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I was exactly the same. I drove a manual Dark Grey 86 back in 2012 when the dealers first got their demo’s and I thought it was alright but didn't blow me away. Sure it was very light and nimble but I wouldn’t have traded in my Celica GT4 at the time for it. Then 5 years later I drove my wife to Toyota in my Monaro VXR to take delivery of her new Aygo she ordered. Whilst there I sat in their showroom 86 (just for something to do) and before I knew it I was talked into having a go in an Orange Auto PreFacelift car - No strings attached. I drove it very hard (as I scoffed at the little 200bhp 2.0 next to my 500bhp 6.0 LS2) but was blown away with how much faster overall I could drive it compared to the Monaro. The flappy paddle auto just blew my mind. I was able to keep the engine right on the boil through the gears without backing off. I could see that the 86 was clearly a better track car than the Monaro and just needed slightly stickier tyres to turn it into maniac. I loved it so much, I bought that Orange 86 there and then. You can exploit 100% of the 86’s power 100% of the time if you wish. If I tried to do the same in the Monaro I would die very quickly. The 86 is a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing if you ask me. Its greater than the sum of its parts and the figures would have you believe. I find at all the track days I go to the stock 86’s are matching the stock E46 M3’s and 231PS RX8’s and in some cases showing them up. The figures on paper dont suggest this is possible. But its just such a great chassis and weighs so little. Also if fuel economy is important for you on long journeys then this is a great car for you. On long motorway journeys cruising at legal speed I reset the trip and am always averaging over 50mpg.

In hindsight, probably better if you couldn't free it by lighting up the rears which is harder in an auto, then worth getting something beefy to tow you for a bit to free it off if it happens again. A really wet day after you parked up would stick the pads to the disc. Thing is with a manual, you can be a lot more brutal, which is sometimes what you need. DS2500's are not hard on discs, so don't see why you'd need them skimmed. Just a bit of heavy braking will clean them up. I admit, I just change pads and discs together as they seem to last about the same. My DS2500's still have plenty on them after 40K miles. Discs are okay too. Reckon they'll need changing at around 50K miles.

Fingers crossed! Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Cloth arrived for trimming the extra centre cushion for the new seat I'm waiting on.

Simon Toyota 5 plus Club.com should provide the link.

My two chosen styles / colour