Soldato
£2400... Wow. That would put me off, for me it's £588. That's around what I paid for a mk2 Golf Gti 20 year's ago. My insurance quotes never seem to change. 
GT86/GR86/BRZ
- Thread starter Delta3D
- Start date
Soldato
The auto box whilst ok doesn’t really go with the ethos of the car. It’s a car that’s meant to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and driven. It’s not a wafting cruiser. The auto is also geared significantly higher and performance suffers for it.
2.4k for insurance? Mental, not worth it imho. Chances are you’ll bin it too. Not being funny but I know what most lads are like at 18 having been there and got the Tshirt. I’ve had some ‘interesting’ moments in mine that made me wonder how I came out the other end in one piece and I’m not that hard a driver. Usually in wet or snowy weather - in the dry it’s nice and predictable. When it’s really wet or icey though all bets are off, especially if you’re on stock tyres.
2.4k for insurance? Mental, not worth it imho. Chances are you’ll bin it too. Not being funny but I know what most lads are like at 18 having been there and got the Tshirt. I’ve had some ‘interesting’ moments in mine that made me wonder how I came out the other end in one piece and I’m not that hard a driver. Usually in wet or snowy weather - in the dry it’s nice and predictable. When it’s really wet or icey though all bets are off, especially if you’re on stock tyres.
I'm not generally one to fit the 18 year old "wannabe rally driver" - I've grown up around cars with my dad being fond of them. I like to think of myself sensible where I floor it and where I don't, compared to friends who have had near misses and/or binned it who shrug it off to someone elses fault whereas if I get into anything close I think why it happened and prevent it happening again if possible.
My current insurance on a 1.2 TSi Ibiza was £1400 with a blackbox and looking like it's going to be £1400 again without one next year, where I'd rather fork out a bit more and get the car I want to keep.
Aiming to get one and ease myself into how it feels rather than getting it and planting it round bends on my first month of ownership as I'm planning on keeping it for years to come.
Hmm the traction control isn't that aggressive. While it will stop you going full initial D or spinning, it won't stop you sliding around a bit or save if you do something really silly.
Premiums shouldn't be to bad though. There's only something like 16k of them in the country, with many only being used at weekends or track days. So statistics should be favorable.
Premiums shouldn't be to bad though. There's only something like 16k of them in the country, with many only being used at weekends or track days. So statistics should be favorable.
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Soldato
Wasn't there another car that was pretty much identical to this, same engine, similar looks, released at the same time. Sure I saw them on Top Gear being compared.
EDIT: Scooby BRZ?
EDIT: Scooby BRZ?
Associate
I had an auto GT86 for 3 years. Reading the thread it seems no one has mentioned the brakes or the tyres!! OEM brake pads squeal like an absolute pig - recommend changing the pads for something like EBC Yellowstuff or StopTech. Also, watch out for the calipers on the rear they have a tendancy to 'stick' on and cause an awful grinding sound - needs immediate attention if it does.
Do yourself a massive favour and ditch the Michelin Primacy tyres before they ditch you as well! They make it like skating on ice when it rains as the compound is so hard! Look at something like Michelin Pilot Sports or Dunlop SP Sport Maxx if counting the pennies.
Other things to consider as a minor note which probably goes without saying, it drinks petrol like a fish. I only got 250 miles to a tank of Shell 95oct and 280/290 with Shell 99oct - most miles on motorway at 70/75mph. Works out to be about 32mpg.
Shawrey
Do yourself a massive favour and ditch the Michelin Primacy tyres before they ditch you as well! They make it like skating on ice when it rains as the compound is so hard! Look at something like Michelin Pilot Sports or Dunlop SP Sport Maxx if counting the pennies.
Other things to consider as a minor note which probably goes without saying, it drinks petrol like a fish. I only got 250 miles to a tank of Shell 95oct and 280/290 with Shell 99oct - most miles on motorway at 70/75mph. Works out to be about 32mpg.
Shawrey
Was it broken? Before tuning, I averaged about 35mpg in a manual car, also with mainly motorway work. The automatic should be better with it's higher gearing.
As for Subaru, the GT86 is really just a BRZ with a Toyota badge...and even that is made by Subaru...
https://imgur.com/DesiW8V
As for Subaru, the GT86 is really just a BRZ with a Toyota badge...and even that is made by Subaru...
https://imgur.com/DesiW8V
Associate
Nope - wasn't broken just used more fuel than I expected. A lot of it could depends how frivolous I was in over taking as that fa20 motor does sound good at 4.5k revs upwards
. Not to mention the a303 from Andover to Basingstoke where I work, is just about the most up and down road you could drive. It has a large number of hills and so you are constantly altering speed and having to drive the car a lot harder with more gear changes. On a flatter road I would probably have gotten better mpg overall. Pretty much all of the parts are made by Subaru even the hub caps have Subaru on the inside! Only thing that is Toyota is the suspension setup and Fuel System afaik.
The only people who don't seem to think the GT86 is a Subaru are Subaru themselves as I remember a guy on the owners club forums took his to have a service (given his Toyota dealer was too far away) and they wouldn't accept it for a dealer service as it wasn't a Subaru!
.Shawrey
I'm sure at launch a big thing was made of the tyres, "Prius tyres", in that they were deliberately not the grippiest tyres around so you could have a bit of fun with it, get the back end out etc. without having to be doing daft speeds.
Associate
Indeed - Prius Tyres - OK for learning to drift in closed environments but unnerving to drive in heavy rain with other plonkers doing silly speeds in the wet. The steering wheel was always light as a feather in such conditions and if any sharp inputs had to be made, it felt like it would aquaplane.
I always felt the wheels were too narrow at 7J // 215mm - should've been atleast 8 or 8.5J for 235 // 245mm tyres.
Don't get me wrong the thing was nimble and was at home on b roads. Had many memorable Friday evenings blasting it to my brothers in South Wales. Best time I managed (within reason) was 1.5hrs for 112 miles door to door - awesome car to drive hard.
Shawrey
Soldato
This was my exact concern.
Associate
The real world difference between Automatic Transmission and the Manual is negligible! https://autobrz.wordpress.com/brz-fr-s-automatic-automatically-slower-you-might-be-surprised/
I owned an Auto and with driving round with the owners club (predominantly manuals) the straight line difference is down to the driver, gear change and whether the car is tuned. In sport mode with the auto I was pulling away from stock manuals obviously tuned would pull away.
The auto will be fine for an NA tune or a light FI tune. Expected power at Flywheel on an NA tune with Header, Sports cat and Exhaust is circa 220bhp.
On the auto FI can go to about 260/280bhp at the flywheel but any higher and you'll start cooking the gearbox as it struggles to handle the torque.
Personally, I would pick the car on what your predominantly going to be doing with it. For me, the auto was engaging and fast on B-roads. It excelled on twisty country lanes. For others it may not be so as they'll prefer the connection with the car on rev matching, left foot braking/heel toe braking.
Shawrey
£2400... Wow. That would put me off, for me it's £588. That's around what I paid for a mk2 Golf Gti 20 year's ago. My insurance quotes never seem to change.
Mine was £399 this year and I was annoyed as it's up from £365. Last years insurer wanted £460 so I had to tell them to jog on.
I get much better than that on a motorway, mid to high 40s. With some urban driving and a heavy right foot out of town I get around 30. These boxer engines give quite consistent MPG I find. Very smooth running as well being naturally balanced.
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Soldato
That's quite cheap, mine would be lower if I had a driveway rather than parking on the street. I always have to find another insurer, the renewals are never competitive.
A few of you are saying these can be a handful in the wet.. Is this even with traction control on? I currently have a slk 230 kompressor and have never driven it without traction, and have never felt worried. I think these cars are very simular in terms of bhp and speed.
I don't find it a handful in the wet even on the primacies. It won't slide unless you make it slide. I drove mine to work in the snow (on snow tyres though) and it was fine.
I wouldn't want to drive fast on the road, in the wet with TC off though.
I wouldn't want to drive fast on the road, in the wet with TC off though.
Soldato
Excellent, definitely gonna try and test drive one soon.
Associate
I'd honestly like to know how? The most amount of miles to a tank I achieved with literally driving like a granny was around 340 to a tank iirc. The tank is 50l in capacity so on a rough calculation that is circa 30mpg. On the dash the car was saying I was was around 32/33mpg.
To get 45mpg you'd have to get around 500 miles out of the 50l tank and I'm telling you for a fact that is impossible.
If these cars averaged 40/45 there is no way I would have changed to running a diesel which is now comfortably getting 50mpg on a run.
Shawrey