Owning A Toyota GT86 For A Year – My Experience

Hi i‘m Patrick, a 22 year old petrolhead from Germany who owns a pearl white Toyota GT86. It has been more than a year now that i own my car and i want to share with you my story and my experience with the GT86. Let‘s get started !

Why Did I Choose The GT86 ?

I always wanted a car which is fun to drive, which looks good and has good performance. I am also really into drifting and japanese cars, but i wanted to give other cars a chance too. I could literally write another blog about the search of my car but long story short, i made a list of cars which i wanted the most and which i could actually afford.
One of those cars was obviously the GT86. It was the most interesting one for me too. Japanese, Rear Wheel Drive, seems to be fun to drive and the looks are amazing. But otherwise i was sceptical, the lack of power was concerning me, it was the car with the least amount of horsepower in my list too.
So from my mindset i was still unsure, but how did i convince myself to buy the GT86 ? The answer is simple.

The Test Drive

As i wrote i had my list of cars, which i wanted to test drive of course. The GT86 was the first car i drove…. and the last. Here‘s why :
Let‘s go back to August 2015. Me and my friend went to a Toyota dealer which was abit more far away, it was a few hours to drive. I was already excited and scared at the same time. Will it be good ? Will it disappoint me ? As we walked up to the car dealer i already saw it standing outside. It looked gorgeous. The colour, the design, just the entire appearance of the car was beautiful. I tried to stay serious and inspect the car but in my head i was nervous and happy like a little child.
I then took a seat and it just fit me like a glove. Comfy suede and leather seats, the steering wheel size, no unnecessary buttons and the low driving position made me feel like at home. Then i started the engine.
The sound of the 2 litre Boxer Engine was honestly impressing me, it‘s not loud but the sound itself is very nice and has something unique and sporty too it.
I began to drive and i immediatly noticed the sharp steering and gearing of the 86. Everything was so precise and sovereign. As i drove out of the city and into the country roads i started to drive abit faster and i was mindblowed.
The handling and the feedback of the GT86 was so good, i couldn‘t believe it. Overall it was so satisfying to drive the car, whether it was just cruising, taking fast corners, or accelerating with the Boxer Engine screaming. But wait, what about the power ?
Well it wasn‘t slow but it wasn‘t really impressing me either, but it was impressing me how the car puts its power out, screaming at you while it still goes further.
What i also noticed accidently is how easy the 86 can get sideways. I was standing in a junction and i wanted to make a fast left turn, suddenly the tires were screeching and the tail began to slide lightly. I was giggling like a child, it was amazing.
As i made my way back to the car dealer swiping through the last bits of country roads while listening to Alicia Keys – Fallin‘ on the Radio, i knew, this will be my next car.
Around September i finally bought my GT86 from a girl which was also a petrolhead and i finally had the car i was looking for so long.

The First Weeks With The GT86

So i was a proud owner of an GT86 and i was showing it to my friends and family. My friends obviously knew i will get the Toyota but still they were happy and excited about the car. But every time if i would get a penny from them asking me when i‘ll get the Rocket Bunny Kit….. i could actually afford it. My mum was like speechless, she got into the car, touching the interior details and told me it‘s beautiful. The first time when i took my sister for a ride she was also impressed and saying how fast my car was….. Ha !
But it‘s not only my friends and family who i got reactions from. The GT86 draws alot of attention, you don‘t see it often in my area. Some people don‘t know the car, some even thought it was a Porsche. Mostly middle aged men came to me randomly asking me about the car and stuff, it was funny.
Of course i was driving alot too. And by alot i mean alot. With the little squad we had back then it was a ton of fun to drive. We even bought a camera just to make awesome shots of our cars. The first month i really blew away alot of fuel and kilometres, but also i got to know some few things about my car, positives and negatives.
Even with driving like a Hoonigan and blowing away tons of fuel, the GT86 still has a great fuel economy. If you drive normally you can even last very long with one tank, but it is just so much fun to drive fast and rev out the car. It‘s also a great daily, i used the first weeks to drive to work, make shoppings etc and i had no problems. In general it was a great experience for me. The handling, the performance, washing it every weekend, looking back at it ten times while walking away from it. It‘s a car which makes you happy even in a bad day and the actual driving is so satisfying, no matter how often you get in it.
But of course the GT86 is not perfect, there are some negatives too.
The first thing is the clutch. It‘s abit weird to use and being in a traffic jam or in a city isn‘t going to be fun in that car. Also the power at lower RPM‘s is not good, you really have to downshift if you want to overtake somebody. If you have friends you also might not take them in your backseats, or they will cry. It‘s already a challenge to get in the GT86 but the backseats are really a struggle. I really appreciate having those seats, but the room is just too tight. The rest is only small things like interior and wind noises while driving or the engine chirping, but that doesn‘t bother me too much.

But of all those negatives there is one, that is so bad, that it even deserves it‘s own topic…

The Winter Depression

Well i bought my car in September 2015, so winter wasn‘t that far anymore. I made seasonal plates for my 86 which means that the car is insured from March till the end of November. But why won‘t i drive through the whole year ? The reason is that the previous owner had it also as a summer car only so i didn‘t even have winter tires. Also i want to avoid all the salt, dirt and cold temperatures hurting the car. And with seasonal plates i pay less for insurance.
In the end of the year you also have to pay your insurance and taxes for the car, but the GT86 was not even that expensive, the insurance and taxes combined were still under 1000€ for me in a year, but it depends on what insurance you pick of course.
I felt confident with my decision but still i was sad. Buying a new awesome car and after a few months you have to store it, great. But hey at least the car will be safe and i won‘t have stupid ideas about drifting on snow. So at the end of November i stored it in a garage of a work mate and that was it, no more 86 for this year.
I was so sad, i didn‘t know what to do. All the time i was out on the road and now i have to stay at home waiting till March. I really missed the 86, even when i played video games, i mostly took a GT86 just to cruise with it, but of course it wasn‘t the same. But hey every winter goes over and i was 100% sure that 2016, will be an awesome year !

New Year, New Cars

Even a long winter finally goes over and it was finally March 2016 ! Even though the car was standing for months, it had no problems turning on and after a quick check i did a joyride with my friends. It felt so great to drive the 86 again, i still had the feelings for it like i did first time driving.
Just to be safe i decided to make a inspection after one month of driving. For a nice and clean service book i went to a toyota dealer which costs more, but i felt like it was worth it. It was only a small inspection with oil change, filters etc. I ended up paying 300€ for the whole inspection which isn‘t really cheap, but the service was great and everything was fine.
After that i went on driving with my friends, taking pictures and just having fun. And with the new cars my friends got, it got even better. My best friend got himself a Ford Focus RS and another friend an Focus ST.
We discovered roads, had car meets, went every weekend to the car wash and always searched a reason to get in our cars and drive.
And when you drive as much as i did, you encounter many interesting people. What i was desperatly looking for was other petrolheads with japanese cars or even better, GT86/BRZ drivers. In my area such cars are rare, but at one day i saw the first GT86 while randomly driving around with friends and i was super excited ! We even had the same color, it was so cool. We saw each other i beeped and we waved at each other while both having a big smile on our faces. The next funny encounter was a 370Z Nismo while i was driving to the Tuning World Bodensee. The 370Z Nismo is a dream car for me, so it was obvious that when i saw it, i had to follow him. We were like cruising together, overtaking each other sometimes, slowing down again to stay together again. My friend took pictures of the Z and they gave us a thumbs up, it was awesome ! But unfortunatly we lost them on a traffic jam close to our destination. It is moments like this where you feel, that you are happy to have such a car and other people sharing your passion.
Soon after a while of driving with my friends we noticed that we already drove alot in our area and know most of the roads and in general we didn‘t knew where to go. And because of that we planned to do an awesome roadtrip, a destination where every petrolhead would want to drive.
Driving in the alps.

My First Vacation With The GT86

It was July 2016. It was finally time for the first big Roadtrip with the GT86 and i was super excited. I packed my bags and went over to my friend. We were driving with three cars, a Focus RS, Focus ST and me in my GT86.
Our first destination was the Bodensee in Germany. We decided to sleep there one night close to the borders in Lindau and keep on driving in the morning. But we didn‘t sleep in a hotel or a tent, no. In our cars. And yes it sounds as uncomfortable as it is. I folded the backseats of my 86 and tried to sleep in my boot/backseat area. For our luck it was raining the whole night too and the rain drops were sounding like rocks falling on my roof. After that bad night we decided to head on right into Italy.
Our route was going mainly through the Jaufenpass and Timmelsjoch. But already the motorway to it was beautiful. We drove past waterfalls, mountains and many tunnels. After we left the italian motorway we were really close to the mountains and i was really pumped. You could see different signs leading you to those awesome paths and the start was already legendary.
Some Porsche Boxster driver was in front of us, behind him the Focus RS, behind him me and behind me the ST. We first started to cruise together uphill like in a colony but after a few minutes we were flooring it and hunting him, it was so much fun and the view was amazing. When we were high up fog started to show up and the Porsche driver left on a parking place sadly. We kept on driving but soon the fog got so strong that we couldn‘t see anything. We even had to drive at walking speeds sometimes because you couldn‘t see the road anymore. After driving a while like that we made a break at a parking place. A sign there showed us that we are over 2.000 meters high, wow.
When we arrived at Timmelsjoch i was completely shocked. The view was the most beautiful thing i ever saw. It was like unreal, like in a movie or a video game. I couldn‘t believe the pure beauty of this place and we decided to park our cars there and take pictures. After our break we decided to drive back, through all passes again and then heading to our home. This roadtrip was the ultimate driving experience for me and the 86 showed me it‘s true talent there. I had no problems keeping up with my friends, expect straight uphill sections. But whether it was hairpins or long curves, the GT86 was handling like a dream through them and it felt like one the entire time i was driving there, 100% worth it !

End Of The Year And My Conclusion

After my first roadtrip i decided to do another one with my girlfriend. We decided to go camping with the GT86 at Bodensee again and yes that actually worked. But this time we were heading into Switzerland. After that i was pretty much done with my vacation and the next few months were more quiet, but i was still driving alot with my 86 of course.
I decided to do a drivers training with my friends at September 2016 which i would recommend to everybody by the way. There i learned alot more about my car, how it handles, what i have to do in risky situations and how to drive fast. It was a amazing experience and also much fun getting sideways „accidently“.
In November 2016 me and my friends decided to get a Hall for our cars. There we can work on our cars now and store them for winter which is awesome.
Finally at the end of November i took a last ride, washed my 86 for the last time and stored it, waiting for 2017.
This was my entire experience with my GT86 and there is still alot more to come. I still have the same love for it like back in 2015. The GT86 is a car for pure drivers, for petrolheads and it satisfies you every time you get into it. It is a car which makes you feel secure while driving but still has the sharpness to suprise you.
My final words are that i feel that i made the right choice buying the 86, i am more than happy with it and i am sure that in the next season… i will blow away alot of fuel again.

Thanks for reading !