In-depth reviews

Toyota GT 86 coupe - Reliability & safety

Toyota is well known for making very reliable cars

Carbuyer Rating

3.6 out of 5

Owners Rating

4.9 out of 5

Read owner reviews
Reliability & safety Rating

4.5 out of 5

Toyota GT 86 reliability

Toyota rightfully has a formidable reputation for reliability and it came 10th out of 30 manufacturers for reliability in the Driver Power 2019 customer satisfaction survey’s manufacturer rankings. Toyota’s more humdrum models, such as the Toyota Yaris supermini, Toyota Auris hatchback and Toyota Avensis saloon, are all renowned for their ability to rack up big mileage without needing anything more than routine servicing and the Toyota GT 86 should follow suit.

For this reason, we’d expect the GT 86 to be a car you can trust. The interior plastics do feel a bit on the cheap side, but on the whole the GT 86 is well made and should stand the test of time just as well as any other car produced by the Japanese brand.

The one instance where you need to be careful is if you use your GT 86 for track days or other off-road performance driving activities. This sort of driving is very hard on the car and will mean it needs more frequent servicing to ensure it stays in good running order.

The GT 86 doesn’t sell in sufficient numbers to feature in our survey’s top 100 cars but its 2.0-litre engine doesn't have a turbocharger, so there aren’t many complex parts to go wrong. The car's light weight should also reduce wear-and-tear on consumable parts like brakes and tyres.

Safety

The GT 86 hasn’t been put through the Euro NCAP crash safety tests yet, but there shouldn’t be any cause for concern, as Toyotas generally do well in this area. Every GT 86 is fitted with seven airbags as standard, plus there's the added reassurance of electronic stability control, an excellent traction-control system and the car’s impressive brakes. Child safety is taken care of by ISOFIX child-seat mounting points on the rear seats.

Richard is a former editor of Carbuyer, as well as sister site DrivingElectric.com, and he's now Deputy Editor at Auto Express. Having spent a decade working in the automotive industry, he understands exactly what makes new car buyers tick.

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