With the new Toyota GR86 nearly hitting the market, it is time to look back at one of Toyota’s most sought after ‘what could have been’ projects – the beautiful Toyota FT-86 Open Concept.
After the Toyota MR2 W3 got dropped in 2007 and the Lexus SC in 2010, Toyota did not offer an open air driving experience for their customers anymore. This was supposed to change when in 2013 the Toyota FT-86 Open Concept was revealed, the highly discussed convertible version of the successful GT86 sports coupe. Media back then thought that this car was set to make it into series production, but history told us otherwise.
The FT-86 concept car itself is fully driveable and houses the same 2.0 litre boxer engine as its closed sibling, producing 200 PS and is equipped with the six-speed manual transmission – but in full concept car fashion the gear surroundings are from an automatic transmission vehicle. Which is odd, because when entering reverse, you can hardly get into gear because the plastic cover is in the way.
Even more odd is the roof mechanism of the convertible concept car – there is none. Because the car is basically a chopped up GT86 coupe, a removable soft-top without a mechanism was placed on the car for its public launch. Since the roof is now missing, the FT-86 allows only drives for fresh air enthusiasts – on closed roads of course.
Currently the FT-86 Open Concept found its new home in the Toyota Collection in Cologne, a collection of more that 70 classic Toyota cars. Coming back to the availability of open air Toyota’s, the new Lexus LC500 Convertible is the only open top version that is currently on offer. This makes a more affordable GR86 Convertible even more present it the what-could-be-category for future Toyota cars. What do you think, should Toyota gift us with a GR86 convertible?
Georg Blink 