We Drive The 270bhp HKS Supercharged GT86: Is The Power Worth The Premium?

The Toyota GT86's somewhat limited power output has prompted endless debate. Our man Darren Cassey is adamant that its 197bhp is more than enough in a world infested with speed cameras, traffic, and cars that are just too damn fast for the real world. I can almost agree, but whenever I drive a standard GT86 I get this nagging feeling that with such a good chassis, we should at least get the option of a quicker version. With a top Toyota R&D boss labelling that prospect as unlikely, we have to rely on tuning companies to squeeze more power out of the rear-wheel drive sports car.

Enter the HKS supercharged GT86.

Tuned by the European arm of the Japanese tuning firm, we got behind the wheel of this demonstrator car to see whether a little more power amplifies the fun, or if it spoils the GT86's entertaining recipe. HKS certainly hasn't gone mad with the output. At 270bhp and 215lb/ft of torque, it's a reasonably modest jump. HKS's plan with this car is to make the GT86 it thinks Toyota should have made. The extra poke comes courtesy of a small centrifugal supercharger, a 'mushroom' air filter, and freer-flowing exhaust. And it makes one hell of a difference to the driving experience.

As soon as you hit the start button, the aftermarket exhaust blares into life. With the car warmed up and pointed at the nearest windy B-road, I was able to open the taps. As with the standard car, most of the action is above 4000rpm, and once you get there, the supercharger really comes on song. It's not pin-you-to-the-back-of-your-seat fast, more of a relentless surge as you get closer to the red line. It's not until you glance down at the speedo that you notice you're going much faster than you should.

This being a tuned car, there are no official performance figures, but we'd estimate the 0-62mph time to be hovering around the 5.5 second mark. At the top end, it should easily smash past 150mph. And while you still need to give the car a decent amount of revs to get the best out of it, there's a useful amount of extra power and torque lower down, so you don't find yourself dropping cogs quite so often to perform an overtake or blast up a motorway slip road.

The big surprise though, was the suspension. Upon learning that this car has aftermarket suspension with a 20mm drop, I was expecting it to be even firmer and crashier than the already stiff standard set-up. I was wrong. Very wrong.

Despite this car cornering flatter and with more composure than the standard GT86, the HKS Hipermax coilovers fitted actually offer a more comfortable ride. I took our GT86 longtermer for a sighting run on the test route, and the difference in comfort is profound. The Hipermax suspension is 'shock-body adjustable', meaning you can adjust the height without affecting the spring rate or piston stroke.

Overall, that fantastic GT86 driving experience hasn't been lost, it's been amplified. The car still inspires confidence when you drive it, and is a fantastic weapon to attack your favourite country road. The new suspension combined with the slightly wider 225 section tyres - wrapped around a set of 18-inch Rays wheels - means the back end is a little less lively than the standard car with its 215 width Prius tyres, but the extra power makes oversteer antics almost as easy.

It all sounds a bit too good to be true. This car seems very much like the hotter GT86 we desperately want from Toyota; enough power to be decently fast without being un-useable, while retaining that fantastic drivability.

Sure enough though, there are issues.

The first, fortunately, is no biggie - the exhaust fitted to the test car will be a little too loud for many, but with four exhaust systems and seven possible configurations for the GT86 available from HKS, you're sure to find a volume to suit you. Secondly, a kit like this will void your warranty, a mostly unavoidable reality of aftermarket tuning. The third issue is the price. Add up all the bits added to the car we tested, and you get a figure over £10,000.

Tack that on to the £25,000 needed to purchase a brand new GT86, and you're getting dangerously close to the price of a base-spec Porsche Cayman. That being said, you don't need to tick all the same boxes as this demonstrator. The fantastic supercharger kit on its own starts at £5000, and is a much better way to spend money than dropping an extra £6500 over the standard car to get the TRD GT86 - which has little more than a dubiously-styled bodykit and bigger wheels. HKS also tell us that the prices are currently under review, and are likely to drop.

Driving back home in our standard GT86, my mind was made up. This car is leaps and bounds better with just a little more power, and as Toyota isn't giving us that, a supercharger from HKS represents an excellent solution.

Parts prices GT Supercharger kit with F-CON engine management: £5940 Hi-Power Spec L Muffler: £1152 Super Manifold with catalyser R-Spec: £2100 Hipermax MAX IV GT suspension: £1710 Engine oil cooler: £896 Rays 57 18-inch wheels: £1,116