Any one familiar with the saga of the 86 twins—whether they be regarded as the Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ, 86, or (now) GR86—will know all about the refrain of calls from fanatics: turbocharge it! Toyota, stubbornly (and with excellent explanation, no matter whether you concur or not) has refused to slap a turbo on the sports car’s flat-4 motor. It bumped displacement and electricity in the hottest, 2nd-generation GR86, but it is really obvious practically nothing short of a boosted motor will satisfy the turbofans. So, it is with the two excitement and regret that we carry you news that Toyota has in fact built a turbocharged GR86. There are, as you might envision, a quantity of caveats.
As Australian internet site CarSales.com/au experiences (by means of Highway & Monitor), Toyota has in truth built a compact number of turbocharged 86s. Even wilder, the cars and trucks ditch their the natural way aspirated, Subaru-sourced 2.4-liter flat-four for the turbocharged I-3 from the new GR Corolla. That 1.6-liter engine is a wee beast, a “relentless” and torquey companion in the GR Yaris and (soon) our GR Corolla, wherever it would make 300 hp and up to 295 lb-ft of torque—well north of the 2.4-liter GR86’s 228 hp and 184 lb-ft. It is also light-weight, and electrical power-dense, as turbocharged motors tend to be.
What on Earth is Toyota up to with this unconventional configuration? Sadly, it does not surface to be testing a client I-3-run GR86. Toyota will use the cars and trucks in the Japanese Super Taikyu racing sequence, mostly as an justification to exam and establish carbon neutral fuels. It truly is using its very own I-3, instead than Subaru’s H-4, as it needs to validate the fuels for its possess engines and ancillaries, according to the report.
CarSales requested the noticeable query following: If the engine is effective in the 86 in a motorsport environment, could the corporation give the GR86 with the I-3 to people down the street? According to the report, Gazoo Racing’s chief engineer Naoyuki Sakamoto admitted the company is critically considering it, but does not have any “concrete designs” to produce a turbocharged GR86—yet.
Stuffing the GR’s I-3 into the 86 would just about definitely involve an interior philosophical battle with 86 main engineer Tetsuya Tada, who is fairly adamant about preserving a particular balance among handling and ability characteristics. Up to this stage, he’s gotten his want: the 86 and its cousins have remained affordable rear-generate coupes with modest ability, superb handling, and the directness that only a obviously aspirated motor can deliver, even with the hottest generation’s decent energy bump.
Possibly the homegrown, thrilling GR 1.6-liter I-3 may well adjust his brain. Let’s hope Sakamoto will get Tada into one of his Frankenstein GR86s before long and puts a significant sufficient smile on Tada’s experience to earn him more than. Until then, this stays a tantalizing but frustrating footnote in the lengthy turbocharged 86 saga.