Monday 11 am – Guys here have the keys to the Toyota GT-86, the deposit is filled. Have fun!
Well, it was with this kindness that one of Salvador Caetano's managers gave us the sports car that had the most ink circulating in the international press. All that was missing was a pat on the back and the typical “good luck” which in this case was replaced by a much more promising “have fun”. Know a better way to start the week? We do not.
At the risk of repeating what has been written and rewritten over and over again about this car, I will say it anyway: The Toyota GT-86 is a car that does not adhere to the conventions in force in the automotive industry. While other brands launch models that, with so many components they share, end up being all the same, Toyota, in partnership with Subaru, launched a model developed from scratch to be a sports car. You will not find in this model the Auris brakes, the Avensis suspension or the Yaris engine. No, everything here was thought out and designed exclusively for this function: making a sports car.
The engine follows the same philosophy. While other brands choose to use turbos and engines with a smaller displacement, Toyota opted for the traditional "recipe": an atmospheric engine, available in various regimes and with a generous capacity of 2,000cc of displacement, far from the 1,400cc or 1,600cc of other European powertrains.
But would repeating past recipes in the present have been a good option? That's what we'll try to find out going forward. Fasten your belt!
On the road: the surprise
Key in hand, seat adjusted, seat belt fastened and off we went to the Kartódromo Internacional de Palmela (KIP), circuit chosen to safely «squeeze» everything this model has to offer. We took advantage of the ride from Lisbon to Palmela, on a mixture of highway and national road, to confirm some surprises that we didn't expect at the start. The GT-86 has an unusual comfort for this type of car and visibility is extraordinary. We expected a rougher step and a more virile posture. Needless to say, the trip took place in no time…
When we arrived at our destination, we drew lots to find out who was driving first (I cheated…) and it fell to me the “work” of giving the inaugural tour of the palmelão circuit. I confess I was apprehensive. Toyota spent almost a year trying to convince us that 200hp of power is more than enough to create a true sports car. Is it just marketing or is it really true?
I didn't know what to think anymore, what I had felt on the highway told me exactly the opposite. The engine seemed short for the "flights" the chassis promised. Luckily I was wrong…oh how wrong I was! It seems that curiosity to try out each button that made up the simplistic dashboard of the GT-86 had made me forget what I wrote here, in an essay on fun behind the wheel.
On the circuit: the chassis revealed itself
When I arrived at the circuit, it only took 300 meters for my face to be attacked by a “goofy” smile, exactly the distance that measured between the point of my departure and the first corner of the circuit. The dice were cast.
Away from the monotony of the highway, the Toyota GT-86 was finally like a fish in water: on a circuit. The chassis was beginning to show the first signs of being exactly what Toyota said it was. And it was! The understanding between me and the Toyota GT-86 was immediate, we seemed like longtime friends. So much so that at the end of just three laps I thought it was time to take our "friendship" to another level. Which is to say, I turned off the electronic aids.
So, the time had come to punish the tires and exorcise the chassis… Drifts followed each stroke of the steering wheel, and transported the linear moment created by the drift of the rear, from one curve to the other, with the greatest of ease. That's how the Toyota felt, to be challenged. By this time, there was no longer any doubt that he had discovered its nature: «acrobatic» driving.
Part of this «acrobatic» naturalness is due to the magnificent electronic steering with which the Japanese equipped the GT-86. Directly and with a very good degree of assistance, it helps (and in what way…) to be able to point the car towards the imaginary line that we draw in our minds for fractions of a second before, once again, crushing the accelerator without impiety. Time and time again...
All this ease is not unrelated to the rigidity of the chassis and its lightness. Toyota advertises just over 1,200 kg in weight for the GT-86. Thanks to the chassis and the superb suspension set, even on the “tightest” circuits like the one at Palmela, it is possible to drive with a “knife in the teeth” without ever finding that there is little road for too many cars.
The engine: Neither more nor less...
The opposing four-cylinder engine, 2 liters of capacity and 200hp of power, developed in conjunction with the Japanese brand Subaru, is constantly referred to as the «poor relative» of the set. In fact, don't expect an engine capable of generating bone-crushing accelerations or altering the speed of the earth's rotation. None of that… It's an honest, predictable engine that lets itself be shaped by the accelerator.
It is a very "round" engine, capable of running with good disposition in any regime, without whims. We're just sorry that our Toyota GT-86 came equipped with an original automatic transmission. Something that took away some brilliance, and some fun factor on the track.
However, don't think from my words that the GT-86 is under-powered. Let's say… it has power with a count, weight and measure. Also because in truth, having "only" 200hp at the service of the right foot gives us extra confidence to perform "acrobatics" that in other cars, more powerful, we wouldn't even dare to do in such short contact. So don't see the "modest" 200hp of power as a defect, but rather as part of the very strong personality of this model.
An engine that, as I said earlier, was designed in accordance with a specification that had not been used for a long time in the automobile industry: opposite cylinders; atmospheric and with a "generous" displacement. An excellent starting point for lovers of change. There is a lot of potential lying dormant there, in an engine that is expected to have the reliability that is recognized by the Japanese brand. Because despite the brand insisting that 200hp is enough, I believe that «sufficient power» is a concept that for sports lovers is something that doesn't exist.
Conclusion: A modern car with “old guard” posture
After more than 5 hours of «torture» on the KIP and many more on the roads of Serra da Arrábida, we came to a conclusion: The Toyota GT-86 is an «old school» car.
Here there was no place for the usual turbos, “downsizing”, steering wheel controls or electronically piloted suspensions. The electronic aids are there, but they are disconnectable and don't interfere too much in events. They only intervene when our excess of optimism exceeds our capabilities. A time when we are no longer looking at the road but at the escape…
With the Toyota GT-86 the driver is once again the center of all the action, it is a step back in the car's emancipation. Finally, it is Man who decides again, it is not a computer that decides for us «when, where and why» our fun begins and ends. It is such a human car, so close to us, that it runs the risk of appearing out of date compared to other options on the market due to the simplicity of its engineering and conception.
And it really is a simple and “old school” car, but that's not bad. In practice, it's a car like the "long-lasting ones" but with modern-day design and some of the virtues of today's cars, such as the navigation system or the air conditioning.
Ironically, it's these analogue features – out of favor in this digital age – that will keep it current for years to come, and because there's nothing on the market similar to the Toyota GT-86 for less than €40,000 that offers a whole host of sensations and such a great gratification for so "little".
Congratulations Toyota, after the AE-86, Supra, MR2 and Célica you were a surprise again. Unfortunately, we believe this may be the last of your kind. But there you go, or in Japanese: Arigato Toyota!
