Toyota GT 86 finally revealed
This is the car that’ll make Toyota sexy again
By Shahzad Sheikh
No more teasing. Ahead of the Tokyo motor show, the European arm of the Japanese giant has revealed the European edition of the all-new sports car that we have so far known as FT-86 in concept form. As expected the ‘86’ part of the name has been kept in homage to the Corolla GT (or Levin) AE86 it was inspired by.
And we have some hard facts for you:
- It is a four-seater sports car
- The engine is a 2.0-litre flat-four boxer engine producing 197bhp at 7000rpm and 151lb ft of torque at 6600rpm – this car is being produced in partnership with Subaru, hence the boxer engine
- Front-engined, rear wheel drive only with limited slip differential – it’s meant to drift!
- It will be called GT 86 in Europe and goes on sale June of 2012
- It’s 4240mm long, 1285mm high and 2570 wide
- 53:47 front-to-rear weight distribution
- Very low centre of gravity of 475mm
- 17-inch wheels
- Twin exhausts
- ‘86’ piston logo to indicate flat-four
The press release says: ‘The ABS and switchable vehicle stability control systems have been tuned specifically to deliver dynamic stability at the limit of the car’s performance envelope with minimal electronic intervention to help preserve the purity of the driving experience,’ which we interpret as ‘this car is meant to drift!’.
Toyota has fitted its smallest steering wheel ever trimming it in buckskin – apparently its test drivers reported that’s the material that offered the best grip. Inside it’s lost some of the theatrics and fantasy of previous concept cars, but gets a simple no-nonsense layout based around the driver.
We’re hoping to see this in the region by middle of next year too, at prices that will make it extremely tempting!
