Toyota GR86 - Review, Specs, Pricing, Features, Videos and More

Mom was perplexed.

I was telling her about a recent assignment, where I’ll spend a day at the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit track testing a Toyota trio of spicy sports car offerings. “I didn’t know Toyota made sports cars”, she said. After all, Toyotas are largely sought out by shoppers after safety, sensibility, residual value and a fuss-free long-term ownership experience. The brand’s sales center around crossovers. pickups, and sensible compacts.

Cars are not dead at Toyota though. While leveraging some six decades of sports car history, the automaker now offers three thrilling sports models with 3 pedals, six manually-shifted gears, no electrification, and that all-important driver-to-car connection that lets owners jump in with both hands and both feet.

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In the spirit of the season, let’s take a moment to be thankful this car even exists.

The 2022 Toyota GR 86 didn’t need to happen, at least from a bean-counting perspective. Last year Toyota moved 2,486 of the little sports car in the US; it sold nearly 200 times as many RAV4s in the same period.

If there’s ever been a consistent message about the 86, it’s been that bald numbers aren’t everything. There are better-selling cars out there, just as there are more powerful, front-drive competitors. You don’t buy an 86 for headline figures, though; you buy one for its innate chassis balance, the communicative steering, and that sports car shape. The second-generation car now eliminates or minimizes some of the inherent sacrifices that choice comes with, resulting in an exciting, rear-drive coupe with all the magic of before, and less of the flaws. If Porsche made a front-engined sibling for its 718 Cayman, this would be it.

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We’re a practical bunch here at AutoGuide. We like when something serves dual purposes, like this three car comparison of the Toyota GR86 vs Subaru BRZ vs Mazda MX-5 Miata. It’s both a family rivalry and a rematch.

The last time we stuck the Toyota 86 (nee GR) up against the Mazda Miata, it was Mazda’s topless wonder that came out ahead. It was simply more fun. Toyota has thoroughly tweaked its two-door coupe on the way to its GR86 rebranding, dropping in a bigger-displacement engine, adding more creature comforts, modernizing the looks—and all the while, like the Miata, barely adding any weight.

But we couldn’t leave it at that. Since the introduction of the Toyobaru twins a decade ago, one of the most common questions is how the Toyota and Subaru iterations differ. So we brought along the BRZ too, to really get granular. A week with them all, between myself, managing editor Mike Schlee, and contributing writer (and photographer) Harry Zhou gave us the answers we were looking for.

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