BREAKING: Toyota GT 86 Revealed!

[Evo_power]

Well they don't have many long last sports cars, really only one to my knowledge.

Their longest lasting sports car of all time is the Z car. Maybe if Toyota, Honda, and Mazda can figure out why Nissan can keep their sports cars alive and relivant and they can't it would be neat.

I wish there was a 200sx.

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by VTEC_Dreams

Given the choice between the Honda and the BRZ/GT86, I'd take the Honda. It's better for what I'd need it for, and I've already got my jolly rear drive car.

Funny you should mention that. The dealer holding my 86 deposit has an '08 Type R - the funky euro-styled version - in the yard, and an '06 350Z. I am going to drive them both.

But otherwise, I'm looking at turbo Foresters now. They tick all the boxes.

Originally Posted by Evo_power

I wish there was a 200sx.

Unfortunately, I'll be selling my baby shortly.

If I had the room I'd keep it, but I don't.

[Evo_power]

Turbo Forester? What are you a lesbian?

If you need extra utility get the WRX hatchback or some ****.

Also, is your 200sx a S14 or S15?

If it is an S15, I'll buy it from ya.

[Cooper "s"]

i second the hatchback wrx.

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by Evo_power

Turbo Forester? What are you a lesbian?

If you need extra utility get the WRX hatchback or some ****.

Also, is your 200sx a S14 or S15?

If it is an S15, I'll buy it from ya.

Another reason I'm ditching the 86 is to rearrange future plans with the missus. Its going to be our only car for a few months so it needs to be versatile. There's potential need fo a lot of long distance driving, and use off road, so 4WD and raised stance is requisite. The missus will be primary driver (I'll use the bike to commute, as usual), so she has to sign off, and she wants luxuries.

I REFUSE to get a WRX. Ordinarily I would refuse a Subaru outright, but the Forester so far ticks all the boxes for practicality with a bit of fun on the side, so I can put up with a clattering boxer if it means the most beef and best ride in its class.

It's an S14. S15s are soft, just for bitches.

[AaronH]

Originally Posted by Evo_power

If it is an S15, I'll buy it from ya.

Still pissed it never made it to the US.

[ElctrcTelsa]

See! My family isn't the only one that changes what they want!

From a small city going car to a Jeep.

This guy from the newest sportscar to a Forester.

Get off my lawn.

[Evo_power]

Your family is still retarded dude. The forester and the brz86frsgt are still remotely in the same price range. He's not allowing himself to be upsold just because he thinks he's getting a "good deal", his needs have changed, and his woman is starting to control more and more of his life.

...I want a blonde Australian broad...

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by ElctrcTelsa

This guy from the newest sportscar to a Forester.

Oh don't worry, I'm getting a real sports coupe further down the line. Rather than waste money on an 86 and a new bike I don't need, we're selling both our cars, getting one car that does everything, moving to a more central location, and saving massive dosh for travel, a house in Margaret River (google "paradise"), and somewhere in the near future, a real sports coupe. The kind with an I6, RWD, and german precision.

Originally Posted by Evo_power

The forester and the brz86frsgt are still remotely in the same price range.

86 GT is 34k on road, a used 3rd gen Forester turbo is 24k. Gaining 25k (est) from sale of Silvia and Focus. Saving 15k by not buying a Panigale ZX Triple SBR1000RRRR!R.

End result; newer car, no money spent, more money saved in the long run by only having one car, and most importantly, no debts accrued.

And for the record, she's brunette.

[Evo_power]

She have a sister?

I used to live next to a New Zealand girl once, she was a rower. I wanted to plow her pretty badly.

Yes, I did just say Kiwi's and Aussies are the same thing.

[Driftster]

As if the absurdly hyperbolic headline “The day the world changed” wasn’t enough of a tip-off , the hype machine for the Toyobaru twins has officially reached its zenith, with Wheels magazine’s Peter Robinson declaring the Japanese-spec Toyota 86 to be superior to the Porsche Cayman.

Reading Robinson’s article, it’s as if I’d experienced a different car than the two FR-S’ I’d already driven. Robinson rhetorically muses on whether the transmission is “…the best manual gearchange ever” (Not a chance) and praises the Toyobaru’s steering as being better than the Cayman’s. If you want to feel like you’re driving Polyphony Digital’s approximation of what a Miata feels like, then yes, it’s wonderful. Reading the rest of the article, you’d think that this car could cure cancer, re-ignite the spark in your floundering marriage and make your hairline stop receding.

When I wrote my first article on the hype surrounding this car, I was partly dismayed because I was prepared to go and buy one, with my own money – not as some corporate (or freebie) long-term tester. The reviews I’d read beforehand led me to believe that this was the one we had all been waiting for, the affordable sports car that would set the competition on fire and usher in a new era of focused, rear-drive machines that a punk like me could realistically afford. I tempered my expectations, hoping it was merely a blast to drive, rather than the Second Coming of Christ, but even then, the experience left something to be desired.

Make no mistake; it’s a good car. We need cars like this, badly. It really is light, nimble and engaging, it looks sharp and it’s priced accessibly. And yet, I couldn’t really connect with the car. I began to empathize with the reviewers who felt that the original Lexus LS400 was a well-made simulacrum of a European luxury sedan, but without the essential intangibles that make the car a superlative experience rather than just “good”.

Some people seem to think that I have a particular axe to grind with this car, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My issue is that the breathless praise of the Toyobaru is harmful to the car itself. The Toyobaru has numerous flaws that keep it from being truly great, but there’s no honor in obscuring them. The engine is a dud, there are instances of embarrassing corner-cutting evident in places that most people don’t look and the dynamics of the car feel more digital than analog – something that may be unavoidable in this era, but it remains a sore spot as long as the MX-5, with its hydraulic steering, frenetic I4 engine and unassailable manual gearbox exists in its current form. Even Randy Pobst, in his recent Motor Trend comparo, felt that the twins lagged behind the MX-5 in subjective driving pleasure.

From that vantage point, comparing it to a Cayman is asinine. The Cayman is better in every single respect, period. It’s also exponentially more expensive, built to a much higher standard and therefore, should be better. Robinson’s insistence to the contrary is disingenuous, and no amount of “everyone has their own opinion” is going to convince me otherwise. It’s a blatant falsehood, like assertions that the Hyundai Equus is superior to the Lexus LS. Both are fine vehicles, but one is simply better than the other, and I can’t ignore it. Would I go and buy the Equus to save some money and get an almost-as-capable car? You bet. But I wouldn’t delude myself into thinking I bought a superior car. Instead I’d be satisfied with the value proposition and the anonymity, and leave it at that. Nobody is cross-shopping the Toyobaru and the Cayman the same way – the car is a stepping stone to Porsche ownership, one that’s been sorely missed in the market. Why pretend otherwise? I’m perfectly content with accepting the Toyobaru on that premise, with all the compromises it entails. But trying to portray it as a “giant killer” or whatever hyperbolic turn-of-phrase is en vogue right now will only induce eye-rolls and lead to unmet expectations. Lest we forget the Camaro and how opinions changed once the rose-tinted glasses came off a year later.

Fanboyism always plays out the same way. Lacking any concrete or meaningful pursuits to identify with, people hitch their emotional and even spiritual well-being to manufactured brands and entities. They invest themselves in them with literally a religious fervor, and any attack on their chosen entity is taken as blasphemy. Movie critics are getting death threats over poor reviews of the newest Batman flick, and auto journalists are unwilling to give a sober analysis of this car, save for the lads at Evo magazine. Nonwithstanding all the insinuations about being blackballed, my experience has shown me that few journalists (but many readers) are willing to stand up and say “The Emperor has no clothes” when a car doesn’t live up to the hype.

The Toyobaru, at least, isn’t naked.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...peak-bullshit/

[Driftster]

A few weeks ago, I took a Scion FR-S out for a spin. It was an automatic dealer demo, so I decided to withhold judgement until I drove the manual transmission car.

Having driven one yesterday, my opinion hasn’t changed much. Alex has already reviewed the car, and Jack will have his upcoming track test (which is a totally different process altogether). As far as my impressions go, I drove it around some empty backroads and urban environments, and came away a little cold.

I really like the styling, and the cut-rate (ok, really cheap) interior is there since the car was built to a price. But the whole driving experience leaves me cold. One of the complaints about the Nissan GT-R was that it had “no soul”, or in less nebulous terms, it felt like a a very synthetic, contrived experience rather than an organic driver’s car.

It’s not that the electric power steering is a let down, or the engine is a poor performer or the suspension is tuned wrong. I think that the real problem is the massive hype surrounding this car and the capitulation that followed. When I told a few other journalists about my thoughts – journalists that I respect and trust when it comes to vehicle evaluation – they were incredulous. “How can you not like it? It’s amazing!” Even as I tried to explain my reasoning, they just weren’t having it. I asked another journalist (who does not wished to be named) about his review of one of the Toyobaru twins. It was a glowing piece, praising the car as if Christ has descended from the heavens. Apparently, his review was less enthusiastic, but some changes were made before deadline…you can figure out the rest. So far, the main critic of the car has been Evo magazine. I didn’t want to believe their assessment of the car, and thought it was more Euro-snobbery, but I can identify with their criticisms now that I’ve been behind the wheel.

WARNING: IMPENDING “ANTI-GM BIAS”. CRYBABIES PROCEED WITH CAUTION

The main problem, as I see it, is the enormous hype surrounding this car. I’m not talking about inflated expectations that require managing. In this world, it often manifests itself as a simple unwillingness to declare that the emperor is naked. Witness Car and Driver praising the Chevrolet Camaro for its “zip and grip through the gymkhana” and “fresh, inventive interior”, both of which we know are patently false. Or how about C/D these gems, which Ezra Dyer highlights in his own New York Times piece about the car

Camaro’s Zeta roots pay dividends, with the suspension striking a brilliant balance between lively, grippy road-holding and wonderfully compliant damping. Meanwhile, the SS offers decent feedback through the steering wheel.

Could it be better? Absolutely, but at least its deficiencies involve its interior detailing more than its dynamics.
—Car and Driver, March 2009

Then, just a few months later:

We wish Porsche had supplied the steering. Shades of Camaros past are evident in the slightly overboosted and overinsulated wheel.

The stiff, insulated structure soaks up engine vibes and tire moaning, but the rear end discombobulates and dances while accelerating over rough pavement.
—Car and Driver, July 2009

Ezra attributes the change in opinion to the notion that once something becomes popular, it’s no longer cool. I think that they’ve come out of the woodwork now that it’s safe, and they aren’t at risk of getting blacklisted from the gravy train. Most journalists will now tell you that the Camaro is irredeemable garbage, with the dynamics of a Crisco-doused hog and an interior that was dreamed up after a bath salts bender. I’ve always held that view (though the convertible is much easier due to actually having rearward visibility and a stiffer structure).

When I was a very green car reviewer, I gave the Camaro a poor review when it launched, comparing the windshield to an artillery pillbox viewport I’d seen on the Golan Heights. GM was not pleased. In the end, I was vindicated. How long until we see the tide turn for the Toyobaru?

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...lem-with-hype/

[Driftster]

Track day
http://youtu.be/CVmpoT6RbHk

[Evo_power]

So this is what I got from the video:

Fr-s: Needs more power
Gensis 2.0t: Needs less weight
Mx5: Needs less gay

[Driftster]

Fixed..







800hp
aughta do it.