The meaning is, the ‘GR86’ would be better and more turbocharged. Yet is it a good thing, or something bad?
The adage that suggests that you should be selective about what you want seems to make the Toyota GT86 especially suited. Auto enthusiasts around the world have criticized the perceived lack of power. The ‘torque drain’ of the sports car since its introduction in 2012. And with information leaked from a recent dealer conference claiming that the new GT86 will be turbocharged. And will be good for more than 260bhp. All of these obvious problems should address.
However, the report had not uniformly received. And we see, in some ways, why. Whether or not this is a reasonable decision for what is due to be christened the ‘GR86’ is up to discussion. And we thought we’d place all the reasons on one page for and against the switch to power.
Let’s continue with the cons …
Criticize it as all you like underpowered, but the GT86 an extremely unique beast-a naturally-aspired sports car. That way, N / A luxury cars rock horse excrement with ambient rear-drive coupes? So far as the UK market is concerned, the only two non-supercar choices are an (expensive) Porsche Cayman GT4/GTS or a Ford Mustang GT (not a luxury car).
It is important to work hard on the FA20 Subaru flat-four (rebranded by Toyota as the ‘4U-GSE’), with a peak output of 197bhp touching 7000rpm. Yet is that not the key draw? Particularly when a sleek six-speed manual gearbox can be used to make the last-gasp change? And while 0-62 mph does not sound like anything in 7.6 seconds, it is probably fast enough for a decent country lane.
Conversely, the FA24 set for use in the ‘GR86’ makes its peak output at 5600rpm only. You’d think the top end would in for a little change until the engine heads into the Toyota and the jointly built BRZ of Subaru (now it used in more humdrum stuff), but even though it gave a close redline to the FA20, it not going to the engine you need to turn up to the limiter.
