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Lauren

GR Yaris who's going for it?

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10 minutes ago, GT86-Ian said:

I had a call from the dealer I purchsed my GT86 from to say they had a demo car. But as delivery is now june 2021 told him I'd wait to see what the next 86 is like.

He informed me that it was getting the 2,0 engine from the Supra :)

Oh that is interesting. I can't see that being true though. 

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3 hours ago, Lauren said:

Oh that is interesting. I can't see that being true though. 

Yeah, the B48 definitely won't fit where the FA24 does without a lot of work. Also fitting a BMW lump into a Subaru chassis seems a bit of a jump.

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14 hours ago, GT86-Ian said:

Have Toyota sold 250 Supra's in the UK yet ?

According to Howmanyleft, there are 23 of the vanilla version and 227 of the Pro.  They did it!

In all seriousness, that is not many cars at all.  There are more of the new Alpine A110 than there are Supras.  I've said it before - at £50k, you'd have to really want one to look past a new Cayman, or any of the incredible lightly used stuff you can get for that money - it opens up a lot of very interesting options.  At the end of the day the new Supra just isn't special enough to compete.

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I think I must be going mad, but it was reassuring to know I was not the only one when my 6am alarm went off this morning. Time for another Sunday drive. This time I had Richard from RRG Macc' out with me in their black GR Yaris demonstrator, Mark in my old GT86 along with his friend from work in a Golf GTI. As we headed out on the M56 from Manchester Airport, in the pouring rain and held a steady speed in all the standing water that was there, I pondered to myself, that this is absolute madness. As it transpired the GR Yaris took it in its stride, though Mark in the GT86 was having a few wake up calls trying to drive in a straight line. As we neared our rendezvous with Richard, I was seriously reconsidering why I had had such a bright idea to go out in these conditions. It was certainly hardcore. I reassured the convoy that things would improve as we headed down the A49 as it we emerged into daylight. I'd also pointed out that there would be no heroics and reminded all to take it easy.

 

As it turns out things did get better as we neared Whitchurch McDonald's for our breakfast stop, though it was all somewhat relative. Breakfast helped though and it when off in the direction of Market Drayton for the Eccleshall Loop. I had my car in track mode, stability on considering the conditions. My car felt so surefooted which was reassuring and I found I could launch it out of the corners, getting on the power earlier than I felt would have been reasonable. Mark at the back in my old GT86, was having a whole different kind of fun! To be fair, there was no way this was ever going to be more than a brisk drive in places and I still have to consider that I haven't yet driven my car in the dry. This car does give you confidence though. Traction is absolute and though I had the front wheels perhaps edging into clawing their way into the tarmac, it was nearly always surprising in the manner in which the car could be fired through the apex and just tear down the next straight. I would normally of course be looking for some really fast long radius bends, where I could properly load up the chassis, but in today's conditions this was neither the time or the place and caution as they say wins.

 

After losing Mark and his friend when they went the wrong way when we joined the M6 it was just the two GR Yaris for the drive back to Wilmslow. We took the back roads of course though inevitably there was the odd horse box and duffer along the way. Now we were two cars rather than four overtaking was a lot easier. There were a couple of times, when I went to overtake one car, only to think I may as well take the next as well. Getting to 6K rpm now I've got 500 miles on the clock, you can really make the car fly. The jet like sound from the exhaust as the revs climb to six thousand, does a bit addictive I admit.

 

Overall in these difficult times where going out for a drive is about all you can, do much fun was had. So much so that my friend from Toyota is now buying his own GR Yaris and it only took a day with the demonstrator for him to do that! This car does impress. I am now contemplating what it might be like come warm and dry roads. My alarm for the summer on a Sunday is going to be very early indeed! image.gif

 

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I was reading on pistonheads that Litchfield have their tuning options unveiled.

 

Might divide opinion but I think it looks mega on the new ride height running on the coilovers B)

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3 hours ago, gavin_t said:

I was reading on pistonheads that Litchfield have their tuning options unveiled.

 

Might divide opinion but I think it looks mega on the new ride height running on the coilovers B)

Please don't say that, trying to leave mine stock. 🤣

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20 hours ago, gavin_t said:

I was reading on pistonheads that Litchfield have their tuning options unveiled.

 

Might divide opinion but I think it looks mega on the new ride height running on the coilovers B)

I'm with you, closing up the arch gap gives it even more intent!  WRC teams drop their cars something like 10cm for tarmac rallies (vs gravel) so nothing wrong with running lower if you want to do your best impression of Sebastien Ogier.

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Not sure it's a good idea straightaway. I fitted coilovers to my Impreza, made it quite a bit more focused, changed the character quite a bit - a lot more so that fitting coilovers to the gt86. Nitron's won't be cheap either, I'd be suprised if there's much change from 3k.

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2 hours ago, maurice said:

Not sure it's a good idea straightaway. I fitted coilovers to my Impreza, made it quite a bit more focused, changed the character quite a bit - a lot more so that fitting coilovers to the gt86. Nitron's won't be cheap either, I'd be suprised if there's much change from 3k.

Yes I agree which I why I said it will divide opinion. Quite a lot of the rally car for the road character comes from the lean and weight transfer in the suspension :)

 

Looks good though B) :P

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I won't be realistically looking at changing anything too quickly, I've still only had my car for six weeks. I'm still in the novelty phase of being able to go over speed humps without wincing and that does have some appeal as I spend a lot of time driving around residential streets for work. 

I also need to try my car out on track, when COVID allows, as I need to understand how it handles stock. 

In other news, I've teamed up with Richard and a tuning box company, and will be doing some testing, which is fine tuning of the box yet. It's a mild increase to 300bhp/300lbft which will be interesting to try. Not that the car doesn't feel fast enough stock, but a lot of people will want that slight boost in power. 

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I've been out doing testing on the tuning box. It's from DTE and we've been liaising with them, cue 3 hours of testing up and down the A34 yesterday and numerous phone calls discussing the incredibly subtle differences in feel between three maps. I guess that is road testing for you. In the end I settled on one map being a favourite, Richard agreed and it turned out so did three of the other four testers. We have a plan moving forward. 

What's it like. Well that struck both of us is just the crazy way it piles on speed, especially at the top end of the rev range. As expected it's f'ing quick, though the tuning box just adds to the stock madness of the car. It doesn't ruin it and it doesn't make the car feel over powered or dominated by the power which is good, though a stock car feels pretty pokey. I think that this is all you need in terms of power for the GRY. It's a little upgrade and just adds the required amount, a bit like a remap and manifold on the GT. I'm sold on this for sure. :)

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On 1/16/2021 at 8:39 AM, Lauren said:

I won't be realistically looking at changing anything too quickly, I've still only had my car for six weeks. I'm still in the novelty phase of being able to go over speed humps without wincing and that does have some appeal as I spend a lot of time driving around residential streets for work. 

I also need to try my car out on track, when COVID allows, as I need to understand how it handles stock. 

In other news, I've teamed up with Richard and a tuning box company, and will be doing some testing, which is fine tuning of the box yet. It's a mild increase to 300bhp/300lbft which will be interesting to try. Not that the car doesn't feel fast enough stock, but a lot of people will want that slight boost in power. 

That moment where you mention not doing anything to quick, an sticking a tuning box on in the same post.

 

The slope is slippery for you!

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12 minutes ago, maurice said:

I don't think much of those tuning boxes, the equivalent of fitting Rota's to an NSX. They are very crude.

Having spent three hours yesterday playing with it, with direct support from the guy writing the files, it does seem to work very well, which did surprise me. The 'tune' had been on the rolling road of a very well known tuner. It delivered the power very well too. Yesterday was perhaps a lesson in understanding the subtle different between three maps before I finally came to a conclusion that as it transpired matched up with what three of the four other's testing it felt. My car does not have the benefit of Ecutek, it may well do in the future. I was quite surprised at how well resolved it was and how well it worked in practice, losing no drivability and in fact improving it over stock. I do think some progress has been made and it does deliver all I'd want from what I'd get from a remap on a rolling road. 

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3 hours ago, Lauren said:

Having spent three hours yesterday playing with it, with direct support from the guy writing the files, it does seem to work very well, which did surprise me. The 'tune' had been on the rolling road of a very well known tuner. It delivered the power very well too. Yesterday was perhaps a lesson in understanding the subtle different between three maps before I finally came to a conclusion that as it transpired matched up with what three of the four other's testing it felt. My car does not have the benefit of Ecutek, it may well do in the future. I was quite surprised at how well resolved it was and how well it worked in practice, losing no drivability and in fact improving it over stock. I do think some progress has been made and it does deliver all I'd want from what I'd get from a remap on a rolling road. 

All these tend to do is send false info to the ECU for the AFR and MAP outputs so that they ramp up the boost and perhaps improve the AFR. They are very rudimentary and hence only ever available on TC cars. They are seen as good as you can remove them if you have an issue that needs to go back to the dealer for support, but also don't have the same control you get with full ECU access, which may need to be done on a bench if they can't get it over OBD. EcuTek would be good but without the car in the US market it may not be something they end up investing in.

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A Toyota dealer sold my Dad one with his new RAV4, he had to have it removed and refunded as it kept putting the car in limp mode. It'd a bit odd Toyota main dealers are selling these, I suspect Toyota UK wouldn't be impressed.

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Great article in Feb issue of EVO mag!  GR Yaris versus 22b and Quattro Sport. GRY acquits itself well against these rally-bred giants. I had not realised that a 22B commands £150-200k, and a Quattro £500k. Makes the GRY appear great value to get that kind of buzz today.

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