Toyota stole the Tokyo Auto Salon today when it unveiled this stunning, new shape FT-86 G Sports Concept.
The car is an evolution of the 'Toyobaru, the lightweight rear-drive sports coupe that Toyota and Subaru are working on together.
See the Toyota FT-86 G's Sports pictures
This latest interpretation has a sharper front end and more aggressive side body treatment, new wheels and matt black bonnet.
The lower front air intake is both larger and more dramatic, with central vent and air blades either side. There are new side sills and deeper body vents for cooling both front and rear brakes.
At the back, Toyota's bolted on a far more businesslike boot spoiler that's straight out of Japan's D1 Drift series and the meatier diffuser treatment and twin exhausts.
Under that vented bonnet, the FT-86's Subaru-derived 2.0-litre Boxer four now gains a turbo but there's no word on power. The latest of these Scooby turbo flat-fours in the new limited Impreza R205 in Japan punts out a strong armed 320ps, so that perhaps is a guide.
As it stands, the FT-86 is still six-speed manual but the car is now a touch bigger: length up 30mm to 4160mm while width is now 1780mm, 20mm up on the '09 car.
The car sits 30mm lower down however at 1230mm and at road level, rolls on slick Bridgestone Potenza RE050s: 245/45 R19 at the front with 275/35 R19s at the back.
The new concept car also has a GPS-track day unit co-developed with the creators of the Gran Turismo computer game franchise and automotive technology giant Denso.
The GPS unit allows users to drive the real FT-86 around a real track and then remove the memory card from the car, plug it into a PS3 and either watch the lap virtually or race against yourself, as the real car appears as the car that you battle against.
The GPS unit was tested in a fully race-prepped Lexus IS F at the Nurburgring last October.
Intriguingly, the original FT-86 concept car's dashboard had an outline of Fuji Speedway, a lap timer and an altimeter, hinting at Toyota's plans for the technology.
Reports suggest Toyota will offer this technology on most future models, starting with the launch of the production FT-86.
The FT-86, which may get the Celica name in Europe, is still set for a 2011 launch in Japan.
Peter Nunn
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Re: Toyota FT-86 G's Sports concept
They famously got thrown out , for bending the rules too much with the induction system on their Celica.
Re: Toyota FT-86 G's Sports concept
should make a good rally car, if toyota ever get back to rallying (considering their disaster f1 / le mans programmes). toyota were quite good at rallying, with their celica's and corolla's.
Re: Toyota FT-86 G's Sports concept
I agree the first version looked more enticing,a lot to do with the colour i think.why the Toyobaru moniker by every journalist,you would think platform sharing was exclusive to these brands!!! its the norm now.