TOPGEAR’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED & VERIFIED

Toyota GR86

HELLO

£29,995/£30,960 as tested/£295 pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

Drifting’s great, but is Toyota’s RWD hero also a great daily?

DRIVER

Ollie Kew

PEOPLE ARE TAKING DESPERATE MEASURES TO ACQUIRE TOPGEAR’S Sports Car of the Year. Scrambling to import one from Japan. Pricey, and such hassle. You could save yourself the bother – and pay well over the odds. Of the seven Toyota GR86s for sale in the UK at the time of writing, prices stretch from £37,500 to a wince inducing £48,900.

We’d given up hope of being able to run one for a few months. Then I heard of a chap who could be tempted out of ‘his’, into a new Supra. His name? Ricky Collard, British Touring Car Championship driver for Team Speedworks in the GR Corolla. Would you buy a car from a racing driver? It’s 5,000 miles old, but doesn’t appear to have swapped any paint with any of Ricky’s sworn enemies. In fact, it seems it’s led a charmed life. “I love this,” he says, gesturing to the patch of suede on the door card. “That’s lovely when you’re just cruising with the window down... Proper physical climate controls too, love that. The fuel economy’s ridiculous. You’ve got a track toy that you can daily without doing 15mpg.”

I’m incredulous that Ricky pays for his own petrol. No wonder he’s delighted the trip computer proudly reports 35.0mpg. “Honestly, that was me,” he beams. “On the motorway, at 70, it’s doing 35–40 per gallon.”

Useful early feedback, but not the introduction I’d expected from a professional speed junkie. Sensing my confusion, Ricky talks up the other side of the 86’s appeal. “Naturally aspirated, manual, rear drive – it really feels like one of the last cars of this nature.” Too true.

Ricky’s into his stride. “I like that when the traction control is off, it’s off. You go and drive the new M3 or M5 and they’re big and lumpy. Loads of power, and you can show off with your 0–60 chat, but you physically can’t extract that. If you have a moment in an M3, you’re eating hospital food. When this starts to let go, it warns you. It doesn’t snap – it slides.”

Then he goes and ruins it by making me feel disgustingly old. “I’m 26 and it’s pitched at people like me. I went to Costco, put a trolley jack and a few crates of bottled water in it. They told me the boot’s sized to fit four tyres. That’s absolute jokes.”

Things to watch out for? Ricky agrees the clutch is sharp and easy to stall, and I may need to take out some restraining orders against would be owners. I’m warned: “I’ve had three or four people come up to me while I was in the Tesco car park and say stuff like ‘Argh mate I’ve been trying everywhere to get one of these – what would you sell this for?’” Enjoy your Supra, Ricky. Nobody tell him, but I reckon I’ve got the better deal here. A nearly new GR86, wearing £965 of pearlescent white paint. Genuine mileage. Heated seats. One careful owner.

Skoda Enyaq vRS

REPORT 4

£54,370 OTR/£54,990 as tested/£774 pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

Is the vRS badge still relevant in the electric age?

DRIVER

Ollie Marriage

YOU’VE HEARD THE ONE ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEXT TO A church and wake up in the night when the church bells don’t ring? Well, I noticed the Enyaq when the suspension suddenly smoothed out. A rare patch, a few hundred metres of perfectly laid blacktop and the Enyaq glided across it. No tyre noise, no suspension grumble, no apparent effort. It was calmness personified. Like being airborne.

Back to normal 300 metres later. ‘Turbulent’ describes the Enyaq vRS’s ride rather well. It’s constantly busy, constantly bucking slightly, overreacting to everything, fidgeting. It’s 2.3 tonnes, you’d think it ought to be able to squish stuff, but no, it’s princess and the pea all the time.