A few reasons why daily driving my AE86 can be a hassle.

So I’ve been daily driving my 86 for about 7 months now and I’ve come to learn a lot about it. Before I really get into it I want say a few things about my car. This is my 1983 Toyota Trueno GT Apex. I bought it in Japan and am currently still here driving it. It’s got just under 90k kilometers on the engine and transmission. It’s got the original blue top 4A-GE engine with the optional stock LSD. I paid around $8,500 for it (came with a Japanese inspection of two years and a fresh paint job with the color of my choosing). I’ve got custom headers and exhaust, greddy type s coilovers, digital tachometer, climate control, and no power steering, air bags, or abs. It still has the stock four way disk breaks and tvis.

So now here’s the reasons why it’s a hassle to daily.

1. No power steering.
   I have been through a wide array of cars since I moved to Japan. I’ve owned everything from a mini Cooper to a WRX Sti. None of which prepared me for driving a car with no power steering. You have to basically muscle your way in and out of spots when you’re driving slow or parking. Once you’re up to a reasonable speed the steering just goes and you’re doing great. On the plus side of things no power steering helps when you’re doing massive skids in this thing.

2. Ride quality is kinda bouncy.
   So I’ve got fully adjustable Greddy Type S coilovers. And with that comes the pain. Every pebble in the road feels like you’re going in and out of craters. If you’re taller than me (I’m about 5’10”ish) then you will hit your head over every single bump and crevice. Which ends up leading to lots of complaints from friends who are trying to drink or text. I love how the car sits because I like to keep it low but not to where it scrapes too badly everywhere. Which leads to my next point.

3. This car will scrape.
   I have it’s coilovers adjusted to the highest setting and the wheels are 205/50r 14 on some stock Watanabes. This thing will scrape if the hill is barely too steep. Speed bumps are a hassle and everyone will stare because you have to go 2kph over them to keep the car from high centering or scraping the muffler. The only thing that keeps this car from scraping on the road is how stiff my suspension is.

4. Road noise is ridiculous.
   This cars road noise can be outrageous sometimes. You can hear the wind and the LSD whirring and just everything. Granted I don’t have any carpet or any interior panels other than the door cards. But unless you’re used to it and you have music on this thing can be noisy at all times. And don’t even get me started into how big of a hassle it is to talk over the engine.

5. Speaker locations…
   Since I daily my car I have to have music. So my car didn’t come with a stereo… Or speakers.. So I had a little bit of wiring and whatnot to do. So for anyone who has never been inside an AE86 you will have never seen where the speakers are located. For those of us who have we all hate it. The speakers are 2.5” little tweeter style speakers located in the dash next to the glove box and the steering wheel. They are small and produce little sound whatsoever. I had to install door speakers just to be able to hear my music over all the road noise in my car.

6. Stock seats are horrific.
   I absolutely dreaded getting into the stock seats of my car. I love this car so much but the seats drove me up the wall. They were uncomfortable and didn’t hold you down. They were cracking and creaking constantly from the old Springs. And the color was this horrific orange and brown that somehow didn’t match anything in the car (look up the Gt apex trim and you will see the coloring). So the moment I got the chance I tore those seats out and put in the buckets I had in my 96 wrx sti. Right away I noticed a better more comfortable ride and the bouncing around wasn’t near as harsh.

7. Long doors.
   These doors are ridiculously long. When you have to park in a tight spot the car normally does fine because it’s smaller than most things on the road. But the doors are what gets you. They have to be swung extremely far out for anyone to get out and not have to suck in their stomachs. It can be a hassle for those bigger/taller friends.

8. Long shifting.
   When you wanna put my car in a gear it feels like you’re driving a semi truck. You throw your arms forward and back and all over the place. Yes I know a short shifter will fix this. But it’s just the annoying length you have to go and for someone like me who is at the gym almost daily, shifting and having to move you’re arm that much after a long workout is a pain.

9. Cost.
   This car is expensive. I bought this car with zero knowledge about it. Never had heard of initial d or the drift king. I had never even heard the term AE86. So I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Parts for this car can be a hassle to find and when you do sometimes it’s gonna cost you an arm and a leg. Before you know it you’ll be ten grand into the car and all you’ll have done is buy skirts