Toyota gets to grips with hot-selling 86

TOYOTA Australia has tweaked equipment levels of its 86 sports coupe after heeding customer feedback on perceived shortcomings of the hottest-selling sports car in the land.

The automatic version of the base GT grade now gets a grippy Torsen limited-slip differential, bringing it into line with other models in the range.

This adds $300 to the recommended retail price of the 86 GT auto, taking it to $32,790, plus on-road costs.

As well, the up-spec GTS gets a rear spoiler as standard fare, with a $500 price hike to match. This means the GTS manual now starts at $35,990 and the six-speed auto-equipped version goes to $38,490.

The entry-level Toyota 86 GT manual remains unchanged at $29,990.

Toyota said customer feedback suggested the automatic GT to have the same dynamic properties as the rest of the range, and for the GTS to have greater external differentiation.

The Toyota 86’s Subaru twin, the BRZ, already has a limited-slip differential on its single model in both six-speed manual and automatic transmission variants, but the rear spoiler is an extra-cost accessory.

The 147kW Toyota 86 has been one of the success stories of the Australian car market in the past 18 months.

Year to date, Toyota has sold 4802 86s, taking a massive 35 per cent of the sports car market under $80,000.

Last month, Toyota moved 753 86s, marching off with a whopping 42 per cent segment share.

Combined with the Subaru BRZ’s 91 units and 5.1 per cent share of the month, the rear-drive, boxer-engine coupe represented almost half of all sports cars sold in this market.

2013 Toyota 86 pricing*

GT	$29,990
GT(a)	$32,790 (+$300)
GTS	$35,990 (+$500)
GTS (a)	$38,490 (+$500)

*Plus on-road costs