Why would Toyota be advertising the AE86 in 2007??

[NoHachi]

Its just Toyota North America looking at their current lineup and discovering that they are missing an halo car. So they just brushed of an old one.

[Mux213]

The hindenburg is a bad bad bad bad bad reason!

Its a real shame it has given hydrogen such a bad rap because the fuel itself is much safer then we think. A big ball of gas doesn't just explode, it needs oxygen to react with. Its the same with everyone thinking that if you shoot up a car and hit the gas tank, it will blow up while in fact, nothing really happens (anyone see that episode in myth busters). The gas first needs to be mixed with oxygen, and the air around us only contains about 20% of that stuff, so basically you need a volume of 5x as much air as the hydrogen just to get all the stuff to go BOOM, and to really make it go BOOM it needs to be mixed well.

It was actually the paint on the hindenburg that caused the disaster, the hydrogen just made it worse from there (they really should do a show about hydrogen, and other gas explosions, on myth busters, they did one with methane gas in a port-a-potty that actually showed how hard it is to ignite concentrated gas).

That said, the safest way to store hydrogen for use as a fuel that I know of right now actually is 100% safe because hydrogen isn't stored in a pure form but already reacted to another substance. Its based on the fuel cell principle, a fuel cell is a system where hydrogen and oxygen aren't burned to produce pressure and mechanically power something, but where they react to directly produce electricity. Fuel sells using pure hydrogen and oxygen have been around for along time (even used since the 50ies in space craft), but I saw a documentary a while back where they used hydrogen already reacted to another chemical making it inert. When this substance is used in the fuel cell the hydrogen and oxygen reacts to create watter and the 3rd chemical is simply released in its natural form ready to be reused later.

[max_ae86]

Another AE86 announcement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgnR09e6PbU

[Apolan]

im actually not sure if i would like an ae86 successor.. on many such occasions the new car is a dissapointment for true fans due to various compromisses and economic reasons.

[gt99]

http://www.7tune.com/?p=63

[Apolan]

other than a wierd shape of the car, sounds like exactly what an ae85 would look if released today.an ae86 succesor would be abit spiced up (keeping 1000kgs, cca 160-200 hp 1.6-2.0 engine, LSD). I hope they actually do decide to put such car into works..

[.:Aggi:.]

gt99 Wrote:http://www.7tune.com/?p=63

I dont like it!

I may have rwd and light weight but it doesnt look like the old one! Everything is so "round" and not boxy like on the original. For me boxy 70-80s cars are the coolest cars. Old Volvos and the E30 BMW for example... ...and of course old toyotas!

[Jezza_hr]

It doesnt look too bad, but I bet it looks rubbish in Panda.

The price is very resonable but I still wont sell my AE86

[ae86_sr20]

Thats cool but im pretty sure they aint gona treat us to a couple of new coupes haha

[NoHachi]

Cheap, reasonable power/emissions/fuel consumptions, RWD, usefull hatch, 1000kg AND its cheap? Sounds like the automotive holy grail to me. Almost too good to be true.

If they do build it, I think it'll be a car to own next to your hachi..Imagine having the option of having one as a company car instead of a VW or Seat!

As for the looks...times have moved on people! To me it looks great, certainly not ugly enough to put me of an eventual purchase (think BMW 1 series...the horror!).