Wheels of the West Rand: Divan and his 2012 Toyota 86

Divan Maartens is the third resident in the Krugersdorp News’ Wheels of the West Rand series and introduced his 2012 Toyota 86.

Divan said he had had this car since 2020 and loves driving it daily. He added laughingly the car has typical Toyota reliability and that it has never broken down … except for the time he needed a new clutch when he was in matric due to his ‘interesting’ driving techniques. He is also part of the ’86 of GP group’, where they do charity runs and form part of the Toyota 86 community.

He emphasised his car is unique, because he replaced the stock exhaust with an aftermarket one that sounds like ‘a land mine exploding’.

“I also added a subwoofer and amp – which led to blown speakers. I matured and decided to get rid of it. The car also has a TRD body kit, where it has different bumpers and side skirts, to give the car a more aggressive look,” Divan said.

Divan added his favourite part of the car is its rear-wheel drive, however, his least favourite is that it is a four-seater only.

“They could have made it a two-seater in my opinion. It would have been way more practical. The back seats are useless and I’d rather have more boot space,” Divan continued.

As the News took the car for a spin, it is obvious it was not designed with speed in mind, given the 2.0lt goes from 0 to 96km/h in a sluggish 7.6 seconds.

“What the car lacks in speed, it made up for by the sheer fun of driving it. With an extremely low profile and a slippery rear end, the car will never break records but can be described as a driving pleasure. It feels like driving an oversized go-kart. The steering is very precise and you can feel the road, and it does not have the worst comfort, considering the ground clearance of the car is 130mm,” journalist Heinrich Greyling said.

If any petrolhead wants to show off their classic, unique, exotic or rare cars, send an email to heinrich@caxton.co.za.