In the previous post on Mitsubishi FTO, I’ve mentioned Japanese car maker’s reluctance on making affordable performance cars in the past decade or so. This painted a pretty bleak picture for sports car enthusiasts (who aren’t also super loaded).
There’s good news on the horizon. Apparently this trend might see a reversal with the news of the concept car from Toyota – the FT-86
The FT-86 is pretty much inspired by the popularity of AE-86 that is made popular by the comic series Initial-D. Nicknamed the tofu car, AE-86 has a huge cult following especially in the drift racing series, and still cheered upon whenever appeared at Autocross events.
A collaboration between Subaru and Toyota, the FT-86 is to come with a new 2 liter Toyota-Subaru “D-4S” Boxer engine. Targeted to cost around US $20,000 when it is eventually launched, that’ll place it cheaper than a fully loaded Honda Accord (or Toyota’s own Camry for that matter).
I, for one, welcome Japanese manufacturer’s return to this segment, 6 speed manual with 2.0 liter boxer sounds like a good combination to me.
Check out wiki page for more details.
wow.. awesome.. hope i can drive it ;P
Toyota has released a teaser image of the FT-86 II Concept igniting further anticipation before its official debut at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show in March. Meanwhile, further details and specifications are yet to be confirmed.
This is the teaser for the FT-86 II concept for the Frankfurt motor show. Anyone know if it’s the same one that was showed before, or is this all new? Sick trailer at the least! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMYf9StnBoQ