Richard Hammond at Top Gear loves the FT-86, Will Be Hugely Successful

**West** · 03-17-2010, 08:31 AM

It’s not hard to see the FT-86 has been more than well received and has a huge future ahead of itself. Richard Hammond at Top Gear recently posted about the Toyota FT-86 and how it’s set to revive Toyota's image and become a massive success. Not as if there was any doubt, but it’s always nice to hear praise from a source such as Top Gear.

You wouldn't want to have been working at Toyota for the past month - especially in quality control or public relations.

But the firm has been building reliable motors for decades, bought because they tend not to go wrong. Virtually every tourist on the planet will have travelled in a Toyota Hiace van from airport to hotel, often badly driven and falling to bits, but still going strong.

So why are all Toyotas rubbish overnight? They're not, of course.

By the time the FT-86 arrives on our shores, its current troubles will be forgotten and I predict it's going to be a massive success.

First off, it's rear-wheel drive, which means it is going to be fun to drive and will probably handle rather nicely. It'll have about 200bhp which doesn't sound much (the Ford Focus RS has 300bhp and the Megane RS 250bhp) but, because it's rear-wheel drive, you'll be able to put all the power down easily.

And it looks fantastic. It's a proper coupe and that's crucial. Coupe says that you're young and fancy-free, and that you don't need space for prams. Pretty important to get that message across even if you're 40 and have two kids. With some of the spirit of the 1980s' Toyota Corolla, specifically the AE-86 model, the FT-86 will be powered by a flat-four engine built by Subaru, which should give it an interesting character.

But the best thing is that when it arrives in late next year it will cost less than £20,000. It won't be perfect but will be a lot of fun and unlikely to have a sticking throttle pedal.

**Exitspeed** · 03-17-2010, 08:39 AM

Hell yeah!

**ra23celica** · 03-17-2010, 07:53 PM

Good of Top Gear to give the thing a nice wrap. That show can make or break the success of a model, they can be unmerciful to some cars, and for others, heap on lots of glowing praise.

**HyperFX** · 03-18-2010, 06:53 PM

Yay Mr. Hammond! He is one of the most respectable gear heads & enthusiast out there. Thank goodness he actually sees the truth in reliability with Toyotas. Now only if he can give an autograph to the members of this forum for our dedication to this car? Anyone like a Richard Hammond/Top Gear edition FT86? Me first please!

**ra23celica** · 03-22-2010, 06:22 AM

Not sure that Toyota would want anyone ever endorsing any of their cars again after they released the Carlos Sainz limited edition Celica GT-4 only for 'El Matador' to leave Toyota Team Europe for a rival team afterwards...