In addition to a sporty design and a well-balanced chassis, the engine and transmission of a car still play the main roles when it comes to the overall impression.
With the new people's sports car from the Toyota and Subaru brands, the engine naturally also plays a major role. While the basic concept of the 4-cylinder boxer engine comes from Subaru, the overall drive package has been revised and refined once again in cooperation with Toyota and Subaru.
Gasoline direct injection
The gasoline direct injection with the designation D-4S comes from Toyota and was designed to accustom the 2 liter engine, which is constructed with an identical bore and stroke ratio, to the pure desire for speed. The result is a sporty naturally aspirated engine that reaches speeds of up to 7.400 revs and is also highly compressed with a ratio of 12,5: 1.
A sporty naturally aspirated engine was the goal, an equally light, sporty and intelligently designed boxer engine is the result.
Only a boxer engine is able to bring the total weight of the vehicle as close as possible to the road with a particularly low center of gravity. A cleverly relocated exhaust system made it possible to lower the engine's center of gravity further, and a two-part catalytic converter ensures the necessary freedom in the design of the exhaust system.
Liter output like in motorsport
The power of 200PS is achieved at 7.000 revolutions and with the torque of 205 Nm between 6.400 and 6.600 revolutions it becomes clear that a sporty naturally aspirated engine has been created here. A liter output of 100 HP per liter of displacement was until some time the domain of pure racing engines.
The performance of the sports engine is either sent via a manual 6-speed gearbox towards the rear axle, or via a sporty 6-speed automatic gearbox. The automatic transmission can be operated via shift paddles on the steering wheel and is able to switch between gears within 0,2 seconds. With a finely dosed double throttle, the transmission shifts down the gears in a perfect manner and ensures driving stability and smooth sporty comfort.
The gearshift lever of the manual 6-speed gearbox has been deliberately optimized for sporty, crisp handling. Short shift travel and precise control of the operating device, which is designed with a non-slip gear lever, was the primary development goal for the transmission professionals from Toyota, Subaru and the transmission supplier Aisin.
We will write about the finer details of the chassis and the Torsen rear axle differential in the next part of our “The Toyota GT 86 in Detail” series.
Already online:
- Launch of the Toyota GT86 series
- The design of the GT86 in detail
- The suspension of the GT86 in detail
- The technical data at a glance