Hey all,
I was one of the lucky ones to get an invite to order email from Toyota last week, giving me a chance to put down a deposit for a GR86. I paid my £1k, and now I've got a link to place an order for the car. All good so far!
I didn't get in on the initial batch, and thought I'd missed out altogether with Toyota's "once it's gone, it's gone" talk. So that left me with a dilema on what to get... and with the lack of direct competition in the new car market, I looked into used cars. I seriously considered a BRZ and almost bought one, but eventually I ended up buying a 2008 Z4 Coupe at the end of last year.
There's a few similarities between the Z4 coupe and the GR86, both front-engined, rear wheel drive small sports cars, both pretty analogue/old school in spirit - and both are pretty rare beasts (there were only 2189 Z4 coupe's sold in the UK... not quite as exclusive as a GR86 but still!)
I really thought there wasn't a door to getting my hands on a new GR86, so I'd made peace with it and embraced Z4 ownership, so was totally blindsided when Toyota sent me an invite to purchase a GR86 last week! I'd love to be able to justify keeping both, but I definitely can't do that... my Z4 is currently playing the role of fun weekend second car, and unfortunately neither the zed or GR are practical enough to justify as our main car.
So now I have a pretty huge dilemma on my hands... and I'm genuinely torn on it at the moment! Both are great cars in their own right.
I did get to test drive a GR86 in Bristol at the weekend, friendly staff at the dealership - but in all honesty, the test route was poor. Trundle up the motorway for a bit, then back via a few 30/40 mph roads. I did get a little bit of a feel for the car, and the immediate nature of the steering/throttle was definitely apparent. As was the fact it feels more punchy than the BRZ I test drove last year. But I really need more time in a GR86, and to take it on a proper b road to be able to properly judge it.
On paper, and I'm actually surprised how close the cost of running the cars is. Insurance is similar enough (GR86 is a little more expensive than the Z4), road tax is a clear win for the GR86 - but servicing the BMW actually works out cheaper. Was pretty surprised at that one - really thought the servicing for the GR86 would be less! Then again, I guess it does come with the 10 year warranty...
The only difference in cost is the yearly ££ amount I've earmarked as a random estimate for the maintenance of the zed seeing as it'll soon be a 15 year old car. If you take that away, they're near enough identical in terms of running costs.
Plus the Z4 coupe is at the bottom of it's depreciation curve, and is touted as a potential future classic... although big questions on what will happen with the GR86 on that front seeing as it's only appreciated so far!!
Anyway - as you can see, I've got a lot of things to figure out, and - with the rush from Toyota to get an order placed - not much time.
In the meantime, I don't want to miss out on a GR86... but I don't want to lose money if I do cancel my order down the line.
Does anyone know how Toyota handle cancellations? If I did cancel the order later down the line, would I be able to get my deposit etc back? Should specify it would be a cash purchase, if that changes anything.
Anyway thanks to anyone who's managed to read this far!!
I was one of the lucky ones to get an invite to order email from Toyota last week, giving me a chance to put down a deposit for a GR86. I paid my £1k, and now I've got a link to place an order for the car. All good so far!
I didn't get in on the initial batch, and thought I'd missed out altogether with Toyota's "once it's gone, it's gone" talk. So that left me with a dilema on what to get... and with the lack of direct competition in the new car market, I looked into used cars. I seriously considered a BRZ and almost bought one, but eventually I ended up buying a 2008 Z4 Coupe at the end of last year.
There's a few similarities between the Z4 coupe and the GR86, both front-engined, rear wheel drive small sports cars, both pretty analogue/old school in spirit - and both are pretty rare beasts (there were only 2189 Z4 coupe's sold in the UK... not quite as exclusive as a GR86 but still!)
I really thought there wasn't a door to getting my hands on a new GR86, so I'd made peace with it and embraced Z4 ownership, so was totally blindsided when Toyota sent me an invite to purchase a GR86 last week! I'd love to be able to justify keeping both, but I definitely can't do that... my Z4 is currently playing the role of fun weekend second car, and unfortunately neither the zed or GR are practical enough to justify as our main car.
So now I have a pretty huge dilemma on my hands... and I'm genuinely torn on it at the moment! Both are great cars in their own right.
I did get to test drive a GR86 in Bristol at the weekend, friendly staff at the dealership - but in all honesty, the test route was poor. Trundle up the motorway for a bit, then back via a few 30/40 mph roads. I did get a little bit of a feel for the car, and the immediate nature of the steering/throttle was definitely apparent. As was the fact it feels more punchy than the BRZ I test drove last year. But I really need more time in a GR86, and to take it on a proper b road to be able to properly judge it.
On paper, and I'm actually surprised how close the cost of running the cars is. Insurance is similar enough (GR86 is a little more expensive than the Z4), road tax is a clear win for the GR86 - but servicing the BMW actually works out cheaper. Was pretty surprised at that one - really thought the servicing for the GR86 would be less! Then again, I guess it does come with the 10 year warranty...
The only difference in cost is the yearly ££ amount I've earmarked as a random estimate for the maintenance of the zed seeing as it'll soon be a 15 year old car. If you take that away, they're near enough identical in terms of running costs.
Plus the Z4 coupe is at the bottom of it's depreciation curve, and is touted as a potential future classic... although big questions on what will happen with the GR86 on that front seeing as it's only appreciated so far!!
Anyway - as you can see, I've got a lot of things to figure out, and - with the rush from Toyota to get an order placed - not much time.
In the meantime, I don't want to miss out on a GR86... but I don't want to lose money if I do cancel my order down the line.
Does anyone know how Toyota handle cancellations? If I did cancel the order later down the line, would I be able to get my deposit etc back? Should specify it would be a cash purchase, if that changes anything.
Anyway thanks to anyone who's managed to read this far!!
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Especially with the resale value being higher than the RRP.
