[ptack]

Originally Posted by shah269

I wonder if the Germans are looking at the 1 and thinking "SHIT!"
Hell even the French are looking at the Z and thinking "SHIT!"

Maybe VW is, but not BMW or Mercedes for the simple reason that the profit margin on the Toyburu is pretty small. It's fine if you're selling volumes, but it's not a luxury brand product.

Now if Toyota redecorates it as a Lexus, bumps the price several grand and finds willing customers, that's a different story.

[GoingTooFast]

[LSPowered]

God awful wing & recycled wheels. Do not want. Not enough car for the money.

[LSPowered]

Originally Posted by ptack

Maybe VW is, but not BMW or Mercedes for the simple reason that the profit margin on the Toyburu is pretty small. It's fine if you're selling volumes, but it's not a luxury brand product.

Now if Toyota redecorates it as a Lexus, bumps the price several grand and finds willing customers, that's a different story.

They already did that with the IS-F & failed IMO.

[GoingTooFast]

You sirs are both wrong... think Miata, then think Toyobaru... the same sales success but much better in every other respect... and yes, even a convertible version may be on the way (not that I would care about it):

[GoingTooFast]

This is the most interesting text I've ever read from Jeremy Clarkson (I give him ***** )... it pretty sums it up about the sports car scene and why the Toyobaru is ALL about driving... nothing more, nothing less:

When we buy a really fast car, the last thing we want is a really fast car. We may think we do. But we don’t. The top speed of a car matters when you’re a child. My dad’s car is faster than yours. And it matters when you are a teenager.

I bought a Volkswagen Scirocco when I was 20 because What Car? magazine said it accelerated from zero to 60mph a little bit faster than my mate’s Vauxhall Chevette. But when you are an adult you realise that you will never accelerate from zero to 60mph as fast as possible because a) people will think you are an imbecile and b) you will need a new clutch afterwards.

Nor can you ever indulge in the 1970s pastime of proving to other motorists that you have a faster car than they do, because these days all cars can do 120mph. This means you have to do 140mph to make your point, and when you’re at that speed, someone’s going to put you in a prison.

Let’s get to the point. If all you want from a car is speed, you should buy a Nissan GT-R. If you use its launch control, it will leave the line as though a comet has crashed into the back of it. And it will keep on accelerating until stark, naked fear causes you to remove your foot from the pedal. And we haven’t got to its party piece yet: its all-wheel-drive ability to get round any corner at any speed of your choosing. With the exception of a few silly track-day specials, the Nissan GT-R is the fastest car money can buy.

But you didn’t buy one, did you? Because it’s a bit ugly. And it’s a Nissan. And you thought your friends and neighbours might laugh at you. My colleague James May recently bought a really fast car. It’s a Ferrari 458 Italia and with a fair wind it will zoom along at 200mph. But he will never drive it at anything like that speed. Ever. And even if he did take it to ten-tenths on a track — unlikely, I know — he’d still get overtaken by a GT-R. You buy a Ferrari because you think it makes you look interesting, rich and attractive. You buy one because you like the feel of the thing, or the styling, or the cut of the salesman’s jib. You buy one so, at night, when it’s dark and you’re feeling worthless, you can say to yourself, “But I have a Ferrari.” And you will feel better. I know. I’ve been there.

Another friend recently bought a Mercedes C 63 AMG Black Series. And within days he was sending me texts saying it was a bit scary on full throttle. Wouldn’t know, mate. I’ve never used full throttle on my Black, the CLK, because there’s a big difference between admiring a slumbering crocodile ... and running up and poking it with a stick.

I have a Black for all sorts of reasons. I like the pillarless doors. I like the flared wheelarches. I like the body-hugging seats. And I like the noise it makes. Unfortunately, in order to make its tremendous sound, the engine has to be very powerful, which, as a by-product, makes the car very fast. But it’s not fast in the way that a GT-R is fast. You can use the speed in the Nissan. If you try to use the speed in a Mercedes Black it will put you in a tree.

Every human being on the planet, with the possible exception of Ed Miliband, likes the feeling of being a little bit out of control. Push a child high on a swing and it will squeal with delight. But when the big kids start pushing the roundabout too fast, the sound it makes tends to change somewhat. Which brings me to the new BMW 1-series. The top-of-the-range M135i has been winning rave reviews because, unlike the hot hatches made by every other company, it has rear-wheel drive. This means you can “hang the tail out in a corner”.

Indeed you can, but there is a price to pay for this. Because the car has rear-wheel drive, the big six-cylinder engine is mounted longitudinally. Also there is a prop shaft running under the cabin, and at the back, beneath the boot, are many components that aren’t necessary in a front-wheel-drive car. Net result: you have less space inside than you do in, say, a Ford Focus or a Vauxhall Astra. So you pay more and get less space, simply so that you have the ability to power-slide through roundabouts. Something you will never, ever, do.

However, here’s the thing. I have a watch that will still work 3,000ft underwater. I have plumbing that can deliver water so hot it can remove skin. And I often eat in restaurants that serve food so complex that it’s way beyond the limited range of my smoke-addled palate. Also, as we know, I have a car that can go 80mph faster than I will ever drive.

And that’s what gives the BMW M135i such massive appeal. You will never go round a corner trailing smoke from its out-of-shape rears . . . but it’s nice to know you could.

There is a lot more to commend this car as well. It has a supremely comfortable driver’s seat, an excellent steering wheel, impossibly Germanic controls and a perfect driving position. Get in and, no matter what age has done to your frame, you will immediately feel at one with the machine. Then there’s the engine. To appease those of a tree-hugging disposition, it is fitted with a compound turbocharger, which means that, after a hint of lag, there is a never-ending stream of bassy, gutsy power. In the real world, where there are other motorists and lampposts and policemen, this car is as fast as you would ever want.

And because it’s rear-wheel drive, the front wheels don’t have to multitask. They have only to worry about steering, which means the car feels balanced. It’s fantastic — as good as the Mercedes A 250 AMG I tested recently was bad.

There’s more, too. While it’s better- looking than its predecessor, which had the appearance of a bread van, it’s still no beauty. But, like all modern BMWs, it’s understated and tasteful. Yes, rivals have more space inside, but we’re talking about a few centimetres here and a bit of an inch there. And if you truly like cars and truly like driving, that is a price well worth paying.

One thing, though. I do wish BMW would reserve that M badge for cars that have come from its motor sport division, rather than sticking it on anything that’s a bit faster than usual. The M135i may say M on the back. But if you look underneath, there’s no limited-slip diff, so it isn’t an M car, really. Unless the M here stands for marketing.

That, however, is my only gripe. And it isn’t enough to warrant a lost star. Because the M135i is so lovely to drive and because it’s available with a proper automatic gearbox and because it has pillarless doors and because it’s only £3,000 more than a similarly powerful Vauxhall, it gets full marks from me.

Verdict ★★★★★

Hate this car? Then you hate driving.

[GoingTooFast]

I can't understand how F1 can loose its most exciting driver today while at the same time Red Bull keeps Mark Webber, Ferrari keeps Filipe Massa, Mclaren keeps Jenson Button and Lotus keeps Romain Grosjean.

Since Kamui Kobayashi has left F1 here it is a little tribute to him :

Driving the Toyobaru:

In fact, if Sergio Perez managed to move up to Mclaren why doesn't Kobayashi deserve to drive for an equally competitive F1 team when the 2012 results difference between the two was, at best, only marginal?!


............................. Sergio Perez ............. Kamui Kobayashi
Points ........................... 66 ......................... 60
Race finishes ahead ......... 6 .......................... 4 (after both complete race)
Qualifying ahead ............. 11 ......................... 9 (after both complete qualifying)
Podium finishes ............... 3(3rd & 2x 2nd) ...... 1(3rd)
Best qualifying ................ 4th ........................ 2nd(2x 3rd)
Best lap........................... 1 .......................... 1


Also, if it wasn't for Romain Grosjean's lack of ability causing the first-corner BIG crash at the Belgian Grand Prix (after which he received a one-race ban), Kobayashi who managed to qualify 2nd on the grid could have VERY well finished that race on the podium. Ironically, Grosjean stays on the Lotus team, which only until the last minute ended up not signing Kobayashi for the 2013 season. Yes, I know... Grosjean is french and Lotus, formerly called Renault F1 team, uses Renault engines...

Kobayashi was also victim of few Sauber's blatantly wrong race strategy decisions for him, namely those which, once again ironically, led to two of the three podium finishes from his team mate Sergio Perez after he has qualifyed significantly worse than Kobayashi both times (4 places down) and even failing to qualify for Q3 - in the Canadian Grand Prix, Perez started 15th, Kobayashi was 11th on the grid, and yet Perez managed to finish 3rd while Kobayashi finished 9th; in the Italian Grand Prix, Perez started 12th, Kobayashi got through to Q3 getting 8th place on the grid, but yet again Perez finishes on the podium with the 2nd place and Kobayashi only gets the same 9th place. Strange coincidence, no?! So, what really happened?!

In the Canadian Grand Prix, Sauber planned two stops for Kobayashi on SUPER SOFT tyres and after his much too early pit stop the team changed his strategy to one stop only and he did a lot of laps, 46 laps, on a set of soft tyres while Perez started on the HARDER compound and it turned out that one stop strategy was possible and even quicker this way - Perez made his one only pit stop on lap 42 and he had fresh tyres for the remaining 28 laps (from a total of 70 laps).

In the Italian Grand Prix, Sauber sent Kobayashi in one-stop strategy with a used set of medium tires while at the same time they have put Perez in the same one-stop strategy BUT with new hard tires. Kobayashi ended up losing precious time in the beginning of the race trying to preserve a set of used medium tires which were meant for one-stop strategy only. Perez, on the other hand, AGAIN was sent with a fresh new set of HARD tires for the exact same strategy meaning that he could push harder from the very beginning of the race with significantly less tire degradation, which proved to be crucial.

Finally, even at the Japanese Grand Prix where Kobayashi was able to finish 3rd overall (his season's best race result) Sauber did it again and made the wrong strategy decision when they called Kobayashi too damn' early (Kobayashi was in 2nd place at that time) for his first pit stop on lap 16 as he was temporarily held up by drivers yet to stop before managing to overtake them, namely behind Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso already being chased after by Jenson Button who has pitted three laps earlier and re-joined in eighth loosing 3rd place to Filipe Massa, thus giving now his 2nd place away to Filipe Massa who only pitted on lap 20 (same as Vettel who happened to have won the race!!!) after 4 solid laps of nearly traffic-free running which were enough for Massa to hold the 2nd position when he re-joined right in front of Kobayashi (3rd) and Button (4th). Moreover, due to this bad strategy, Kobayashi's second pit stop (on lap 31) had to be done earlier than initially planned because Kamui's tyres had gone off, which made him spent more than 20 laps on the last set of tyres which in the end could have cost him the third position to Jenson Button as well. So, instead of third, Kobayashi could have been 2nd on his home Grand Prix.

Kobayashi belongs to F1, no doubt whatsoever!!!

[GoingTooFast]

While the Toyobaru engine has made its place in the ten winning engines of Ward's 10 Best Engines competition:

some units are still experiencing issues, no official numbers yet. Reflashing/replacing the ECU is the official answer to the rough idle and CEL issue though:

The problem is that Subaru and Scion customers who rushed in to buy the first batch of cars are now complaining about rough idle and stalling issues.

Toyota and Subaru announced that there’s no actual mechanical defect in the engine and the issue is caused by a software mapping glitch.

Toyota spokesperson Brian Lyons said that the engine control unit (ECU) is programmed to adapt to the car's powertrain and owner's driving patterns. Within 100 miles (160 km), those settings are “frozen” in the ECU.

Software coding errors in the ECU-engine communication are the culprits for this error. Under certain driving conditions (that were not specified) the electronic control unit software “thinks” that the engine is operating outside its “frozen” parameters and causes stalling or a rough idle as it tries, and apparently fails, to sort things out.

It then flashes the “check engine” light and when plugged into a diagnostic reader, shows a “P0019” error code.

The interesting thing is that, while both Toyota and Subaru agree on the nature of the problems, they offer different solutions.

Subaru will simply re-flash the ECU on all BRZs that have this issue. Toyota, on the other hand, will re-flash the ECU on the GT86 and Scion FR-S only if the car has less than 100 miles; otherwise, it will replace the whole unit.

"This is not a mileage-dependent condition. No replacement of the ECU is needed at any mileage to rectify the issue”, Subaru spokesman Dominick Infante told Automotive News. “The re-flash is the fix. There is not a defect concerning the ECU.”

Not all owners agree that the explanation of a software error is accurate, because even after they had their cars’ ECUs remapped or replaced, the problem keeps occurring claiming there is a mechanical issue.

Toyota and Subaru wouldn’t comment on how many cars are affected or how many complaints they have received until now.

[GoingTooFast]

[GoingTooFast]

Yet another SERIOUS threat to Porsche's dominance over the NA boxer engines... A Toyobaru with the Subaru 3.0-liter H6 cyl. EZ30 engine (BTW, one of the most reliable Subaru engines):

[kyleb350]

Originally Posted by GoingTooFast

Yet another SERIOUS threat to Porsche's dominance over the NA boxer engines... A Toyobaru with the Subaru 3.0-liter H6 cyl. EZ30 engine (BTW, one of the most reliable Subaru engines):

What are the power specs on that? Would love it if they had the same power/displacement in a 3.0L for that car.

[GoingTooFast]

Originally Posted by kyleb350

What are the power specs on that? Would love it if they had the same power/displacement in a 3.0L for that car.

Not even close... that's one of the reasons why the EZ30 engine is so reliable. In its last and most powerful iteration which had variable intake valve timing AVCS (Active Valve Control System) and lift AVLS (Active Valve Lift System) - same as Porsche's Variocam Plus technology (actually, they are exactly the same thing) - it managed 245 hp @ 6600rpm and 297Nm @ 4200rpm from a 10.7:1 compression ratio.

A lot of low-end torque combined with an overall low weight from the Toyobaru, though...

[GoingTooFast]

This could well be your first 'Ferrari'...

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by GoingTooFast

Besides the low curb weight, they anounce a center of gravity even lower than the Porsche Cayman...

Subaru's center of gravity height = 460mm!!!

Porsche Cayman = 482mm. Even the Cayman R (1,295 kg and 1,320 kg with PDK) which is 20mm lower than the standard Cayman can't fully match the 460mm mark (462mmm).

You can see the values here (which are the same for its Toyota FT86 brother):

this will be LEGEN....





DAIRY.

[GoingTooFast]

^^ Add that to the fact my typical average fuel consumption with my 1M is like shown below (forget about the dust ):




and also that in 6th gear WOT @250 km/h (electronically limited speed) my 1M's computer shows 32.0 l/ 100 km ... then you'll easily understand why the Toyobaru is such a bless (minute 0:45 ):

[GoingTooFast]

Best quote from Advevo ever... talking about bigger tyres on the 1M:

Originally Posted by Advevo

Also 265 front and 285 or 295 rear on such a small car is to wide for me. It kills all the fun for me. If you like to drive on rails you can always take the train.

[GoingTooFast]

We already know why the Lotus F1 team ended up not signing Kobayashi for the 2013 season while keeping the erratic Grosjean instead. Grosjean is french, Lotus F1 was formerly Renault F1 team, Eric Boullier who was Team Principal of the Renault F1 team (and also Managing Director) is now Lotus F1 Team Principal and yes... you have guessed... he is also french and, last but not the least, the Lotus F1 team uses Renault engines and... Renault is obviously french!

So…. where does it put us or what does this all mean?! Lotus is still a British brand, right?! Likewise, EVO magazine is also a British brand and, likewise, they always favour the french Renault instead of the japanese Toyobaru... one time is the Megane RS and the next time is the Clio Cup. Then, I am obliged to ask, where does this whole British-French connection come from?!

In effect, EVO does it again and managed to see what no one else sees...

So where does all this leave the GT86?

(...)

the only real criticisms of the Toyota are a) that the chassis is at times almost too talented for its own good and b) that there’s not enough feedback through the wheel.

(...)

In the GT86 you’re just joining the dots.

(...)

You sit markedly high up after getting out of the Toyota and you definitely reach down rather than across to the long gearlever. But as soon as you set off it is an instantly insatiable bundle of fun. The red needle on the yellow rev counter wants to be permanently on an upward sweep and the gearshift just encourages you to snatch each change as fast as you can move your hand. With feel right from the top of the pedal, the Brembo brakes are almost disproportionately powerful compared to the engine, but their ability to stand the Renault on its nose is addictive.

(...)

Largely because of its more performance orientated tyres, it paints a sharper, busier, more vivid picture than the Toyota as it travels down the road, willing you to pick off every last millimetre of tarmac through a corner. It also clings on harder; on the limit, where the treadblocks of the Toyota’s Michelin Primacy HPs simply fold, there’s a feeling of defiant tenacity to the Clio as its ContiSportContact3s merely scrub instead of really slide.

(...)

Whether stickier tyres and a bit more grip would, ironically, give it some of the Clio’s brio

And the insidious part of it is that EVO makes you to believe that this is a comparison between four cars whereas, in reality, it is a comparison ONLY between the GT86 and the Clio Cup simply because the other two (albeit VERY good) are VERY old and not readily available cars that you would seek for use on a daily-basis. It seems that some of the remaining Cup's stock has to go to give room for the next, already-here, Renault Clio RS/Cup.

Toyota GT86 vs Renault Clio Cup, Honda Integra Type-R and BMW E30 M3


You know business, right?! Unfortunately for F1, Kobayashi knows too...

[GoingTooFast]

Can you guess what it is?!

[TSM330i]

I love the FR-S and BR-Z. I think it's one of the best new cars out there. Just add a sticky set of tires and you have one hell of a fun little car.

I'm just waiting for someone to make a kit that will make it look like an LF-A

[BMW269]

GRMN SPORTS FR PLATINIUM

Specs
Super- and Turbo-charged 2.0l F4 (4U-GSE)
330 PS
431 Nm
RWD/6MT/LSD
Tires: Bridgestone 245/40R18 (front) - 265/35R18 (rear)
Rims: BBS RE-V 18"
1.248 kg

Modelista 86

Specs
Untouched
Tires: Toyo in standard 18" size








Tom's N086V

Specs
3.5-liter V6 (2GR-FSE)
400 PS
450 Nm

Toyota GT86 TRD Griffon

Specs
Unknown
Chassis Reinforcement / Weight Reduction
Suspension: KW
TRD Differential Oil Cooler
TRD Monobloc Brembo
TRD LSD
Final Gear Ratio: 4.8:1
Rims: Rays TE37 SL
Tires: Yokohama Advan

Tsukuba: 1:01.872
Ferrari 458 Italia: 1:02.240

Subaru BRZ Premium Sports Package

Specs
STI Parts (Exhaust, Brakes,...)
Rims: BBS RI-D 18"
CF Roof















Other

[evolution80]

i would want one like this with 300turbo hp

[miiipilot]

I would seriously be very interested in the BRZ when the turbo comes out.

Heard nothing but great things about the car.