Well, it’s official…Toyota is back in the realm of consumer existence thanks to the newly announced Toyota GT 86. While this isn’t a site about Toyotas, I believe the announcement of this car is important enough to make note of on The Chronicles. I’ll leave the press images for the sites that had first dibs on them and I will link them later, but today I’m just going to give my thoughts on the 86. I personally, love the way that it looks. I know a lot of skeptics out there were complaining that it wouldn’t look anything like the FRS/FT-86 concept upon release but it looks pretty close. There were a lot of pieces of the concept car that wouldn’t be road legal just based on design so I think Toyota/Subaru did a good job with the final variation of the car. The motor is a Subaru Boxer-4 which is cool and definitely different from the economical Toyota engines of the past. I love that Toyota finally got with the times and created a vehicle with Subaru that had the younger generation in mind. It’s nice to see a car that comes straight from the factory with the younger consumers in mind that don’t care for Kei cars or boxy looking gas savers. The best thing about the 86 is that Toyota wants owners to modify them and to “express” themselves in their automotive forms. Honda has taken a lot of heat in the past for not caring for enthusiasts like us so it’s great to see Toyota embracing the idea that their newly released GT 86 will be modified and modified extensively.

I see a lot of people, who are making themselves sound awfully uneducated by the way, complaining about how the GT 86 looks nothing like the legendary AE86 and how they should have done what Dodge and Chevy did. While that seems like a novel idea, the fact that Toyota would attempt to make a car in the year 2012 and try to make it look like an early 80s era economy car is just out right ridiculous. Can you imagine how unattractive this car would look like if it had the lines or any resemblance to a AE86 Hachi Roku? You have to remember that the Corolla was never built to be a profoundly timeless looking sports car like say, a Camaro or Challenger. Camaros were mainstream American icons. An AE86, while legendary within the tuning community, is by no means a worldly-recognized “icon”. It’s developed quite a following over time but it is by no means anywhere near the realm of being an iconic to anyone who isn’t into imports. The GT 86 carries the “86” moniker because it’s considered Toyotas return into the sport compact world in rear-wheel drive form. That should be the only resemblance it has to an AE86. An AE86, while greatly respected for it’s tuning potential, was never a great looking car with great lines. You had to put work into making it look good.

Just be happy that Toyota even cares about the enthusiasts and the aftermarket tuning community. They were busy making Camrys and Avalons and cars like the last generation Celica, which was popular for maybe a year or two at the most. The fact that they have brought an affordable sport compact, rear-wheel drive vehicle back is a wonderful thing. I’m very excited to see what companies and enthusiasts will do to these cars in the future. There are so many possibilities of great things for this platform and it is going to take the tuning community by storm. Who cares if it doesn’t look anything like an AE86 Corolla? The GT 86 isn’t exactly a terrible looking car by any stretch of the imagination. Congrats Toyota, you may have just made yourself relevant again. Camrys and trucks and what not are great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to finally release a car that people are excited about.

Below are links to official photos and press photos of the GT 86 in production form….also check out the video…thanks for looking…

OFFICIAL PHOTOS OF THE TOYOTA GT 86 VIA MOTOR TREND…

TOYOTA 86 FIRST DRIVE AND IMPRESSIONS VIA SPEEDHUNTERS…