Thread · HN Continuity

The most legendary drift car of all time was a Corolla: the AE86 [1], which people still fix up and have meets at tracks with. It was a sport model, which also saw Group A and WRC racing use. The modern spiritual successor is the GR 86, which attempts to retain the same weight balance and rear wheel drive.

The modern GR Corolla has a turbocharged 300hp 3-cyl engine and AWD. It's a $40K+ hot hatch. There is, similarly, a GR Yaris that was released for homologation purposes, as it's Toyota's WRC rally platform.

People say similar things about Civics, because their only experience is with the base models, but higher trim levels add a lot of power (over 300hp on the Type R), and Honda understands weight and handling well. My Civic Sport Touring is a hybrid with 200hp, instantaneous torque from the electric motor, and only about 3200lb curb weight. (And it gets a solid 45mpg no matter what mix of highway or city driving I do.)

Japanese brands don't tend to make whole new model names for sports or luxury vehicles, just using a different trim level on the same car. (See also: Acura and Integra are a US thing, with the original Honda and Toyota model names being used in Japan.) Even the Subaru WRX, a notable rally platform, used to just be the the Subaru Impreza WRX, a higher trim on the Impreza line.

[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_AE86" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_AE86