Centurion
Apex Apex Predator
Hello gents ang ladies
I thought I should share my comparison between the Toyota GT86 and 1998 1.8L Toyota Celica SR(Generation 6) which I have had the pleasure of driving to and from my 68km commute from London to Kent. The Celica is my daily driver and the GT86 belongs to a petrol head for a friend of mine, who had desires to watch me do what ever I want to his brand new car.
One might argue that it’s like comparing raisins to grapes, which is kind of true: One car is an old and was purpose built for rallying and the other one is a precision machine for mauling corners around the Nurburgring. What they have in-common though is that they are both Toyota and were designed to deliver smiles-per-gallon instead of the stereotypical high miles-per-gallon you would expect from a Japanese car. Both are fast but not brutal as in “holy moly this Ferrari 599 GTO is going to turn me into an organ donor sooner than my hairline will start receding”.
Because my commute to work has everything from start and stop urban driving to, motorways and a country lane shortcut, it’s perfect for experiencing all facets of a car.
Practicality: Toyota make practical cars and these two are no exception. Sexy, aggressive but kinda cute, the GT86 could be mistaken for a low hatchback but on the inside it’s spacious and roomy. I’m 180cm tall but have a good 10-15cm of room above my head. Inside the Celica, the accommodation is equally as world class: The driver seats and steering wheel are adjustable in many directions. What stands out about the Celica is that it’s low. Very low. At low 1,300cm height, you would need to look at the Mazda MX5 or exotic cars for anything shorter. Inside the cabin you sit low and sunk into the bolstered but soft seats: Think bean bag on a skate board.
The GT86 has bolstered seats too but they are slightly firmer which make sense given it’s high potential in cornering speeds. And oh, its rear seats are useless and the boot is small. If you have kids or two relatively short friends then they could comfortable sit in the rear seat of the Celica for a short trip. When it comes to hauling goods, the Celica wins with it's foldable rear seats, hatchback and deep boot that can swallow anything from big luggage to something boxy as a small freezer.
Urban Driving: Driving in London can be a noisy and cancerogenic affair. Good insulation and AC is an absolute must since driving with the windows down will have you inhaling fumes from busses. Because the GT86 is a newer car, it feels more 'padded' and does a better at lowering your heart rate through sound insulation. The suspension is good at censoring minor road imperfections that you don’t care about when you just want to go from A to B as peacefully as possible.
Unless you are professional rope climber, the Celica should not be the city car of your choice. It has power steering but is not very assisted at low speeds, so making three point turns requires quite a bit of arm work. We are not talking oil-tanker radius here but it simply isn’t the car that would to well chasing after a Mini in the Italian job.
On the motorway: This is where the fun start regardless of which car you are in. Both have incredibly low center of gravity, minimal body roll and feels unlike you average passenger car. Sweepers and continuous radius corners are mind blowingly fun in these cars. They are simply fun to drive fast in and feel incredibly safe and stable at high speeds. 200hp is plenty fun in the GT86. The engine is like Bill Cosby on a viagra sitting in a rocking chair: It’s simply ready to go. It revs high and just begs for a lead foot.
You don’t get the same speed sensation in the Celica which has a 1.8L engine that has a totally different character than the more combat ready boxer engine in the GT86. The Celica has approximately 114hp but lacks top end power. Think of it more of a 30km/h to 100km/h than race car you sprint to 200km/h. At high speeds the GT86’s sharper steering makes it feel more like a car you could race others against, however the front feels more stiffer sprung than in the Celica which can make the nose feel a bit bouncy at high speeds.
Rallying: The final 3km of my commute merge two motorway lanes into a slow 40km/h road which includes another joining road! If I’m unlucky, making it through this stint could be a 20min borefest. Thankfully there’s a 6km short cut on partially dirty and very twisty country lanes. This is where the Celica truly comes alive as a rally car.
In the right rev range the engine is punchy rather than linear. Keep the car between 2nd and 3rd gear and you’ll have the most fun time in your life. Between 1,500-2,500rpm there is enough punch to induce on-throttle oversteer. Whether you are slamming through water, over a pothole or a very bumpy stretch of road, the Celica is astonishingly stable at high speeds over uneven surfaces. Some speed bumps are even less uncomfortable if attacked at high speeds than low. The multilink suspension is simply that good! Because the steering is hydraulic, it feeds you valuable information about the surface beneath you and makes you feel one with the car and the road. Being able to drive fast over uneven roads through the forrest makes you feel like there’s no place you can go. It's very liberating.
As for the GT86, it’s feels fast and able through the forrest too, however it feels more bumpy and less at home.
In Roundabouts: Every day I have to negotiate myself through roundabouts. Lots of them! Some have elevation changes while others requires your to be amazing quick on the throttle to enter the marry go-round. Thanks to bolstered seats, low eight and responsive engines roundabouts are a total joy in these cars.
Making a friendly little slide 2nd gear slide at the exit in the GT86 is very easy thanks to its sharp responsiveness and linear power delivery. When you push hard in the car it never makes you feel like you are punching above your weight. Without trying to hard, it’s easy to get the rear into a slide without endangering yourself or others. I love it! The Celica is pretty good too at pulling high lateral Gs but the rear has a tendency to get out of shape at the limit.
Torque: Ha! What did you think I was going to do? Write about the GT86 without moaning about torque. First thing first, the Celica can:
-Go from standstill to moving in moving in 3rd gear.
-Do hill starts without applying throttle.
-Be driven around the city faster than other cars without having to go above 2k RPM.
Basically the 1.8L inline 4 is a smooth operator that delivers enough low rev torque for moving efficiently through traffic. The GT86 engine lacks low rev torque and begs for more throttle than the Celica and you really notice this when you are two adults in the car. Lord knows to what range you need to rev the GT86 to do a hill start with four people occupying all the seats. But who cares? The car is engineered for solitary driving, not hauling 3 rugby players to a game or towing a van.
SUMMARY: I am a German car fan and so are many of you. We salivate at German, American and Italian sports cars. Japanese sports cars deserve the same love. Driving the Celica and GT86 I cannot do anything other than applaude Toyota's commitment to manufacturing sports car that are fun, practical, fuel efficient and inexpensive to service. Both the Celica and GT86 are brilliant fun in their own unique ways and will certainly have asking for a long test drive when I buy a new car the coming months. Whether that car will be Japanese or German I don't know, but it will have to be fun, reliable, fuel efficient, fast and cheap to own.
Wish me luck!
I thought I should share my comparison between the Toyota GT86 and 1998 1.8L Toyota Celica SR(Generation 6) which I have had the pleasure of driving to and from my 68km commute from London to Kent. The Celica is my daily driver and the GT86 belongs to a petrol head for a friend of mine, who had desires to watch me do what ever I want to his brand new car.
One might argue that it’s like comparing raisins to grapes, which is kind of true: One car is an old and was purpose built for rallying and the other one is a precision machine for mauling corners around the Nurburgring. What they have in-common though is that they are both Toyota and were designed to deliver smiles-per-gallon instead of the stereotypical high miles-per-gallon you would expect from a Japanese car. Both are fast but not brutal as in “holy moly this Ferrari 599 GTO is going to turn me into an organ donor sooner than my hairline will start receding”.
Because my commute to work has everything from start and stop urban driving to, motorways and a country lane shortcut, it’s perfect for experiencing all facets of a car.
Practicality: Toyota make practical cars and these two are no exception. Sexy, aggressive but kinda cute, the GT86 could be mistaken for a low hatchback but on the inside it’s spacious and roomy. I’m 180cm tall but have a good 10-15cm of room above my head. Inside the Celica, the accommodation is equally as world class: The driver seats and steering wheel are adjustable in many directions. What stands out about the Celica is that it’s low. Very low. At low 1,300cm height, you would need to look at the Mazda MX5 or exotic cars for anything shorter. Inside the cabin you sit low and sunk into the bolstered but soft seats: Think bean bag on a skate board.
The GT86 has bolstered seats too but they are slightly firmer which make sense given it’s high potential in cornering speeds. And oh, its rear seats are useless and the boot is small. If you have kids or two relatively short friends then they could comfortable sit in the rear seat of the Celica for a short trip. When it comes to hauling goods, the Celica wins with it's foldable rear seats, hatchback and deep boot that can swallow anything from big luggage to something boxy as a small freezer.
Urban Driving: Driving in London can be a noisy and cancerogenic affair. Good insulation and AC is an absolute must since driving with the windows down will have you inhaling fumes from busses. Because the GT86 is a newer car, it feels more 'padded' and does a better at lowering your heart rate through sound insulation. The suspension is good at censoring minor road imperfections that you don’t care about when you just want to go from A to B as peacefully as possible.
Unless you are professional rope climber, the Celica should not be the city car of your choice. It has power steering but is not very assisted at low speeds, so making three point turns requires quite a bit of arm work. We are not talking oil-tanker radius here but it simply isn’t the car that would to well chasing after a Mini in the Italian job.
On the motorway: This is where the fun start regardless of which car you are in. Both have incredibly low center of gravity, minimal body roll and feels unlike you average passenger car. Sweepers and continuous radius corners are mind blowingly fun in these cars. They are simply fun to drive fast in and feel incredibly safe and stable at high speeds. 200hp is plenty fun in the GT86. The engine is like Bill Cosby on a viagra sitting in a rocking chair: It’s simply ready to go. It revs high and just begs for a lead foot.
You don’t get the same speed sensation in the Celica which has a 1.8L engine that has a totally different character than the more combat ready boxer engine in the GT86. The Celica has approximately 114hp but lacks top end power. Think of it more of a 30km/h to 100km/h than race car you sprint to 200km/h. At high speeds the GT86’s sharper steering makes it feel more like a car you could race others against, however the front feels more stiffer sprung than in the Celica which can make the nose feel a bit bouncy at high speeds.
Rallying: The final 3km of my commute merge two motorway lanes into a slow 40km/h road which includes another joining road! If I’m unlucky, making it through this stint could be a 20min borefest. Thankfully there’s a 6km short cut on partially dirty and very twisty country lanes. This is where the Celica truly comes alive as a rally car.
In the right rev range the engine is punchy rather than linear. Keep the car between 2nd and 3rd gear and you’ll have the most fun time in your life. Between 1,500-2,500rpm there is enough punch to induce on-throttle oversteer. Whether you are slamming through water, over a pothole or a very bumpy stretch of road, the Celica is astonishingly stable at high speeds over uneven surfaces. Some speed bumps are even less uncomfortable if attacked at high speeds than low. The multilink suspension is simply that good! Because the steering is hydraulic, it feeds you valuable information about the surface beneath you and makes you feel one with the car and the road. Being able to drive fast over uneven roads through the forrest makes you feel like there’s no place you can go. It's very liberating.
As for the GT86, it’s feels fast and able through the forrest too, however it feels more bumpy and less at home.
In Roundabouts: Every day I have to negotiate myself through roundabouts. Lots of them! Some have elevation changes while others requires your to be amazing quick on the throttle to enter the marry go-round. Thanks to bolstered seats, low eight and responsive engines roundabouts are a total joy in these cars.
Making a friendly little slide 2nd gear slide at the exit in the GT86 is very easy thanks to its sharp responsiveness and linear power delivery. When you push hard in the car it never makes you feel like you are punching above your weight. Without trying to hard, it’s easy to get the rear into a slide without endangering yourself or others. I love it! The Celica is pretty good too at pulling high lateral Gs but the rear has a tendency to get out of shape at the limit.
Torque: Ha! What did you think I was going to do? Write about the GT86 without moaning about torque. First thing first, the Celica can:
-Go from standstill to moving in moving in 3rd gear.
-Do hill starts without applying throttle.
-Be driven around the city faster than other cars without having to go above 2k RPM.
Basically the 1.8L inline 4 is a smooth operator that delivers enough low rev torque for moving efficiently through traffic. The GT86 engine lacks low rev torque and begs for more throttle than the Celica and you really notice this when you are two adults in the car. Lord knows to what range you need to rev the GT86 to do a hill start with four people occupying all the seats. But who cares? The car is engineered for solitary driving, not hauling 3 rugby players to a game or towing a van.
SUMMARY: I am a German car fan and so are many of you. We salivate at German, American and Italian sports cars. Japanese sports cars deserve the same love. Driving the Celica and GT86 I cannot do anything other than applaude Toyota's commitment to manufacturing sports car that are fun, practical, fuel efficient and inexpensive to service. Both the Celica and GT86 are brilliant fun in their own unique ways and will certainly have asking for a long test drive when I buy a new car the coming months. Whether that car will be Japanese or German I don't know, but it will have to be fun, reliable, fuel efficient, fast and cheap to own.
Wish me luck!
