The ST205 GT4 was on par with the Escort Cosworth of its era in terms of performance, and slightly down on an Evo, but hey most cars worth double the Evo money were also down on it. The ST185 GT4 won three consecutive WRCs until the Evo's came along and murdered everything. Toyotas of that era certainly did 'do' performance and the 2JZ engine in the Supra could be boosted to something like 500bhp without forging, it had phenomenal performance and engineering.
The ST205 has the superstrut suspension which makes it incredible in the corners, but also came with 250bhp as standard, the GT86 it appears has gone the handling route like the ST205 did but in modern day terms 200bhp is a missed opportunity, as much as chuckability is fun, you still need to go in a straight line at some point and having a car that looks like a GT86 which doesn't deliver is a big no no in my book.
Yep... I had every generation of ST GT4 celica.. I loved them.... but they never was quick...
A half decent Subaru would kill one and the Evo was at another level...
I worked for Ralliart as a tech in the late 90's and had some great days in some serious weaponry...
At the time I had a Starion Turbo with 300ish BHP...
Fun times 😂😂