2008 Woodie Awards
Gas Money: Toyota, Subaru venture highly anticipated
Those missing the Crolla GT-S may have something to celebrate come 2011
Ben McAllister
Life | 4/24/08
So I was out in my old rust-bucket Supra on Loch Raven Drive this past weekend, trying to coax a little smoke from the rear tires. I revved it out to four grand, dumped the clutch and launched nice and clean, with no wheelspin whatsoever. But I could smell burning clutch through my open sunroof.
Now it feels like I'm shifting with a pad of butter on a hot skillet.
I'm going to have to replace the clutch and the flywheel at some point, and Toyota dealerships don't stock parts for cars older than 1986. But the aftermarket boys will be all too happy to sell you a kit in exchange for your first-born child.
My point is I wish there were an affordable, rear-wheel drive, performance-oriented hatchback on dealership lots, preferably with Toyota's trademark 10-gallon hat on the hood. It can't be a convertible (sorry Pontiac Solstice, Mazda MX-5 Miata, and Honda S2000), it can't drive off the lot for more than $24,000 (sorry Infiniti G35 and Honda S2000), and it can't have less torque than a lawnmower (sorry Honda S2000).
Well, news is breaking now that in 2011, Toyota and Subaru have teamed up and plan to release a rear-wheel-drive performance hatchback with a 175-horsepower engine in base trim that will leave the showroom for somewhere right around $20,000.
I've seen "new MR2," "new Celica," and "new Supra" in automotive press chatter, but never the alpha-numeric quadrifecta that disappeared without a trace from Toyota's U.S. lineup in 1987: AE86.
The AE86 (a chassis specification, not the name of the car) was called the Corolla GT-S here in the States, which tends to throw people through a loop. Elsewhere in the known world, it was called the Trueno, and in France it was called the Levin. Somehow we got landed with Corolla, which is weird considering the United States had another Corolla with a Toyota badge on the market simultaneously, which was a libido-less econobox.
"So the AE86 is a Corolla?"
No. Not really. Not at all, actually. Oh God no.
It was a sub-compact hatch with a solid rear axle and a ferocious little four-cylinder engine with tons of aftermarket potential for power. Toyota hasn't ever done anything like it since (well, there's the Scion tC, but it's chintzy beyond my wildest imaginings, and burdened by front-wheel-drive. And yes, I know I'm chewing off bigger pieces of FWD than I can chew).
I can't wait to see what ToyoBaru cooks up for us, the famished fan-boys who dearly miss the Corolla GT-S. But it won't just be for us. It'll be everything I so often think the tC should have been, and I think an enormous slice of the buying public is going to appreciate it for what it is… whatever it is.
Now it feels like I'm shifting with a pad of butter on a hot skillet.
I'm going to have to replace the clutch and the flywheel at some point, and Toyota dealerships don't stock parts for cars older than 1986. But the aftermarket boys will be all too happy to sell you a kit in exchange for your first-born child.
My point is I wish there were an affordable, rear-wheel drive, performance-oriented hatchback on dealership lots, preferably with Toyota's trademark 10-gallon hat on the hood. It can't be a convertible (sorry Pontiac Solstice, Mazda MX-5 Miata, and Honda S2000), it can't drive off the lot for more than $24,000 (sorry Infiniti G35 and Honda S2000), and it can't have less torque than a lawnmower (sorry Honda S2000).
Well, news is breaking now that in 2011, Toyota and Subaru have teamed up and plan to release a rear-wheel-drive performance hatchback with a 175-horsepower engine in base trim that will leave the showroom for somewhere right around $20,000.
I've seen "new MR2," "new Celica," and "new Supra" in automotive press chatter, but never the alpha-numeric quadrifecta that disappeared without a trace from Toyota's U.S. lineup in 1987: AE86.
The AE86 (a chassis specification, not the name of the car) was called the Corolla GT-S here in the States, which tends to throw people through a loop. Elsewhere in the known world, it was called the Trueno, and in France it was called the Levin. Somehow we got landed with Corolla, which is weird considering the United States had another Corolla with a Toyota badge on the market simultaneously, which was a libido-less econobox.
"So the AE86 is a Corolla?"
No. Not really. Not at all, actually. Oh God no.
It was a sub-compact hatch with a solid rear axle and a ferocious little four-cylinder engine with tons of aftermarket potential for power. Toyota hasn't ever done anything like it since (well, there's the Scion tC, but it's chintzy beyond my wildest imaginings, and burdened by front-wheel-drive. And yes, I know I'm chewing off bigger pieces of FWD than I can chew).
I can't wait to see what ToyoBaru cooks up for us, the famished fan-boys who dearly miss the Corolla GT-S. But it won't just be for us. It'll be everything I so often think the tC should have been, and I think an enormous slice of the buying public is going to appreciate it for what it is… whatever it is.
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