Discussion
Decided in mid 2021 the GR86 was the car for me so signed up to the waiting list and waited, I got bored of waiting for announcements from Toyota and ordered a Fiesta ST which is probably the worst 'interesting' car I have ever driven and was glad to get rid of it.
Got reminded about the GR86 randomly a week before the order books opened in April of 2022 and then a week later somehow managed to order a GR86 from the initial batch thanks to a forum user somewhere posting a link.
Comm's from Toyota Online and the stealership were absolutely dreadful.
In late January 2023 I'd popped into the dealer just to see if they had a demo in passing so I could actually view one in real life which they did, then after being told 'you cant order one of those mate' I found out mine was being delivered in less than a weeks time.
I had absolutely no idea it was even in the country.
Anyway I love it. Basically an MX5 with a roof. Its brilliant out the box and a great road chassis so naturally I set about modifying it.
Picked up.
Parked up next to the Fiesta before its departure.
Snazzy rear view mirror from America.
Standard, just polished and some ceramic (Gyeon stuff).
Snazzy Suspension (B6 and Eibach...)
Put the suspension.
B6/Eibach on the standard arms FYI ride like total s
t, like no suspension movement on the rear end what so ever, and it sits too high. Can be resolved with some different rear arms.
Ghetto alignment.
Did a drive.
Put the exhaust.
Some beading.
Shiny.
I said I'd keep the GR86 as its a lot of fun but I've got a burning desire for an S2 Exige S at the moment.
Got reminded about the GR86 randomly a week before the order books opened in April of 2022 and then a week later somehow managed to order a GR86 from the initial batch thanks to a forum user somewhere posting a link.
Comm's from Toyota Online and the stealership were absolutely dreadful.
In late January 2023 I'd popped into the dealer just to see if they had a demo in passing so I could actually view one in real life which they did, then after being told 'you cant order one of those mate' I found out mine was being delivered in less than a weeks time.
I had absolutely no idea it was even in the country.
Anyway I love it. Basically an MX5 with a roof. Its brilliant out the box and a great road chassis so naturally I set about modifying it.
Picked up.
Parked up next to the Fiesta before its departure.
Snazzy rear view mirror from America.
Standard, just polished and some ceramic (Gyeon stuff).
Snazzy Suspension (B6 and Eibach...)
Put the suspension.
B6/Eibach on the standard arms FYI ride like total s
t, like no suspension movement on the rear end what so ever, and it sits too high. Can be resolved with some different rear arms.Ghetto alignment.
Did a drive.
Put the exhaust.
Some beading.
Shiny.
I said I'd keep the GR86 as its a lot of fun but I've got a burning desire for an S2 Exige S at the moment.
Nice to see a fellow GR owner on here, have to agree the online ordering was shambolic at best & I nearly gave up & cancelled a few times, really glad I didn't
Looks great in silver which I seriously considered but I'd set my heart on electric blue, not done many mods so far other than changing the wheel & caliper colour, I really didn't like the black wheels but they do look good on a silver car
Looks great in silver which I seriously considered but I'd set my heart on electric blue, not done many mods so far other than changing the wheel & caliper colour, I really didn't like the black wheels but they do look good on a silver car
tozerman said:
Looks great in silver I think the best colour for a GR86 in my opinion.
Different strokes, but I was thinking it was the most mundane and subtle of all colours i've seen on them so far! Black looks good but I love that blue they do, looks great with the BBSs finished in silverNice car OP, be interested to see whether you decide to keep it longer term! Out of interest, what was it you disliked about the Fiesta ST that preceded the GR?
Out the box dampers are really very good, rears are Showa dampers and the fronts are Subaru units if I remember correctly. Ride quality was excellent. Absolutely no need to change them they are basically perfect for back roads at this cars price point.
I changed mine because I wanted to lower it and I wanted a firmer ride, i did try lowering springs on the stock rear dampers but the ride quality deteriorates and the damper, quite obviously, feels like it is sat well into its travel and doesnt function so well. If I was doing it again I would have bought B16s or waited for the Ohlins to be released.
The B6/Eibach setup are a small step up in terms of ride quality but they are firmer and if you read reviews you'll see reports of them having a low speed jiggle, I think it's just the damper/spring rebound being a bit too high for lower speed driving, soon as you go above about 40mph then its fine. It has changed the car significantly.
The ST was awful in every way. 5 door made it hard to get in and out, I bashed myself on the door pillar every time like i was obese or something. The buid quality was poor and it felt like it got put together in a rush by someone who was drunk. I test drove a mk8, mine being the 8.5, which was pretty good so i was suprised the 8.5 was so different. The 8.5 has a GPF so it sounded and felt strangled, power delivery was like that of a 320d where it ran out of puff at say 5000rpm, although if you hung on past this flat spot till near the red line it seemed to have a 2nd wind toward the rev limiter. Gearbox was garbage and the shifter felt like it had a short shifter fitted, like one of those ball joint mods people do on the shift arm. Control weights (steering and gear shift) were really heavy and tiresome to use. Really stiff suspension I didn't think was suitable for a lumpy back road, very uncomfortable and lacked any compliance. It was just complete and utter crap. Paint quality was poor and looked like it was sprayed in someone's back yard. Had a few features missing from it like many covid cars. Felt like it weighed 1600kg too for some reason.
Limited slip diff was good, a tame locking action made it useful for UK roads. Headlights were also really great, probably the best I've had to date on any car.
My 140 ecoboost was a brilliant car, so can't undersrand how bad the ST was.
Colour wise I'd seen a 992 911 in a car park that was silver with black wheels and thought it looked great so that swayed me. I wanted red originally but i figured most people were going to order red and wanted something different, it's my first silver car and I love it. Test drove a light blue GR86 and it was a bit much for me and got a lot of attention.
I changed mine because I wanted to lower it and I wanted a firmer ride, i did try lowering springs on the stock rear dampers but the ride quality deteriorates and the damper, quite obviously, feels like it is sat well into its travel and doesnt function so well. If I was doing it again I would have bought B16s or waited for the Ohlins to be released.
The B6/Eibach setup are a small step up in terms of ride quality but they are firmer and if you read reviews you'll see reports of them having a low speed jiggle, I think it's just the damper/spring rebound being a bit too high for lower speed driving, soon as you go above about 40mph then its fine. It has changed the car significantly.
The ST was awful in every way. 5 door made it hard to get in and out, I bashed myself on the door pillar every time like i was obese or something. The buid quality was poor and it felt like it got put together in a rush by someone who was drunk. I test drove a mk8, mine being the 8.5, which was pretty good so i was suprised the 8.5 was so different. The 8.5 has a GPF so it sounded and felt strangled, power delivery was like that of a 320d where it ran out of puff at say 5000rpm, although if you hung on past this flat spot till near the red line it seemed to have a 2nd wind toward the rev limiter. Gearbox was garbage and the shifter felt like it had a short shifter fitted, like one of those ball joint mods people do on the shift arm. Control weights (steering and gear shift) were really heavy and tiresome to use. Really stiff suspension I didn't think was suitable for a lumpy back road, very uncomfortable and lacked any compliance. It was just complete and utter crap. Paint quality was poor and looked like it was sprayed in someone's back yard. Had a few features missing from it like many covid cars. Felt like it weighed 1600kg too for some reason.
Limited slip diff was good, a tame locking action made it useful for UK roads. Headlights were also really great, probably the best I've had to date on any car.
My 140 ecoboost was a brilliant car, so can't undersrand how bad the ST was.
Colour wise I'd seen a 992 911 in a car park that was silver with black wheels and thought it looked great so that swayed me. I wanted red originally but i figured most people were going to order red and wanted something different, it's my first silver car and I love it. Test drove a light blue GR86 and it was a bit much for me and got a lot of attention.
Walshenham said:
I took one of these around silverstone a few weeks back. Brilliant little car, bit tail happy, but fortunately super controllable on the limit.
How do you find the brakes? I slightly cooked them on track..
I wouldn't take it on track without different pads and a change of fluid for sure. Road use they are fine, id have to drive like a total throbber to get them too hot.How do you find the brakes? I slightly cooked them on track..
Stock setup is good, I like how the pedal feels its firm, yet old school feel.
Another thing I hated about the ST, breathe on the brake pedal and you go through the windscreen head first
Mine toes in at the back and out at the front and it's no longer snappy, easy to exit corners at a slight angle in a controllable manner. Stock setup was quite snappy at the back, let's go quite quickly.
Bathroom_Security said:
Walshenham said:
I took one of these around silverstone a few weeks back. Brilliant little car, bit tail happy, but fortunately super controllable on the limit.
How do you find the brakes? I slightly cooked them on track..
I wouldn't take it on track without different pads and a change of fluid for sure. Road use they are fine, id have to drive like a total throbber to get them too hot.How do you find the brakes? I slightly cooked them on track..
Stock setup is good, I like how the pedal feels its firm, yet old school feel.
Another thing I hated about the ST, breathe on the brake pedal and you go through the windscreen head first
Mine toes in at the back and out at the front and it's no longer snappy, easy to exit corners at a slight angle in a controllable manner. Stock setup was quite snappy at the back, let's go quite quickly.
I was a little surprised if I’m honest by quite how willing it was to step out, both on a trailing brake in, and on the way out. Had a bit of a code brown coming out of club corner, and that happened really quite quickly
Nice 86 you have there.
I was torn between silver and light blue. Went with the blue in the end, but think silver looks equally good!
If you do plan on tracking it, I've found BlueStuff pads with DBA discs work well. Don't be tempted by DBA pads though, pretty sure they're made of brie.
I was torn between silver and light blue. Went with the blue in the end, but think silver looks equally good!
If you do plan on tracking it, I've found BlueStuff pads with DBA discs work well. Don't be tempted by DBA pads though, pretty sure they're made of brie.
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