The wait for the most hotly anticipated (and teased, may we add..) sports cars of the year, the production version of the Toyota FT-86 coupé, is finally over as the Japanese automaker came out with all the details ahead of the car’s world premiere at the at the Tokyo motor show on November 30.
The anticipated GT 86 nameplate is a nod to the company’s sporty AE86 Corolla of the mid 1980s and is one half of the joint venture rear-wheel-drive sports car shared with Subaru and dubbed the ‘Toyobaru’.
The GT 86 is the result of a joint Toyota and Subaru development programme that will spawn two more models, the global Subaru BRZ that will also make its debut in Tokyo next week in production trim, and the North American market Scion FR-S.
The Toyota GT 86 production car stays faithful to the FT-86 concept cars the company has show, with some detail differences that include the headlights changing from a triangular to teardrop shape.
Subaru, which will also reveal its BRZ twin at the 2011 Tokyo motor show this week, is responsible for providing the majority of mechanicals for the sports car, though Toyota contributes a number of its own parts such as direct fuel injection technology that creates a more modern take on Subaru’s trademark horizontally opposed “boxer” engine.
In the Toyota GT 86 the 2.0-litre four-cylinder produces 147 kW of power at 7 000 r/min, with a relatively low torque figure of 205 Nm arriving at 6 600 r/min – suggesting drivers should expect an engine that will thrive on high revs rather than mid-range grunt. Toyota, though, says a high compression ratio of 12.5:1 “provides high output and high torque over a wide range of engine speeds and contributes to improved environmental performance”.
A standard six-speed manual gearbox with a short-throw lever, or an optional six-speed automatic transmission, that can be controlled using paddle shifts mounted on the steering wheel, drive the rear wheels via a limited slip differential.
Toyota says that both the powertrain and the driving position have been set “as low and as far back as possible to achieve the best balance” with the GT 86 boasting a near-perfect 53:47 front-to-rear weight distribution – though the company has not yet announced the car’s weight.
The suspension features MacPherson struts at the front and double wishbones at the rear, while the standard version of the car rides on 17-inch wheels (18-inch for the JDM model) and is fitted with ventilated disc brakes all around.
The interior design of the sports coupé is generally uncluttered featuring a three-meter instrument cluster arranged around a large tachometer and a large center screen for the audio and navigation systems. The dashboard gets a carbon-effect trim, while there’s all-black roof lining, red stitching on the upholstery, aviation-style rocker switches and lightweight, aluminium pedals.The GT 86 is also fitted with 365 mm diameter steering wheel, which is said to be the smallest ever fitted to a production Toyota.
A modest 0 – 100 km/h acceleration time of seven seconds has been estimated by some members of the European motoring media who have driven prototypes of the Toyota GT 86, though while straight-line performance doesn’t look set to much of a selling point, ultra-compact dimensions (at 4 240 mm it’s only fractionally longer than a VW Golf), a low centre of gravity, 17-inch wheels and a sub-1 200 kg kerb weight promise greater thrills on winding roads when the car goes on sale in South Africa next year.
