It was with much fanfare with the arrival of the 86 in local SG shore. Finally for quite a long while rather, Toyota has come up with something more exciting than its usual bread-and-butter vehicles. For someone like us working in Toyota Singapore, being amongst the first people to be able to test drive the new 86 is certainly an interesting proposition to look forward to during the day.
There was more to the anticipated test drive of the 86 that morning. I had been tasked to pick up the venerable Lexus ISF from the west and drive it all the way to the Exhibition grounds for display as well as for sometime around the makeshift track meant for the 86. That's my caffeine for the day start!
Arriving at the entrance to the Exhibition ground, it was there that I had that short few seconds to truly open up the lungs of the ISF after the 1st road hump. Acceleration was brutal after the initial 0.5 second of lag after flooring the pedal, even with 5 pax onboard. Well the joy was literally short-lived as I had to use the retard pedal after hitting that 200 on the speedo. My passengers appear.....alright though.
As we had arrived much earlier that morning, we had some time around the makeshift track to test out another of our in-house vehicle, a humble Toyota Vios NCP93R decked out in TRD liverage and of course, with a slew of TRD bolt-on parts such as the 17' TRD rims, TRD Sports Suspensions, TRD 3-puck Sports clutch, TRD Sports Air Filter and a TRD-Sparco seat with TAKATA harness to match. Gripping the tarmac are a set of 4 sticky Yokohama AD08 tires, known for their superb dry grip ability. No wonder the car feels like it is on rail when we take it through the slalom course and the makeshift chicanes!
Finally it was time to head into the Conference Room for the 86 Internal Launch. Display inside the Room are 2 86 - one fully kitted with TRD parts and the other one bone-stock from factory...
With the conclusion of the 86 video presentation and the speech from the PIC, it was time for the higllight of the day - the 86 test drive. Here we have our local and Msia drift drivers in Ivan Lim and Ariff to advise the participants on the handling of the cars in the circuit. Taking the 86 out into the slalom and circuit further exemplify the outstanding handling characteristics of the vehicles. The time on the vehicle for each participant, was too limited to fully exploit the better characteristics of the car. Nonetheless, that's possibly one of the few times where we have the opportunity to drive in the 86, for the S$180K price tag on the 86 in Singapore puts the car way above its original intended purpose of 'a cheap affordable sports car'.
Well if you do have at least S$180K to splurge and you happen to be looking for a car with a sporty outlook, sits 2 comfortably, drives well and generally turn eyes wherever it goes, this could be the car within your search radar. Of course, there happen to be quite a few other European consideration (albeit with a higher engine output) within that price segment, but when you are talking about a rear-wheel drive vehicle with a built-to-drift potential and loads of aftermarket options on-hand, there's few that can rival the 86....
Hi All,
