Mention of ‘Trueno’ to car enthusiasts will immediately bring to mind the car made famous by the ‘InitialD’ series which appeared in 1995. The series was about the exploits of street racers in Japan and among the cars they used was the Toyota Trueno. The sportscar was sold during the 1980s and at that time, it was just one of the many sportscars young Japanese liked.
But the ’InitialD’ series propelled the Trueno (which had the model code of ‘AE86’) to fame and whatever production units are still in existence are well cared for and often used in drift events. When new, the Trueno (also known as Levin) was sold at RM44,000 as an official import in the Malaysian market. Today, examples in top condition can fetch even higher prices than that!
Spiritual successor of AE86
As one of Toyota’s legendary sportscars, the Trueno has been inspiration for the modern GR86 coupe. A spiritual successor of the AE86, the GR86 has many of the elements that made the AE86 so memorable with its lightweight RWD platform and priority on handling and balanced power delivery.
Now TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has announced a special TRUENO Edition which celebrates 40 Years since the AE86 launch. It is part of a range of special editions that includes the GR Supra and GR Corolla.
InitialD looks
The special edition has a black-wrapped bonnet, black TRUENO Edition side panel graphics, and black painted duckbill spoiler, all bringing back the 2-tone look of the original InitialD car. Other features include, black door handles and mirror caps, and black metallic finished 18-inch, 10-spoke aluminium alloy wheels.
Inside the driver-focussed cockpit, there are also exclusive features such as a red-stitched shift boot and leather-wrapped steering wheel, with a TRUENO Edition logoed shift knob.
Owners of the TRUENO Edition will also get a Performance Package with SACHS Dampers and Brembo Brakes comes as standard equipment. The 2.4-litre engine will be available in with either manual and automatic transmissions.
A new addition for manual transmission equipped models is an Active Safety Suite. The system uses a stereo camera to monitor the road ahead and includes features like Pre-Collision Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Sway Warning, Lead Vehicle Start Alert and High Beam Assist.
