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.

Source: Drive YouTube Channel