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Bomfunkmc
7th June 2012, 02:11 AM
Hey guys I drove the base model manual today.

A good friend of mine and forum member here, works for TMCA and he had a few hours with one today.

The car looks and feels amazing. Seats are awesome, driving position is perfect and everything feels really tight an nimble.

The power feels like more than 200hp and has good torque throughout the rev range. The LSD holds up well and it does some pretty decent slides (it was wet today) although the rev limiter comes on pretty hard...

The gearbox has a really good shift and fairly close ratios. Apparently the Auto is also amazing as its based on the ISF box but minus 2 ratios.

Anyway at roughly 35k on the road you cannot beat it.

I am seriously considering getting one.

Anyway just thought I'd share the good news.

stylz
7th June 2012, 03:09 PM
Jealous.

MR 86
7th June 2012, 11:46 PM
Saw one today in person and jizzed in my pants, looks so nice :)

Jonny Rochester
7th June 2012, 11:47 PM
It's not an FT86, it's a 86.

Almost all reviews are very positive. I work at a Toyota dealership so I may get to have a drive sometime also.

Matt
13th June 2012, 01:38 AM
Keen to gather everyones experience of driving the new toyota 86 GT GTS here...

Bomfunkmc
22nd June 2012, 12:32 AM
I drove a white base model manual with a 3 inch full system from the collector through the national park tonight. Its amazing! Only downfall is that it comes with tyres you find on a prius... Power delivery is awesome and the chassis feels a1. Toyota have nailed it! I had a look at it on the hoist also. There is definitely a weight loss program in place. Plastic inner guards.(similar to late model rx7) Pressed steel control arms etc. The gearbox unfortunately looks to small to be a derivative of the sti 6-speed however the tunnel is big enough to accommodate anything you want. Absolutely awesome car. In stock form I definitely think it would be a contender against ANY street driven ae86.

sundee
22nd June 2012, 12:44 AM
The gearbox unfortunately looks to small to be a derivative of the sti 6-speed however the tunnel is big enough to accommodate anything you want.
a Toyota box behind a toyota engine? then it will be complete.
though im glad my car has airbags because i may snap my neck if one passes me by one day

gg004
24th June 2012, 01:54 PM
i drove one yesterday, a GTS auto. the paddle shift is pretty cool, it downshifts with auto blip on the throttle and that but i would buy the manual. loved the handling and feel of the car, overall a really great car now ive gotta come up with the cash to buy one....

Jonny Rochester
27th June 2012, 09:57 PM
I drove one. The main thing I noticed was the engine does sound fairly rough, like a Subaru. Torque at low rpm and pickup in 2nd and 3rd seamed really good. The manual gearshift is short, but works good. I guess I would have to buy one before driving hard. Must get AE86 back on the road! The colour choices are not the best IMHO, but a manual GT in red has me counting my coins. (This also happens to be the cheapest combination).

takai
1st July 2012, 07:15 AM
Got to drive one at the Goodwood FoS moving motorshow. Unfortunately they were being very precious about the test cars and i wasn't able to punt it overly quickly up the hill. Still handled pretty well.

jfallen
1st July 2012, 12:43 PM
Drove on on June 21 for about half an hour.

The good
-It looks sexy :)
-It handles very well, and very direct
-Light weight and gutsy for an atmo 2.0L
-It will be showered with after market stuff
-Bonnet is really light. Aluminium?


The Bad
It's a coupé not a hatch :( = no room to throw the bikes in.
The steering wheel is too flat and I hit my knee :(
The front inner guards are made of plastic
Stock 17x7" wheels that look naff. (The GTS wheels are much nicer but still only 7" wide.)
Spare wheel makes a huge lump in the boot
Sounds myeh, but it's a stocker.

The UGLY
-Electronic Throttle suck BALLS!!!
-On every example I've seen the front quarter panel paint is hideous orange peel (especially on the red ones.)

The real deal breaker for me at this stage is that it's not a lift back. There's plenty of space in the boot, especially with the rear seats down that fold flat. But the boot opening is just paltry. I know I said I'd grab one on release and affording one isn't an issue. I'm pretty sure I'll grab one in a few years, after a face lift, they release a turbo model and hopefully a lift back. That said one of these with the 1GR-FE 4.0L RWD V6 from the Hilux with it's manual box and the TRD supercharger kit...

Cheers
Jordan

Saikou
3rd July 2012, 12:04 AM
I enjoyed my joy ride, at a local dealership where I've got my order. I really like the seats position both on passenger and driver.
No real issue, maybe the back seats hardly having any room? Then again it has more room the the Supra MkIV, but way less then my soarer jzz30 =(.
On the plus side, boot space is good + putting the rear seats down even more boot space =D.

My second change of getting a hachi roku lolz. can't wait.

AJPS
3rd July 2012, 01:13 AM
-Bonnet is really light. Aluminium?

The front inner guards are made of plastic

Stock 17x7" wheels that look naff. (The GTS wheels are much nicer but still only 7" wide.)


There's plenty of space in the boot, especially with the rear seats down that fold flat. But the boot opening is just paltry. I know I said I'd grab one on release and affording one isn't an issue. I'm pretty sure I'll grab one in a few years, after a face lift, they release a turbo model and hopefully a lift back. That said one of these with the 1GR-FE 4.0L RWD V6 from the Hilux with it's manual box and the TRD supercharger kit...

yep its aluminium

plastic guards are a good thing - catering for tubs etc here

the wheels are designed to be changed by any one who cares

I think you're dreaming re: lift back and turbo from toyota

rumours of subaru doing a turbo one....

oz_eight6
3rd July 2012, 01:17 AM
mate picked up his one last week, sweet car, interior on the GT is very toyota yaris, all plastic with face pitted leather inserts, but the GT is lighter for sure, seats are nice and tight and hug you like a proper bucket seat should,

accelleration is good, but torque is very low below 3.5k, turning feels like your in a front wheel drive almost with the amount of grip before the back end comes out

all things considered the car is priced really well compared to any other 2 door coupe rwd on the market right now.

recon toyota will bring out a trd supercharged power up pack

On the rumour front,

info i have so far is that the factory ecu hold a few options that can be unlocked like the windows going up or down from the remote (although this might be a factory option om the GTS)

also the subara version is supposedly even lighter as the subi engineers in oz are trying to get every last drop of weight out the car before it goes on sale in oz

jimmy19650
3rd July 2012, 01:45 PM
I drove a base model manual last week. Ive owned over 20 AE86s since 1983, and currently have 4. Sadly, I wont be ordering a new one in the current spec. The ADM AE86 performed better. Either the one I drove had been thrashed or there was computer issues, but it just didnt perform. It felt as if there was a restrictor fitted that stopped the engine from revving freely. Even in 2nd gear with the throttle planted, It didnt want to rev cleanly. I cant imagine the 86 I drove getting even close to the performance advertised. Yes it was well balanced and handled well, interior and seats were good.

Walked in next door and test drove a Scirroco R, holly shit. That made me smile.

I think I will have to reserve my final judgement until I test drive another one, otherwise, I will be a sad Hachi enthusiast.

Matt
3rd July 2012, 01:46 PM
Not a rumour but haltech have one running their ecu now as we speak and it is very likely that a plug n play option will be available given the complexity of the wiring harnesses.

AJPS
3rd July 2012, 02:01 PM
Not a rumour but haltech have one running their ecu now as we speak and it is very likely that a plug n play option will be available given the complexity of the wiring harnesses.

that musta been a fuckin headache to do

rthy
3rd July 2012, 05:37 PM
The UGLY
-Electronic Throttle suck BALLS!!!

and i thought i was the only one :S

Matt
5th July 2012, 04:31 PM
You do get used to them..

Stain
5th July 2012, 05:38 PM
I drove a gts manual few days ago... Big mistake... Now I've been trying to find ways to afford one!

Very little I'd change about them... Suspension and wheels of course... Maybe exhaust, but Toyota have done a awesome fucking job.

Oh well. Give me 2 years and I'll be in a position to own one. :)

zookieboi
8th July 2012, 02:19 AM
i testdrove a red gts auto and i must say that i am impressed with the seats and interior layout. The steering feels so nice and so does everything else about it really. had no complaints although it was a short test drive ( 5 min )

As soon as i sell my car im buying one :) i was planning on a white one but seems alot of people are getting them so possibly red or orange.

McLEVIN
8th July 2012, 09:33 AM
Test drove a manual gt. Uninspiring interior glad I opted for the gts

Saikou
8th July 2012, 08:24 PM
As soon as i sell my car im buying one :) i was planning on a white one but seems alot of people are getting them so possibly red or orange.

my local dealer had no orders for white, it was mainly black and other colours. I got the first order for a white one at my local dealer =D

Evo605
9th July 2012, 02:27 AM
I want one

zookieboi
9th July 2012, 11:06 AM
I'm wondering if there will be a supercharged version in which case I'll wait.

AJPS
9th July 2012, 03:02 PM
drove one pretty hard in the hills

GTS manual

very impressed

tyres were shit

everything (for a stock car @ 29,990) was perfect

didnt realise the steering was telescopic as well so could have seat back and wheel back (like long boss kit)

some cool features

ecko
16th July 2012, 11:39 PM
Possilby a repost but good none the less
Scotty' a tassie guy who used to judge our local drift series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA9ppkLOqCA&feature=share

Matt
17th July 2012, 12:02 AM
Shockworks sticker @ 6:46. great concise review

Nikkojoe
17th July 2012, 12:11 AM
It's also in the Current MOTOR magazine ;)

dove grey 64
17th July 2012, 06:45 PM
It's also in the Current MOTOR magazine ;)



yeah ponch the guy who wrote the motor article wrote "now geoffs sprinter is fitted with shockwave coilovers"
i read that and sighed, i'll ask him to fix that up in the next issue
scotty did a great article in unique cars

AJPS
18th July 2012, 01:08 PM
wrote "now geoffs sprinter is fitted with shockwave coilovers"


surfs up :yeah:

sprinter666
18th July 2012, 10:10 PM
Drove a GTS on test drive, went well engine pulled well,, clutch was reallt light which was nice, i dont like electronic throttle but what can you do i never do in any car, GTS interior is nice due to the fancy bits like push button, clutch reallllly light, but i couldnt justify the 45 k for leather, a shift light,bigger wheels and push button start plus gps and all that i dont need it thats why i have a smart phone, ordered a GT in white, wheels can be upgraded, interior changed, its not a race car for me so i dontn eed big brakes and im sure the ones on it are more than sufficient for a spirited driver. fun little car cant wait to have it next month

Matt
5th September 2012, 12:47 AM
From edmunds.com



Acceleration: Additional grip changes launch technique slightly. Best launch was at 5,500 rpm. Tires hook up quicker and there's no real bog. Otherwise, nothing has changed from the original setup.
Braking: Definitely got better result here. Solid, consistent pedal feel. I suspect additional grip would mean dead brakes sooner on a track.
Handling:
Skid pad: At last, real grip! After several trial-and-error tire pressure experiments we settled at 38.5 psi when hot which produced the best feedback, response and balance.
We started the tires at 37.5 psi warm (street driving plus one lap of the pad in each direction after entering the speedway) because that's roughly where the tire shop left them — 35 psi cold, I presume. However, after five or six slalom passes they apparently warmed up even more — to 40 psi. After establishing both slalom and skid pad numbers at that pressure we dropped it — significantly. Went down to 34.5 psi. Did this for two reasons. First, we wanted to make a big enough change so that we could feel it. Second, 40 seemed way too high at this point.
At 34.5 psi hot there was significantly less response to steering input and the balance suffered on the pad. Understeer was more prominent and the car felt sluggish to come back from an understeering condition. Slalom times didn't change much but times around the pad slowed down measurably. It made the big change we were looking for, but it wasn't good. So we pumped them back up to 38.5 psi hot.
At 38.5 the skid pad times improved again and both response and feel were back. This seemed to be the sweet spot where both skid pad lap times and feel were the best so that's where I left it. From there, we experienced immense grip without compromise — very impressive for a wheel/tire swap.
Slalom: Feels marginally less tail happy compared to the stock trim. Confident in quick transitions and retains the excellent feedback of stock setup. Predictable, quick and fairly easy to drive here. First run was quicker than stock.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CFmCOYdlbKM

Matt
5th September 2012, 02:12 PM
review from the west Australian...



The first thing you notice is the harshness of the ride. It is right on the edge of being uncomfortable, especially when you get off smooth freeway and highway surfaces and into the suburbs.

It is around this time that you also notice just how much road noise you can hear in the cabin.

At low speed the six-speed manual transmission also seems a lot notchier, with the journey from first to second not as smooth as you would like.

But each time you drive into a roundabout or corner with extra speed, all is forgiven. The 86 is simply a joy to drive, even for older guys like myself who take a little longer to climb up out of the low-slung, body-hugging sport seats than we once did.



For the full article have a squiz over here at http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/motors/a/-/motors/14756009/86-reasons-why-this-is-a-suburban-superstar/

Matt
17th September 2012, 09:25 AM
Review from the Top Gears Jeremy Clarkson



"This is hysterical. They've certainly given it a loose back end, as they say in reviewing circles. Often, with an engine of that smallness, you don't have the power to hold a slide, but you can in this. Normally you run out of ability before you run out of power, but this slides forever... It's brilliantly good fun."



The top gear guys at the Toyota 86 at their track, and for the full article have a read here...

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/1000-miles-toyota-gt86-2012-09-10

Matt
17th September 2012, 09:27 AM
"This is hysterical. They've certainly given it a loose back end, as they say in reviewing circles. Often, with an engine of that smallness, you don't have the power to hold a slide, but you can in this. Normally you run out of ability before you run out of power, but this slides forever... It's brilliantly good fun."

These are just some of Jeremy Clarkson's thoughts following his first spirited meeting with Toyota's new GT86 at the Top Gear track. And if you've been following reactions to the car since its launch, you'll recognize the sentiment.

Since the GT86 (and its identical twin the Subaru BRZ) was first put into the hands of the public, a rough consensus seems to have formed. This £25K, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, boxer-engined, mechanically-diffed coupe is a welcome, and long overdue return to affordable, uncomplicated, oversteery goodness. An analogue hero in the Japanese tradition of the MX-5 or the car's own predecessor the AE86, dispensing with the tiresome tech-wizardry of the modern age to put simple fun back in the hands of the driver.

It's a formula that saw it voted the winner of Top Gear magazine's recent Speed Week adventure, where despite its lack of outright pace, the humble Toyota saw off cars worth ten times as much to be dubbed our performance car of the year (even though, as Jeremy pointed out, to him it was "a hideous thing to behold").

This is, however, likely to be most owners' only car, something that will not only be thrashed around the ‘Ring, but also driven there and back. It's going to live as a car in the real world far more than it is smoking rear tyres, And so, ahead of Speed Week, when asked if we wanted to pick up one of the very first European examples in Barcelona and drive it back to the UK, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

There were, however, conditions. One: we were picking the car up on Sunday in Barcelona. For logistical reasons, it needed to be in the UK at dawn on Tuesday. For the route we were planning, that meant around 1800km in 36 hours, almost all autoroute. Sleep deprivation and cruise control, not oversteery fun, were on the agenda.

Two: as this was all was rather last minute, it was to be a solo trip. Nobody to share the driving, proffer nourishing packets of crisps, peer at maps, moan about my recent unaccountable love of early 1970s prog rock, take carefully crafted pictures, or burrow around for change at the countless peages. While not in the league of Top Gear's recent five day coast to coast jaunt across the US in a Focus ST, it remained a somewhat daunting quest.

We find the car parked up in front of a hotel high on Mount Tibidabo above Barcelona, surrounded by a distinctly uncurious wedding party clutching champagne flutes. To those who don't live and breathe brand-new Japanese coupes, it's clearly a fairly anonymous proposition, although I'm impressed by some of the finer detail. The specially commissioned ‘GT86' badges look good, the four cutouts supposedly representing four wheels drifting, with two pistons fore and aft in honour of the horizontally opposed boxer engine. As does the red inverted triangle on the central rear fog lamp (I'll be seeing a lot of this in the coming hours: it's also woven into the pattern on the carbon-fibre effect dash, as well as the seat stitching).

Famously, the car has been designed so that with the seats down you can get four spare wheels in the back, but for now, with the seats up, it easily swallows my weekend bag and provisions (mainly crisp-based). The headrests are also reversible to allow helmet-wearers the required room, but without Stig (or indeed anyone) as my co-pilot, this won't be much use for now. Punching ‘Calais' into the sat nav (a dispiriting 1,671 km hence on our chosen route), we head off.

A major Mediterranean city full of excitable Iberians with somewhere to be - quickly - on their Sunday afternoon isn't the ideal place to acquaint yourself with one of the only GT86s in Europe. But this not an intimidating car in town, at all. The low-down, reclined driving position is superb, although, at six foot four, I'm concerned about the potential long distance comfort of the tight-hugging seats. Because that boxer engine is set so low, you've got two raised front haunches above the headlights in your view at all times (much like a 911, or more prosaically, any new Mini), so it's easy to thread through narrow gaps. There's also a fine widescreen view aft, thanks to the frameless rear-view mirror (something that hasn't made it to the BRZ). The steering's weighty, the gearshift mechanically crisp, and the audio system has synced to my 70s prog rock playlist faultlessly. Good start.

Once clear of buzzing mopeds and battered Ibizas, I settle into the first long yomp of the trip to the Pyrenees along the N7. With only 200bhp, the motorway is where I'd expected the most famous complaint about the GT86 - its perceived lack of torque - to show itself while overtaking, but this doesn't prove a problem. Because as the landscape turns pure spaghetti western, I see about five cars in the next four hours.

Without foe to dispatch, or anyone to talk to, there's plenty of time to get to know the car. Again, like a new 911, the GT86 has a system to dispense induction noise into the cabin to keep excitement levels up, but it never gets boomy, and at high speed is easily drowned out by Can's classic 70s smash Halleluwah. The dash layout is straightforward, with a digital speedo under a central rev counter, rendering the analogue speedometer to its left superfluous. I don't think I looked at it once. And in GT mode, the ride's just the right side of firm: when the motorway breaks up you do get some judder through the transmission and body, but not enough to truly annoy the likes of James May.

Despite the sat nav deciding that a diversion via a cul de sac and a completely deserted manure processing plant in deepest Monzon would add to the fun, I reach the Pyrennes in the midst of a beautiful sunset in high spirits. Approaching the tunnel through clouds of sun-dappled clouds of early-summer insects, a French registered BMW M3 emerging in the other direction toots and gives a thumbs up. The first piece of human contact in almost five hours. I feel a bit emotional: to paraphrase Ferris Bueller, if you have the chance to drive across the Spanish/French border on the N7 at sunset, we highly recommend it.

From there, it's just a measly hundred kilometres or so to a friend's house in a village near Pau, where the locals emerge to coo over the gently ticking Toyota, and I oblige with a couple of joy rides. Clearly, rear-wheel drive Japanese coupes are more a French than Spanish thing. 1,080 km to go...

Early the next morning, despite evening prayers for an overnight rewriting of the laws of space and time, the remaining kilometres still reads 1,080 km. And we have to catch the last Eurotunnel of the day. But it's a promising start: clearly, the sat nav is feeling bad for making me look at animal waste products in a Spanish layby yesterday, so sets a route to Bordeaux that takes in what can only be described as a series of gravel rally stages through a stunning part of south-western France.

Mindful of my mission - to return this car in impeccable photoshoot spec without bits hanging off and at least some tyres left - self-discipline is required. Lots of driving left to do, and tractors and wandering sheep abound. So the traction control ‘off' button remains untouched, the manual hand-brake within easy reach of the right hand is ignored, and I content myself with reaffirming how dynamically well-engineered this car is. Turn in, place, throttle and go. Jeremy was absolutely right.

Self-discipline that is sorely regretted 200km later. Is there anything more dispiriting than a sat nav chirpily singing ‘continue... for 480 kilometres'? The Bordeaux to Paris leg begun, with only the occasional fuel/baguette stop for ‘entertainment', before a final trek to Calais. Set cruise control to 135 km/h...

As with any mind-numbing marathon of miles, it was about now that fairly inconsequential details about the car started to grate. A high-mounted stop lamp set above the back seats sits squarely in your rear view, and is a constant distraction in your peripheral vision as you're checking for approaching cars. The carbon fibre trim is fake. The pattern the screen wash makes post-wipe isn't very pretty. And I really should have loaded more music onto my phone, or brought an iPod: there's no ‘skip track' button on the steering wheel, and having to lean over and press a button on the radio to avoid hearing Can's classic 70s smash Halleluwah for the fifth time becomes unaccountably annoying.

Still, the tight-hugging sports seats remain remarkably comfortable throughout, and with time ticking on I'm grateful for the French people's impeccable motorway manners: approach in outside lane, indicate to the central reservation, and to a monsieur et madame they pull over. One worry about the car is dispelled: the torque proves enough to get past all comfortably while staying legal.

Well, until Paris. Given its idiosyncracies to date, I'm concerned at how the sat nav is going to handle the Paris periphique, which could have been designed as the ultimate stress test for any GPS system. A cacophonous, confusing and narrow series of tunnels and flyovers, with undertaking bikers and diesel-belching HGVs leaving inches of give as they career past, I need a solid virtual wingman to see me through.

Half way round, a biker kicks up a rock, which puts a big stone chip directly in my line of vision. This becomes a moot point five minutes later, when I run out of screen wash and the stone chip mingles with the bodies of countless insects. But the sat nav holds firm in the face of urban adversity, and we hurl together at escape velocity out of Paris' northern suburbs and onto the home stretch.

With the time of the last Eurotunnel train now only three hours away, and the time to Calais reading three hours, there's no time for such niceties as refilling screen wash. I hit the Autoroute des Anglais (familiar to all Le Mans veterans) and watch the second wonderful sunset of the trip through a miasma of dead invertebrate and bloodshot iris. But with ‘miles to travel' is in the low hundreds and Paris dispatched, it's time to relax and acknowledge that there are very few brand new £25K cars that I'd rather have done this trip in.

OK, there are more refined cars, less thirsty cars, more spacious cars, and faster cars in the price range. But the GT86 ticks those four boxes more than adequately (we recorded 32.1 mpg for the entire trip), and brings both a sense of occasion and the knowledge that, if the roads get more fun, you'll be having more fun too. For all its harking back to a bygone age, it's quite unlike anything else you can buy new today (other than a Subaru BRZ, of course).

Making the final train at midnight on a Monday, and having avoided a potentially disastrous last-minute wheel kerbing while loading, there's plenty of time to inspect the quite astonishing range of splattered death on the front (Belgian) reg. Sole company on the train carriage is two bikers on matching KTMs, who recognize the car immediately and give it the final thumbs up of the trip. The GT86 definitely seems to get more popular the further north you get. On hearing I'm from Top Gear they go on to inform me, at length and in detail, the exact reasons why Jeremy Clarkson is wrong about everything in the world, ever.

Delivering the car back to HQ in the witching hours, I receive the potentially dispiriting news - delivered in the kind of patient, gentle tone of voice you use for hair-trigger lunatics - that photoshoot logistics being what they are, it now isn't actually required this morning. My mind goes back to a series of gravel stages in deepest south-west France, but it's too late now.

I don't really mind, or maybe I'm just too tired to think straight. It's done now: 1803.4 km of driving in a GT86, with over 19.5 hours on the road, and not a single moment of hysterical oversteer. And we still like it.

ill-minded
19th December 2012, 11:46 AM
Took my brother's GT for a belt last night. Very impressed with it for the short drive I did. Not much to complain about and was even quite happy with how the drive by wire felt. I'd still prefer a cable, but it feels like a remarkable improvement over any other car I've driven with. The standard suspension even feels great. The engine feels a little doughy at lower revs, but not terribly so. Feels great once you hit 5,000RPM though.

Also quite liked how easy the car felt to drive, but that could have been because my car is a pain in the arse in that regard, haha.

ahstwin
19th December 2012, 12:52 PM
Drove one a couple months ago after the initial release in South Australia. First off: Sitting in it feels like The only things between my butt and the road were a thin sheet of aluminium and about 50 mm of air. That didn't stop the car from behaving, and if anything, allowed it to handle like a dream. Steering is responsive and feels great going around mid-speed bends. The power is a bit lacking in the "snap neck" acceleration department but you know the power is there once you hit higher RPM. My manual driving at the time was a bit rusty and I found it a bit hard to find fifth gear and instead got third which was a bit embarrassing. A nice leather steering wheel ensures that my hands have a nice massage while I'm gripping le wheel.

Matt
22nd August 2013, 01:37 PM
Pretty keen to hear from you guys who have them as a daily... what do you love about them , what do you hate.

ae8zn6
23rd August 2013, 01:33 AM
Just shy of the 22222kms photo, whats not to love?

R&D Mechanical
6th September 2013, 08:42 PM
I love these cars, they are an awesome kit for how much you pay. I have driven quite a few now all different specs (GT man + auto and GTS man and auto) and even the auto isnt that bad the paddle shift rev blip it does is a bit full on at times when you're not racing around (look like a wanker).

Even though the GTS has 'better' brakes then the GT it still fades very quick and the ABS is very trigger happy due to the prius tyres.

All in all great car stock but if i was to get one it would be:

GT manual
Shockworks coilovers
better wheels and tyres
better brake pads maybe even slotted rotors
little exhaust for some note
gut out the intake to cabin noise filter

not sure what else haha turbos would be great but to do it properly would be a full engine rebuild due to very very weak pistons

ae8zn6
7th September 2013, 01:40 AM
Well, Today I hit 23000kms. For those who are after my honest opinion here it is:

Car GTS manual.

I haven't been shy about saying I love the car, I really do. I also don't think it is particularly underpowered. There is useful torque available pretty much throughout the rev range, with the top end being a bit more pronounced. It makes you want to chase the upper range a little more than in most cars because it rewards you for doing so. It is also a very involving car to drive, you could easily get done for speeding without intending to because you just get caught up in driving. Whilst the motor is different in MANY ways, it still puts me in mind of my old JDM 4age bigport that I had in my old white car. Yes, it sounds different and yes its a filthy subaru boxer etc, but the connection is more about the feeling you get and the way you drive to get the best out of it. Handling: amazing, so perfectly balanced, I haven't driven another (standard) car that has felt better. It can teach you a lot about weight transfer if you are new to performance driving. AND because it isn't stupidly overpowered you can get subtleties like gaining rear end grip when you step on the gas a little and transfer the weight back there after braking. I also love that it is under tyred. It just makes it show those characteristics at a reasonable speed range. If you want to do legitimate motorsport, or drive properly fast they will need to go. As for me, I just drive the car on the street, so I think they are perfect. Fuel consumption is also a strong point. I was getting ridiculously good mileage when I was back over East because I was doing almost only highway kms. Now that I am in WA I do mostly driving in traffic and I still average around 7.5L/100km which is a pretty damn good figure for a sports car. It is also very comfortable, and despite some initial concerns as to the quality of some of the central switches, they are still all perfect.

My Quibles:
6th gear could be a TINY bit taller
The 'sports' mode for traction control is located right where I rest my arm when I have it on the shifter... my watch occasionally activates it.
The GPS system warns you of speed cameras a long way away, and constantly beeps as you approach them... I could probably fix this though if I played with the settings.
I would have preferred if they had a rear wiper
I would have also liked it to have been a hatch, with the shape of the car I think it would have been doable (whatever).

To those considering buying one: I would take the GTS, you get a bunch of goodies for not that much coin, it is nice to never have to fish you keys out of your pocket and that your stereo just automatically connects to your phone and starts playing music where you last had it paused. They also look cooler with the LED DRLs etc. Also the Heated seats are amazing ;) and with the digital speedo right there in the middle I don't think I have ever even glanced in the general direction of the analog one, it is a really nice touch

I mean if you were building a track car (out of a brand new street car) then you have a lot more cash that me for a start, lol and you will be pulling out all of the upgrades anyway so it would be a no brainer to get the GT. But as a street car, the GTS gives you a fair amount more for a lot less than you could do it yourself.


If I were Mr Toyota and was going to improve it I would change to a mechanical differential and make 6th a tiny bit taller and that is all.

Mech diff for two reasons
a. I come from a drift background so mech > torsen
b. you could remove the 'auto LSD' function that people mistake for stability control and as such put there car in diagnostic mode all the time for (which I don't because I think it is silly). You do have to be going FAST to activate the auto LSD thingy.

Anyway, that is my 2c.

The car is awesome straight out of the box and it is kind of like a modern, comfortable ae86... kind of