A Sporty Coupe By Any Other Name: The 2017 Toyota 86

The 2017 Toyota 86.

For five years, you have seen a car that looks like the one above carrying a badge identifying it as a Scion FR-S, or perhaps a Subaru BRZ.   The shuttering of Scion as Toyota's youth brand resulted in a product shuffle, with the FR-S becoming the Toyota 86 (which was its name globally) for 2017.

2017 Toyota 86.

This is, however, not a simple re-badging.  The 2017 Toyota 86 is freshly restyled, with a larger, more aggressive center air intake, standard LED headlamps, new daytime running lights and turn signals, new taillamps and more sculpted front and rear bumpers.

And, if you are among the minority of drivers who can drive, let alone prefer, a manual transmission, there is a performance bonus.  Stick with the stick and there's a differential gear ratio change and revised engine tuning you won't get with the automatic. That results in more torque and an additional five horsepower---205 versus 200 in the automatic model.

Neither of those numbers is earth-shattering, but in a small, light coupe, the power is more than adequate.  And the Toyota 86's strong suit is its handling.  That has been enhanced as well, with revised spring tuning and a shock rate change.

2017 Toyota 86 interior.

Inside, you'll find the "86" logo on the new soft-feel trim on the dashboard.  Toyota calls it "Granlux". The seats have silver stitching.

About the seats.  You will see there is a back seat.  However, without putting the driver and/or front passenger entirely too close to the dashboard air bags, there simply is no legroom back there.  It may have four safety harnesses, but the 86 is, as a practical matter, a two-seater.

EPA fuel economy estimates have slid from last year's 22 city/30 highway to 21 and 28, respectively. And the base price has gone up from $25,305 to $26,255.  With zero options and $865 delivery processing and handling fee, the as-tested price came to $27,120.

Our Publisher and Executive Editor has always written in glowing terms about the Scion FR-S,  calling it the "45 years later equivalent to the original Datsun 240Z."  That's pretty much on the money.  Drivers who appreciate drivers' cars should thank Toyota for keeping this one alive and improving on the original.

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The Humble Giant: Terry Page 1950-2017

Terry Page.

The automotive world lost a visionary, a major player and a truly nice guy last weekend.  Terry Page, the founder of Page One Automotive, a Bay Area-based company that, in addition to providing event services, is one of only a handful that manages and maintains manufacturer vehicle press fleets and handles the logistics of getting them from one automotive journalist to another so you can read about them, passed away of cancer at the far too young age of 66.

Terry revolutionized the way guys like me get the cars you read about.  Time was, each manufacturer maintained their own fleets and hired several someones ( often individual people) to manage it for them.  Terry was handling it for Ford in Northern California more than 30 years ago when he realized there was a better way for everyone involved.  I said Page One was one of a handful...it was also the pioneer. Roughly half of the thousand or so cars reviewed in the eight and a half years of TireKicker's existence thus far have come to us through Page One.

Terry was also a major and early supporter of Western Automotive Journalists, the Northern California professional association of automotive journalists, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.  When I relocated TireKicker World Headquarters to Northern California in the fall of 2013, I joined WAJ and three weeks later, found myself sharing a table with Terry at the annual holiday party.  We've bumped into each other at events since, and chatted a bit.  Many people knew him far better than I did, but every single one of us has the same bottom line:  Unfailingly kind, smart, gracious and open.

If you've never heard of Terry, that's because, to Terry, it was never about him.  The photo you see above is the one on the internet...from Page One's own website, in the smallest resolution (250x250) possible.  And I'll bet that's exactly what Terry wanted.  It was about the work, the product, the people he served and the people he employed, not him.

I have the good fortune of working fairly closely with his people in both the Bay Area and Phoenix, and to say they're devastated by the news of Terry's passing would be putting it mildly.  There are too few like him in any business.  I'm thankful I was able to meet him, and get to know him a little.  I wish I'd known him better.

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