Captain Duff

I've had my GT for 8 years now (my only car and a daily driver), still love it, still drives brilliantly. But I can't wait to get the GR when it comes it (but when?!) - linking to the OP, while that still seems some time away for us in the UK, I suspect that with a number of GT owners like me looking to trade in for the new car it could put a lot of extra s/h GT's on the market at the same time, which would potentially be good for making entry into GT ownership even more affordable.

This US Toyota press release is interesting - https://pressroom.toyota.com/all-new-2022-toyota-gr-86-thrills-around-every-corner/ The US GR86 (they will get it before we can) will come with a year's membership of NASA included, wonder of Toyota GB will be looking at a similar track day encouragement for new owners - plus it looks like there will be some useful initial Gazoo mods (inc a cat-back exhaust) to get at the time of purchase so under warranty from day 1, again this would be a welcome thing for TGB to also do (although I'm guessing that most GT86 existing mods will be suitable to use on the GR).

I had the Whiteline insert done at my first service 6 years ago I think, seemed to make shifting smoother so for the money it's a good mod to try, although I was always happy with my gearbox and never had the issues some did (did get some stick buzzing under acceleration in 3rd and 5th in the early days, now gone, and like most people I still get the odd bit of 1st to 2nd stiffness on a cold morning but nothing major).

A facelift with a more powerful engine - but I like it a lot, the styling works for me. Be great if there was an immediate UK special edition option along the lines of the Blue Performance edition (Brembo's etc.), but I hope that one of the big advantages of this looking like a facelift will be that existing GT86 aftermarket parts like exhausts etc will be interchangeable as that would mean a good amount of things to play with from the outset. It will also be interesting to see what difference n Ecutek remap would make to those initial performance figures. I also hope it comes in sub £30k as it needs to maintain affordability. I was really tempted to trade my 2013 for the Blue Performance edition the other year but couldn't justify the price at the time, but by the time this comes out my car will be heading for 9 years old and so I think it will be the right time to swap over. More pics here: Auto Express

I've had KW v2 coilovers for 2 or 3 years now, been very happy with the ride and handling. Have not been using the car massively in recent months due to lockdown affecting work (so have been a homeworker for most of the year), but a few weeks ago I noticed a bit of a knocking sound when going around roundabouts (coming from the rear I think), then when parked on a normal height pavement (one side on, one side off) what I think was the suspension made a bit of a clicking sound for a few seconds. Since then the ride has become very firm but also splashy at the same time. I've not had the chance to get the wheels off yet to have a proper look, but the ride height when p[arked looks even at all four corners. I'm wondering if I may have lost oil pressure in one of them and so it's lost bump dampening and is just riding on the spring? That said, I'm far from an expert. I got them s/h so there is no warranty, but has anyone got any ideas, and if the hydraulics have leaked would it be repairable (and would any decent garage be able to do it)?

I had much worse in the same sill/door area a few go, my fav local body shop did their as always amazing magic and no one would ever know - from memory it was £240 inc vat which inc a courtesy car for 2 or 3 days (the whole side of the car was resprayed/blended up to the wings at either end). Good value I think.

As others have said, Milltek has a truly dreadful reputation now among the GT86/BRZ community. The numbers that cracked were unreal, they then retrospectively updated it with a flexi insert but it still cracked (I had 3 replacements under the warranty, the last one with the flexi that was meant to stop it cracking). At the same time dealers were reporting that Milltek were becoming increasingly difficult to deal with re the warranty replacements. In the end, I could have got yet another replacement or another exhaust completely (I was tempted) but went for a 3rd party welding option on the Milltek (even though that leaves me out of warranty) - Two and a half years later it is still fine (and sounds great to my ears) so I'm happy, but I'll never touch that company again after the experience.

The suspension set up on the Blue Edition is sweet out of the box, in fact it was night and day so far as road behaviour against my 2013 OEM when I test drove it which is why I ended up fitting KW v3's following that revelation. I probably went down 15 mil or so with the KW''s in the end, initially had it lower but didn't like it as clearance and speed humps became a big issue (your Blue Edition s already lower than my stock was I think, poss 10 mill if memory serves?) All that said, those lowering springs aren't too expensive and can be reversed and sold on if you don't like the handling afterwards (as it will almost certainly be worse, which is why I'd not do it myself ).

When you swap your keys for the Yaris... 😉

What with the lockdown I'd left doing anything about my recall, but then figured I could perhaps do a combined Sevice/MOT this month with the work (yes I know it would take more than a day to do the springs!). Phone RRG last week and got the service/MOT booked but was told that they don't have the parts from Toyota for the spring replacement and don't know when they will. I guess it's something to do with the factory being shut down.

The new engine will be key as the rest looks like a facelift rather than a new car. But what is it with Toyota and fake vents?!

Mine has it and I'm a September 2013 reg. I think it was used for the first couple of years until early 2014 models that followed the successful BMW challenge on it against the EU. One advantage of it unless the system gets damaged and it leaks is that it does seem to be the 'lifetime of the car' gas it was sold as. I've never had a problem with it, never had a need for a re-gas and it still seems to be just as cold now as it was 7 years ago...

I try and use V Power (99 ron), but Shell garages are no ideally placed around where I live and my normal work commute, so I probably manage it between 7 - 9 tanks out of every 10.. I have a problem with high ethanol fuels, I don't trust them in terms of long term damage to the engine but they have been imposed near-universally now. V Power used to be ethanol free but now isn't (up to 5% ethanol). Shell have also reduced their cashback on the new club card due to forcing you to be part of their carbon offset virtue signalling. I know people will say I'm being daft re ethanol, but it was forced on the industry by governments for green reasons, not because it is a better fuel, although it does help boost ron which brings me to... Tesco Momentum 99 (er, 99 ron) is very high ethanol at around 10%, prob the highest in the UK. I used it once in my 86 and my engine wasn't happy judging by the iff noises it started making. Never again. I don't rate Texaco Supreme as it's impossible to find out its ron (although they happily publicise the very high ron stuff they sell at Silverstone only or wherever it is). Similarly, I've always found BP Ultimate (97 ron) to be meh. One that I do rate is Esso Synergy Supreme (97 ron) as in most of the UK (but not all) it is still ethanol free - see their FAQs Esso Faqs and performance seems good. I can also use my Necter card with Esso which is another bonus 😃

The report doesn't mention whether it was the drunk driver behind the wheel of the GT86 or whether it was one of the cars he hit, but what a sad end for the car (although that front end crumple zone clearly does a very good job): Wrong-way M6

If you want it done properly then you'll want more than just the door done to enable a proper shade-in to the front/rear panels either side. My local bodyshop of choice would charge around £250 plus VAT for a side spray like that, possibly less if there are no dents to sort.