by the grandson of the company founder. Akio Toyoda is a part-time racecar driver and was in direct touch with project leader Tada throughout the car's development, including Toyota's surprising partnership with Subaru to provide the engine, drivetrain and basic suspension.The flat-four engine helps keep the biggest weights set low and back in the body, resulting in a near-ideal 53:47 balance and the chance to tune the car from the driving seat for maximum grip and enjoyment. The engine itself is a new-design 2.0-litre that, thanks to direct fuel injection that Toyota was originally reluctant to share with Subaru, makes 147 kiloWatts and 205 Newton-metres.After the six-speed gearboxes there is a limited-slip differential in the tail, although not on the lower-grade automatic GT. There is nothing special about the rest of the deal - no look-ahead radar or automatic braking or even a sunroof - to ensure the 86 as the most focussed sports car to hit Carsguide since the original Mazda MX-5 in 1989.DESIGNThe Toyota coupe is not as adventurous as the Hyundai Veloster, or as edgy as the Subaru BRZ, but it looks good. It is slightly cute with the basic bones for plenty of pump-up action, including the exaggerated guard flares that are Tada's favourite design element.The cabin is strictly 2+2 as you'd expect but the boot is reasonably sized for a cavity that holds a full-sized alloy spare. Inside, the look is focussed on the driver and that means clear dials, a slick six-speed manual shift, and no frills. Some of the plastic parts look slightly cheap but that's what you get when the emphasis is on the basics and the bottom line.SAFETYToyota promises five-star ANCAP for the 86 and backs it with seven airbags including protection for the driver's knees, solid work on the front end to protect pedestrians, and big brakes with ABS and ESP stability control. But its trump card is the dynamic ability which means an 86 driver has far more ability to avoid a potential threat than someone in, say, a Camry.DRIVINGPushing hard down a familiar mountain road on the outskirts of Canberra, I'm having huge fun in the 86er. The car feels like an extension of me, not a tool that requires hard work and compromises. The car has just enough power for the job, the brakes are great, and the 86 turns and goes exactly when I want and how I want.The engine is not particularly eager to rev to the redline at 7450, but is still tight with less than 100 kilometres under its wheels, and the tightly-stacked ratios allow it to be pushed along with frequent upshifts to keep it in the sweet spot around 4500 revs. It is the best driving car from Japan since the first MX-5 and rivals Porsche for fun, without the giant pricetags.The steering and chassis balance are the highlights, and what makes the car so enjoyable. We got an early taste with some low-speed drifting in Japan last year but, on real roads with real challenges, the 86 clearly has the right stuff for Australia. But it's not perfect. Even for the price.The cabin plastics are sub-standard for Toyota, and there is that constant reminder - the cranking sound on start-up and the dub-dub-dub exhaust note - that this is not a total Toyota. The heart comes from Subaru with its boxer four, even if the 'heart' and passion that drove the project is Toyota.VERDICTA winner. Simple as that.

Forget all about the Celica, Supra and even the MR2. When Toyota finally decided it was time to get serious about a 21st century hero car, to put some much-needed shine on its badge, it discarded all

Hachi Roku. These are the Japanese words for the number 86, but they take on far  more importance today with the unveiling of the first Toyota sports car for the 21st century.The 86 is the car that must restore passion and respect for a brand  that has been through the wars in recent years, from its fabulous failure in Formula One to the safety scandals in the USA and now the loss of production and income through natural disasters in Japan and Thailand."Please enjoy," says the top man at Toyota, Akio Toyoda, as he drives the 86 into the spotlight at Fuji Speedway in Japan. It's a simple statement but one that comes from the heart for a man who is both a part-time racer and personally passionate about his  family company.Toyoda helped drive the Lexus LFA supercar into production and knows Toyota must do much better than the whitegoods-on-wheels Camry and Corolla that are the company's backbone. So the 86 is a two-plus-two coupe with a normally-aspirated 2.0-litre engine making 147 kiloWatts, six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes, and rear-wheel drive.Toyota tapped Subaru for the basic engineering, including both the engine and chassis, while it concentrated on the cash and the bodywork and the finessing so essential for a car that MUST deliver real driving enjoyment."This is a car where one plus one adds up to three," says the chief  engineer of the 86, Tetsuya Tada. "We had a strong passion to deliver again a sports car that is fun. A  car with no compromise. That would be loved by enthusiasts."The news for Australia is good, although Subuaru has yet to confirm any local sales plan for its take on the 86, called the BRZ."The car should be on sale around the middle of next year. Our  ambition is a starting price with a three at the front," says Toyota  spokesman, Mike Breen.DRIVINGLively. That's the first thing I feel at the wheel of the 86. I'm only getting a couple of laps at a super-tight handling track at Fuji, but the first impression in the new Toyota is that the car has hit its targets. It feels words away from a turgid Celica, much more refined than an MR2, and far more enjoyable than a Supra. Now, about that dak-dak Subaru exhaust note ...The 86 is smaller than I expect, at least overall. It's a compact 2+2 for sure, but there is good space in the front and the seats are well shaped. The six-speed manual has a nice snick-snick feel and there is good weighting to the steering and a strong brake pedal. Underway, the car pulls well enough. It's always tough to tell on a track, unless you're in an M5 or 911, but the gearing is good and it pulls well as I upshift from second to third at 6000 revs. It doesn't have a particularly torquey feel, and I cannot assess things like wind noise or tyre roar.The chassis has great grip, good turn-in and - with the stability control sent on holiday - it's easy to provoke a nice sideways slide. One colleague even manages a giant third-gear spin. It's impossible to know exactly how the 86 will drive in Australia, but all the signs are good. It feels shrink-wrapped and taut, with the enjoyment that Toyota promises.It can easily handle more power and there are tuners around the world already busy on the project. It's just a pity that Subaru was not tapped for some STI turbo mojo, as it looks like the engine room could definitely handle the extra equipment. For me, the 86 feels more like the first chapter than the end of the book. There is plenty to come and, right now, it all looks pretty good.