Drove a GT86 today

Robb said:
Can you imagine what a chump you would feel when some chav in a corsa vxr demolishes you at the lights.

They already do in the E89, but I'm mature enough not too care in the knowlege as an ex VXR owner their engine will go bang :D

Tim.
 
Gotta say I like it.

looks better in the metal as it were than in pictures. pick up a barely used example and the depreciation ain't such an issue... I'm tempted but it wouldn't go down well with mrs gannet...
 
I drove one a few weeks ago and gotta say i enjoyed it.

I cant understand why people are saying 200bhp isnt enough....I realise that in "modern day" terms its not a huge amount of power but its no slug.

I think one of the factors is that its also great fun to drive..In the same way that an Escort Rs2000 or Corrolla AE86 was,the GT86 feels light and nimble in your hands and is very easy to hussle along.

Would i buy a new one at 27k ? No,then again i wouldnt buy a Z4 2.0 for £30k either..
 
I tested one of these on Friday. It was the most disappointing test drive I've ever conducted. The salesman was sat next to me and insisted we took a certain route, which was a bunch of town roads at 30mph mostly. I think we took one that enabled me to go 40mph in a straight line, but I certainly didn't get to enjoy the car or get a proper feel for what it's like. Thoroughly disappointed and left me with a sour feeling about the GT86. It was "alright", but I didn't come away thinking "Wow, I want to swap the Z4 TODAY!", which is what I was hoping for. :thumbsdown:
 
I just meant I was disappointed by the whole experience, I'm not writing off the car or saying it's bad. I just meant that I left the dealership with a sour feeling as I was looking forward to enjoying this new car that everyone has been raving about, and instead I left the dealership disappointed.
 
Don't let that put you off the car, go find another dealer or go back and ask to take it somewhere quiet. Its when you thrash it that it becomes interesting :)
 
That's exactly what I intend on doing. :) I'll report back when I do. Luckily there's another Toyota garage just down the road too, so I shall have to give them a call.

What did you think of it?
 
Check out my A7 thread where I went to test drive the GT86 also... I liked it for a number of reasons. Looked good, sounded good, wasn't made of fancy easily damaged materials, and is Japanese (reliability).

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=49739&hilit=gt86&start=15
 
Contrary to what the general opinion seems to be here i really don't think the depreciation on these cars is going to be that bad. It's a niche car that will be sold in relatively smallish numbers and it has generally been very, very well received by the motoring press. To me that's a recipe for holding value reasonably well, especially when compared to a similarly priced higher performing car such as the Astra VXR or Focus ST (ok, a bit cheaper) which will be sold by the millions, will have a worse image attached and will inevitably be able to be bought for the price of a bus pass in a few years time (check out the GFVs on PCP deals, they are crap).

As for figures being banded about. I've never understood the fascination with 0-60 times. How often is that range used in any situation either every day, hoon or track? It's a statistic that proves little and only really serves for some down the pub willy waving to other people that don't know that much. 40-60, 60-80, balance, grip, steering feel etc all mean far more although granted some are harder to express when selling a car to mass market. The marketing team at Toyota clearly tried in their TV advertising for the GT86 but in my opinion they didn't get it right at all. The salesmen also don't have a clue how to sell the car from what I've seen. They are used to selling econo boxes to pensioners and teenage girls so are totally unprepared for enthusiasts who often know more about the car than them. Hence normally giving crap test drives which illustrate the cars ease of driving the car to the local Topshop/Mecca bingo.

As a side note. I've just bought a 22 year old Peugeot 205 GTi as a weekender. It has 115 bhp, 0-60 of who knows and a top speed of who gives a feck..... having driven some highly exotic and extremely fast things over the last couple of years I can hand on heart say this car is in the top 3. Go figure.
 
Mowflow said:
As a side note. I've just bought a 22 year old Peugeot 205 GTi as a weekender. It has 115 bhp, 0-60 of who knows and a top speed of who gives a feck..... having driven some highly exotic and extremely fast things over the last couple of years I can hand on heart say this car is in the top 3. Go figure.
You will have some fun in that :thumbsup: I remember back in the day struggling to keep up in quicker cars the way they handle is out of this world, enjoy :driving:
 
Yes, they handle very well until the point that they spin :) Even though it was almost 20 years ago I can still vividly remember the day I spun the last one I had.

Thankfully age and a licence with several speeding points on it have mellowed how this one will be driven (at least on the road anyway ;))
 
If you don't think these will depreciate have a look at the pages of them in PH classifieds with little or no mileage at £20k. That's about £7k lost as you drive it off the forecourt. That's also the price it should've been sold at.
 
Mowflow said:
Yes, they handle very well until the point that they spin :) Even though it was almost 20 years ago I can still vividly remember the day I spun the last one I had.

Thankfully age and a licence with several speeding points on it have mellowed how this one will be driven (at least on the road anyway ;))
Respect :thumbsup: you clearly know how to get your foot down, I have read that they can be interesting on the limit! it's good that you weren't put off first time around...& on topic has anyone mentioned how slow the GT86 is! :rofl:
 
saw one yesterday in traffic ' it caught my eye initially and I thought woagh whats that ?, then i noticed a bit more detail, ... typical japper, very cheap looking around the lights, just looked mass produced and not very special, a bit like the soul less honda s2000 or even dare I say nsx !!! :wink:
 
The in-gear acceleration is worse than the 0-62. They have little torque and peak torque is 6400 rpm and therefore to extract a decent 50-70 or 60-80 time you'll need more than 5k showing on the rev counter. Ok for when you are "on it" but tiresome the rest of the time. That's why I get it as a track slag but not as a daily driver.

I don't quarrel with the car, the philosophy, the looks. I just think it is very poor value for money. I'd rather have an R26R and they WILL hold their money better. A bit like this one http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/renault/renaultsport-megane/renault-megane-r26-r/1055207
 
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