Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
Image: Toyota
CAR senior journalist Kyle Kock got to grips with Toyota’s latest offering from its Gazoo Racing stable, the GR86 in the Eastern Cape. Exactly 10 years after the model was introduced here, its successor has landed to much anticipation from petrolheads, Toyota loyalists and enthusiasts of the classic sportscar driving experience alike.
Image: Toyota
Cheekily, as we drive down to the start line for the first drag race of the day, I stop in the middle of the strip while the other car crawls toward the cones that designate the starting line. One by one I turn off the GR86’s electronic nannies and perform a mock launch in each mode. By the time I line up against my rival, I’ve already figured that the quickest way to get the Japanese coupe off of the line is with the boxer singing its tune around 4 000 r/min…
Earlier that morning, after climbing into the cockpits of the assembled GR86s, members of the South African motoring media set off in the direction of Aldo Scribante Race Circuit from Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport. In an orderly fashion, we set off north with the palpable activities of the day looming. With my initial time in the car spent in the passenger seat to perform navigation duties, this afforded me enough time to get used to the cabin layout.
It’s similar to its predecessor, with notable exceptions in the dashboard that has been redesigned with a much stronger horizontal flow – this has affected the shape of the central vents (which are neat pair of horizontal blocks) and new infotainment system with a punchier six-speaker sound system (at the behest of previous generation owners). More notably, the transmission console now houses an armrest for the driver or front passenger that opens to reveal twin cupholders, and the steering wheel now has satellite controls for the radio and Bluetooth functions on the left hand, and a dial that can scroll through the digital instrument display.
Image: Toyota
Out on the open road at freeway speed, the larger displacement 2,4-litre horizontally opposed motor is also significantly smoother than the unit it replaces. Apparently, Toyota engineers were ordered to make it feel and sound different to its Subaru BRZ twin – at least more so than in its predecessors. Special attention has been given to controlling the levels of noise and vibration from within the cabin but that doesn’t mean to say that the GR86 is not loud, because its engine noise is cleverly channelled into the cabin via a speaker hidden behind the facia and it rises with more throttle input.
After a quick presentation, motoring scribes and presenters were split into three groups, with the group that I was in doing the drag racing component first. The driving instructors were a little vague as to the distance, but my educated guess would be that we had about 150 metres from cone to cone, before braking and turning around and racing back in the same direction in a best-of-three format. My initial exercise with the VSC system proved to be an advantage early on as my peers figured out how to get the GR86 off the mark. At 3 000 r/min, it’ll bog down, but at 4 500 r/min, you’ll light up the 215/40 R18 Michelins Pilot Sport 4s at the rear.
Image: Toyota
The next exercise was to lap the Aldo Scribante circuit, bar the main straight of course. I’m happy to report that in normal mode, with VSC still active, the GR86 will let the driver pivot the car significantly before stepping in. My highlights are the pedal layout, which is ideal for heel-toe manoeuvres just like the GT86, and quicker steering that allows for faster turn-in and therefore hanging out the rear end with less effort. Trust me, that can still happen with the electronic nannies active.
For the sake of bringing the cars home in one piece, we didn’t venture into track mode and VSC completely off, but got to play in these modes on the skidpan. For the vast majority of people, these modes are never going to be necessary, unless you’re entering a gymkhana or spinning competition.
To summarise this initial experience, the GR86 is aimed at purists… people like me. It’s nothing the GT86 wasn’t already, so it’s still fun to drive. There’s not only more power and torque (thank goodness Toyota listened to its GT86 owner base) which it could’ve had all along, but it’s also smoother to drive by being less peaky.
Read the full impression in the February 2023 issue of CAR.
Keyword: Toyota GR86 MT taken for a spin around the Eastern Cape – initial review