GR86 (Manual) Test Drive
Quite a long read guys, so grab a cup of tea or coffe!
Nice people at Toyota Jemca Reading (Thanks Paul) garage helped arrange a test drive with the electric blue “Bracknell” Gr86.
Unlike the online team, he has been great in every way, always happy to respond quickly and with a big smile whenever I happen to see him. I would say he has eased some of the pain of waiting.
GR86 The Pocket Rocket (If you don’t have time to read the rest, this line sums it up!)
A little background: My -only- car has been a dark blue 2013 GT86 auto for the past 9 years. We also have a family car but funny enough the GT86 has done most of the ‘family’ transportation in the last decade.
Demise of ICE prompted me to look for a replacement and Toyota GR86 was announced…
The “meat and the potatoes” if I may quote the youtuber savagegeese:
This thing is a pocket rocket! I mean there is so much power and torque compared to the old car. Mix this with my unfamiliarity with the very high binary clutch bite point, this thing literally rockets itself forward with immense force. 30 mins into the test drive I got used to the bite point and started managing the power delivery better. I enjoyed the drive into the countryside however in the town I though it was quite a laborious affair. Again I come from a less powerful auto GT86 so some adjustment was needed. If you like manual tranny then I am sure you will get used to it and love this thing.
I will not go into Auto versus Manual debate. Each to their own I think. I live in extremely heavy traffic area and also have left leg nerve injury. So only auto will do for me in the long term, as this will continue to be my only car.
The steering is noticeably softer than the old car but no less precise luckily. I will miss both feeling and quality of the grained leather steering of the old car. Michelin PS4 tyres are really impressive. With all the power and greasy roads I still felt glued to the road.
Handling is quite similar to the old car but it feels more solid (rigid is the word I think). It eats ups the curved country roads even with newfound acceleration I felt safe and secure in terms of under/over steer.
Sounds sensations and the audio:
What greets you as you set off is that good old-charming sewing machine like boxer engine sound albeit much more muffled than in GT86.
As the car goes over broken roads there is lack of upset and road noise compared to the old car.
As soon as I hit countryside I managed to find somewhere to park and take photos and connect my iPhone with ease to apple car play. The sound quality of the audio seems to be better than the one in the old car, or slight lack of road noise enhances the experience from the stereo.
DAB radio channels I tried were crisp however reception was patchy so I turned the radio off quickly. You an play the radio while navigating using the apple car play which is neat.
The engine note: One of the biggest let down for me, compared to the old, car was lack of real acoustic sound pumped to the cabin. I am sorry but the fake sound is horrible! I will be looking to cancel it once I receive mine. I missed the pumped in Subaru burble which was authentic in the GT86. I really wish they kept that.
I like the new car smell but the dash felt more plasticky (read cheap untextured) than the old car it replaces. However the feel and finish of the new HVAC system and the stereo unit are better here. No more Maplin quality dials here. The seats are nicer in texture, you feel hugged and loved (is that weird) by the heated seats while it is only 6C outside.
The dimensions and fit for the family transportation:
I am a 5 feet 7 dad, pretty much a dwarf at that and managed to fit family of 4 who are shorter than me in my old car for the past decade. To my surprise the new car felt lower and more cramped. I think the driver side dimensions are pretty much identical to GT86 but lower.
As this car was a manual and have quite a clutch travel, I had to push my seat back a few cms further than I normally would with the GT86 auto. This left only 19cm between the rear of my seat and the back seat. Sitting behind myself on the driver side was near painful experience! My head was almost touching the glass which is not the case with the gt86 (I attribute this to lowered GR).
However the passenger side suffers from the new protruding glove box and an even more lowered passenger seat. I tried to sit behind myself (front seat to rear distance was 23cm) and I had to enter bottom first and then pull my legs inside. My feet were relatively happy however there was not much space under the front seat.
Other stuff:
They have improved so many aspects of the old car that I can’t list them all here.
Better stereo, many safety features (many more in the auto), you can drop your rear seat from the boot now. No more annoying rear brake light cluster in your rear vision. Arguably the car looks more mature and expensive. I think It will have less storage space than the old car. No rear seat pocket, door bottle holders have less space. Cup holders in the middle are fixed permanently. I am aware the auto version has one more cup holder behind heated seat buttons.
Mpg:
The car only had 40 miles on the ODO and it was showing 32mpg when I picked up. I brought it down to 30mpg by simply going through city traffic followed by some spirited driving in the countryside. On the way back to the garage (6 miles in town) I reset the mpg and did a city hypermile test. With some gentle attitude to the throttle and gearing I could see 39mpg at the end. I think it is quite impressive. Not that you would do this on daily basis but it is possible if you can resist opening up the direct injector!
Few photos from the test drive attached. Leg shots show what happens if I sit behind myself (5feet 7 inch person). If you are getting the auto then driver side will have more space (no clutch work).