We know the Toyota 86 is a fun car to drive and it’s no coincidence that Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) have chosen the marketing slogan, ‘Go Play’. While the Toyota 86 isn’t the most powerful of sports cars by today’s standards, if it were launched back in 2005 it would have rivaled the Volkswagen Golf GTI for power and performance. In other words, it’s not slow either.
On the local launch in Limpopo, Toyota gave media a safe environment to ‘go play’ in, at the Malelane airport. Out in the real-world, however, owners who explore and enjoy the limits of their new 86 are unlikely to have that luxury. Just as well that the Toyota engineers have done their homework on the car’s structure and safety.
The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) has put the US-market Scion FR-S (the same as our Toyota 86 and upcoming Subaru BRZ) through a series of crash tests. The tests included a front, side, and rear crash, as well as a rollover simulation to test the strength of the roof. In all tests the car earned top marks. Being a lightweight and compact sports car, the results may not be all that surprising, but the safer the better, especially considering the more youthful and exuberant personalities who are likely to own one.
The first crash test video shows a side impact at 50 km/h, while the second video shows the results of an off-set, head-on impact.
