Toyota's New Special Edition GT86 Is Here To Tempt You

Toyota has announced a new special edition GT86 called the Club Series Blue Edition. It might sound a bit like a hotel TV adult movie pass, but it actually brings some important upgrades if you tick the Performance Pack option box.

To kick the elephant in the room square in the baby-maker, no, there’s no more power from the 2.0-litre flat-four engine at the front. You still get a sweet, zingy and rev-hungry 2.0-litre unit with 197 hard-earned brake horsepower.

The car takes the GT86 Pro as its base for equipment. That nets you a limited-slip differential, cruise control, automatic headlights, heated front seats, the Touch 2 media system and dual-zone climate control. Sweet.

After that, standard on the basic Blue Edition pack is Electric Blue paint and black details, a black leather and Alcantara interior, and a black boot spoiler. The aesthetics-only version costs £29,980 in manual guise; £1945 more than the equivalent standard car.

Add an extremely reasonable-seeming £475, though, and you can take the Performance Pack. Sachs-tuned suspension with high-spec Sachs dampers – one of the things that made the Renault Sport Clio 182 Trophy such a legend – are joined by larger Brembo brakes with red calipers and new 17-inch wheels. You’d be mad not to take the Performance Pack, with manual cars starting at £30,455.

It’s on sale from 1 June across the UK Toyota dealer network. The Blue Edition follows an Orange Edition special, but the Blue’s optional handling upgrades make it the one to have.