I just had to give them my driving license to scan for a 60 minutes unacompanied drive around. Kinda excessive but might depends on other factors, such as driver age?
GR86 Test Drives Email!
- Thread starter TigerJim
- Start date
Silver Fox
Totally Hooked
- May 7, 2022
- 3,597
- 8,218
- 428
Nope just a general policy. Have be over 25 to be unaccompanied for 30mins which is good but might see if I can have longer if no one else is booked in.
AndyRC
Totally Hooked
Not at JRT Hull All test dives are unaccompanied but all demos have tracker , MyT , and dash cams , which is fine by me
Hicko
Obsessed member
I’m sure the staff enjoyed footage of my run, having a play with a type R, overtaking, and me reviewing the car out loud as I was drivingNot at JRT Hull All test dives are unaccompanied but all demos have tracker , MyT , and dash cams , which is fine by me
AndyRC
Totally Hooked
What’s funnier will be footage of the tech doing your PDI test driveI’m sure the staff enjoyed footage of my run, having a play with a type R, overtaking, and me reviewing the car out loud as I was driving
Haven't had an email yet (order still processing) but not surprised considering my order status, but chased my local dealer and should be getting a drive on Thursday morning - just as the temps are about to plummet next week! 
At least I will be able to test the heated seats properly.
At least I will be able to test the heated seats properly.
Hi all. I just test drove it. Manual and unfortunately in London. London is a pain to enjoy a sports car.
They let me play with it alone for 30mins.
I'll just talk about performance and ignore interiors etc (It's good enough).
Pros: very responsive power, quick enough to feel comfortable and safe when power is needed. Handling was solid, wheel's never easily broke traction even in the damp 5 degrees.
When I did lose a tiny bit of traction it was pleasant and no twitching like my E30 325 back in the days.
On a good twisty road in good summer weather any high level driver will keep up with anything!
Cons: Jerky off clutch, revs don't drop as quickly as I would like, hard to be smooth when you have a passenger.
But but but, as with the cons that was my lack of time to connect fully with the clutch.
Cool car but I have a long wait for mine!
Ps anyone that ordered blue didn't make a bad choice
They let me play with it alone for 30mins.
I'll just talk about performance and ignore interiors etc (It's good enough).
Pros: very responsive power, quick enough to feel comfortable and safe when power is needed. Handling was solid, wheel's never easily broke traction even in the damp 5 degrees.
When I did lose a tiny bit of traction it was pleasant and no twitching like my E30 325 back in the days.
On a good twisty road in good summer weather any high level driver will keep up with anything!
Cons: Jerky off clutch, revs don't drop as quickly as I would like, hard to be smooth when you have a passenger.
But but but, as with the cons that was my lack of time to connect fully with the clutch.
Cool car but I have a long wait for mine!
Ps anyone that ordered blue didn't make a bad choice
Attachments
Is this Colindale / Edgware Road? I nominated this as my dealer as well but haven't had the chance to get in touch for a test drive. Don't suppose you know if the will be keeping it for a while for other customers with orders?
I was an early bird order but since moved myself to the back of the queue by changing from Magnetite to Red.
Yes it's Edgware pal. Call them it was so easy to get it booked in for test drive. I said I have a long wait till I get mine so want to see if it's worth me waiting. Call them today pal
Gatwick still awaiting PDI, they couldn’t say when it will be registered and test drives will be available. Just turned up as it’s impossible to get a call back.
Surprisingly had a 3 inch scratch/mark already on the wing. Hope they take better car of customer cars, or maybe it’s removed during PDI?
They didn’t know what dealer fitted options were available, when I asked them to check my order, apparently they couldn’t access the system and they would call me back.
Surprisingly had a 3 inch scratch/mark already on the wing. Hope they take better car of customer cars, or maybe it’s removed during PDI?
They didn’t know what dealer fitted options were available, when I asked them to check my order, apparently they couldn’t access the system and they would call me back.
KobayashiMaru86
Totally Hooked
That's exactly like my dealer. Demo not PDI'd yet, the battery was flat so needed to jump it to move it about. No idea when I can get a go but if my car is next week (I believe nothing at this point) I won't bother and I'll wait for mine. They don't know about options and they say they can't access the system to check where my car is. At this point it had to be laziness as there's nothing in it for them. I'm already thinking of going elsewhere for servicing and making a day of it.
So i had my test drive in a red GR86 at Preston this afternoon. 30 mins unaccompanied with a few pics attached. Spoke to Kevin the dealer for a bit (who was great tbf) and he said i would have a better idea of when the car will be delivered (using the app) so they don't have anymore info than what we already know. I also mentioned the dealer selling for £60k and he said if that's a proper Toyota dealer it's not allowed and so they would lose their license.
I then tried to persuade him to let me drive to a few B roads i'm used to near home but he was having none of it.. 30/35mins only to keep the milage down (even though they can't sell it). Also apparently there's one other buyer from Preston but i don't believe they are on here.. and i think he said we were the only 2 allowed to test drive and noone else, so not really sure why they were that concerned about the milage.
(off topic - He also said the reason why there was a £1k deposit was due to a bunch of Preston lads who would turn up in groups and just take the nice cars to show off to their mates, get the insta pics and then give it back. Then return weeks later in groups and repeat.. so thanks to them genuine buyers now have to pay for it so thanks for that! It does make you a little tense driving around knowing you could lose £1k within 30mins should anything happen .. Anyway back on track..)
I'll be comparing my experience with my Fiesta ST as that's all i know.. i've had it 4.5 years so these points maybe because I'm just so used to driving this so these are just initial impressions based on the (tense) 30mins drive and maybe completely different once i get hold of mine.
a). First impressions when i first saw it.. it looked both smaller, and lower, than i had envisaged but looks good.. I did scuff the side skirts both times when getting in so I imagine everyone who gets in and out will almost certainly do the same , which may lead to scratches overtime. Also I'm personally glad i didn't choose red. We've had bad experiences/luck in red cars so we stay away from choosing this colour, but it didn't really do it for me tbh.
b). The driving position is really good, you sit far lower to the ground than the ST , and the wheel, although not as chunky, felt great to use. Also i'll just add the seats look fantastic. Not sure how clean they will look in a few years but if they do manage to keep their appearance then all good. Visibility out the front doesn't seem to be a problem and as I didn't have to reverse, I wasn't able to try the rear camera so unsure if this would be an issue (tbh i forgot all about it not having it on the ST)
c). Inside looks good/smart, (not cheap) with the 3 dials and the screen being big enough for my needs. All i ever listen to is spotify when i drive so I tried apple car play when parked up and the stereo sound is fine if not amazing. I couldn't try whilst driving so although inside was quite loud, i wasn't able to test if this would drown out the stereo. Performance wise.. it was fast using apple play and seemed fast enough using the default Toyota interface (i know some are/were really sluggish - cupra born)
d). The fiesta is definitely easier to drive, i prefer the ST gear change, the way i can put my arm on the arm rest and change the gears, it's just a more relaxing drive. I found it quite tricky to change gears smoothly and as a few others have said the bite needs a bit of getting used to. In the fiesta as soon as you press the pedals everything is instant. When at the lights i had to push the pedals further than I'm used to before moving and then when i did i was revving the car more than i normally do. However the biggest issue i think i'll have is the clutch pedal seems to be quite near the floor which means i kept hitting/pushing the floor with my heel whilst pushing the pedal. After a while it was getting a little frustrating but again probs just needed getting used to it.
e). In regards to power, it only had about 10miles on the car so i didn't want to thrash it but when i tried to get to 60, it felt fast enough for me.. typically a Tesla decided to race me at the lights within the first 5 mins i was like well i don't really think i can compete, especially as this isn't even my car!
f). As for the suspension, i wouldn't say it was noticeably different to the ST so something that I didn't really think about during the drive. One of the other reasons why i wanted to try on the local B roads as this would have given me a good idea of what to expect.
g). On my route were quite a few roundabouts and you can definitely get round them pretty fast without a problem. One big difference is when i turned from a side road and then set off a little too quickly, the tires were slipping a bit. i can imagine you don't need much of a tight turn to get the tires to start skidding.
Overall very impressed, but most of my route was straight roads with lots of lights (and thus traffic) and roundabouts. i can see why its been given the good reviews but i just didn't have enough time or the type of road to get what i wanted out of it. My brother in law has a Porsche so once the miles have put on the car i think it'll be a great to get on them B roads and see how good it really is.
I then tried to persuade him to let me drive to a few B roads i'm used to near home but he was having none of it.. 30/35mins only to keep the milage down (even though they can't sell it). Also apparently there's one other buyer from Preston but i don't believe they are on here.. and i think he said we were the only 2 allowed to test drive and noone else, so not really sure why they were that concerned about the milage.
(off topic - He also said the reason why there was a £1k deposit was due to a bunch of Preston lads who would turn up in groups and just take the nice cars to show off to their mates, get the insta pics and then give it back. Then return weeks later in groups and repeat.. so thanks to them genuine buyers now have to pay for it so thanks for that! It does make you a little tense driving around knowing you could lose £1k within 30mins should anything happen .. Anyway back on track..)
I'll be comparing my experience with my Fiesta ST as that's all i know.. i've had it 4.5 years so these points maybe because I'm just so used to driving this so these are just initial impressions based on the (tense) 30mins drive and maybe completely different once i get hold of mine.
a). First impressions when i first saw it.. it looked both smaller, and lower, than i had envisaged but looks good.. I did scuff the side skirts both times when getting in so I imagine everyone who gets in and out will almost certainly do the same , which may lead to scratches overtime. Also I'm personally glad i didn't choose red. We've had bad experiences/luck in red cars so we stay away from choosing this colour, but it didn't really do it for me tbh.
b). The driving position is really good, you sit far lower to the ground than the ST , and the wheel, although not as chunky, felt great to use. Also i'll just add the seats look fantastic. Not sure how clean they will look in a few years but if they do manage to keep their appearance then all good. Visibility out the front doesn't seem to be a problem and as I didn't have to reverse, I wasn't able to try the rear camera so unsure if this would be an issue (tbh i forgot all about it not having it on the ST)
c). Inside looks good/smart, (not cheap) with the 3 dials and the screen being big enough for my needs. All i ever listen to is spotify when i drive so I tried apple car play when parked up and the stereo sound is fine if not amazing. I couldn't try whilst driving so although inside was quite loud, i wasn't able to test if this would drown out the stereo. Performance wise.. it was fast using apple play and seemed fast enough using the default Toyota interface (i know some are/were really sluggish - cupra born)
d). The fiesta is definitely easier to drive, i prefer the ST gear change, the way i can put my arm on the arm rest and change the gears, it's just a more relaxing drive. I found it quite tricky to change gears smoothly and as a few others have said the bite needs a bit of getting used to. In the fiesta as soon as you press the pedals everything is instant. When at the lights i had to push the pedals further than I'm used to before moving and then when i did i was revving the car more than i normally do. However the biggest issue i think i'll have is the clutch pedal seems to be quite near the floor which means i kept hitting/pushing the floor with my heel whilst pushing the pedal. After a while it was getting a little frustrating but again probs just needed getting used to it.
e). In regards to power, it only had about 10miles on the car so i didn't want to thrash it but when i tried to get to 60, it felt fast enough for me.. typically a Tesla decided to race me at the lights within the first 5 mins i was like well i don't really think i can compete, especially as this isn't even my car!
f). As for the suspension, i wouldn't say it was noticeably different to the ST so something that I didn't really think about during the drive. One of the other reasons why i wanted to try on the local B roads as this would have given me a good idea of what to expect.
g). On my route were quite a few roundabouts and you can definitely get round them pretty fast without a problem. One big difference is when i turned from a side road and then set off a little too quickly, the tires were slipping a bit. i can imagine you don't need much of a tight turn to get the tires to start skidding.
Overall very impressed, but most of my route was straight roads with lots of lights (and thus traffic) and roundabouts. i can see why its been given the good reviews but i just didn't have enough time or the type of road to get what i wanted out of it. My brother in law has a Porsche so once the miles have put on the car i think it'll be a great to get on them B roads and see how good it really is.
Last edited:
Tbh I’m coming from an ST and would echo all your thoughts. The clutch will just take a bit of getting used to I think
KobayashiMaru86
Totally Hooked
One thing hot hatches have done is made performance too easy to obtain. Even the worst of drivers can get away with murder as there's so much tolerance in everything from the shifting to steering, the safety net of ESP, etc. It was a shock when I first drove a GT86 (even found the original brochures for it today when doing some sorting). Not so much the RWD aspect as I'd experienced that before but more the precision that the car expected from you to make it feel good. Controlled inputs everywhere forcing you to drive better. I can't wait to get it and really learn it.
That scratch wasn't there yesterday at 6pm when I saw the car. That doesn't inspire confidence does it!!
I didn't bother to ask about test drives as the only person I spoke to was the receptionist. Her take on the car was that it looks very James Bond'ish!
Silver Fox
Totally Hooked
- May 7, 2022
- 3,597
- 8,218
- 428
Great review, thanks for posting!
My partner has a Fiesta ST (had a Mk7, now has a Mk8) and his complaints/comments when driving my GT86 are the same as yours for the GR86 - clutch bite taking some getting used to, mainly. Alternatively, when I drive his ST, my complaints are around how 'instant' everything feels! I'm excited to test drive a GR86 at some point so I can compare to the GT86!
Hi Vinny I had a loan ST for a week and currently have an F56 cooper s. I was lucky enough to have 3 hours on my own for the test drive on good road. To be honest it took 30 minutes to dial in but once out of town an on flowing B&A roads it all makes a lot of sense. I am certain the handling is a step up from the ST the steering and damping are noticeably better. Also once getting an even moderate move on the clutch is not an issue and the gear changes is really good. I do agree that the clutch action is hard to adjust to in town stop start driving. Sounds like you had a bit of a crap demo experience. These cars need a proper drive to appreciate what’s on offer. I am sure once you get your own you will be very pleasantly surprised . A couple of people have mentioned slipping tyres. I drove quite hard and never noticed any issues could it be the new tyres. My demo had 150 miles already so nicely scrubbed in.
Last edited:
