Evening all.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, and my sympathies to those who feel cheated by leaving deposits with dealers. I know that I'm a first-time poster, so please feel free to read my post with a pinch of scepticism. I just thought I'd add my tuppence-worth to repay the debt of gratitude for your posts.
As I understand it, there were no more than a couple of dozen orders actually put through the website while it was live over the weekend. After the experience of the GR Yaris (long waits, and lots ending up on Auto Trader with 50 miles and £5k mark-ups), Toyota has considered an online-only order process for the GR86, to avoid unscrupulous dealers (*cough* J-LR) profiting from ghost orders for cars that can be sold off forecourts over list. Technically, dealers should not be taking deposits for this car, though some are clearly taking the opportunity to put business through their own tills while others are still turning away potential customers .
Anecdotally, I would agree with the earlier contribution from
@86GR - not many people were going to impulse-buy this car in their pyjamas on Saturday night. I think it's fair to say that we've all been following the development, announcements and anticipation of the release of this car over the past year or so. Hopefully Toyota will honour the online orders, as those customers are probably among the most passionate devotees and their orders won't make any significant impact on allocation from the initial supplies of vehicles over the summer, whether direct from Toyota when the system goes live officially, or orders placed through dealerships. I have been told that the initial wave of cars has not yet sold out, but I doubt the source and it's possible that more popular colour/gearbox combinations may be harder to secure in the first wave of summer cars.
We should know more in the next day or so, but let's not lose sight of what matters: it should be a cracking car, and hopefully those of us fortunate enough to get one should have some great miles ahead!
Bonne chance, one and all.