Toyota FT-86 at Tokyo

By Sam Hardy

21st October 2009

It's the car that could make Toyota cool – so says company boss Akio Toyoda. Taking the wraps of the FT-86 rear-wheel drive coupe at the Tokyo Motor Show, Toyoda claimed that sporty models like the FT-86 will change the company's image.

Power comes from a 2.0-litre flat-four cylinder boxer engine from joint venture partner Subaru, mated to a chassis from the Legacy. This has been modified so that power is sent only to the rear wheels, as opposed to all four.

Thanks to an all-new cylinder head with revised camshafts, pistons and valves the engine produces 200bhp – more than the last-generation Celica, which delivered 189bhp from its 1.8-litre engine. In the new car, the powerplant is mated to a specially built six-speed manual gearbox developed by Japanese transmission expert Aishin – the firm behind the advanced automated manual set-up in Toyota luxury brand Lexus’s LF-A supercar. As a result, the FT-86 should cover 0-60mph in less than seven seconds and hit 140mph.

Yet while the Subaru Legacy donates its chassis, not much of the basic architecture will be retained in the new model. The springs, dampers, brakes and steering will all be uprated, to ensure the FT-86 is every inch the rear-driven sports car. The production version is set to cost at least £25,000 when it arrives in 2012.

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