Will there be a new Hachiroku (AE86)?

April 14, 2008 in Auto, Japan
Tags: AE86, FR, Hachi, Hachiroku, Hyundai, Nissan, Silvia, Subaru, Toyota

If you are into Japanese cars then perhaps you have heard of the AE86 also know as a “Hachiroku”, Toyota Corolla GT-s (1985-1987), Or Levin or Trueno.  Basically it is a front engine rear wheel drive car (FR for short).  It is light and wasn’t very expensive, but a blast to drive and modify.  It can be drifted, road raced, autocrossed, gymkana’ed, and even drag raced (but not recommended).  The  Hachiroku was the star of the anime series “Initial D”.  You can buy the DVD’s every where that most DVD’s are sold. 

Anyways, there have been rumors for years that Toyota would make a similar car.  All the popular car rumor magazines have put renderings of this mystery car in many issues.  Luckily there has been a resurgence of FR cars and a lot of companies are going for the same market that Toyota went after back in the day.  Hyundai has shown their coupe, Nissan is rumored to have a new Silvia in the works, and even Suzuki has something in their future.  Toyota is reportedly working with a Subaru platform and a boxer engine to release a FR sports car.  The engine options are suppose to be turbo and none turbo, and the release date is rumored to be 2010. 

Do you think there will be a new Hachi? Will you buy one? Which will you get the turbo or the NA model? I figure we have less than a year before the test mules start popping up all over the Internet.  Don’t let us down Toyota!! (or Nissan for that matter).