This is one of the first videos that Chris Harris did for the Drive YouTube Channel. It’s one of my favorites of his because it’s more of a commentary on car design philosophy than a review. His experiment involves putting the new 2012 Mercedes Benz C63 AMG on space saver spare tires. The reasoning was to replicate the feel of a car with a lot more horsepower but you could say he just wanted it easier to oversteer. Harris calls the experiment a resounding experiment as he drifts the C63 around the entire track. The take away point is that cars with state of the art traction and stability control are fast on the Nurburgring but they’re not necessarily fun on the street. That simple sense of fun is responsible for the success of cars like the Mazda Miata, the Nissan S-Chassis cars and the new Toyota FT-86/Subaru BRZ.
If you’re like me, then you’ve been closely following the development of the Toyota FT-86 since the camouflaged development mules were first spotted on the Nurburgring. That’s because Toyota’s official press release for the car claimed that they were going to revisit the sports car heritage responsible for their previous classics like the 2000GT, Supra, Celica Alltrac, AE86 and MR2.
Toyota FT-86 Concept with Previous Toyota Sports Cars. From left to right: ST205 Celica Alltrac, JZA80 Supra, AE86 Corolla GT-S
The promise of the FT-86 was an affordable, lightweight and sporty rear wheel drive car for the masses, but there was doubt. The development of the car was funded by Toyota but largely carried out by Subaru who specializes in all wheel drive rally cars, not rear wheel drive sports cars. A lot of doubts swirled among the enthusiast community as the FT-86 got closer to production. Will Subaru be able to figure out how to make a good rear wheel drive car? Will Toyota sell a truly fun car after years of bland transportation appliances? Will it really hit the market at under $25,000? It all seemed too good to be true. Thankfully, it wasn’t.
Chris Harris had the opportunity to drive the FT-86 (known as the GT-86 in the UK, Scion FR-S here in the US) for the Drive YouTube Channel. The reason I absolutely love Harris’s reviews is because he doesn’t just say “this car is fast” or “this car handles well” unlike a certain terrible American version of a British car show where 2 of 3 hosts are people who aren’t into cars. He goes so much further in depth to paint a picture for you of exactly what it’s like to be in the driver’s seat and that’s what car reviews should be. His review of the FT-86 demolished all of my doubts about the development of the car. Toyota and Subaru have done it. They made a fun, driver focused rear wheel drive car for the masses. It’s going to be awesome.
The picture of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 liter from the Cars and Coffee Gallery reminded me of this Chris Harris video from the Drive channel on YouTube. He takes a 4.0 liter out for one last drive before putting it away for winter. The video is kind of a commentary on not being afraid of driving and enjoying a performance car and is excellent.
Chris Harris is one of my favorite car reviewers. He is currently making videos for the Drive YouTube channel. YouTube has recently made a push to have their own high quality content similar to weekly television shows. That has led to the creation of channels like Drive. I highly recommend subscribing to them on YouTube or you can check back here since I’ll be posting the good ones.
In this video, Harris tests an older Porsche 911 built to participate in a Belgian rally series. It’s basically a vintage car with generous allowances for power and suspension modifications. He does his usual superb job painting a picture of the car’s characteristics and discusses the joys of driving a car that has a direct connection with it’s driver without the hindrance of any electronic aids. Not many cars are built like that anymore so we have to cherish the ones that provide such a rich driving experience.
