Toyota 86 drives away with three Wheels awards

The Toyota 86, one of the most anticipated vehicles launched in 2012, continues to deliver on its promise of being a fun and affordable rear wheel drive coupe by scooping more awards from industry experts from the around the world. 

The car’s most recent accolade came from the editors of Wheels Magazine one, of the UAE’s leading automotive publications, who named the 86; Sports Coupe of the Year, Car of the Year and Readers Choice of the Year in the annual much coveted Wheels Car of the Year Awards. This recognition comes after the 86 was also named Sports Coupe of the Year in the 2012 Middle East Motoring Awards. 

Commenting on the success of the 86, Simon Frith, Managing Director of Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributors of Toyota in the UAE said: “The 86 is a vehicle that has been designed to bring back the basics of what a sports car should be. The 86 delivers this promise with a fun driving experience in a very affordable and handsome package. The car has been a major hit with consumers and the local automotive media.”  

Frith added: “The latest awards from Wheels magazine is an addition to a long list of international awards that the 86 has won this year. The return of Toyota in the sports car segment has been a powerful and successful one. The success of the 86 promises a great future for Toyota sports cars.” 

Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, a car enthusiast himself, designed the 86 to be one of the best driver’s cars in the industry. With a 4 cylinder 2.0 litre boxer engine coupled with a new highly advanced platform, the 86 has one of the lowest centres of gravity of any vehicle available which has resulted in exceptional handling that makes for a special experience behind the wheel. 

Amit Benjamin editor of Wheels magazine said: “We have been following closely the development process of the 86 since it was first introduced as a concept a couple of years ago. When the 86 was launched in June, Wheels magazine was one of the first to test drive the vehicle in the UAE. Within moments of getting behind the wheel, we realized that we were driving a special vehicle. All the anticipation was worth it, the 86 more than delivered on its promise.”    

Since its launch the 86 has wowed car enthusiasts and media from around the world, including Jeremy Clarkson, the famous presenter of the most successful automotive TV show Top Gear, who said that the 86 was one of the best vehicles that he has driven in ages. The list of international awards that the 86 has collected include Car of the Year from Top Gear UK Magazine, 2012 New Zealand Car of the Year by the New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild & Car of the Year from Australia’s Wheels magazine.  

The Toyota 86 is available in all Al-Futtaim Motors Toyota showrooms. On sale are 4 different variants, one manual and 3 automatic. Prices range between AED 95,000 to AED 125,000.