Rendering: Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake

If you judge the persistence of a car based on the number of guesses, modifications, renderings, and overall "chatter", Toyota managed to create a knockout race with their new GT86 sports car. Anyway, who doesn't like it? Not only is it Toyota's first real sports car in more than a decade (almost two, really), but it is also very good no matter who made it. Yes, it might be a little undersized on paper, but talk to anyone who drives it and they don't care. After all, check out Luke's review and competitive analysis of GT86's sister car Subaru BRZ.

Our pals over at Car Throttle, who named the GT86 2012’s Car of the Year, just sent us these high-res renderings of what they’re calling the Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake – a modification of the sexy coupe’s body to make it a bit more...practical. Take a look:

So what are the changes? Here’s what they’re thinking:

– Body length increased by 55mm– Current fold-flat rear bench is ditched in favour of a practical 60/40 split– Boot capacity increased from 243 litres to 298 litres, with seats down capacity at 1040 litres– 0-62mph of 7.8 secs and 8.5 secs (manual/auto) due to 65kg weight increase– UK pricing starts at £26,945 for manual and £28,445 for auto

Well, it could just make a new baby-daddy a happy man, not having to give up his dreams of a peppy RWD sports car just because he’s a family man. After all, even Ferrari’s doing it with the FF. With a slightly higher price tag, that is.

Our take? It might work in Europe; Toyota’s name is synonymous with practicality, and with Britain’s love obsession with hatches and getting the most storage space and fuel economy for the pound.

But don’t expect to see it any time soon in the States. First, this car is branded as the Scion FR-S for us, which means it’s a slightly different car with a slightly different purpose. Scion is a young and hip brand. While you’d think the target market would be spot-on for this car, I don’t think they’d sell many Scion FR-S Humpback Editions. There’s also the fact that there are plenty of other editions on the way. We know a high-performance version is in the pipeline – probably sporting a turbocharger and getting 250-ish HP (hopefully closer to 300) – and we can’t stop talking about it. Subaru will most like be calling theirs the BRZ STi, appropriately. We also know that they’re working on a Scion FR-S Convertible. Just like any sports car ever; like it or not, a convertible version is inevitable. We expect Toyota to have the GT-86 Convertible on display at the Geneva Motor Show this year, which we’ll be covering live.

Good idea, I think Toyota can explore this area. But for God’s sake, let’s take out the turbocharged version first, stat!