Prices as tested: €39,895
Steering, chassis, engine, styling
– Some cheap trim, high emissions will put off all but the dedicated
= Best four-wheeled fun of the year so far
It was worth the wait. In 2006, Toyota retreated, seemingly permanently, from the world of sports cars. The firm that had made an early name for itself with the gorgeous 2000GT, and which had Le Mans, rally and F1 works teams in its back catalogue, seemed intent on a concentration on hybrid and frugal petrol and diesel cars. Sensible? Certainly. Socially responsible? Doubtless. Fun? No.
The Celica, so long a mainstay of Toyota's range (and a cracking coupe in its final, sharp-edged form) was gone, the little MR2 roadster given the bullet and the big Supra long abandoned and with no sign of a successor on the horizon.
And then a significant thing happened. Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder, became CEO and suddenly, the largest, most successful car company in the world had a true car nut in charge. Toyoda-San is a keen racer (with regular appearances at the Nurburgring 24hrs) and a fan of fun cars. And under his tutelage a programme was begun that would return a Toyota sports car to the price lists, a programme that not even the recent recall upset nor the Tsunami nor the global recession could derail.
Three years ago, Toyota showed us a first concept car; the FT86. A year later, in an odd move, it showed a refined, updated version, the FT86-II. Anticipation was palpable, but still the wait was agonising. Would the new coupe become a long-gestating white elephant, much as Lexus' bigger LFA had done?
Thankfully no. The wait is over. The GT86 (named in homage to the ruggedly sideways AE86 Corolla of the eighties) is now here, on sale, driveable.
It will cost €39,895 when it goes on sale in late June, and cost between €481 and €677 to tax for a year depending in whether you choose six-speed manual or (more fuel efficient) six-speed automatic gearboxes. None of those figures seem outrageously high, and indeed seem to pit the GT86 as a possible alternative to the likes of a well-specced Golf GTi or a Peugeot RCZ. In fact, it is very, very different to both.
For a start, it is small and light, just 4.2 metres from nose to tail and 1,200kg at the kerb. It's powered not by a turbo engine, as is de rigeur these days, but by a high-revving Subaru-developed flat-four with a power output of 197bhp and an unfashionably small (and peaky) torque output of 205Nm developed at a lofty 6,600rpm. From the start, Toyota decreed that the car would not have a turbo, so that its naturally aspirated throttle response would be crisp and immediate and that heavy items like four wheel drive or big wheels and tyres would be eschewed. Thus decided, Toyota took responsibility for the design and the product plan while Subaru (in which Toyota bought a stake in 2005 and which will build its own version of the GT86, the BRZ) took the lead on mechanical development and engineering. The connection to the old AE86 Corolla is reinforced everywhere from the obvious (86 badging in the cockpit and on the front wings) to the hilariously nerdy (the bore and stroke of each cylinder is exactly 86x86mm while the twin exhausts are 86mm in diameter).
The result is a tightly dimensioned 2+2 coupe that looks like a larger GT got shrunk in the wash. It's not outrageously beautiful but it's near perfectly proportioned and with a pleasing simplicity and lack of pointless flourishes.
Inside you'll find a plain black cockpit, enlivened slightly by red contrast stitching and optional red leather inserts. It feels like a tight fit as you lower yourself in, but once in, there is adequate head and legroom as long as you're not much over 6-foot. The rear seats will possibly manage a couple of small kids, but long spells in the back look best avoided for now.
Directly in front of you is a simple, upright fascia, with a small instrument panel containing a prominent white-background rev-counter placed, Porsche-style, directly in front of the driver. To the left is a small speedo that is pretty much superfluous as you'll almost always use the digital one inset into the rev counter. The three-spoke steering wheel is tiny, at just 360mm across, has a large round boss with the slightly abstract 86 logo and feels deliciously good in your hands. The stubby gear lever is a slight reach away if you have long legs, but close enough to be able to stir rapidly, which is just as well as you’ll have to. On the centre console are the HVAC controls and the GT86’s single spec level includes split zone climate, cruise control and the Toyota Touch colour infotainment screen. You could criticise it for all being a bit black and a bit too plain, but once you're driving, you won't care and the quality, as always on a Toyota, is palpably good.
Fire up the 2.0-litre flat four and you're met with an intriguing sound. Based on Subaru's existing engine, but with new Toyota-developed injection, induction and lubricating systems, the power plant is impressively small and light and mounted as far back in the chassis as possible. The noises it makes vary from an almost V8-like woofle to a flat, hard bark like a seventies F1 engine to a curious noise that sounds like a small chainsaw is loose in the glovebox, all of which is aided by an extra bit of plumbing that directs noise from the induction chambers back into the cockpit. The GT86 is thusly actually louder inside than out. Officially, Toyota claims a combined average fuel consumption figure of 7.8-litres per 100km and given as we averaged 9.0l/100km on a briskly tackled mountain route, I'd say that's believable.
Given its peaky nature and the fact that we are all so used to the low-down grunt if diesels these days, I had feared that the GT86 would feel flaccid at low rpm and difficult to extract the best from at anything less than maximum attack. More than a few early reviews of the car had spoken of the need for more power or more torque, or preferably both. Would the GT86 prove to be the kind of high-rpm screamer that only comes alive when you're deep into illegal speeds?
No. It is in fact the exact opposite. I'd go so far as to say that those calling for more power are being utterly foolish because the GT86 is one of the most balanced, enjoyable cars I have ever driven.
The secret to that enjoyment is in fact the lack of power and torque, and the fact that, as has been much publicised, the GT runs on the same relatively narrow 215/45 R17 Michelin Primacy tyre as a Prius hybrid. Thus equipped, third gear is the key. Third lets you exploit the engine to its fullest, from tight, almost hairpin, corners to fast sweepers, running the engine right out to its 7,500rpm redline, listening to the whoops, whistles and roars as it does so, catapulting from apex to apex and then glancing down and realising that you have at no point been traveling faster than 100kmh. It is that ability to be fabulously entertaining at entirely legal speeds that is the true genius of the GT86. Extra power would push you over that hairline limit and would, as a further downside, doubtless require the presence of extra weight in the form of bigger wheels and tyres, extra cooling and bigger brakes. The GT86 is near perfectly balanced as it is.
And somehow, that’s because it seems to be less than absolutely perfectly balanced, a fact that Toyota's engineers are revelling in. In fact, the GT86 is relatively softly sprung, so that the roll angle of the body warns you of the approach of the limits of grip. The steering is electrically assisted but I'm going to go out on a limb here and describe it as the best such system currently on sale. It feels like a good old hydraulic setup in terms of weight and feel and it allows you to guide the GT86’s stubby nose with unerring precision, feeling your way along the road surface. A combination of softer springs at the front than at the rear actually encourages understeer, which gives you something to lean against as you enter an unfamiliar corner. Thus entered, you can then choose to flick on a touch more lock to push through the understeer or modulate the car’s attitude with the throttle, which thanks again to that perceived lack of torque and power, you can do without fear of hoicking yourself off through the next hedge. It feels very much like a slightly larger, faster, even better-sorted Mazda MX-5. You can drift and slide it, once the cornering forces have built up to a point where the rear tyres’ surprisingly tenacious grip can be overcome, a pleasure encouraged by the three-stage VDC stability control which lets you have a little slidey fun before stepping in to help you gather everything up. Electronics off, you can hang the tail out as much as you like, but that is perhaps best reserved for the race track. The GT86 would in fact make an ideal arrive and drive trackway car, not least because when you fold the back seats, there is precisely enough space to store a spare set of rims and tyres. A lengthy session on track showed that the GT looks after its tyres and brakes well, so with a modicum of care a day's trackway entertainment shouldn’t prove mechanically harmful.
If you really want to, you could crib that the GT86’s limit has been set artificially low, that any number of high-end hot hatches would have its number on any given road. But that's the point. Toyota itself admits that it simply doesn't care whether or not the GT86 is faster or slower from point to point than any rival, doesn't give a toss about lap times or lateral grip figures, it simply wants to put a bigger smile on the face of its drivers than rivals can manage. In fact, Robert Tickner, Toyota’s European product communications manager, made the most joyous claim for a new car that I have ever heard in a press conference when he said that Toyota wants the GT86 to ”encourage skilled and sporting driving.” Brave words in these days of lowest common denominator motoring.
Punting the GT86 along a twisting, sinuous route in the mountains above Barcelona is one of the most enjoyable motoring experiences I have ever had. It has a sense of fun and enjoyment that I had thought lacking from almost any modern car, especially one from the once-grey corporate monolith that is Toyota. It is a car that is almost impossible to drive without a grin on your face, yet it's just about refined, spacious and practical enough to consider using as a daily hack. In fact, those compact dimensions will be a boon in any crowded city centre car park, as will its tight 5-metre turning circle.
I had expected the GT86 to be some lairy drifting machine, exposed by its lack of torque on the road and only coming alive on the unrestricted spaces of a race track. But having tried it in both environments, there is no doubt in my mind that the GT86’s natural home is on the road. On a track, it is precise, benign and enjoyable. On the road it is just fun, and that is what it should be.
There are two ways in which I can give the GT86 final praise. One is to say that it is the first Toyota in at least a generation that you instantly fall in love with, and which stays lodged firmly in your memory when you have walked away from it. The other is to say that it has taken up immediate residence in my Lotto garage.
Facts & Figures
Toyota GT86
Price as tested: €39,895
Range price: €39,895
Capacity: 1,998cc
Power: 197bhp
Torque: 205Nm
Top speed: 226kmh
0-100kmh: 7.6secs
Economy: 7.8l/100km (36.2mpg)
CO2 emissions: 181g/km
Tax Band: E. €677 road tax
Euro NCAP rating: 5-star; 95% adult, 87% child, 54% pedestrian, 93% safety assist
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