KF review: Toyota 86

[Joaquin Ruhi]

As I commented recently in another thread on this forum, after my attempted reinvention as a full-time automotive journalist, I'd been trying in vain for a couple of years to get a hold of local (South Florida) press fleet cars for driving impressions. Slowly, but surely, there were cracks in the wall. First, Mazda liked my pitch for a comparison test between my 2008 3rd-gen (NC1 in Mazda-speak) and its 2017 ND successor. Then, a couple of weeks after I posted that article ( http://kaizen-factor.com/nc-vs-nd-evolution-mazda-mx-5-miata/ ), one of the local Toyota PR folks reached out to me and said that she'd liked to "get me into their vehicles". Her intercession led to my being placed in the weekly vehicle rotation of the smaller of the two companies managing the automotive press fleets here in South Florida.

The first of the vehicles I borrowed for a week was a manual Toyota 86. Here's a link to my review:
http://kaizen-factor.com/toyota-86s-scion-fr-s/

 

[mmcartalk]

Nice write-up.

You mentioned the greater usefulness of this hardtop car over smaller open-top roadsters like the Miata. FYI, the Miata also comes in a retractable-hardtop version (the newest one is called the RF), though it admittedly adds a lot of mechanical complexity and cuts down cargo space.

 

[Joaquin Ruhi]

Nice write-up.

You mentioned the greater usefulness of this hardtop car over smaller open-top roadsters like the Miata. FYI, the Miata also comes in a retractable-hardtop version (the newest one is called the RF), though it admittedly adds a lot of mechanical complexity and cuts down cargo space.

Thanks!

I apologize for not being clearer that my comment on the greater usefulness of the 86 was based more on the extra foot of overall length and the extra versatility allowed by the folding "+2" rear seats and the larger trunk than the hardtop per se.

The extra mechanical complexity and added weight of both the NC Miata's Retractable Hardtop and ND Miata's Retractable Fastback are indisputable, but the "cuts cargo space" claim is a matter of semantics and interpretation. In both cases, trunk volume is identical in soft-top and retractable hard top versions. The loss in cargo space comes in sacrificing the soft tops' interior storage cubbies behind the seats for retracted roof storage in the hard top versions.

 

[Gecko]

Great review, Jaoquin! Loved it.

86 is a classic... I'd love to have one.

 

[Joaquin Ruhi]

Great review, Jaoquin! Loved it.

86 is a classic... I'd love to have one.

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

 

[Ian Schmidt]

Someone at work has a pre-facelift 86, I stop and look every time I see it in the parking lot. The facelift's nice from some angles, not as good from others, but the 86 badge with the pistons was a big loss. Toyota, fix that!