Boasting a striking design guaranteed to turn heads, Toyota’s sporty GT 86 a car for real driving enthusiasts With a great interior design and healthy price tag, it’s fun, fun, fun all the way in the GT86.

The good

Styling, driving dynamics and price-tag

The bad

A tad bouncy and noisy

Tech Specs

Price from

£22,700

Combined Fuel up to

39.8mpg

0-62 from

7.6 seconds

max speed up to

140mph

co2 from

164g/km

Test Drive

Toyota GT86 2.0 Manual

Toyota has made a welcome return to the world of sports cars with its sleek, streamlined and beautifully crafted GT86 model.

The striking 2+2 sports coupe developed in conjunction with Subaru is guaranteed to turn heads wherever it passes thanks to its drop-dead-gorgeous looks, the mighty engine roar, smart alloys, rear spoiler, larger than life twin tail pipes and sleek light clusters.

In fact, it would fair to say the GT86 has the true wow factor so many cars lack these days.

It looks like a pocket rocket and the performance lives up to the big build up too with a 0-62mph burst of just 7.7 seconds on to a top speed of 140mph.

The interior boasts classic styling with body-hugging black leather and alcantara seats neatly set off by red stitching and the cockpit has been perfectly designed for driver-usability with all dials, levers, controls and readouts perfectly positioned for ease of use.

Engine noise within the cabin has been enhanced to help create a real sports car atmosphere and there is technical wizardry at every turn.

Features include dual-zone climate control, heated seats, a great sound system with connections for modern devices, drilled aluminium sports pedals and a sat nav system – although it’s not a car I would mind getting lost in!

And that’s because this car is fun, fun, fun in every department.

Admittedly, you will feel most dips and bumps but once again that adds to its appeal.

The low centre of gravity, with perfect power to weight ratio, results in a brilliant and exhilarating driving experience which is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

The 2.0-litre petrol-powered engine produces plenty of oomph as the car rapidly yet smoothly accelerates through the six-speed manual transmission.

Road-holding is exceptional even on very tight bends in wet driving conditions and the cabin noise is loud!

However, credit has to be given to those technical experts at Toyota because despite offering edge-of-the-seat performance capabilities, the GT86 is actually fairly economical to run with combined fuel efficiency of 36.2mpg.

The boot is not massive, but can easily accommodate smaller luggage items and there are other storage options throughout the car, including the two rear seats which, like all sports coupe models, are much too small to carry passengers.

All-round visibility is also on a par with other models in this segment, so not brilliant but certainly adequate.

All in all, the GT86 is a brilliant car – it’s amazing fun to drive, offers plenty of on-board technology and with a price-tag of £27,795 with all the optional bells and whistles, it won’t break the bank either.

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