Jeremy Clarkson: the Toyota GT86 is ‘brilliant’

The Toyota GT86 has made its long-awaited television debut with Top Gear – continuing its run of superb reviews. Jeremy Clarkson described the GT86 as ‘brilliant’ and said it ‘would put a smile on the face of every motoring enthusiast in the world’. He also praised its low centre of gravity and focus on driving dynamics and handling over horsepower, saying: “The engine is a flat-four boxer unit, and that means it can be mounted low down – and that means a low centre of gravity. There’s no turbocharger, so there’s no lag. “Everything about the GT86 is immediate – and brilliant.” He added: “It’s obvious the GT86 was not designed to set new lap records at the Nurburgring, and with a 197 horsepower two-litre engine it won’t win many drag races either. ‘What it will do though, is put a smile on the face of every motoring enthusiast in the world.” And in a break from normal Top Gear service, Clarkson even praised the car’s real-world ownership credentials, saying: “It isn’t even stupid. It comes with easy finance and a five-year warranty. Cruise control and Bluetooth and air conditioning come as standard.” After Clarkson’s review, Top Gear’s famed test driver, The Stig, took the GT86 around the track, setting a lap time of 1:31.3 – fairly low on the supercar-filled league table, but still a respectable two seconds behind the £73,000 BMW M5 and another two behind the Porsche 911 GT3. But as Jeremy noted himself, what matters is not how fast a car is, but how much fun you can have in it. The segment on the TV show was the third time Top Gear have got their hands on the GT86 – it won the magazine’s Speed Week performance car test last summer (from which these images are taken), and was named the Top Gear Car of the Year in December.