Angelina

As I was rapidly coming up to 5 years of ownership and the end of the manufactures warranty I decided to have a look at what else is out there and to see whether for what I want the grass is any greener elsewhere.
So I looked at the possibility of an Alfa 4C. s/h prices are getting tempting due to what appears like a steep depreciation on low mileage cars that are only a year old , e.g., Alfa 4C - but despite the beautiful looks I decided against, first because I wasn't sure it would suit being a daily driver, second because the servicing costs are high because of needing to lift out the carbon shell each time with special equipment (allegedly), but mainly because I realised I would really struggle to fit my lardy backside in it.
So then I thought Cayman. I had an hour test driving a 718 with all the extras (2016 model, so the 4 pot turbo). Oddly, despite enjoying the extra poke I didn't enjoy the car very much at all. Partly because adjusting the seat with dozens of confusing electronic adjustment options was such a pain (as was just raising and extending the steering wheel), partly because the 20" wheels it had felt awful, harsh and noisy (but mainly no more sideways on wet roundabouts!), but mainly because I'd struggle to justify the cost (and the ongoing servicing rip off prices). Yes, the sports exhaust that was fitted gave a great burble, and the engine behind your head noise was lovely, but it just didn't feel right for me (when I test drove the 86 I knew within 10 seconds I was going to do anything I could to buy it). 
There were a few more cars I had considered like the Mustang, but for the tight parking spaces I often have to use it is just too big (the F-Type didn't grab me either for similar reasons).
So back to the 86. I did have the first drive of the new Blue Edition at RRG when I was ion for my service/MOT and liked it a lot (colour is better than in the pics I think, although it is a solid and not a metallic). There is a new smaller steering wheel that felt nice to use, and the uprated suspension was fantastic compared to my 2013 stock (Rich said it was firmer again than the already stiffer 2017 pro-edition) which meant that even on the unscrubbed primacy tyres it felt really planted around the cat and fiddle bends. So I did have a long hard think about a trade in on it (could have had it straight away, or with a new Sept registration, otherwise it is a 3-4 month order), but much as the handling improvement on my car was very obvious again I struggled to justify the big cost (not helped by the trade in value for a 5 y/o GT is now only £11,000, yes I would get more via private sale but would then need to overlap the purchase/sale to ensure I had a cr to use which would be difficult). 
So the end result of my exploration of the grass the other side of the fence was that I am sticking with the great car that I've got already, albeit with a £549 2 year extended warranty via RRG, which includes 2 MOT's and 2 years of AA cover so something of a bargain I think). I'm also finally going to get new suspension now I know how skittish my old OEM version is over less than perfect roads, I just hope my car will forgive my recent infidelities!

I've just redone the video ..  Keep a spare in your glove box, if it goes & your out you wont get far.

£5 and £4.48 for them to do it? Or £4.48 for everything?
I had to change mine the other day. Just ordered some battery's off Amazon and use the manual key to open the plastic casing and change the battery. 

I came from a Honda. Both it and the Subaru are well put together cars. After four BMWs of questionable reliability, I'm not looking back.

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If you go looking for reliability problems you will find them. Like you would anything else you search for. You will find issues with any car.
 
In a nutshell the car is reliable and is no different to any other. All your major concerns are rare occurrences. Dig deeper and you will have a better understanding. If you don't buy one based on this, shame, will be your loss really as there isn't much to be concerned about.

I really wouldnt be put off by those issues. Providing you buy a car that has been properly maintained, about the only issue you are going to experience really is the coil pack one. I would not count that as a major issue. You will rarely even notice a coil pack going apart from the EML coming on. They cost £87 for a new one and if you've still got warranty that shouldn't be a problem to get it replaced. 
I have done 119K miles in five and a half years. I stick to the service schedule, I am never late with this. I have gone through all four coil packs in that time. I had a slight oil leak on the cam plate fixed under warranty at around 60K miles. I've had a CV joint go and replaced under warranty, though that is probably caused by lowering. 
My under bonnet strip is rusty, but I don't really care about that. Cheap to replace anyway. 
Engine failures are rare and as everyone else has said, relate more to cars with forced induction which is always going to be a lottery on a car that was designed to be NA. Also there are a lot of numpties out there who dont get their cars serviced on time, don't use OEM oil and don't let their car warm up properly before booting it. My experience of having one of the highest mileage cars in the UK that has included four years of sprinting, track days from when it was run in and a tuned engine with remap, manifold and all that, is that they are hardy cars indeed, providing you look after them. I would still think nothing of driving to Italy to mine with the mileage it has, which I have done twice already. Last year I drove right out to the Harz region of Germany at high speed in places on the autobahn. No problem. I use my car every day, it has never let me down. 

I saw a Boxster with heavily scratched windows the other day. I know Toyota benchmarked the Cayman so maybe they thought it was a design feature. Mine mostly stay closed; the car has climate control (I think even the Primo had a basic A/C) so you don't really need them open.
 
I haven't experienced any of the issues in that first post, but my car is a later MY16 and some (e.g. coil packs) had been fixed by then.
The issues with conrods and oil starvation only apply to heavily modified cars as far as I'm aware; the rods don't like big torque from taking FI too far, and oil starvation comes from running slicks on track.
Fuel pump is just some noise, nothing actually wrong AFAIK.
 
In short, if you go on the internet looking for common "problems" with any car, you're going to find them, and the people that have experienced them will be vocal telling you about them. People don't, generally, go online telling the world if they've never had a problem with their car.
Assuming you're buying a used car, it's probably not going to be 100% perfect anyway.

Subaru. Toyota's only bumpers, audio headunit, front lights and fuel injection system. Even by VIN code it's assembled in Subaru's factory. It's possible that even toyota badges are made by subaru :D. Many of those faults can be found in other subarus aswell. Window scratches on frameless windows? Check. Rattling interior & especially rattling foldable rear seat U latches? Check. BUT! I still love my car despite all flaws for all the driving fun it provides, and all the somewhat close alternatives are worse as overall package, especially if one leaves price among evaluated properties. Possibly only MX5 would have been as good of alternative .. if i'd fit in it

To address some of the issues you've mentioned the rust is near the front quarter light not the rear and is a very minor issue remedied on the build of the later cars. Rust under the bonnet strip seems hit and miss, some simple protection seems to avoid the issue or, if the car is affected, the part is very cheap to replace. Oil leaks generally come from the cam plate cover at the rear of the engine. This can be resealed or a better quality plate fitted (also a cheap part). 
The engine issues you've identified are rare and mainly confined to fi cars apart from the coil packs but even that isn't that common (I've never had one go in over 5 years of ownership and my car has been tracked quite regularly). The fuel pump can be a little noisy but again that doesn't cause any issues itself. 
A lot of the engine problems you've mentioned seem more common on the US forums. In over 5 years of active membership of the forums I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times people have had issues with those things (apart from the coil pack which is a little more common but again isn't a majorly expensive fix). 
If you're interested in an 86 I'd genuinely not let any of the issues you've highlighted put you off as in the vast majority of cases they are simple non issues. 

Buy them from Amazon. 

If it is the same battery, I couldn't find them in normal shops either - but Halfords sell them.
(I feel a little dirty recommending Halfords )

I've had a devil of a job finding CR1632 batteries. Had to resort to ebay.
No idea if these take the same battery. Best bet is to pry open the shell and look. It'll probably have a notch in the side you can twist something like a 1p/2p coin in to pop it open. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you're gentle with it.

Video on this forum

Had to replace one of mine when I bought the car.
its an easy 5 minute job and full instructions can be found in the hand book

I had to do mine the other week easy to do there's videos on YouTube of how to do it 

I say new, I’ve had it almost a year now but love it just as much as the day I picked it up! 
Only recently started to change things. Got the smoked valentis and spent the weekend plastidipping the wheels and front lip (so much fun!) . Looking at getting the windows tinted & roof wrapped shortly. Got some alcantara on order to wrap the dash.
And hopefully get the TD NA kit and Resonated exhaust before the end of the year.
Any other mods (fairly cheap) you guys would recommend? 
Cheers!
Dave
 
 

Thanks Angelina, I look forward to every single one of them!

Hi Everyone. 
I've just become the very proud owner of my first GT86. Its a silver Jan 2013 car and I am totally blown away by how awesome this car is! I can't stop driving it.

Hey guy's and gal's

Thought i would introduce myself on here.

I just purchased a 62 plate BRZ from a previous member that is on here.

I'm in the process of getting it insured.

What company do you recommend for modified BRZ? is there a members discount to be had?

Will do a write up soon as to what i would be doing with the car as i would like it to be a club spec track car.

looking forwarded to you replies and advice.

regards

DM

I think i'll try changing to Map 1 for a few days (performance only) and see if it still does the same without the other features full throttle shift etc being active.

Hi. Lovely colour. had mine nearly 2 years, still love her to pieces. No upgrades as yet


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Well, it's very nice to be here, had my GT86 now for almost 1year loving it, before the GT86 it was the Toyota vvti which I added a sports catalyst
and a twin exhaust straight throw & even added a KnN filter, hahaha good days had that for 8 years, now the GT86 nothing more than awesome.

Hi Tamas. Lovely car. Hope you enjoy it. Had mine for nearly 3 years, still love her as much as I did on the teat drive.


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You're right, it is an MOT failure.  I had to have my sensors swapped onto my new wheels; the garage wouldn't let me leave without the TPMS sensors because of it being an MOT fail.  And yes, they charged for it too, about £130 IIRC.  Ironically they sheared one of the wheel studs and were happy to let me drive away with only 4 nuts holding the wheel on*, but something that didn't even exist until a few years ago is apparently too dangerous to leave off the car.  
* I know that 4 wheel nuts is enough, but equally I'd rather have a full complement of wheel nuts on my car than TPMS...

I swapped mine over to my new wheels and have been fine the last year. The valve contains the sensor  and its a big lump so certain wheels depending on design might not be suitable with tpms but i guess that not many have had to deal with this issue aa its still relatively new. Also means the tyre shop might charge you more to take the old sensors off the old wheels to put them on the new ones. I might be wrong but having a tpms fault could be an mot failure