The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

The word is that the 'GR86' will be more powerful and turbocharged. But is that a good or a bad thing?
The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

The old adage that suggests you should be careful what you wish for seems particularly fitting for the Toyota GT86. Car enthusiasts the world over have bemoaned the sports car’s alleged lack of power and ‘torque hole’ ever since its launch in 2012, and with leaked details from a recent dealer conference suggesting the next GT86 will be turbocharged and be good for more like 260bhp, both of those apparent issues will be fixed.

The news was not universally welcomed, however. And in some ways, we get why. Whether or not this is a good call for what’s set to be christened the ‘GR86’ is open for debate, so we thought we’d put all the arguments for and against the power move on one page. Let’s get started with the cons…

Against

The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

Criticise it for being underpowered all you want, but the GT86 is an incredibly rare beast - a naturally-aspirated sports car. N/A performance cars are rocking horse excrement anyway, but atmospheric rear-drive coupes? As far as the UK market goes, your only other non-supercar options are a Porsche Cayman GT4/GTS (expensive) or a Ford Mustang GT (not a sports car).

The FA20 Subaru flat-four (rebranded by Toyota as the ‘4U-GSE) needs to be worked hard, with peak power of 197bhp arriving at 7000rpm. But isn’t that the main draw? Particularly when that last-gasp change can be done with a slick six-speed manual gearbox? And while 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds doesn’t sound like much, it’s arguably fast enough for a good country road.

In contrast, the FA24 set for use in the ‘GR86’ makes its peak power at just 5600rpm. You’d hope that the top end might be in for a little tweak before the engine goes into the Toyota and in Subaru’s jointly-developed BRZ (right now it’s only used in more humdrum stuff), but even if it’s given a comparable redline to the FA20, it’s not going to be an engine you need to spin up to the limiter.

The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

You’ll be swapping the brilliant responsiveness of an N/A engine for frustrating turbo lag, removing one of the car’s most unique features, and making it more like every other performance car out there right now.

Then we have to consider weight. Tipping the scales at under 1300kg, the ‘86 is not a heavy car. The GR Supra, even in inline-four guise, is well over 100kg bulkier. Adding more displacement, a turbocharger and all the associated plumbing means the GR86 is unlikely to be as lithe as its predecessor. The engine won’t be as compact either, meaning the central point of its mass won’t sit quite as low in the car.

For

The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

It’s probably best we kick off with the obvious: speed. Yes, I know only a few paragraphs ago I stated that the GT86’s performance is more than adequate for road use, but on the occasions we’ve tried a modified one making 250bhp or thereabouts, it’s felt like a great match for the chassis.

It’s enough go to make for thrilling straight-line performance without being excessive. And you can wave goodbye to the FA20’s torque hole - the FA24 is good for a peak of 277lb ft, available between 2000 and 4800rpm.

It’ll be a much more tuneable engine than the N/A FA20 too. Extracting a significant power increase from the current GT86 engine is an expensive business since you need to plough at least £5000 into a turbocharger or supercharger conversion. The already turbocharged FA24 will be capable of significant gains with minimal fiddling, and some firms are already playing around with the engine in examples of the Subaru Ascent SUV, the first vehicle to receive it.

Having driven a couple of supercharged Toyota GT86s, we can report that the car is pretty damn sweet with a little more power
Having driven a couple of supercharged Toyota GT86s, we can report that…

While it’s a fair point that turbocharged performance cars are boringly common these days, we should point out that the GR86’s powertrain won’t just be any old turbo mill. As a boxer engine, it’ll still be far more characterful than the average inline-four, and remember, turbocharged fast cars are Subaru’s thing. The next GR86 and the BRZ will be - if you like - Subaru WRXs in compact coupe form. Which sounds awfully tempting.

It’d be wise to expect an increase in price relative to the current model, but it won’t be a big one. The GR86 can’t be too expensive, otherwise, it’d end up competing with the 2.0-litre GR Supra. A 250bhp+ rear-wheel drive coupe for the price of a mid-tier hot hatch seems like a good deal.

Finally, we need to bear in mind the business case. Which sounds boring, but a reality check is needed - making a car that ticks boxes for petrolheads doesn’t equal something people are actually going to buy. The GT86 is one of the most enthusiast-focused cars you can buy right now, but that doesn’t sell in the real world - the Audi TT outsells it by a factor of eight. If Toyota can broaden the appeal of the next one by making it faster and more luxurious while keeping it fun and rear-wheel drive, that’s surely a win for everyone.

Conclusion

The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86

Ditching the atmospheric engine seems like a shame given the dominance of turbochargers in the performance car world, but the GR86 is set to gain much more than it loses. The enthusiast focus won’t be quite the same, but since the alternative might have been no next-gen car at all, I’m not sure we’re in a position to moan.

It’s a question of maintaining a balancing act between satisfying petrolheads and keeping more general car buyers interested. It’ll be a little while before we know how successfully Toyota has done that. You wouldn’t want to be against the company that surprised us all with the GR Yaris though, so our hopes are high.

Whatever we say doesn’t matter, of course. Even if the GR86 is a blinder, we’ve no doubt the debate over its powertrain will rage on for years after its launch. Just look at what happened with its predecessor.

Comments

Matt 44

The turbo will kill a lot more people who don’t know how to drive!

04/07/2020 - 10:30 |
2 | 14
LSV10SwappedKeiCar

In Australia, you have a Learner Plate, and a P plate, when you first start driving. In certain states, they had restrictions in terms of Power to weight (So you couldn’t have a fast car on a P plate).

In Australia anyways, the 86 was perfect for beginner drivers, because you could drive it free from restrictions.

04/07/2020 - 11:06 |
16 | 2

That’s why I got one.

04/07/2020 - 11:07 |
14 | 0

In Canada or the US, any new drivers with the money can buy whatever car they want. Not saying it’s a good thing, but I knew a kid with a Mustang GT at 16 and he managed to get pulled over doing 180km/h in an 80. I also have a cousin who has only had his license for two or three years and now at 20, he has a 450hp tuned Audi S5 coupe, which he’s going to get even more tuned shortly.

I actually agree with the licensing systems though. I had a bad truck accident last year and it made me realize that stuff happens. I also think that I would’ve gotten myself killed if I kept my 328is E36…

04/07/2020 - 12:41 |
8 | 0
Peanut_guy

I’m sure that it will boost (eheh) the sales. The lack of power and torque was the major con of the GT86. I hope to see way more GR86 than GT86 on the road

04/07/2020 - 11:11 |
22 | 2
Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

In reply to by Peanut_guy

Yeah no. The target buyers won’t be drastically more common than with the 86: it’s the same market. There might be a few more buyers, but it’ll be people who were already buying in the segment and crossbuying with a Mustang Ecoboost. Plus it’ll be more expensive as well.

Honestly I’m disappointed: we don’t need more turbocharged sports cars. In fact it’s hard to find an N/A one in the first place: from the top of my head there’s the Miata, the 370Z, the Corvette, the Mustang GT, the Camaro V6 and SS and that’s pretty much it. And three of these are V8s and not as affordable.

04/07/2020 - 21:08 |
0 | 4
prizrak

It’s hard to take an article seriously when author claims that a Mustang is not a sports car… If not a sports car then what is it?

04/07/2020 - 14:16 |
0 | 10

(why can’t I edit?) Anyway you also kind of left out MX-5….

04/07/2020 - 14:17 |
2 | 4
prizrak

I suspect the main reason for going turbo is the CAFE standards, they can increase MPGs (on a test) much easier with that kind of set up. To keep it enthusiast focused they should give it a linear roots/twin screw blower instead. You still get that smooth linear power delivery but get a bit more get up and go.

04/07/2020 - 14:28 |
6 | 2
Nathan Vonlanthen

In reply to by prizrak

Centrifugal (Rotrex style) is much better honestly. You get all the sounds of a typical forced induction system, while keeping NA response and exhaust sound. A whine just doesn’t suit a 4 cylinder.

04/07/2020 - 16:40 |
2 | 0

A roots style supercharger would be a terrible match for this car. Roots superchargers give lots of torque low down but have very poor top end efficiency, sapping power with reduced benefit. This works well for a engines with relatively narrow RPM range (like a low reving V8 from a muscle car), but poorly on an engine with a large RPM range (like a high reving sports car engine).

In comparison a centrifugal pump (turbos and centrifugal superchargers are types of these) have far better high RPM efficiency. They build boost as their operating RPM increases, which is conveniently related to engine RPM. In other words they do their best work with high reving engines, proving benefit across more of the RPM range especially at the top end.

In short:
Roots/twin screw = big torque at low RPM, but poor performance at high RPM.
Centrifugal compressor = lower peak torque, but more linear delivery and makes better use of that torque to develop power.

That’s before you even consider that the entire driveline (engine crankshaft, clutch, gearbox, driveshaft, differential, half-shafts, bearings etc) would have to be beefed up (and so be heavier) to cope with the higher peak torque of of the Roots/twin screw option.
I could go on, but I think it’s pretty clear which would be more suited to a lightweight, high revving sports car.

04/08/2020 - 04:14 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

It’s been demonstrated that a normally aspirated, well set up GT86 is quicker on a touge course but of course the GT86 will be a faster road car and marginally faster on tracks with long straights. The GT86 will be the perfect cruiser for the yanks I reckon!

04/07/2020 - 15:42 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Stupid SwiftKey, *the GR86 will be the perfect merkin cruiser.

04/07/2020 - 15:43 |
0 | 0
Ben Ireland

The GT86 would be perfect with a slightly tuned version of the 1.8 supercharged engine from the Yaris GRMN and Lotus Elise

04/07/2020 - 16:07 |
12 | 0
Duggan (koalafan) (koalafan7) (Esprit Team) (Z32 Group) (Lot

I feel like it may actually be great supercharged. This seems like a fun car to get some low-end torque in

04/07/2020 - 16:46 |
2 | 0
ATOGI_28

I don’t think the 86/BRZ needed more power, it just needed to fix that torque hole and have a more characterful engine.
As for going turbo, I’m both for and against.
For: tsu tsu tsu noises
against: NA is so rare now

04/07/2020 - 18:03 |
4 | 0

A NA/ V6 would have been a dream, with a power output around 300. However it set a lot of problems on a emissions and weight management… Something like a revised VQ37 with its own exhaust note and it was heaven. But it’s never happening with those new laws…

04/11/2020 - 18:21 |
0 | 0

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