2017 Toyota 86: First Impressions
CARS.COM — Stepping into the 2017 Toyota 86 brings back fond memories of when we picked the then-named Scion FR-S Cars.com’s Best of 2013. Now a proper Toyota instead of offshoot Scion, the lightweight, rear-wheel-drive coupe has mildly tweaked styling, suspension and under-hood changes along with the new name. The name is one thing Toyota won’t let you forget, with “86” badging seemingly in every crevice, even in the headlight cover.
Looking down the road roughly 10 years, I have a feeling the pre-2017 Scion model will be the more desirable of the two purely because of the weird look Toyota slapped on the 86’s nose for 2017. Gone is the Scion’s balanced, hexagonal front grille; it’s replaced with what looks like a quivering lip and caterpillar mustache. Adding a front license plate to this car will create one ugly mug.
I like what’s happening on the inside with the new “Grandlux” highlights, a suede-like material on the formerly plastic instrument panel and door panels that feels softer and higher-quality than before. A biggie is the new steering wheel with integrated audio controls. Big deal, right? For most cars it’s not, but the FR-S never offered steering-wheel audio controls in its run. The interior bits are additions the 2013 to 2016 cars should have had from the factory.
