Leon wrote:comparing new to old is always going to be apples and oranges
different buyer market.
A new car buyer is looking at new cars and a total package, we don’t care if you can buy a 10k Japanese’s import that is faster, we owned that old hat Japer 10 years ago when they were relevant and remember how bad they were back in the day.
I think you really have to drive a decent new car to get a fair idea of what they are like, and im not talking mums 2010 Suzuki Swift or Dads VE Commonwhore as a lot of people base new car experiences on, if you want an idea of how cars have evolved in 20 years compare 1980 Toyota Corona to a 2000 Toyota Altezza, you can crunch numbers all you want but there is more to a car than 0-100 times and horse power, there’s chassis stiffness, drivability, design, build quality, material quality, safety, comfort, noise levels, fuel economy and above all chassis engineering.
I actually think this is where the FT-86 will fail to deliver the experience of the AE-86, modern cars have improved 100 fold in 20 years but one key part of why the AE86 is so enjoyable to drive is its card board box flexi chassis and body, it makes driving slow exciting, in a modern equivalent that is a safety cocoon with low noise levels and big window pillars you are going to have to drive a lot faster to get a simple thrill.
As a comparison I own a 1985 Toyota Corolla NZGT and a brand new Hot Hatch Equivalent, whilst the Corolla is shit slow and handles very averagely (read bad) it is exciting even at low speeds, at say 90-100 on a back road it is fun, I would have to go 140kph in my new car to get the same sense of excitement.
Don't go selling your AE86's just yet, biggest regret I ever had was not buying one when they were realistically priced and not riced wank drift specked like most are now.
