Video: New Toyota GT86 Turbo vs McLaren MP4-12C

MID-engine and Rear-engine are the best means of designing a sports car. Its getting very tiring and has over the years convinced too many that its the way to go if you want a proper sprots car---yes I'm aware that steve once did a test back 1000 years ago that Front engine cars were actually better in many ways- but he never brought that test up once for the rest of his career! ..and that Steve loved the front engine Ginetta; but that meme has just about died as well! And now a new meme, the GT86 one!, will this go away as fast as the other front engine meme's? With the Autocar track record I'm thinking we'll be back to the malstrom of the mid enigne and rear engine goliath of the moment in no time FLATened. j

..he occasionally puts together a very FEW interesting and reavealing (the front engine test in the mid ninty'ies, Ginetta revelations, saying recently thaty the 911 is a more stable progressive thing than the Boxster!, testing rally cars against supercars, revealing that the lotus Evora felt and handling a lot better than the Cayman plus a few others) tests that literally no one is has the balls to do. NOT the fancy pants know it all EVO team and certianly not the fancy PANTS ex-half brother of sutters. HARRIS who unlike Sutters had me banned from Piston Heads for saying exacxtly the kind of things I'm saying now. Good for you Sutters and thanks for at least not censoring dissent towards you and your magazine- like so many of your collegues do- which in truth is the worst form of jounalism.  Jeremy

Well, somebody had fun in some brilliant cars.

Good that Toyota has given the GT86 the power it so deserves.

Even better that the extra power does not dilute the fun factor.

Jetc needs to clarify what he means by sports car and why, as he implies, a front engine is better, by which I think he means a mid-engined car with the driver mostly behind the engine.  Of course just about any clean sheet racing car design will have the engine behind the driver, so I assume by sports car J means a road car.  Is he saying that a higher polar moment of inertia = safer and more fun for most drivers on the roads?  That being said, Evoras and Boxsters seem to do well in handling competitons.  I'm all for sports cars being fun, and fun does not automatically rise in direct proportion to outright ground-covering ability.

Not necessarily disagreeing with J, just that he writes as if we all know where he is coming from, and I don't.