- Limited horse power – so this car isn’t fast. It never will be fast and you’re kidding yourself if you think it is fast. What this car is, is a momentum car just like the previous GT86. It’s better, the power band is more accessible and there is certainly more power. I’ve wanted to love this car… I’ve tried to force myself to love it. But it lacks power, and it is a major flaw. It’s clear to me that they couldn’t add a Turbo to this because it would be better than the Supra easily…
My response. It's more than fast enough for me to have plenty of fun at normal road speeds. If traffic light grand prixs and low 0-60 times are important then it will dissappoint. I much prefer driving the GR86 to my previous F-Type R which had 550bhp.
- Exotic looks - beautiful - but parking is a nightmare. You and I both know it... it looks something special. People (the general public) are nobheads at the best of times. It's a bit of a worry leaving your car as some idiot that doesn't realise its a £31k Toyota think's you're showing off... Attention is good and bad, sometimes you just want to cruise around and not bring attention to yourself. Equally, when you're in bad areas and unfortunately we all have to go to them sometimes... it's not such a nice experience. You draw the wrong attention...
My response: Agreed, I bought the car as a fun runaround that I wouldn't feel too precious about but it's turned into a garage queen.
- 10 year warranty – yes… you heard/read that right. The 10 year warranty is amazing, but it also stops you modifying this car. Why would you ever risk your warranty? So it’s a double edged sword. It stops you fixing the things that this car needs.
My response: A 10 year warranty isn't a bad point.
- Poor MPG – this is a light weight car and to be honest I’m at 24-25 mpg… I drive hard but yeah this is low. Previous GT86’s were 30… and my i20n was 32-35… this is quite poor in comparison. I don’t really care, that much… I still keeping putting in the v-power but yeah it isn’t a cheap car on petrol tbh. If you drive it line a granny and get 40 mpg. Good for you, but you’re not driving the car, not really.
My response: It's a 2nd car for me so mpg isn't really important. I always manage over 30mpg without trying but my driving is generally on emptyish roads. Other faster cars with better mpg are available.
- Insurance - I've had some pretty rare cars before, some pretty powerful cars... up to 500 hp, and this is more expensive than them? Have a look at the end of this review of my future car choices... all of these cars are CHEAPER by over £100 a year than my GR86, which makes ZERO sense. 230 horses vs 400.... and less valuable? It is mind boggling why this car is grouped so highly.
My response: No real opinion here. I thought the premium was reasonable but I didn't compare to other cars.
- Clunky gear box – I think it’s too notchy, second gear when cold isn’t great to shift to. When it’s warm its quite nice, but it takes quite a long time to warm up… a good 20 minute drive really, same applies to the differential oil at the back. Car requires a good warm up before it feels right. You might see this as a nag, but, I’m willing to bet most peoples commutes are 15-30 minutes on average. Is your car even fully warmed up by then? Probably not
My response: I like cars that feel better the longer and harder you drive. The GR86 is not optimised for commuting so I find hard to mark this down as a bad point - it's a characteristic that I like.
- Clutch – it just isn’t perfect. It’s not quite right, you get use to it and people will say such lines as “it makes you a better driver”. I’m sorry, I’ve driven manuals for over 15 years in all the big performance brands and names, never have I come across such a clutch at low-speeds like this one. I’ve got use to it, and I can drive it very well now. But it isn’t right… just because you get use to something, doesn’t make it right. It’s a poor clutch, on a poor spring, mounted to a notchy gear-box. Driving this car hard, and you never ever notice the clutch nor gear-box being a problem… it’s clearly been tuned and setup for hard-driving. But the problem is, majority of drives are not hard-spirited drives with nothing else on the road.
My response
- Wheels/Brakes – Needs bigger wheels at the back, staggered setup for sure. Needs bigger, better brakes too. (this would be for FI route)
My response: It really doesn't need either of those things. Adding these would remove a lot of what makes these car fun to drive.
- No forced induction option – discussed already.
My response: No thanks. It would spoil so many things that make this car great. It would add weight (50kg+?), increase the centre of gravity, change the weight distribution and no doubt increasen costs.
- It’s a sports car, it isn’t practical. It’s a 2-seater… maybe 3 at a push. It’s low down to the ground, not the easiest car to get in/out of in some parking places. Because of how wide the doors are.
My response: Buy a Golf if that's what you want.
- Poor interior – better than GT, but it’s still lacking. It feels cheap in places. The screen is already dated in my opinion. Lack of tech features that really should be standard nowadays, particularly from Japanese brands. Have a look at Hyundai and Kia… i20n, i30n. No heads-up display, no customisable options. Compare this to Hyundai and you’ve got over 72 settings to adjust to make your own personal individual car.
My response: I'm impressed by the tech. More would be nice but I don't wish for anything else and I would never describe the interior as poor
- No rev matching – auto blip should be on this car, why isn’t it? It really should be. Yes, I can heel toe, but it isn’t as good as computer that is blipping to the exact RPM required for the downshift, I am doing… and sometimes I want to be lazy. It should be a button just like it is on the Yaris.
My response: Never driven a car with auto blip it and I agree it would be nice to have but I don't see it's omission being bad point. I do struggle doing a clean heel and toe in the GR86 compared to other cars.
- Poor cousin – We are the poor cousin compared to the Yaris and Supra. I feel like they’ve deliberately made this car worse. This platform has the potential to be better than the Yaris and better than the Supra, but they don’t want it to be.
My response: It's a cheaper car than those 2 and had the funds to buy them but the 86 was the only one I wanted.
- Exhaust – it’s silent? Is this a prius or a GR86? Who knows!? You have to modify the exhaust. Again… see i20n for their exhaust… which falls under the same emissions. So, it can be done, Toyota just didn’t want to.
My response: I don't feel I have to modify the exhaust but I agree, it's far too quiet.
- Cold start – ironically, the only time the exhaust isn’t silent. Why is it so loud? Why does it last so long? Why can’t this be turned on/off.
My response: Agreed.
- Price point – 31k is a good chunk of change for what is an unfinished car. Let’s say you spend £9k on this car… and make it perfect. For £40k you can buy some very good cars stock…
My response: For me, the car is almost perfect as is so it feels like a bargain,
- Boring colours – subjective – but there are no fun colours for this car from the factory. Where are the greens? Where are the yellows? The bright, the obnoxious, the “wow”. The electric blue was kinda wow… but years ago. They’re late the party now with the blue. Where was the Mclaren bright orange GR86? This car is crying out for some colours.. I was genuinely looking at wrapping my car in some sort of Green in the future.
My response: Agreed. More choice would have been nice but I got the Electric Blue that I wanted so I'm happy.
- Fragile paint work – the paint is quite poor to say the least.
My response: Poor is a bit much but I do agree it seems a bit soft
- Dealing with Toyota garages – They can stamp GR performance centre on their brand. They still are mainly servicing hybrids and some yaris’. It’s very dealer dependent on who you get. You can find great garages that have amazing technicians. But mostly not, they’re use to serving little old dears not performance enthusiasts. It’s a different niche.
My response: Not sure if this is a problem. The 86 isn't a complex supercar or a air-cooled 911.
- Poor headlights – the LED headlines on dipped beam are one of the poorest lights I’ve ever used. I actually think the original GT86 lights were better. Full beam is a different story, it’s brilliant. The lights how they follow the steering wheel and the little dance they do when you start the car. Fantastic.
My response: They seem fine to me.
- Body kits – extras – No rear spoiler as standard on our cars is a joke.
My response: 'Joke' is a bit strong but I expect they had a find ways to keep the base price under £30k and this was done by not including the stuff you can get on the premium elsewhere eg. spoiler and upgraded stereo. I'm happy without the spoiler but I do get a bit jealous when I see one.
My own bad points are as follows:
- The stereo is just OK and needs a lot of fiddling with settings to get there. I would have paid for an upgraded stereo.
- The start/stop button is badly placed an inch or two in front of my left knee. I worry what would happen in a crash.
- The seat base tapers down to be too narrow and the seat back bolsters are too far apart.
- The seat base doesn't go down low enough for my liking
- There is no physical pause button - I hate using the touchscreen for this. I have worked out how to use voice commands though.
- When the fuel range goes to 0 I can only squeeze in around 42 litres - on a 50 litre tank meaning I am filling up more than I would like (every 300 miles or so).
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