You know that a car is well loved among car enthusiasts when people are coming up with modern takes on the said car. Case in point: Rain Prisk latest set of renderings that look to bring a contemporary vibe to the Toyota AE86.
Come 1983, you could get - in Japan, that is - a rear-wheel-drive Mk V Toyota Corolla fitted with a 1.6-liter engine with either fixed headlights or retractable ones. That Corolla was the AE86 or Hachi-Roku. The AE86 Levin was the version with normal headlights, while the Trueno offered pop-ups.
You could also have your AE86 with either a hatchback or a coupe derrière. But regardless of what shape or headlights you fancied, you knew that getting your hands on a Toyota AE86 would mean fun delivered via low weight, RWD, and a delightful twin-overhead cam inline-four and 128 horsepower. It wasn't much, but enough to enjoy a proper mountain road. Drifting, as Top Gear points out, takes skill, but hey, nothing that's worth having comes easy, right?
Toyota AE86 specifications
Engine |
1.6-liter four-cylinder |
---|---|
Horsepower |
128 HP @ 6,600 rpm |
Torque |
109 LB-FT @ 5,200 rpm |
0 to 60 mph |
8.9 seconds |
Top Speed |
121 mph |
We don't know when or if will Toyota revive the AE86 nameplate. I mean, if the Japanese carmaker ever thought of such a move, it should have been in today's context, where brands are bringing back old nameplates like their future depended on them.
So, for now, we're left with Rain Prisk's take on a modern-day AE86, based on the Toyota GT86. The designer says he kept the previous 86's dimensions but stretched the width a bit and added a cool set of wheels as well as the vintage black/white livery. Plus, we could definitely see a 2.0-liter four-pot in there - mated to a six-speed manual, sounding like a hornets' nest someone hit hard with a stick.