This is the new Toyota GR86, and the one question you want answered is...
How much faster is it than the old one?
[The second question you want answered: why is there a troll in a Little Red Riding Hood costume? Answer: We don't know.]
The biggest problem with the last 86 was that it couldn't keep up with a Miata in a drag race.
That's literally the worst thing you could say about any car.
[BURN!]
And, uh, problem solved!
Well, I guess we can end the episode now, right?
[EEEEK!]
Whoa!
Now there's that thing to contend with!
The GTI's really fast, but it's wrong-wheel drive!
Volkswagen says they've eliminated all the understeer.
We'll see about that.
Isn't the iconic sports-car recipe front-engine, rear-drive and not about the power?
Wait a second, haven't we seen this story before?
[This burn brought to you by the turbocharged, Zermatt-silver Porsche 951]
[Somehow Cammisa remains insured AND employed by an insurance company, even after this felonious, unconscionably dangerous intro.]
[This makes Hagerty the coolest company in the world, amirite?]
[This is a synonym for Subaru BRZ]
Can we be honest about why we care about these cars?
We're poor! [He may be projecting.]
Otherwise we would have Porsches.
And if you want an affordable, fun-to-drive sports car, you only had a few choices.
You could have a Subaru BRZ, a Scion FR-S, a Toyota 86, a Toyota GT 86, or a Toyota 86 GT. [Hint: these are all the same car.]
All of which were among the best-handling cars of all time.
But they came with an engine that vibrated like a worn-out drain disposal and made just as much torque.
The old 86 wasn't actually that slow, but it felt it — because it made no torque where
you needed it the most, and sounded so bad that you never wanted to rev it out.
Ever.
Problem... solved!
The old engine's tiny little torqsiqules have been working out!
[Eww.]
There's a 2.4-liter where there used to be a 2.0.
And there's all kind of pull where there used to be a torque hole.
This is nothing like the last car, where you used to feel trapped in a gear, foot on the floor...
...waiting for the old lady behind you to be like...
[honks]
Get out of my way, slowpoke!
This thing is faster at all speeds, and more importantly, it feels wwaaaaaayyy quicker.
And pulls so hard up top you're going to wear out the rev limiter.
You can make it do a little beep as you approach redline, and trust me, you're going to need it...
...especially when you're racing something faster.
Like the new GTI.
[Oh god, there it is again.]
[Help! Mommy!]
As you might have noticed, the 86 got its ass handed to it by the GTI, even though
the cars have similar power-to-weight.
That's because turbos are (and this is a technical term) cheating.
[OMG what did we just see? Please tell me those were shorts and not bloomers.]
But you'll see that the 86 gets a significant jump off the line before the GTI eventually
blows by it.
And that's because of something we need to quickly discuss...
[How did HE get there?]
...weight transfer.
All other things being equal, the more weight on a tire, the more grip it has.
So, I can take this tire and just drag it down the track, no problem.
However, if we add a little bit of weight to the tire...
(I said a LITTLE bit of weight!)
...well, then I can't pull it at all.
More weight equals more grip.
The same thing happens in your car.
Under acceleration, you and everything else in your car [yes, including your parking tickets] gets thrown backwards.
That weight is transferred off the front tires and onto the rears.
The harder a car accelerates, the more of a disadvantage a front-wheel drive car like
the GTI has, and the more of an advantage a rear-drive car like the 86 has.
This thing is faaaast!
[Sounds like a Dyson.]
It's a little passionless and a little laggy, but it makes power all the way to the redline.
In fact, it makes so much power that it struggles to put it down...
...even with these [sorry, VW] outrageous cheater tires on it.
U.S.-spec GTIs come with all-season tires and this has barely street-legal semi-racing tires.
I guess Volkswagen couldn't find a set of Hoosiers to put on this...
Anyway!
I love GTIs.
I like front-wheel drive cars.
A lot!
But there's a reason why race cars are never front-wheel drive.
And yes, that weight-transfer thing has something to do with it, but also something else...
that we call the traction circle.
Basically, your tires have only so much grip to give.
If you ask them to do two things at once, you're reducing their ability to do each of them.
So, if you add power in the middle of a corner in a GTI, well, you're reducing
the front wheels' ability to turn the car.
At the same time, you're transferring weight rearward, reducing overall grip on the front
to begin with.
And so what happens? The front slides, the back doesn't, and that's called understeer.
The GTI's locking front diff is magic.
But it can't invent grip.
It can only maximize what's there.
And what's there is far less than a rear-wheel drive car would have.
It's straight physics.
[Where the HELLdid that 86 come from!? Hahahaha!]
So, rear-wheel drive cars are faster on the way out of a corner...
...but they're also a lot more fun!
It's because I can steer with the front wheels...
...the back wheels...
...or all of them!
You can throw the GTI sideways on the way into a corner,
but on the way out, he's only got understeer.
Not a problem here!
And this is why the iconic sports-car recipe isn't front-wheel drive.
Front-wheel cars are easy to master.
And therefore quick to bore you.
It needs to be said: something like a GTI doesn't live on a race track.
It lives here, on a public road.
And here, limit-handling doesn't really matter.
The GTI is still the perfect combination of fun and speed.
I have great seats, a great steering wheel, a shifter that lets me downshift in the middle of a corner...
...lots of power on the way out, great sight lines so I can place the car exactly where I want.
This is a backroad-bomber.
I think this Mk8 GTI is not quite as good as the last one.
It still has all of the great GTI attributes, but the interior is a little... not-so-nice,
and it's got a lot more gimmicks and a little less substance.
Overall, though, you'd be hard-pressed to find another car that's this great on a back road.
I'm sorry, outside of a drag strip or a race track, there is absolutely nothing wrong with front wheel drive.
Especially once you start factoring in the other benefits of a hot-hatch.
Which is of course, space.
Let's ignore the GTI's catastrophe of a user interface for a second...
[Revelations episode coming to discuss that in detail!]
...and talk about practicality.
The GTI has a back seat that fits actual...humans. [And the troll from the drag race.]
And it has a trunk large enough to put a refrigerator in it.
The 86 is only an inch shorter and yet it has a back seat that will never fit a human being
— much less Little Fat Riding Hood over there.
[Jason's good buddy Mike, who's playing "Little Fat Riding Hood," was 100% on board with this joke and found it even funnier than you did. LFRH gets his revenge later in the episode, but know that we're spreading love and laughs here - not fat shaming.]
And its trunk, well it could fit a cooler if you could actually fit it through the opening.
Which you can't.
The Miata doesn't even have a back seat — you'd be lucky to fit in the front —and its trunk
is... umm... full.
This is the continuum of the $30,000 enthusiast car.
On the GTI end, you have all the practicality, fun, and speed — but a car that will quickly
prove itself one-dimensional on a racetrack.
On the Miata end, well, you have the iconic sports-car recipe.
And that is unmatched in its ability to put a smile on your face, on the road or on track.
But this is the Goldilocks car.
And the idea of a happy-medium sports-car isn't new.
In fact, the 86 is a perfect update on the Porsche 944 recipe.
Four-cylinder, front-engine, rear-drive GT with a usable-ish trunk and an emphasis on handling.
And the 944 lineage had an incredibly successful 20-year run.
Partially because it was even better than the 911 at being a sports car you could use every day.
The 86 is the 944's spiritual successor.
And the last generation had a bit of a problem.
While it was amazing when you were caning it, it was irritating to live with.
And I don't say this lightly: this new one fixes every. single. one. of. those. problems.
The interior no longer looks like Toyota and Subaru were having an argument while they were designing it.
It's nice in here.
The stereo actually sounds good. [What a concept?!]
And it's now possible to engage the clutch smoothly. [This was patently impossible in the last Toyobaru.]
This may not be the world's best car, but it's a perfect 86. [Perfect BRZ!]
And so the 86 has come way closer to the GTI's everyday livability.
And with all the Miata's handling.
In fact, more of it.
This handles better than the Miata.
The old 86 —and the ND — both do what you want.
But sometimes they do things you don't want.
Like throwing themselves sideways at the suggestion of a bump.
Or every time you see a police officer. [Sorry, your honor.]
This one is much more stable — it lets go at the front first, and then allows you to
adjust the line with the throttle.
In other words, this is a driver's car.
It does exactly what you want.
The flip side of that is if you ask it to get sideways, it will.
Even if you have stability control on. [Which was clearly not the case here.]
Gaaaaaahhhd I love oversteer!
[Disturbing O-sounds]
I genuinely can't think of a better teaching tool for advanced driving techniques.
No wonder, then, that Toyota is giving out free track instruction with the purchase of any GR 86.
Come to think of it, Porsche should give out a free GR 86 with the purchase of every 911 GT3 RS —so that its buyers can finally learn how to drive them.
If there's one thing you need to know about this car, it's that this is a comprehensive
rework of a great car that fixed all of its shortcomings without adding a single problem.
Not one.
And that sounds like Porsche:
...continually evolving its cars on a quest to make the world's best everyday sports cars.
The GR 86 may have a Toyota badge on it.
And it might be built by Subaru.
But it's 100% Porsche in its philosophy.
Except unlike anything at the Porsche dealership, this is an everyday sports car you and I can actually afford.
Ugh, that's it?
You barely reviewed the car!
[Bloop!]
Mother... [indistinct swearing and banging on the door]
Well, look — while I'm in here, on the right hand side, those are two videos you need to watch.
The first is a Revelations on the Subaru BRZ —this car's twin.
And that's where I talk about all the technical details I left out of this video.
The second one is a Revelations on the Porsche 924.
That's the car that became the 944 and the 968 —great story, you need to watch it!
Hopefully I'll be out of here by the time you're done.
[Bangs on door.]
Ugh.