Redefining the sports car

Toyota has traditionally been known to be a conservative car maker being famous for making very safe but boring cars such as the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla Altis and rugged Hilux models. Toyota left a long gap between sports car models such the MRS which was not really considered a true sports cars as it did not have the real performance nor the handling that sports car enthusiasts were looking for.

After almost 10 years since the last Supra rolled off the production line, Toyota finally introduced the GT86 which created quite a stir in the motoring industry. This is especially so when most car makers were obsessed with power and speed. The average new sports car now comes with 300hp or more and is capable of 0-100km/h in under 5 seconds. Toyota went back to the roots of sports car dynamics and made a car that made everyone remember how a real sports car is suppose to be like. Light weight, nimble, good handling, and sufficient power to have fun with.

The new GT86 is all that with good handling, sufficient power and have the correct front engine rear drive layout to enable the drive to get the tail out to have some serious fun. This car plugs the gap between the Mazda MX-5 and more powerful sports cars. The Mazda MX-5 have gotten a bit too large and too heavy as its dimension kept growing with the introduction of each new model. For the GT 86 some might argue that the car needs more power since it only has 197hp which is relatively low for a sports car in this current era. However with a low body weight the 197hp is sufficient to have fun with. For those who want more power there are always tuning kits from Japan which have already emerged.

The GT86 also filled a void where there were no sports car model in the Toyota stable for the mass market. Their next sports car, well actually a super car was the Lexus LFA which is cost more than 10 times more than the GT86 and is out of reach for 90% of the population. Making an affordable and simple sports car makes good sense for a time like this where people still want to buy a sports car but do not want to shell out over US$50,000 for it.

In the Malaysian context, selling this car may be an uphill battle for Toyota as the pricing (after tax) is not in their favour. At RM243,000 (for the manual version), it is competing in the same league as the VW Scirocco 2.0 Turbo, VW Golf R, Renault Megane, Civic Type R, Subaru Impreza STi and of course a used Porsche Cayman S (2006 model). All these cars offer more power and torque. I believe the GT86 will be reserved for a selected few who are true enthusiasts.