GT Channel got this exclusive in-depth interview with the chief engineer of the FT-86 on the Toyota side, Tetsuya Tada. I believe he’s the same engineer that was interviewed in the Chris Harris review. They get some pretty interesting details out of him about the development of the project. He talks about interviewing enthusiasts before the project started and how they shaped the decision to use a boxer engine. He also tells the story about how he got Subaru involved even though the car wasn’t be turbo or AWD. Tada gives out a few other interesting facts about the car that you probably won’t get from anybody else. There’s a bit of weird editing at the end, so just turn off the video after the main part ends.
Automobile Magazine just posted this review of the 2013 Scion FR-S. It’s pretty interesting because they do a good job explaining how the FR-S and the Subaru BRZ feel different based on how their respective companies tuned their suspensions. They also talk about where some improvements can be made to both cars. Head over to Automobile’s Site to read the whole article.
The new crop of professional drift cars based on the new Toyota/Subaru FT-86 made their debuts at the Odaiba round of the Japanese D1 Drift Series last week.
First is Hibino’s Up Garage car. He is using an EJ-25 engine from a Subaru Impreza. Unfortunately, he crashes it pretty hard in practice:
Next is Manibu “Max” Orido’s FT-86 which is powered by the V8 from a Lexus IS-F.
Taniguchi’s HKS supercharged car was there, but I don’t think it competed. It uses the HKS GT Supercharger kit on the stock based engine.
Here are some highlights of Hibino and Orido during the competition rounds.
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 Toyota FT-86 is a new compact sports car co-developed between Subaru and Toyota. The inspiration was to create a affordable, compact, lightweight, rear wheel drive sports car similar to the Toyota AE86 from the 80’s. Production of the new car has just started in Japan and the tuners there have already started working on aftermarket parts for it. Designer Jon Sibal rounded up pictures and videos from some of the big name tuners. This is Manabu “Max” Orido’s IS-F Powered D1 competition car for this year:
Manibu "Max" Orido's IS-F Powered FT-86 from JonSibal.com
Check out the article on Jon Sibal’s site to see pictures and video of the rest of the tuned FT-86’s including ones from URAS, R-Magic and HKS.
