BEFORE YOU CONCLUDE THAT WE'VE LOST THE PLOT BY lining up a near-60-grand mid-engined sports car from France with a pair of front-engined wannabes from Japan that cost half as much and aren't anywhere near as quick, consider this: when Toyota launched the GT86 in 2012 it all but redefined the way we think about so-called driver's cars. At a stroke, the rear-drive but not very grippy, not especially potent GT86 underlined the notion that speed in itself is not the holy grail when it comes to pure driver enjoyment, and we've celebrated its existence ever since.
Which is why the prospect of a faster, meaner, leaner GT86 can't help but grab our attention ten years and one global pandemic later. It also explains why the traditional parameters of price, power, size and specification tend to get thrown out of the window when it comes to choosing the right opposition to pit against the new 2.4-litre, 231bhp, £29,995 GR86.
In any case, a good sports car is a good sports car, no matter how much it might cost or how little power it may have. So bring it on, as they say, because if our initial impressions of the GR86 are accurate, this is a car that's quite happy to take on all comers, in all shapes and sizes, and at almost any price. Hence the reason we've lined it up beside one of our favourite mid-engined sports cars this side of £100k, the breathtakingly lovely Alpine A110 GT, as well as the somewhat more predictable Mazda MX-5 2.0 GT Sport Tech, a textbook front-engined, rear-drive, open-top two-seater that costs just £1865 more than the Toyota.
And they are all, without question, sports cars.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2022 من Evo UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2022 من Evo UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
TYRE 2024 TEST
Want to fit the very best tyres to your performance car? The annual evo Tyre Test identifies the cream of the current crop
HONDA ACCORD TYPE R
A liberal sprinkling of Honda Type R fairy dust on the late-'90s Accord produced an unlikely evo icon and a genuine performance bargain
TOY STORY
Where best to store some of Toyota’s most prized and valuable racing superstars? Under the wind tunnel at its Cologne HO, of course...
POWER PLAY
It develops 819bhp. It has no turbochargers, no hybrid assistance. Ferrari describes it as the most complete GT it's ever made. And it’s so proud of its mighty V12 engine it’s named the whole car after it. This is the 12 Cilindri
THE FIRST SAMURAIS
Japan has been responsible for many of our favourite driver's cars of recent decades, but their ancestors are often much less well known. We take a look at where the big manufacturers began their performance car journeys
DEFINITELY. NO MAYBE
Three Japanese performance icons - Lexus LFA, Subaru Impreza 22B and Nissan GT-R. Over three days on some of our favourite roads we explore what makes each uniquely thrilling, but also the car culture that unites them
1V3.0
F1, P1... and now W1. The next chapter in McLaren's Ultimate Series is the British firm's challenger to the forthcoming new Ferrari hypercar and a £2million, 1257bhp, hybrid-powered, technical tour de force
Thornley Kelham European RS
One man’s dream to build the perfect Porsche 911 has resulted inthis aaticMously restored and enhanced classic. We delve into the details and take it for a drive
Bentley Continental GT Speed
The new Continental GT is the most powerful Bentley ever, and the beginning of anew plug-in hybrid era for Crewe. But is it still a benchmark grand tourer?
