Cheap and Cheerful can be quite the fun wine.

Nicad

Nicad

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Try to find a bad review of the new 22' Toyota GR86 and it's twin the Subrau BRZ. If you like driving like a hooligan, these cars are really entertaining. If you drive one hard, you will be going fast. You might not be going too fast like many of the big HP offerings in today's fun cars.
My Gut feeling is that this platform is going to be very, very popular. Very Low priced, very analog. 6 speed close ratio manual, Michelin PilotSport Summer tires, low CG, stiff body, aluminum roof, fenders and hood. 2.4 litre high revving high output, naturally aspirated flat four, LSD, All the electronics you need, with none of the data tracking. Basically like riding a two stroke street bike compared to the direction car mfgs are going.. They are light unlike the electric cars currently on offer.. (2850 or so pounds) Sold out ...but dealers and scalpers trying very hard to make Wall street grade profits on flipping them.
Oh, they are small sports cars...but you could get away with dailying one if you thought driving was fun... and friends would never ask for a back seat ride more than once because the back seat doesn't actually hold people. They do hold Golf bags if you could take one to a club that lets in such cars!

Try one while you can. Total Blast. Burns 93 octane unfortunately.
 
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There's quite a following for these in Australia with a lively club racing scene. Very heartening that there are still people who want to learn the art of proper driving - heel and toe, picking an apex, trail braking, etc in a driver's car without a bunch of interfering aids.
I had a BMW 1M for 7 years, ( the very first one delivered in Australia ), and that car was tremendous fun but it was so fast that in order to exploit the car to anywhere near its potential you had to get away from the city and break a lot of road rules, much like my AMG 507, though it is quite happy to burble around town whereas the 1M just wanted to play all the time.
There's a lot to be said for less power in a light nimble car. I remember Chris Harris saying that a Citroen 2CV was the ultimate driver's car as it was so slow you needed all of your skills to maintain speed in it,
Hmmm, maybe I should cancel my order for a 2022 Audi RS3, but damn I do like fast cars.

Edit: Appalling grammar.
 
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The year's allotment for the UK sold out in 90 minutes. I understand Australia is getting supply next. The one I bought used with 1,200 miles ended up costing more than retail by about $1400. Fortunately that was in weak $Cdn, so probably still the cheapest place to get a BRZ/GR86. The base model is $23,204 USD up here. This is the best handling car I have driven when pushed through a corner. . The torque and power delivery of this new 2.4 is also quite impressive. Prepping my 99' Miata for sale reluctantly. Just getting it out of storage and it feels wrong to part ways, as it has been so much fun to run through the gears and reliability has been basically light bulbs.

I went with White, figuring it would fit in best in the Costco parking lot
The White Zelig.jpeg
 
Good on Toyota for making that car and good on you for buying one. Throttle House does a typically entertaining review of the new GR86, opening with a therapy session for the "Underpowered Car Owners Anonymous" group.
Miata has THE BEST snickety snick gearbox. Just rest your arm on the trans tunnel and flick through the ratios with your wrist for that perfectly timed heel and toe downshift. And that's just getting to the end of the street. Everyone should have one once in their life.
 
The air bag deployment shows how far auto safety has come, especially relevant for those sporty drivers who are prone to the Red Mist.

Imagine a future where your car assesses your mood and depowers the car if you are "edgy". And also places the safety systems on priority alert whilst creating a clear channel to safety authorities who send a notification - " Attention Gazz, you are about to engage command of a vehicle under sub optimal psychological conditions. If you wish to proceed signify using the finger print scanner".

So enjoy your 86 while you can.
 
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