Today I finally get to drive an anime and real-life legend, the Toyota AE86. Perhaps best known to many as “the car from Initial D”, these now command serious money. But, could it possible be that nice to drive or has time overstated the prowess of this car?
Foreign can anyone else hear that is that that eurobeat hello everybody the car i am driving today is going to be viewed one of two ways by all who see it either as some weird looking funny old japanese heap or a living legend we are talking about a 1983 toyota sprinter trino gt apex or is it true nope never quite sure really either way there are two ways
You probably found out about this car the way that i did through the magic of gran turismo where you’re probably absolutely confused why it is that this car kept winning races and why exactly it was panda colored or through the magic of initial d the 1990s japanese anime series about a young lad who is more or less coerced into becoming a professional drifter
By his father i have waited a very very long time to drive one of these and i am so happy that i did because the one i’m driving now is the only one i’d want to be in this belongs to simon a good friend of my friend dominic and he’s brought it up to me while i’m here in scotland to enjoy on what is today the scotch toge as i’m going to christen it so if you
Aren’t really familiar with the legend of this car what actually is it well it was introduced in about 1983 as the fifth generation sprinter or corolla it was quite unusual at the time because most other manufacturers for their hatchbacks were moving to front-wheel drive whereas this stuck with rear-wheel drive the engine is a twin cam 1.6 liter toyota engine
Known as the 4age it produces 130 horsepower which is pretty nippy that’s equivalent to a peugeot 205 gti with the 1.9 in it it’s fairly light too being around about a ton the gt apex was i think the luxury trim level and came with things like this electric sunroof that works and power steering which has been removed from this particular car it also has the most
80s tastic dash that’s just absolutely wonderful and um that’s sort of it really the interior is very much old cheap feeling japanese car with lots of questionable plastic and some funny design choices like the fact that most of the warning lights are in english except the one for the cat which is not the graphics on the side in case you weren’t into the whole
Initial d thing are the logo of the fujiwara tofu shop and the little paper cup in here is also a nod to that series that peppy little twin cam goes all the way to seven and a half thousand rpm which is a pretty respectable rev ceiling even now it’s mated to a five-speed manual gearbox which even at modest speeds is actually really quite nice to use these seats
Don’t really look that fantastic in fact they are very very 1980s old sofa however they’re pretty good to sit in they’re quite comfortable if if not the sort of most sturdy feeling things visibility out of this is absolutely brilliant because it’s all glass the pillars are paper thin as you tend to find in cars of this age and generally it does feel and sound a
Bit like a cheap old japanese car but you see these were never about being the last word in luxury they were all about being absolutely riotous fun to drive simon has been into initial d for quite some time and he considered buying one of these many years ago but then saw they were about 7 000 pounds and thought understandably sod that it’s quite a bit of money
To pay for a car whose reputation is there only because of a cartoon how silly we all were to ignore those i tried to get an idea as to what one is worth now and the only example i could find up for sale was at an auction it was in red which is not the most desirable color actually the color this car started out it had the one lady owner it was a uk supplied
Car 1987 had reasonable miles on it but was a cat c and it’s currently up for auction at 33 000 pounds i was for a moment thinking this could be a decent entry for my next classic car playlist but um honestly that’s just way too much for me i don’t love them that much or at least i don’t think that i do the way really to find out is to get this on the roads
And see if it’s as good as a cartoon would have me believe fast it is not but fun it most definitely is this engine is an absolute boot the car doesn’t weigh very much so the relative lack of power and torque aren’t too much of an issue it is every bit as feel seminars interactive as you really might have hoped the steering is delicious it’s actually had quite
A bit of work done to it because when it came over from japan it wasn’t steering right luckily there is a huge scene for these over in ireland which is a great source of not just parts but support as well that was the japanese speed limit warning which is the most delightful and charming little bong you’ll ever really hear in a car i do apologize if it appears
Every now and again but uh there’s nothing we can do about it at present it’s a tiny little thing so it feels really at home here on these roads the suspension is no longer standard because it came over with a mixture of stuff it’s now got bc racing coilovers at the front and avo’s at the rear suspension is mcpherson strut up front with a four link setup and a
Panhard bar at the back i say that like i really know what a panhard bar is i can sort of picture it in my head but the key thing here is that if you haven’t set the thing up right and you have lowered it which is what the previous owner had done it’ll produce some very undesirable handling characteristics when correctly set up though this thing is absolutely
Magic the steering has just got that brilliant texture and feel that you only really ever get with these old-fashioned setups you do have to be a little bit careful because grip ultimately is somewhat limited the tires are not enormous and it’s just an older car i’m going to have to disappoint some anime fans and tell you that if we were chasing an r34 gtr
Right about now i don’t think we’d be seeing which way it went i’ll be quiet you however i’m not really that fast because i am having so much fun pretty much my only concern about this car before i drove it was it was going to be a little bit obnoxiously loud and luckily it isn’t it’s got a full stainless exhaust on it a fujitsu system and it’s judged really
Nicely it makes a good sound but not too much of it if anything i’d say actually could afford to be just a little bit louder it flows down this road so well just got to be careful though because its ultimate ability is not that high so i have found myself coming around a couple of bends a little bit wider than i would like in a straight line too you also just don’t
Have the pace there are a few different cars that are quite similar to this one there’s the 11 which has non pop-up headlights just regular items those of course aren’t anywhere near as desirable despite having featured in the anime but actually as the the cheaper less desirable car because it has quite a short wheelbase you know it’s really a fairly small thing
It’s a little bit bouncy and jittery at low speeds and that that you kind of expect i wasn’t thinking it was going to be all plush and soft riding simon’s also done some fairly impressive work to add in some extra switches and things for some of the controls and genuinely if i didn’t know they were not original i wouldn’t be able to tell some are from a corolla
Somewhere from a forerunner everyone loves pop-ups being an old car the brakes really are the dynamic weak point they respond well enough but they just don’t have the bite and they are wobbling quite a bit so gonna need to get those checked out fairly soon chassis is very playful though if this was 10 grand i’d have one in a heartbeat just for a laugh but 30
Odd you’ve got to be seriously dedicated that’s that’s just the unfortunate truth of it you know i’m very lucky i get to drive these things for half an hour or so say they’re brilliant then that’s it you’re done with it but if you’ve got to live with it and drive it and enjoy it these apparently are quite easy things to live with and maintain and all that there’s
Plenty of parts and everything for them but it’s just a huge sum of money to part with for something that isn’t ultimately that flash or fancy inside and most of the world just won’t get why it is exactly that you spent a huge summer money on something like this you could get very very similar feel and thrills from a 205 gti and for many people that really is
Just as good all the controls in this are really light engine revs up so quickly and freely you need just the lightest of touches on the accelerator and you are off oh so you can drive the utter wheels of this thing barely be troubling the speed limit have the utter time of your life this may not be the classic for me but this is a perfect demonstration of why
It is i want an older slower car for my next purchase because every now and again this is exactly what i want it’s so good i knew everyone raved about it but also cars like this they can become so legendary it’d be impossible for them to ever live up to expectations not the case here not the case at all this is so much more than just a cartoon tofu truck it’s
A legend in real life as well thank you simon you
Transcribed from video
Driven: The AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX – Tested On The Scottish Touge By JayEmm on Cars
