Toyota gives us back the driving pleasure. To the small course!
Toyota GT86 - great fun, despite manageable performance and a fair starting price!
Toyota? Those are the ones with the hybrid theme. CO2 and ecology packaged in a body that smells like Waldorf school and wholemeal muesli. Prius. We know. But just the Japanese have brought the driving pleasure for petrol heads back into their own full range and bag now, at fair price, 200 PS and rear-wheel drive in a classic sports silhouette.
Classic recipe. Classic laugh in the face: rear-wheel drive, good balance, low weight!
Cars are becoming mobile today Spas, Seat heating and massage raised to the standard. In the end we are stuck in a traffic jam, use the traffic jam assistant and wonder what happened to this “driving fun” that we once knew. Earlier. When you jumped into the car very early on Sunday, started the engine and just drove off.
Uphill and valley, curves with changing radius, reaching into the switch box, direct feedback from the Popometer about the sensitivities of the road. There is hardly a car left for that. And certainly not from a “hybrid expert”. One may think. But the Toyota GT 86 teaches us better! Ironically, these “oh so sensible” Japanese have had a handy sports car in their range for three years, which still knows all of these earlier arguments on the subject of “sheer driving pleasure”! And mastered.
6.75 kilograms per horsepower
A four-cylinder boxer unit with a displacement of two liters and without supercharging. Narrow A-pillars, a dynamic coupé roof arch and a short rear with a small attached wing. In addition, a wheelbase of 2.57 meters, which leaves just enough space for the large doors and the 2 + 2 seater interior. The overhangs at the front and back remain short. The front fenders with their distinctive shapes emphasize the powerful side line. The GT 86 is ready - a vehicle whose name pays homage to another classic from Toyota (zum AE86 on wiki). At the same time, the 86 is also the bore size and the stroke of the four cylinders in millimeters. Output of the classic suction motor? 200 PS.
Yes, there is only one drive layout for classic sports coupés: front engine, rear drive. The GT 86 is no exception. With an empty weight of just over 1.300 kg, the Nippon athlete is also below the “prosperity bacon mark” on the scales and thus comes to a power-to-weight ratio of 6.75 kg per hp. That's enough.
Oh yes, the two exhaust pipes at the rear are also part of the 86. With 8.6 centimeter diameter, the two tubes are a clear statement to the will to free power development of the revving boxer engine.
Pure.
The Toyota GT86 “Pure” is € 28.900 on the price list. This is the entry into a forgotten world of driving fun. And that's my recommendation too. For sure. One could use the TRD program, which equips the GT 86 with a spoiler, wings and sills. But you don't have to. It is precisely the pleasantly unexplained view of reducing the circumstances that defines the GT 86. And the basic version is exactly right there.
The chassis of the GT 86 is dry and crisp, without being so hard that you could read the color of the boundary line when driving over it. The Basis-Pure also has sensible 16-inch wheels. It may look “economical”, but it is enough for a simple return to “simple driving fun”. The electromechanical power steering plays the part of the command receiver with flying colors. Left, right, wide arches, tight radii - the Toyota GT 86 shows the full potential of its perfect basic layout on winding roads.
If you want to and deactivate the VSC driving dynamics aid, which can be completely switched off, you can let the GT 86 waggle over the asphalt lanes in moody drift angles. Fully deactivatable ESP. That alone shows how convinced the manufacturer is of the concept and the momentum of the GT 86.
Behind the grippy three-spoke steering wheel you feel in good hands, typically Japanese, the seating position could be even lower. But I say that about almost every car from Japan. The seats ensure that the occupants feel closely connected to the vehicle. Criticism of the hard plastic in chic black? Who cares about the equipment in the interior, when the boxer engine rumbling throaty under the hood and the rear wheels grind easily through the asphalt?
As in the past: always the rpm ladder high.
A naturally aspirated boxer engine, you won't even find that in Zuffenhausen anymore. The boxer engine used in the GT86 is flatter and shorter than the standard in-line four-cylinder, and its lower rotating masses give the boxer engines their typical liveliness. Ideal conditions for use in a sporty car. The naturally aspirated engine issue also creates a torque world that a standard turbo driver is no longer familiar with. Here performance comes from the speed. The temperament too. So - always keep the needle above 4.000!
Toyota GT 86: An almost forgotten driving pleasure world
28.900 € is the number you should remember. The Toyota GT86, an escape car for the way out of the “all-inclusive” impasse in the direction of “moving sofas”. And so, of all things, the “oh so sensible” manufacturer Toyota has a car in its range that you should treat yourself to again before we all drive autonomously! Provided you like “pure driving fun”!