Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. This week we have the gorgeous Toyota 86 Hakone Edition, the less gorgeous 2020 Camaro, the Hennessey Ranger VelociRaptor, and more!
Toyota 86 Hakone Edition
Toyota is introducing a gorgeous new special edition 86 that’s a love letter of sorts to great driving roads and the people who frequent them. Named after a famous turnpike near Tokyo, the 86 Hakone Edition is available in the US starting this Fall. It takes a page from the recent British Green Limited Edition 86 that set the internet on fire and offers an equally fantastic color scheme.
The list of what goes into an 86 Hakone Edition isn’t very long, but everything it does offer is exceptional. It’s coated in Hakone green paint and is complemented by a bronze coating on the 17″ twisted spoke wheels and a black spoiler. This Hakone green color looks almost identical to the British Green on the other car. It’s so rich in color and has to be one of the prettiest paint jobs on sale today.
The interior is dominated by tan and black. The Alcantara seats, trim, and control surfaces all receive this classic tan and black theme through stitching and inserts. It’s the only logical choice of interior colors on a dark green car, really.
Because it’s the Toyota 86 we’re talking about here, there’s nothing done to the powertrain and both the manual and automatic are available.
There’s no word on pricing or whether it’s a limited run but we’ll know more by Fall.
[Source: Toyota]
2020 Chevrolet Camaro – More Options, Slightly Less Ugly
“Customers spoke, and we listened,” said Steve Majoros, an important GM director guy, as he threw the last of the 2019 Camaro marketing materials into the incinerator. Without explicitly admitting that the ’19 Camaro SS was the single ugliest car revealed last year as agreed on by everyone, Chevrolet has made a valiant effort to fix it with an updated 2020 Camaro. There are also some new features and a new trim level to go with the news, but the new nose has been the one thing fans have been waiting for the most.
This new look was first previewed on the “Camaro Shock” SEMA show car and rights some of the most egregious wrongs on the SS’s redesign. The main changes were to move the bowtie off the center cross bar and back into the grille and make it all body color. Those two things have been addressed in the production-spec 2020 Camaro SS. That’s all it took to make something horrifically awkward and unattractive (I can relate) considerably less so. In fact, they’re so confident that the car only takes up about 10% of the pixels in the original, uncropped press photo. The other 2020 Camaro models look to have been unchanged.
Camaro LT1
If you believe that’s enough to get you to like the new Camaro, here are some other changes you can look forward to. For starters, the same ten-speed automatic that was offered in V8 Camaros has been recalibrated and is now available on V6-equipped models. That trend of sending features down stream continues with things like a suede steering wheel, red seat belts, and Recaro seats being offered on lesser trims.
The one new thing that’s really going to get some attention is the new LT1 trim level (not to be confused with the existing 1LT trim), a bargain V8 Camaro. Priced at $35,000, the LT1 features the LT1 V8 with 455 horsepower (yes it has the same name as its engine) and fewer features as standard. It’s meant for the buyers who want good V8 performance for less and don’t mind making a few sacrifices. For instance, the LT1 is equipped with all season tires compared to the summer performance tires on the SS. If anything, it’s the package to buy if you planned on modifying it anyway.
The new 2020 Camaros go on sale this fall.
[Source: Chevrolet]
Hennessey Ranger VelociRaptor
While Ford is yet to officially confirm that the Ranger Raptor is coming to America, Hennessey has preemptively released their tuned version of it. They’ve been making VelociRaptor versions of the F-150 Raptor since it launched, so they seized the opportunity to beat Ford to the punch with the Ranger VelociRaptor.
Because the truck is still so new in America, Hennessey were limited to an exhaust and ECU tune on the Ranger’s EcoBoost four-cylinder. That’s still enough to deliver 360 horsepower and 440 lb.-ft. of torque compared to 270 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. stock. 0-60 mph takes 4.9 seconds and the quarter mile can be done in 13.9 seconds at 101 mph, two full seconds faster than the stock F-150 Raptor.
This initial Ranger VelociRaptor package also adds a four-inch lift kit and eighteen-inch wheels wrapped in BF Goodrich Mud Terrain TA KM2s. It also has off-roader body cladding at each end and fender flares. As Hennessey gets more time to tinker with the Ranger there will most certainly be crazier and more powerful models coming soon. I expect a Ranger VelociRaptor with twice as much power over stock by Christmas.
The Ranger VelociRaptor package goes for $19,950 plus the cost of the standard truck and shipping and such. Hennessey provides a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty.
[Source: Hennessey via Autoblog]
Porsche 911 GT2 RS Sets Record at Road America
Porsche has decided to keep its streak going and set another production car lap record, this time at Road America. The same two cars that ran hot laps at Road Atlanta were shipped up to Elkhart Lake to see how they’d fare. Pretty well, as it turns out.
The Porsche 911 GT2 RS piloted by David Donohue set a time of 2:15.17 around Road America, smashing the production car lap record. Porsche’s wonderful 911 GT3 RS was also on hand to run some laps but was a little over three seconds slower as expected. Both cars were on road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R N0 tires.
The GT2 RS lap is above. Those who need more time away from your responsibilities at work today can also view the GT3 RS lap here.
IT’S THE NEW C8 CORVETTE…. ‘S BADGE
It looks like this.
[Source: Facebook via Autoweek]
Other Coverage From the Week
In other news that was already covered on the site, Aston Martin is bringing back the manual with the Vantage AMR and oh yeah the Nissan 370Z Roadster is dead after this year.
What’s Your Automotive News for the Week
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
[Image © 2019 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]
