GR86 Jerky acceleration when cold?

When cold is your 86 OK to pull away smoothly and easily?

  • Yes smooth as butter

    Votes: 11 9.5%

  • Not perfect but not an issue

    Votes: 60 51.7%

  • Finding it frustrating but ok to live with it

    Votes: 35 30.2%

  • Jesus Christ its annoying, just stop it, stop it now!

    Votes: 10 8.6%
  • Total voters
    116
AdamST205 said:
What I mean is it is almost as if I press the accelerator and nothing happens because the ECU is overriding my input on the accelerator

Like I said if I jab the throttle when coasting it is instantaneous yet if I do it while downshifting nothing happens yet push it down further and it just revs really high.

Maybe I just need practice but I have tracked plenty of cars over 10+ years and never had this problem before but they were all older cars too so maybe this is just a modern thing from the past 5 years with manual transmissions and I need to reteach myself or something.
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Cheers - so you feel like it is damping the throttle response for both off and on, under certain circumstances. I'll have to go for a test drive...
 
Decided it might be worth trying something I did with the old car. With the previous gen, a very common mod was to install a poly insert into the bushing which supports the transmission. It was primarily done to improve the gearshift by taking the slop out of the transmission, but it also had the benefit of improving the feel of the throttle; a firmer mounting for the transmission means it tends to lurch back and forward less on throttle input.

I tried it myself, but I found the increased NVH was a little too much for me. Bit of a giggle listening to the gear whine in low gears, but I took it off after a week. But it turns out that there were uprated STI engine and transmission mounts available direct from Subaru (also sold with TRD branding, but they're the exact same parts), which are thicker, stiffer and more substantial than the stock bushings, but still made from rubber. The result is they give almost the same feel as the bushing inserts, with much less NVH.

Anyway, I was browsing the US forum earlier, and it seems that both the transmissions inserts from the previous gen, and the full STI transmission mount both fit the new generation too. With that in mind, I'm thinking I might pick another one up; they're about £100 on Nengun. I do remember it really improving the shift feel, but I also remember that it made the throttle feel much nicer too.

It's not certain if it will "fix" the issue of jerky acceleration, but I do have a feeling that the jerkiness I experience sometimes is exacerbated by the transmission moving around a bit too much when coming on and off the throttle. Fitting isn't too difficult either; as I recall once the undertray is off, it's only about 4 bolts to swap the bushing - the only complication is having to support the transmission, but that's no bother really.

If I get on fitted, then I'll report back. Just thought it worth mentioning before hand in case anyone else wants to look into it.
 
One thing I have noticed on Pistonheads is that they did a piece on the 40th Anniversary GR86.

In it there is a part which says the following.

Toyota also says tweaks to the throttle mapping have made for ‘improved controllability’, another encouraging change. Because they mean it skids better. Presumably intended to go alongside that is an optimisation of the VSC, aimed at improving ‘driving stability and safety performance during cornering’.

I am not sure how the GT86 was supported at dealer level but maybe an update that might come to other cars?
 
AdamST205 said:
One thing I have noticed on Pistonheads is that they did a piece on the 40th Anniversary GR86.

In it there is a part which says the following.

Toyota also says tweaks to the throttle mapping have made for ‘improved controllability’, another encouraging change. Because they mean it skids better. Presumably intended to go alongside that is an optimisation of the VSC, aimed at improving ‘driving stability and safety performance during cornering’.

I am not sure how the GT86 was supported at dealer level but maybe an update that might come to other cars?
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Yup, it was raised in General Discussion: https://www.gr-zoo.com/threads/40th-edition-gr86.4812/
But as I said there, getting updated software into existing cars, officially, might be tricky. Most dealers haven't even worked out how to change the car's unlock functions :/
 
Conscript said:
Yup, it was raised in General Discussion: https://www.gr-zoo.com/threads/40th-edition-gr86.4812/
But as I said there, getting updated software into existing cars, officially, might be tricky. Most dealers haven't even worked out how to change the car's unlock functions :/
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I’m beginning to wonder how much of that is down to the fact it’s for all intents and purposes a Subaru in a different frock. I’d imagine its likely a lot of the systems are not familiar/the same as the rest of the models they’re dealing with. Potentially added compatibility issues with their diagnostic kit if it’s a tacked on afterthought.
 
24hours since I picked the car up, so take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt.

I find everything in this car to be very responsive. Its been a while since I've driven a car that can kangaroo at low speeds. The steering has what feels like a really quick ratio too. I'm loving all of this stuff though. Every journey so far has been an opportunity to improve my driving. Normally I can feel the limits of a car pretty quickly, but I'm finding myself pretty hesitant to really press on in the corners yet. It's a challenge and I like it.
I consider myself a fairly handy driver. I've always had fairly spicy drivers cars, done quite a bit of track driving in the past and do a lot of karting. The 86 is the first car I've driven in a while that feels like I need to step my game up a bit to master, even when pulling away from a standstill. It takes precision and commitment to do smoothly.

My wife is scared to drive it 🤣 I think she would be even more scared if she jumped in it and tried. Her 1 liter turbo kia feels like it's control linkeages are made out of rubber bands.

So refreshing to drive something that feels old school to control, well happy with it.
 
GRistopher said:
24hours since I picked the car up, so take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt.

I find everything in this car to be very responsive. Its been a while since I've driven a car that can kangaroo at low speeds. The steering has what feels like a really quick ratio too. I'm loving all of this stuff though. Every journey so far has been an opportunity to improve my driving. Normally I can feel the limits of a car pretty quickly, but I'm finding myself pretty hesitant to really press on in the corners yet. It's a challenge and I like it.
I consider myself a fairly handy driver. I've always had fairly spicy drivers cars, done quite a bit of track driving in the past and do a lot of karting. The 86 is the first car I've driven in a while that feels like I need to step my game up a bit to master, even when pulling away from a standstill. It takes precision and commitment to do smoothly.

My wife is scared to drive it 🤣 I think she would be even more scared if she jumped in it and tried. Her 1 liter turbo kia feels like it's control linkeages are made out of rubber bands.

So refreshing to drive something that feels old school to control, well happy with it.
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It's taken me 3 weeks to get to drive it smoothly....ish. I lovingly refer to it as the stroppy teenager. You can't baby it. You gotta grab it by the skin of its neck to get any respect when driving it. First week I had a few embarrassing stalls pulling away quickly from junctions too.

It's the polar opposite to my DSG GTi. I love it!!
 
I've only found this to be an issue if I don't let the revs settle before driving off. I wouldn't be surprised if it's due to the method it uses to get things up to temperature a bit quicker.
 
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I had the same issue until recently. The first few meters after starting the engine were terrible. Without touching the throttle, the car was jerking extensively.
Last week the car was in for its first Service and since then it improved to a point where it is only slightly noticeable. They replaced the 0w20 with 5w30 oil. Is that little bit more friction of the oil enough to smooth it out? I don't think they change anything else.
The throttle response of the first 2 mm is still very sensitive.
 
Jokurt said:
They replaced the 0w20 with 5w30 oil. Is that little bit more friction of the oil enough to smooth it out?
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If it's due to the oil change, I'd guess it's more to do with a poor quality of oil in there to begin with (or simply contaminated due to the run in). All being equal, I'd have imagined a 0/20 to be smoother at start up than a 5/30. After-all, when the engine is warm the oil is thinner, so if it's jerky when cold, that's because it's too thick, not too thin.
 
I was in a traffic jam today and noticed that it's still jerky when warm, the throttle map is just poor for slow manoeuvres.
 
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