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Showing posts with label Toyota GT 86. Show all posts

European Car of the Year Short List with the 8 Finalists Revealed, Think You Can Pick the Winner?

After announcing the 34 nominees (38 if you include re-badged models like the Seat Toledo and Subaru BRZ) in late September, the organizing committee of the European edition of the Car of the Year award has now released the short list with the 8 finalists.

Normally, the short list includes 7 models, but due to the fact that two cars tied in the same position during the voting process, the committee increased the number of finalists to eight, just as it did in the 2007 edition of the award.

As one of the hottest commodities in the affordable rear-wheel drive sports coupe segment, it's only to be expected that most aftermarket brands will develop not one, but many styling kits for the Toyota 86 and its siblings, the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ.

Earlier this year, Japanese tuner Wald International released its first take on the JDM Toyota 86 with an assortment of aero parts including a front half spoiler, side skirts, a duck tail-like boot lid spoiler, and two-tone alloy wheels.

Here's one more tuning proposal for the Toyota 86 sports coupe, which is also known as the GT86 in Europe and Australia, and as the Scion FR-S in North America, that comes to us from the Land of the Rising Sun and Abflug.

The Japanese tuner's Spiral 86 performance and styling package will be formally introduced to the public at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon in mid-January, with sales to follow shortly thereafter.

If you're an avid fan of the art of drifting, you can't go wrong with Japan's D1 Grand Prix or D1GP professional drift series, unless, of course, you stumble upon the wrong car.

We can't say for sure if Gazoo Racing's mini-me Toyota 86 (JDM version of the Scion FR-S) was plagued by a technical problem or if there was nothing wrong and it simply played the role of the rodeo clown, but either way, we can't say we were impressed by its entrance on the track at a recent D1GP drift event in Odaiba, Japan.

Anyone remember the craze over the comically-looking mini supercars created with the help of photoshop and various other image editing programs from a few years back?

After a gazillion different design concepts of any vehicle you can think of, the fad passed and we all moved on, or so we thought, as someone over at Toyota's racing and performance partner Gazoo recently had a moment of zen giving it another go.

Mind you, we're not talking about a digital rendering, but a real life, working model designed to look like the Toyota 86 (in case you forgot, it's marketed as the Toyota GT 86 in Europe and Scion FR-S in North America).

Emerging from the strange and dark depths of advertising is this new commercial for the Toyota GT 86, which is the same car as the North American market Scion FR-S, aimed towards European consumers.

The two-minute promotional clip is the creative work of advertising agency Happiness Brussels and was produced by Caviar, directed by Arnaud Uyttenhove, and filmed by Dimitri Karakatsanis.

We all know how the first generation of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and more recently, the Jeep Grand Cherokee (though, Chrysler did question the results), faired in the now infamous moose (or elk) test pioneered by Swedish car magazine Teknikens Värld.

While the Swedes emulated the presence of a moose with cones, in Lithuania (or so out tipster told us), a similar test was performed with a more pleasing to the eye replica of the large mammal.

The sports coupe jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru that entered production as the Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S and Toyota GT86 was one of the most awaited cars of the year, since it rekindled the fun to drive and relatively modestly priced niche.

Despite being a long time in the making, being teased by a series of concepts, the final product received positive reviews. The three models are nearly identical, featuring a 2.0-liter flat-four engine with both direct and indirect injection driving the rear-wheels via a six-speed manual or auto gearbox and a Torsen limited-slip differential.

The problem is that Subaru and Scion customers who rushed in to buy the first batch of cars are now complaining about rough idle and stalling issues.

Already on offer in some countries, Toyota will now perform the pan-European premiere of its new range of TRD Performance Line accessories for the GT86 (sold as the Scion FR-S in North America) at the Paris Motor Show that runs for the public from September 29 to October 14.

TRD, which stands for Toyota Racing Development, has been developing tuning parts for Toyota vehicles in Japan for more than half a century, and now, its products are available throughout Europe for the first time in its history.

Autobots and Decepticons move over because there's a new Japanese franchise about cars transforming into robots and it's named Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter.

Well, actually, to be frank, it’s far too early to tell if the new franchise will have the success of the Transformers series but the fact that it has licensed several cool cars like the Nissan GT-R, Mazda RX-8, Toyota 86 (Scion FR-S in North America) and Mitsubishi Lancer EVO has certainly captured our attention.

After searching into the unknown depths of the Japanese gaming world (not knowing the language doesn't really help…) we found some basic information about Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter.

The new franchise is the work of Japanese video game developer, publisher and distribution company Square Enix, which is mostly known for its Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.

The Toyota GT 86 and its Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ siblings are all the talk these days with video comparisons popping left and right every week, sometimes even more often.

While Chris Harris recently tested the GT 86 against the closely priced Nissan 370Z and a used Porsche Cayman S, Autoexpress magazine's Owen Mildenhall took a different approach by comparing the rear-wheel drive sports coupe against its forefather and the car that inspired its creation, the Corolla Levin AE86 from the 1980s.

Like the rest of the motoring press, experienced road test editor Chris Harris has already driven the Toyota GT86 (Scion FR-S in the US) during its official launch in Spain. To say he came out all-enthusiastic would probably be an understatement; Harris was raving.

Cars, however, are not only judged on their own but against their rivals as well. Harris decided to test the GT86 on English roads to see if it feels as good as it did at the Spanish track six months ago. He also brought some stiff competition for good measure.

Toyota continues to promote the sport credentials of its GT86, which is sold under the Scion brand as the FR-S in North America, with the unveiling of a cost-effective racecar version for private participants.

The new GT86 CS-V3 was designed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH as an entry-level race model with easy maintenance and low running costs specifically for the V3 class of the Nürburgring-based VLN series and homologation from the Deutsche Motor Sport Bund.

One way to draw car buyers into showrooms is to organize some meaningful events and show off your vehicles, which is what Toyota and its in-house tuning shop TRD (Toyota Racing Development) did in Phuket, Thailand.

The Japanese automaker brought along a race-spec GT86 (Toyota's version of the Scion FR-S) and a professional drift driver who took several event-goers for a slippery ride around the circuit.

Cross over the break to take a look at the video from the event.

Team Toyota GB plans to enter a GT86 sports coupe (sold as the Toyota 86 in Japan and Scion FR-S in North America) in the UK’s toughest and only round-the-clock race for sports and GT cars, the Britcar 24 Hours, which takes place on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit over the weekend of 22 and 23 September. Read more »

Toyota GT86 / Scion FR-S Falls into the Hands of Wald International

These are the very first photos of Wald International's upcoming upgrade package for the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Toyota 86, which is one and the same with the GT 86 in Europe, Australia and other regions/countries around the world, and the Scion FR-S in North America.

Although the Japanese tuning brand has only released a few teaser shots of the car without telling us much more about the package, we can see that the aero kit includes a protruding front apron that covers half the height of the bumper, and matching side skirts with front fender vent parts.

If there's one thing the Toyota GT86 (the European version of the Scion FR-S) is definitely good at, it is drifting and with this in mind, the Japanese carmaker decided to create a new sport for British drivers with the help of "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya as well as Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe and Top Gear Magazine's Ollie Marriage.

The challenge is called "Drift Spin" and as you can see in the video, the basic idea is to drift your way through a specially designed course as quickly as possible.

While the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ have their work cut out in the States due to the plethora of relatively affordable rear-wheel drive sports coupe proposals including the $22,200 Ford Mustang V6 and the $24,250 Hyundai Genesis 2.0-liter Turbo, over in Europe, buyers don't have near as many choices in the segment.

On the other hand, Europeans get other alternatives such as the front-wheel drive Peugeot RCZ coupe, which can be seen in these videos racing against the Scion FR-S' twin, the Toyota GT 86.

Auto Parts

European Car of the Year Short List with the 8 Finalists Revealed, Think You Can Pick the Winner?

Wald International Gets More Dramatic with New Toyota 86 / Scion FR-S Tune

Abflug Adds Some Drama to Toyota 86 / Scion FR-S with New Supercharger Package

Mini-Me Toyota 86 / Scion FR-S Doesn't Make the Cut at D1GP Drift Event

Aww, Isn't That Cute? Gazoo Builds a Real-Life Mini Version of the Toyota GT 86 / Scion FR-S

Strange Toyota Promo Tells us How Wives React to Men Buying a GT 86

Toyota GT 86 aka the Scion FR-S Fails Miserably in Moose Test in Lithuania

BRZ and FR-S Owners Complain About Rough Idle and Stalling Engines, Some Don't Like Remedy

BRZ and FR-S Owners Complain About Rough Idle and Stalling Engines, Some Don't Like Remedy

Toyota to Reveal New TRD Performance Line Accessories for GT86 in Paris

Toyota to Reveal New TRD Performance Line Accessories for GT86 in Paris

Nissan GT-R Transformed Into a Robot for New Japanese Gaming and Film Franchise

Toyota GT 86 Comes Face-to-Face with its 1980s AE86 Predecessor

Chris Harris Compares Toyota GT86 Against Nissan 370Z and Used Porsche Cayman S

Toyota Reveals New GT86 CS-V3 Entry-Level Race Car Priced at €38,500*

Toyota Offers Drift Rides in a Specially Prepped GT86 in Thailand

Toyota to Field a GT86 at the Britcar 24 Hours Endurance Race

Toyota GT86 / Scion FR-S Falls into the Hands of Wald International

'King of Drift' Keiichi Tsuchiya Helps Develop a New Drift Sprint Challenge for Toyota GT86

Toyota GT 86 and Peugeot RCZ Coupes Playing Around in Greece

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