Fast, simple fun: the megatest! We reckon the Toyota GR86 and GR Yaris, Mazda MX-5, BMW 128ti and Caterham Seven 170R are proof that simple pleasures still exist. But which would you pick? 🤔
► Great value, fun cars under the microscopeanniversary celebrations, split over three editions. Want to read more from those editions, as well as get access to more amazing content from CAR?With a noise like a dull circular-saw blade rasping its way through slim-gauge aluminium, the GR Yaris’s controlled explosion of an engine goes about ripping its way through another gear, lobbing out a faintly comical slug of drive as it does so.
Toyota is different. All those hybrids make for an enviable fleet CO2 figure, and who needs economies of scale when you’re loaded? Together with sub-brand Lexus, Toyota sold more than 9.6 million vehicles in 2021. Yes, 9.6 million. Up 10.6 per cent on the previous year, that performance consolidated its position as the world’s best-selling car maker.
He’s right: the 170R is the best Caterham I’ve driven. The 160 on which it’s based was a thing of joy held back by crude rear suspension, a vague gearshift and a scrappy open differential. The 170R takes the essential rightness of a tiny, ultra-light car with unassisted steering and a grunty turbocharged 660cc triple, and fixes the flaws.
Too much to ask that the GR86 combine the 170R’s intimacy with a shred of practicality? Apparently not. Usable the GR86 undoubtedly is. There’s infotainment, very comfortable and heated seats and a modest boot. And shortly after the first roundabout, navigated with the rear axle floating subtly wide of the path described by the front, it becomes clear there really is a little Caterham magic in the Toyota.
The problem, in essence, is a lack of joy. There are some actual issues, like the steering, which is debilitatingly vague, perhaps to hide the power corruption , the unyielding ride quality, which delivers masses of body control but does so without a shred of finesse, and the lack of a manual option in a car aimed squarely at enthusiasts.
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