Toyota’s much-hyped return to mass production sports cars was the headline act at the Tokyo Motor Show, launched under the umbrella of Toyota’s new global slogan – ‘Fun To Drive. Again.
The front-engine, rear-wheel-drive coupe ( joint collaboration with Subaru) does on sale in Australia next year with many local dealers already receiving strong expressions of interest even before its official launch today. For the record, Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing chief, Matthew Callachor, speaking today on the Toyota stand in Tokyo, would not be drawn into likely pricing for the new sports car (officially called the ‘86’) but he did say the newcomer was likely to be sold in one model grade and, based on initial responses, could initially rack-up more than 100 sales per month.
Car Showroom will be among the first to officially drive the Toyota 86 at Japan’s Fuji race circuit on Saturday – so look for our driving impressions on Monday.
In the flesh, the Toyota 86 looks much more purposeful than the official photos – with a racy front-end highlighted by the modern headlights and large cool-air intake and prominent curves around the rear three-quarter panels. . This is a genuine sports coupe which really doesn’t compare with any previous Toyota styling effort.
Inside the Toyota 86 exudes a traditional sports car feel with nice sports seats and steering wheel (365mm – the smallest in a Toyota) but with modern design cues around the dashboard with its three-cluster instrumentation. It’s all about a low centre of gravity (it’s real sports car feel when you lower yourself inside) – the 86 has the lowest ‘hip-point’of any Toyota vehicle- and the company says it is the smallest mass-production four-seat sports coupe – however with the rear seat folded, luggage capacity is impressive (able to fir two golf bags).
Of course the big news for this joint development is under the hood with Subaru’s new D-4S horizontally-opposed 2.0-litre boxer engine mounted low and centre (for better chassis balance) and driving through Toyota’s six-speed manual or automatic transmissions. Maximum power is 147kW at a rather high 7000rpm and peak torque of 205Nm is delivered at 6600rpm – this ‘revvy’ nature a clear differentiation from other Subaru powerplants.
Interestingly, the engine runs twin injectors for both direct and port injection and a high 12.5:1 compression ratio – for both strong performance and clean fuel burn.
We’re looking forward to sampling the Toyota 86 at the Fuji circuit on Saturday.
