On the rumoured baby FT-86 model that we touched on in an earlier post, reader "dodo" did some digging and pointed us to this - the Gazoo Racing FR Hot Hatch Concept.
Gazoo.com is an automotive lifestyle web portal that was founded by current TMC President Akio Toyoda, initially it was setup with his own funding after having the proposal rejected by the then TMC's management who don't seem to understand the Internet and young people. Today Gazoo.com is one of the Japan's most popular portal.
Ignore the Aygo body as this is just a concept. It is supposed to a successor to the legendary 60-series Toyota Starlet (also commonly known as KP61), the last rear driven hatch back from Toyota.
Read an interesting restoration of the 60-series Starlet here.
Think of it as the hatchback little brother of the AE86. So now that the AE86 is reborn as the FT86, it is not too far fetch to dig into Toyota's automotive history and revived the KP61 Starlet. Locally, there is a popular yellow colour Starlet that is quite active in the amateur drift / tracking scene. Apparently the owner calls it the "Kookaburra."
Back to the FRHH Concept, the target price is said to be 1.5 million yen, which translates to USD 16k. Add on the necessary taxes and it will be just a shade under USD 20k. Which was the initial target price for the FT-86, but was later found to be no longer realistic. Hence the need for a baby FT-86.
Power comes from a 4-cylinder 3SZ-VE which many of us on this side of the world are already familiar with - as it currently powers the Perodua Alza and Toyota Avanza 1.5 as well as its Daihatsu clone in the Indonesian market; the Xenia, and the Chinese rebadged version FAW M80. And one more thing, we hear that the next generation Myvi will have a 1.5-litre engine with a more sporty design that will be distinctively different from its Sirion cousins in the domestic Japanese market. The engine is expected to be the same 3SZ-VE. But don't expect this to share a lot with the production version of FRHH. It is very rare for RWD and FWD models to share the same platform. In fact it's almost downright impossible in terms of production and cost. The rear suspension mounts, engine and transmission mounts, wire harness routing, etc etc would make more sense to have a different separate platform instead. The FT-86 is designed to accommodate a boxer engine, so it's unlikely that the Subaru developed platform could be reengineered for the baby FT-86 as well. Still, if the FRHH Concept becomes a reality, Mat Keretas and Ah Bengs will surely be very keen to start swapping parts and making souped up JDM clones out of their Peroduas. More eye sores ahead.
Also, short wheel base RWD cars have a reputation for lairy handling. The small moment of inertia from its short wheelbase means that the car will swap front-rear facing ends faster than you can say uh-oh. But chief test driver Naruse-san have mentioned that all the cars signed off by him - the LF-A and Supra have a very user friendly handling. You don't need to be a professional driver to handle it. Unlike a Renault Clio V6 - the maddest handling hatchback in recent times. Many will rejoice for prayers answered. Plus, Naruse-san was quoted saying "When we were young, there used to be a lot more compact FR models than now. Now it is different. All the compact cars are front-wheel driven, and there are no reasonably sized FRs any more! That is too sad. What we intended to create is a casual, fun-to-drive car like KP-61 Starlet".
The FT-86 with its illustrious forefathers - the rally winning Celica GT-4, the JGTC conquering and last generation of Japanese GT cars Supra, the iconic drift machine AE86 Trueno / Levin. The good old days of Toyota - when its cars had bullet proof reliability iron-block engines, fun to drive, had very torquey engines.
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