Photo: autoevolution
Despite people complaining about its lack of power and others' struggle to prove it was build for fun and not speed, the Toyota GT 86 went past the 100,000-units milestone after its second year on the market.
A few years ago, Toyota thought to revive two of its iconic vehicles into one single product - the 2000GT and the AE 86, also known as the hachi-roku. So the company went to Subaru and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: Subaru's low-center-of-gravity boxer engine in a Toyota-designed sleek coupe.
And since Subaru was lacking a coupe from its portfolio, the company agreed and started working together with Toyota on the FT-86 joint project which got materialized into the production version Toyota GT 86, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ.
We too admit all three models are a bit underpowered and a hot-hatch might smoke you in a classic drag race, but if you look past this small inconvenient, the GT 86/BRZ/FR-S is probably the only affordable new coupe to offer such a high amount of fun along with daily usability.
All was achieved using the good ol’ recipe - sleek body, front engine, rear transmission and and a six-speed manual gearbox in between. Pretty much the same thing the nimble AE 86 provided long ago but now wearing a 2000GT-inspired design.
The GT 86 managed to strike the most in three countries: Japan in first place with around 39,000 units sold so far, the US where some 35,000 owners found it ideal in city and on track and Australia with 10,000 units roaming on their streets already.
Sales are again expected to increase now that the model received some minor, but effective improvements, including a new set of rims, more colors, a shark-fin antenna, carbon-fiber-like interior trimmings and a more rigid undercarriage.
With all the rumors going back and forth, we still wonder if we’ll get a convertible or sedan version soon. But considering the fact that the platform was designed from scrap to work perfectly only as a two-door coupe, we tend to bet on the second generation to come in more body styles. Maybe a more powerful engine too.
And since Subaru was lacking a coupe from its portfolio, the company agreed and started working together with Toyota on the FT-86 joint project which got materialized into the production version Toyota GT 86, Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ.
We too admit all three models are a bit underpowered and a hot-hatch might smoke you in a classic drag race, but if you look past this small inconvenient, the GT 86/BRZ/FR-S is probably the only affordable new coupe to offer such a high amount of fun along with daily usability.
All was achieved using the good ol’ recipe - sleek body, front engine, rear transmission and and a six-speed manual gearbox in between. Pretty much the same thing the nimble AE 86 provided long ago but now wearing a 2000GT-inspired design.
The GT 86 managed to strike the most in three countries: Japan in first place with around 39,000 units sold so far, the US where some 35,000 owners found it ideal in city and on track and Australia with 10,000 units roaming on their streets already.
Sales are again expected to increase now that the model received some minor, but effective improvements, including a new set of rims, more colors, a shark-fin antenna, carbon-fiber-like interior trimmings and a more rigid undercarriage.
With all the rumors going back and forth, we still wonder if we’ll get a convertible or sedan version soon. But considering the fact that the platform was designed from scrap to work perfectly only as a two-door coupe, we tend to bet on the second generation to come in more body styles. Maybe a more powerful engine too.
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