Well, as you all know, I picked up a 2023 GR86 10th Anniversary Edition last week, whorange
![:manuel: :manuel:](./images/smilies/manuel.png)
Here is my initial experience and review.
I had the BRZ order in since July or so, originally slated for December delivery. When December rolled around and it was clear that there would be further delays, I started calling around to see if GR86 allocations were more available. They did seem to have improved a bit and I started seeing the whorange edition on Toyota's site. Over a few days I became very fixated on this car and started calling all over, looking in the Northeast, FL, etc. I spoke to many dealers, some offered me the car at anywhere from$3K-10K markup, a few had MSRP allocations available but would only sell in state (CLT market gets zero of these cars for whatever reason, people here are pickup men I guess). The vast majority of them were just already spoken for though. I became a bit obsessed and started checking every day. I finally found the car I bought at Kirk Toyota in MS, called them, they said they would sell out of state at MSRP plus a $1K out of state fee. This was sub optimal but their doc fee was also about $600 less ($395, everything here is around $1K) and they were willing to pick me up from Memphis, drive me the 80 minutes down, etc. so I said fuck it. They turned out to be a bit
![:derp: :derp:](./images/smilies/derp.gif)
throughout the process but seemingly honest and upheld their end of the deal. I picked it up without any real hitch and drove back home.
The trip from Grenada, MS to CLT is around 700 miles. Since I flew in and did the
![:dill: :dill:](./images/smilies/pickle.gif)
on a Saturday, I didn't get out until 2 PM or so. I opted to take a slightly longer road home, stay the night in Chattanooga and go home over the Tail of the Dragon and some other mountain roads. This was good fun but it was raining/cold/snowing a bit Sunday morning so I couldn't send it too much on the mountain roads (I have also been adhering to the break in period pretty well.
On to the car:
The Good:
- I love the looks of this car, I'm 100% glad I paid extra for orange, the black duckbill is awesome, it's a great shape, etc.
- The obvious is the handling, while I haven't yet tracked or driven in full anger, the car is just super balanced, it's not the drift missile of the first gen on all seasons but it doesn't understeer at all anywhere I've been able to explore so far
-Interior - the seats are fantastic, the orange accents are fun, everything is very well laid out, HVAC easy to use and works well
-Tech: I haven't really had any cars with modern features but turning LED headlights, CarPlay, heated seats, etc. is pretty cool
-Inputs: probably the best part of this car, the steering and shifter are the best in the biz, the steering wheel/knob feel good too. Brake pedal is firm and feels good, I haven't really fully tested the brakes
- The motor - I'm still in break in so I can't speak to outright power but man, I love natty aspirated engines, the instant nature of the throttle response is
![:megusta: :megusta:](./images/smilies/rage-megusta.gif)
and the free revving nature is
- This thing is a much easier daily than a Corvette, tighter turning, easier parking, haven't found any scrape, etc.
- It's quite comfy and fits a 6'1" 190 pound dude well, great space for weekend trips for two, can take the dog, etc.
The bad (most of this is expected):
- Ride quality isn't great
- It's very loud inside, tire noise and drone (I need to see about the interior sound coming through stereo, I also have the GR exhaust)
- The stereo sucks and my wife said the mic on BT calls sounds shitty
- Backup cam resolution is poor
- Back seat is pretty useless (still it's pretty practical for what it is, sooo much more room than say a Miata or S2000)
- The visibility is not very good, blind spots are always there (at least it has a light when cars are there and large mirrors) and side visibility isn't the best either, it would probably be better for shorter people. No one mentions this about this car. It's not as bad as a Camaro but still a bit
- At the moment the only trailer hitch available is this
![:derp: :derp:](./images/smilies/derp.gif)
thing:
http://www.slambertperformance.com/shop/twin-hitch but more coming soon