Sunday Drive: Toyota 86 gets a special edition for 2020 – Daily Herald

True sports cars, in the sense that we all have come to know them nowadays, are few and far between. There are many out there trying to claim sports car status even some with four doors want to be sports cars. To us, a true sports car has only two doors, rear wheel drive, bucket seats and yes, maybe even a manual transmission!

So it was that we welcomed a week with the new Hakone Edition of the Toyota 86 sports car (formerly a Scion FR-S) that came with all of the above features, and we were more than eager to show its stuff out on the road, especially if there were a lot of curvy mountain grades involved.

The sports car is available in both a manual and automatic transmission, as are most of todays sports cars, but after a week in the manual we would definitely have to recommend it. Its much more fun to drive, especially around the Utah mountains, and as a big bonus, its about $1700 less expensive.

We had to ask the questions as to why the Hakone Edition? It is a tribute to a famous stretch of road in Japan about two hours southwest of Tokyo named the Hakone Turnpike. The famous road is on many a car enthusiasts bucket list, so Toyota chose to pay tribute to it this year with a sports car with the same name.

The 86s interior sported some unique additions including tan and black Alcantara seats, a tan Toyota 86 logo embroidered on the passenger side dashboard, with this tan stitching being carried forth throughout the cabin. The Hakone also comes with a beautiful green paint, matched with 17 spoked bronze wheels and an all-black spoiler on the tail.

Its not often that we need to refill the gas tank in one of our test drive vehicles, especially by Saturday morning, considering we didnt receive the FR-S until late in the day on Wednesday, it was a quick two day tank of gas. This goes right to the fun to drive portion of the 86s DNA. We each had and entire day with the car and had each used our fair share of fuel motoring around during our turn as it was.

Considering we averaged right at 32 mpg for the week, we had racked up almost 300 miles on the odometer by Saturday morning, and had to add to our dwindling fuel supply; after all, letting the little sportster just sit in the drive was not going to be an option.

As we are both progressing somewhat in age, we found that once in the coupe it was much easier to spend as much time as possible getting to our destination, as it proved to be somewhat harder to extract ourselves from 86. It was easier to just stay in the car and enjoy the ride, so maybe it wouldnt be the best mid-life crisis car, though it was still oh so much fun to drive!

Throughout the entire week we spent with the Toyota it seemed we could always find a little somewhere else to go or a longer way to get there yes driving in the 86 was really that enjoyable. It is basically a sports car that is affordable to a much larger segment of the market.

The 86 comes complete with everything we would want from a sports coupe including a fine 4-cylinder, 2-liter, 205-horsepower Subaru Boxer engine. About the only complaint that we had during the entire week was that the low end torque was not that great. What this translated to mostly was off the line it was not a dragster, but through the turns at higher speeds it couldnt be beat Eliminating the traction control did enable Craig to get some spin from the tires in first and second gear.

There was a back seat included in the Scion, but with any normal two adults occupying the front seats you would be hard pressed to get anyone into the rear seats, especially if they were over the age of 5. It did prove, however, to be a good place to throw stuff if needed as we got into the small sportster.

The exterior styling of the 86 is really what we felt set it apart from any of the competition, with the Toyota website listing a few, such as the Mazda Miata, Honda Civic coupe and Genesis coupe. The designers at Toyota have done an excellent job giving it the looks of a real contender. It made us really stand out in the crowd, and it also makes it more visible to the local authorities.

The climate controls are very simple and easy to use there are heat and air conditioning and it is limited to the front seats, not that anyone in the back is going to complain. New this year is a dual zone system that kept us happier, together, in early March!

There is also a 7-inch touch screen display that controls the radio and Bluetooth functions in the 86. Ours did not include SirrusXM radio but did have HD radio capabilities. The Bluetooth worked seamlessly, hooking up our phones and also streaming audio from them. We didnt even miss the satellite radio.

The Toyota 86 is one of the best and most affordable coupes we have had the opportunity to drive. We do need to point out that it is a rear wheel drive vehicle, so getting around in the snow would be an experience here in Utah. Most likely, you would have to put it in the garage on those nasty days.

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Sunday Drive: Toyota 86 gets a special edition for 2020 - Daily Herald