I’ll start by saying I’m not sure if I’ll ever need to buy another car. Not saying it’s perfect (more on that in a minute) BUT I’m extremely happy I bought it.
I joined this forum originally as I had a GR Yaris from new. As much as I believe it was probably the most capable vehicle I’m ever likely to drive, I had a couple of issues with it.
Firstly, I’m not that good at driver but I’m reasonably competent - however unless I really pushed it I found that it could feel a bit ‘boring’. And if I’d have pushed it into ‘non-boring’ territory I doubt I’d have kept my licence for very long.
Secondly - the roads where I live are mostly quite dull, maybe if I had access to the Yorkshire moors/Wales/Scotland or something I’d feel differently.
Onto the GR86:
I really love how it looks, but most importantly it just feels fun all the time - without ragging it, it just feels nimble and is a delight in the corners. Although I paid top £ for it, it feels as good as new thanks to the previous owner @Alex-GR86 taking exceptional care of it and not driving it very much
.
Only had it for a few weeks, but I’ve been driving it every chance I get - took it on a 450-mile round trip to Hull and it was great on all kinds of roads.
My other car is an imported 2006 Elgrand, which I’ll keep for occasional van camping/lugging duties, but I’ve found myself using the Toyota way more than expected, even to nip to the shops.
Of course nothing is perfect, but I’m happy that the only niggles I have are very minor and easily fixable if they really start to bug me, namely:
The horn - already mentioned this is a bit feeble this could easily be remedied by people not doing daft things that require me to use it!
The ‘smart’ entry system - this one does annoy me. I just want doors that unlock when I press the fob - none of this witchcraft that unlocks it automatically when you are near to the thing - already lost count of the number of times I’ve walked back to check it’s definitely locked, but of course when you pull the handle it opens anyway
The indicators - apologies if I’ve changed lane in front of you and it looks like I’ve changed my mind 3 times - I’m just trying to cancel the fooker!
Stereo is a bit underwhelming - might have to do something about that, but I see that there are some fairly straightforward ways to address that
Passenger air bag light - from what I can gather, the glowing ‘air bag off’ light is to actually tell you that it’s on? Seems odd.
But very minor niggles aside, it’s huge fun, surprisingly practical and as it’s got a Toyota badge on it I don’t have to worry about any huge nasty surprises thanks to the warranty.
I joined this forum originally as I had a GR Yaris from new. As much as I believe it was probably the most capable vehicle I’m ever likely to drive, I had a couple of issues with it.
Firstly, I’m not that good at driver but I’m reasonably competent - however unless I really pushed it I found that it could feel a bit ‘boring’. And if I’d have pushed it into ‘non-boring’ territory I doubt I’d have kept my licence for very long.
Secondly - the roads where I live are mostly quite dull, maybe if I had access to the Yorkshire moors/Wales/Scotland or something I’d feel differently.
Onto the GR86:
I really love how it looks, but most importantly it just feels fun all the time - without ragging it, it just feels nimble and is a delight in the corners. Although I paid top £ for it, it feels as good as new thanks to the previous owner @Alex-GR86 taking exceptional care of it and not driving it very much
.Only had it for a few weeks, but I’ve been driving it every chance I get - took it on a 450-mile round trip to Hull and it was great on all kinds of roads.
My other car is an imported 2006 Elgrand, which I’ll keep for occasional van camping/lugging duties, but I’ve found myself using the Toyota way more than expected, even to nip to the shops.
Of course nothing is perfect, but I’m happy that the only niggles I have are very minor and easily fixable if they really start to bug me, namely:
The horn - already mentioned this is a bit feeble
this could easily be remedied by people not doing daft things that require me to use it!The ‘smart’ entry system - this one does annoy me. I just want doors that unlock when I press the fob - none of this witchcraft that unlocks it automatically when you are near to the thing - already lost count of the number of times I’ve walked back to check it’s definitely locked, but of course when you pull the handle it opens anyway
The indicators - apologies if I’ve changed lane in front of you and it looks like I’ve changed my mind 3 times - I’m just trying to cancel the fooker!
Stereo is a bit underwhelming - might have to do something about that, but I see that there are some fairly straightforward ways to address that
Passenger air bag light - from what I can gather, the glowing ‘air bag off’ light is to actually tell you that it’s on? Seems odd.
But very minor niggles aside, it’s huge fun, surprisingly practical and as it’s got a Toyota badge on it I don’t have to worry about any huge nasty surprises thanks to the warranty.
. I definitely recommend laying something soft down if you’re doing it on the drive - need to put that door card down somewhere.
. I know what you mean about the keyless entry, you get in the habit of checking by pulling the handle with your finger tips. BTW I got Toyota to deactivate the sound generator in software, they also enabled the comfort door option and windows on the key fob, so holding unlock will lower both windows. They are amazing cars and I’m so glad it’s gone to a great home.
