Car August 2015.pdf

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Serious used car temptation, from iconic sports cars to perfect Aston MartinsNEW vs USEDNew Toyota GT86 vsused BMW E92 M3You can pick up an M3 for less than the price ofa GT86, but we don’t recommend it. So, this isthe £25k dilemma for keen drivers: ageing BMWicon or box-fresh Toyota sports car?Words Ben Barry | Photography Alex TapleySTARTING FROM £23k, the Toyota GT86 serves uprear-drive sports car thrills for hot-hatch money. Butfor that same cash you can bag a 2007-2013 BMWM3, a performance icon with double the number ofcylinders and twice the horsepower.Madness? Well, insurance, fuel, tax, servicing, consumables…all will naturally be far more expensive for the M3, butthen the Munich missile won’t depreciate like a brand-newToyota. Leggy early M3s are yours from £16k, but we’d advisespending GT86 money on a sub-50,000-miler from an independentdealer with a BMW warranty to isolate yourself fromthe pitfalls as far as possible.There’s much to recommend the Toyota, though. It might bebuilt to a price inside, but it also feels like a proper driver-centricsports car. The subterranean driving position seems moreOxbridge boat race than trafc-light grand prix, the small, uprightsteering wheel frames a dominant rev counter calibrated122CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | July <strong>August</strong> 2015 2015
IN ASSOCIATION WITHBMW vs Toyota: the numbersBMW M3 (E92)> Price From £16,000> Engine 3999cc 32v V8, 414bhp@ 8300rpm, 295lb ft @ 3900rpm> Transmission Seven-speed dualclutch,rear-wheel drive> Performance 4.6sec 0-62mph,155mph, 23.7mpg, 285g/km> Suspension MacPherson strutfront, multi-link rear> Weight/made from 1675kg/steel> Length/width/height4615/1804/1424mm> On sale 2007-2013TOYOTA GT86> Price £25,000> Engine 1998cc 16v 4-cyl,200bhp @ 7000rpm, 151lb ft @6400rpm> Transmission Six-speed manual,rear-wheel drive> Performance 7.6sec 0-62mph,140mph, 36.2mpg, 180g/km CO2> Suspension MacPherson strutfront, multi-link rear> Weight/made from 1275kg/steel> Length/width/height4240/1775/1285mm> On sale Nowto 7000rpm, and there’s a stubby gearlever perfectly placed justa few inches from your left hand.Drive it hard down a favourite road and you’ll instantlynotice how tight and responsive the GT86 feels. The steeringis slop-free and feelsome, the nose jinks left and right with verylittle body roll and the throttle fizzes with feelgood response.There’s little in the way of flat-four charisma from theSubaru Boxer under the low-slung snout, but it does take onan engaging growl when you wring its neck, and that’s justthe way to drive this thing. With 200bhp and 151lb ft, it’s impossibleto surprise the rear (Prius-shared) tyres, instead youspend the entire time driving flat-out and trying to provokethem, throwing the GT86 at corners as hard as you dare andkeeping the pedal mashed to the carpet. Finally eke out a slideand – ironically for something pitched as a beginner’s drift car– you’ll be going so hard that the police helicopter will alreadyb efl a g g i n g .Want more? Cambridgeshire-based tuners Fensport claim25bhp for a remap and 2.5-inch exhaust system for £1440, whileturbo conversions span £5160 to £8400 for 260bhp to 440bhp.You’d be greedy to want more from the M3. It makes 414bhpand 295lb ft, and stands as the high point of the bloodline,before M Division took away two cylinders and replaced themwith turbos and, well, spoiled it a bit. The V8 combines someold-school muscle-car character with a rabid techno twist.It sounds spine-tinglingly fabulous as soon as you press thestarter button, but the way it snarls and screams as you try tofind space to hit the 8250rpm rev limiter is just sensational.Traction is actually very good for something so potent,simply because the torque is higher up the rev range, so youstill have to push the M3 hard to find its limits. Do that and youhave to be on your game to a far greater degree than the GT86– there’s enough oomph to become an accidental YouTubesensation, but it’s a very benign car to throw about so long as One a Germanlegend, the other aJapanese upstart.Both £25k, bothepic drives, onepricey to run, onelikely to depreciate.Tricky, eh?<strong>August</strong> July 2015 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 123
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