After the Scion brand failed to get enough of the market, the sporty little coupe Scion FRS had to be axed too.
But the car was replaced with the 2017 Toyota GT86. And it was a better deal.

The 2016 Toyota GT86 had some outside details upgrades even if they were not so obvious. The car had LED only lights outside the vehicle: headlights, DRL, fog-lights and, of course, taillights. On the side of the headlights, a GT86 logo was shown. On the front fenders, the engineers installed air-vents that sucked the air from the wheel-well to decrease the lift on higher speeds. A new light-alloy set of wheels were introduced.

Inside, there was the same interior, but with better materials than those found in the FRS. On the 2017 Toyota GT86, the bucket seats had Alcantara upholstery.

The most important modifications were on the tech side. Under the hood, if the air intakes were red, the transmission was manual. If those were black than it was an automatic. Both gearboxes had 6 speeds and the automatic also had paddle-shifters behind the steering wheel. The power was increased by 2.5% by optimizing the airflow of the flat-4 naturally aspirated engine.

The suspension was stiffer on the front and softer on the rear, for a neutral behavior of the car. Some bushings and strut-bars were also modified so the whole body was stiffer. In the end, the GT86 was more of a handling car. And for that job, it was one of the best on the market at an affordable price.

With the GT 86, Toyota revived its fun-to-drive affordable sportscar segment that died long before.
The GT 86 was built from the ground up to put a smile on your face, bringing back the pure driving essence. The 50:50 weight balanced coupe follows the oldschool sportscar recipe: a naturally aspirated gasoline engine at the front, traction at the back and a manual gearbox in the middle. There’s an automatic version on the table too, but that will spoil the fun. With 200 horses at the tap, some might say it’s a bit underpowered, but we’ll tell you it’s enough to make the rear end stick out through the corners, thanks to skinny Prius tires. Even so, the wide aftermarket tuning kits will make sure you can upgrade its engine quite easy. Inside, you’ll find a dashboard inspired by the old Toyota 2000GT. However, it’s done in plastic and wood trimmings are nowhere to be found. You get two sport seats, knee cushioning on later versions, a decent infotainment system on the higher spec model, Bluetooth connectivity, air conditioning, push-button start, electric windows and mirrors as well as paddle shifters on the automatic model. Some markets sell a very basic model, with unpainted bumpers, steel wheels and no interior amenities, to make it more easily to transform it into a track car.