Toyota 86 vs Toyota GR 86

What's the difference?

The Toyota 86 might be a bit of a blast from the past in 2020, especially considering there is a new-generation version just around the corner, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad car.

In fact, it serves up a fun and visceral driving experience seldom seen in anything other than the most focussed of sports cars, but packaged up with an attainable price.

If you value practicality and straight-line pace, a hot hatch will be the easy choice, but if the driving experience is the most important aspect of a car to you, it’s hard to pass up the Toyota 86.

If you’re expecting a faster, angrier and more focused version of the original 86, you’re going to be happy with this car. If you’re expecting it to be as fun and chuckable as the first one, you might be upset.

It has a different character, this GR86 - certainly with more GRRRR than ever before - and it still represents a strong sports car option for buyers, even if it is a fair bit more expensive this time around. It'd be hard not to recommend the GTS version to anyone considering it.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel and meals provided.

There’s no denying Toyota’s 86 boasts classic sports car proportions thanks to a long bonnet, short overhangs and a sleek coupe body-style.

Though some things have changed since the model first came to market in 2012, such as revised bumpers and lights, the 86 is just as recognisable today as it was back then.

From the front, the 86 gives off a purposeful and aggressive stance thanks to its angled headlights, gaping intake and bulging arches.

Move to the side and you will see the wheelbase stretches nearly to the edges of the car, while a strong shoulder- and roofline join at the rear haunches to emphasise the 86’s rear-drive character.

The rear end is probable the least favourable angle for the 86, but the wide tail-lights, large diffuser and dual-exhaust outlets add to its sporting character.

Our test car was fitted in the eye-catching Apollo Blue colour, as well as 17-inch wheels, mirror caps and a rear spoiler finished in black.

After eight years on the market, we still think the 86 is one of the better-looking sports cars on the market, largely thanks to its purposeful and no-frills approach to styling.

It’s not quite as over-the-top as something like a Honda Civic Type R, but you still know it means business if it showed up to a track day.

Step inside though, and the cabin has not aged as well as the exterior.

The centre stack houses a 6.1-inch multimedia touchscreen that looks like it was picked out at a Repco sale, while you can practically see the pixels on the digital clock and temperature readout screens.

It’s not all bad though, as the chunky switchgear and large push-button starter add a little character to the interior.

We also like the instrumentation, which puts the tachometer front and centre for the driver while also incorporating a 4.2-inch display to add a bit of modernity.

The GR badges mean a lot, here. Not just because they signify that this is a proper Gazoo Racing product for Series 2, but also because they help you pick it as the Toyota and not the Subaru BRZ.

They are even more closely aligned in terms of exterior design this time around, and while both are good looking sports coupes, I wish more had been done to differentiate the two.

Sure, if you’re paying attention you’ll see the shape of the intake / grille area is different, and it has a different bumper shape to the BRZ, too - and both of them are bloody good looking cars, if you ask me.

The rear is particularly smart, I reckon - a more sporty and sleek appearance than the last one, and even if the tail-lights are somehow familiar, I think it’s a neat rear end. Can’t wait to see who makes the best looking aftermarket rear spoiler for it.

If you’re curious about the size and dimensions of the new GR86 compared to the old one, Toyota says it measures 4265mm (up 25mm) on a 2575mm wheelbase (up 5mm), sits 1310mm tall (down 10mm), and has the same overall width of 1775mm excluding mirrors.

There have been some big design changes in the cabin, though the overall layout is tremendously similar to the last car. It has similar controls for the air-con, a new touchscreen above, and similar layout to the storage, too. 

The interior design is a bit plain, though - the screen is big and colourful, and I’m thankful for that. Because unless you option the GTS with the red carpet, it’s a bit bland in there.

Measuring 4240mm long, 1775mm wide, 1320mm tall and with a 2570mm wheelbase, the 86 coupe is dimensionally smaller in every measure to its Corolla hatchback sibling.

Despite this, Toyota says there is enough seating for four, but the 86 is much closer to a 2+2 than it is to a proper four-seater.

Front occupant space is ample enough, with plenty of adjustable in the seat and steering column for drivers to get into the perfect position.

There’s cupholders in the centre console, storage and the door pockets will even take a water bottle.

Front occupants also have access to a very, very small tray just in front of the shifter, though what it could accommodate is unknown.

We will also mention that when in odd-numbered gears, it can get tricky to use the climate controls, though it wouldn’t be a problem in auto-equipped cars.

Flick the front seats forward, contort yourself into the rear and, well, its more akin to a medieval torture device than passenger-friendly seating.

Headroom is especially limited, though we were surprised with the better-than-expected legroom due to the bucket-shape of the rear seats.

Don’t expect any mod-cons in the rear though, as the only thing to keep yourself entertained back there is the seat belt.

The boot accommodates just 237 litres of volume, which is just about enough to fit a large suitcase, though because of the short space, it will have to go in sideways leaving not a lot of room for much else.

Boot floor is also quite high, meaning tall objects will struggle to fit, but the rear seats can be folded flat to accommodate longer items.

While early versions of the 86 came with a spare wheel, in 2020, all new cars come with a puncture-repair kit.

You’re not buying a sports coupe if you value practicality as a primary purchase consideration, but rest assured, the GR86 has a decent level of usability to the interior.

There are bottle holders in the doors, storage sections in front of the gear selector, and a pair of cup holders with a closing lid that doubles as a centre armrest, if you don’t have drinks. Thing is, the one on the car I drove at launch was pretty hard to open with a single press of the button.

The 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen is straight from Subaru, with Subaru graphics and fonts still included. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the screen is colourful and has easy menus and controls, and thankfully there are still knobs and dials for things like volume and tuning.

It has the requisite Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone mirroring tech, but I had the system lose connection with my iPhone 13 Pro on the launch. (Note: I have a long-term Subaru WRX Sportswagon that drops the phone connection all the time, so it’s a bit annoying to see this characteristic mirrored on other models.)

Below the screen are the ‘they-look-familiar’ air-con controls, with dials for temp and fan. They’re nice and chunky so you can easily locate them when you’re focusing on driving. I like that.

The newly designed folding seat mechanism is supposed to allow you easier access to the back seats, not that you’ll want to be in there if you’re an adult. Or anyone over, say, 10 years old.

I got in there (for scientific research purposes) and found it was, as you’d expect, not very comfortable for someone my size (182cm / 6’0”). My head was at an awkward angle, I had little leg or toe room even with the seat ahead of me pitched way forward, and there’s not much in terms of rear-seat amenities, either.

But, if you have younger children, there are ISOFIX points and top-tether points for both of the rear seat positions.

Boot space is 237 litres - which isn’t enormous. But the opening is wide enough to easily slide suitcases in, and you can fit four wheels and tyres in with the back seat folded down (according to Toyota - and it folds down in a single piece, there’s no split-fold rear seat).

Oh, and the last one used to be available with a spare - this one isn’t. Just a repair kit.

I was there, that fateful day in June 2012 when Toyota Australia announced that the base model 86 manual was going to come in at less than $30,000. My jaw dropped, as did almost everyone else’s in that shed near the track where the launch was being held.

Fair to say my jaw also dropped when the price of the new 2023 Toyota GR86 was announced in the shed near the track (this time it was Phillip Island, not the Sutton Road driver training centre outside Queanbeyan).

That’s because the new model is between 15 and 35 per cent more expensive than the original 86. 

The GR86 GT six-speed manual is now $43,240 (MSRP - before on-road costs). The price for the six-speed auto is identical, meaning - depending how you look at it - the manual is a rip-off, or the auto is compellingly priced. 

The GR86 GTS model also employs the manual-or-auto-for-the-same-price strategy, listing at $45,390 (MSRP).

You get a few worthwhile items to justify the extra $2150 over the GT, and you can read all about the standard equipment inclusions here.

But it’s fair to say the GR86 might well be angrier in a lot of ways, but customers might be angry about the increase, too. Toyota even admitted that if it had kept the original price in line with inflation, it would have only cost $38,000 for the base GT grade. But it argues there’s a lot more value for buyers in this new model, by way of the drive experience and upsized engine, primarily.

However, there are some startling safety equipment exclusions that you might want to consider. More detail below.

OK, so what about rivals and pricing? Well, you can get the mechanically-identical Subaru BRZ for less. It starts at $40,290 for the manual (and has additional standard safety kit), but you have to pay extra for the auto, which starts from $44,090.

Or you might wish to think about a Mazda MX-5, which has the added cool factor of being a convertible, and starts at $37,990 for the base manual soft-top, or $42,300 for the hard-top.

Powering all Toyota 86s is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder Boxer petrol engine, outputting 152kW/212Nm when paired to a the six-speed manual gearbox.

Automatic transmission versions are downgraded to 147kW/205Nm.

Peak power comes in at a heady 7000rpm, while maximum torque is available from 6400-6600rpm for both manual and automatic versions.

Tipping the scales at around 1258kg means the manual 86 can accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 7.6 seconds, while the automatic version is 0.6s slower to the landmark time.

It’s a bigger engine - now a 2.4-litre horizontally-opposed ‘boxer’ four-cylinder petrol unit - and that increase of 20 per cent engine capacity has yielded some good horsepower increases, too. And it has a Subaru badge on the engine cover. Because it’s a Subaru engine.

The new model pushes out 174kW of power (at 7000rpm), which is up from a max output of 152kW on the old model.

It’s the torque figure that’s interesting, though. There’s 250Nm at 3700rpm, which isn’t huge. But Toyota claims there’s 240Nm available from 3500-6500rpm, meaning a long flat torque build-up. The old model had 212Nm for the manual.

Now, both the six-speed manual and six-speed automatic transmission have the same power and torque outputs - in the last gen, the auto was held back by 5kW and 7Nm compared with the max-power manual.

Of course, it’s rear-wheel drive, and has a Torsen limited slip differential in the mix. 

Toyota says the 0-100km/h time for the manual is 6.3 seconds, which is 1.8sec faster than the last manual. The auto’s 0-100 is claimed at 6.8sec.

Wondering about weight? The new one has four different masses to consider: GT manual - 1287kg; GT automatic - 1308kg; GTS manual - 1291kg; GTS automatic - 1312kg. Toyota says the bulk of the additional circa-44kg increase across the board is down to the larger capacity engine.

Official fuel-consumption figures for the 86 is 8.4 litres per 100km with the six-speed manual.

However, we managed an 8.3L/100km figure after a week’s worth of driving, which is especially impressive given most of our time was spent in Melbourne’s inner-city.

Of note, the 86 requires 98 RON petrol.

Official combined cycle fuel consumption is also a matter of spec-by-spec: GT manual - 9.4L/100km; GT automatic - 8.7L/100km; GTS manual - 9.5L/100km; GTS automatic - 8.8L/100km.

On test, the GTS manual I drove on the road loop at the launch was showing 9.8L/100km on the display after a mix of mostly higher-speed country road testing around Phillip Island and surrounds.

The fuel tank capacity is 50 litres, but keep in mind you’ll need to be fueling up with 98RON premium unleaded. 

Front engine, rear-wheel drive, it’s a tried-and-true formula for an engaging driving experience and the Toyota 86 certainly doesn’t disappoint its spiritual predecessors in this regard.

Sure, the engine is a little underpowered, but the free-revving 2.0-litre will happily be wrung out until the 7600pm cut off.

The slick six-speed shifter is also an absolute joy to move, offering satisfying ‘snicks’ with every gear change, and a positive and natural throw that makes it hard to mis-shift.

Pedal placement, a crucial element in a manual car, is equally excellent, with just the right amount of spacing between the clutch, brake and throttle.

Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t heel-and-toe devotees, but it's nice they are positioned well, and offer the right amount of feedback and engagement.

From the driver’s position, looking out over the long bonnet can be a bit daunting, but with the bulging front wheelarches, you can actually tell exactly where the front wheels are, making apex-clipping a breeze.

The fantastic steering response helps with that too, as does the communicative chassis that conveys exactly what the rear axle is wanting to do.

Balanced, neutral handling is the name of the game here, with MacPherson struts up front and a double wishbone rear.

Our test car was also fitted with the up-rated Brembo brakes and Sachs-branded dampers that are designed to improve stopping power and handling respectively.

However, without driving this car and an 86 without the Dynamic Performance Pack fitted, it’s hard to make comment on how much the handling characteristics have changed.

We can say that the Brembo brakes are excellent at scrubbing speed from the perky Toyota coupe, thanks to larger callipers and rotors.

Have you ever been cutting veggies for dinner and realised you need to sharpen your knife? And then, once you’ve done it, you realise what the knife is really capable of?

That’s kinda the feeling between the last generation of the Toyota 86 and this new Toyota GR86.  

I loved the old 86. Still do. Would have one in a heartbeat. But this - as the analogy suggests - is a much sharper tool.  

The engine is a big improvement on the old 2.0-litre - it feels considerably more urgent, and it gathers pace without fuss. You can really rely on the torque of the engine more in the new GR86 - that wasn’t so much the case in the last car, which you had to row through the gears more in. Now you can leave it in fourth and allow the engine to do the work, whereas in corners in the old car, you’d probably have elected to downshift to third, maybe second. 

The manual transmission is good, for the most part. It’s easy enough to operate, though the shift action can still feel a little bit notchy (first to second, fifth to sixth in particular in the car I drove). The clutch feel was reasonable, but not stall-proof at low speeds. 

The sound of the engine is a bit more pleasant now, too. It doesn’t have the nasal overtones of the last one - with a deeper, more enjoyable noise. It’s not the best sounding boxer engine, but it’s not the worst, either.

I only had a short amount of time in the GR86 automatic, and it was on the Phillip Island race track. It has paddles, which I appreciate - but the gearbox will overrule you if you try and downshift and haven’t managed to get the engine revs down. Self preservation at the expense of outright fun? Yeah. A bit. A dual-clutch auto would be an interesting development in this car - but it’s not going to happen.

Drivers who live in areas where there are lots of potholes and bumpy sections of road - so, most of Australia, then - might feel the now-stiffer chassis is a bit too rigid at times.

It feels much more like a sports car than a sporty car, with Gazoo Racing having honed the suspension to the tastes of Toyota president and master driver, Akio Toyoda. I’ve been to Japan. I know the roads there are a heck of a lot more agreeable than here.

Look, it mightn’t be a deal-breaker for the enthusiast, but the curious customer might find the ride a bit hard. 

The trade-off, of course, is terrific handling. It tucks into corners nicely, and with the reworked suspension (Macpherson front, multi-link rear), there’s less of that playful “please keep pushing me so we can have some slidey oversteer” character to it. It will drift, no doubt. But in the last 86, it didn’t take much effort to make that happen.

The steering is excellent, with terrific accuracy and weight, and decent feel through the wheel, too. You don’t feel every single thing at the front axle, but you do have a better gauge of it than you might have in the last GT grade, which famously ran those Prius tyres that were part of the reason sliding it around was a lot easier, too. The rubber on the new GR86 is far better - the GT runs Michelin Primacy HP (215/45/17), and the GTS has Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (215/40/18).

Look, it's still a lot of fun. But it’s fun in a different way. I actually prefer the last one in terms of the drive experience - even though this one is technically more impressive in all the important ways.

If you buy the manual version of the Toyota GR86, you’re getting a car that isn't as safe as the auto. It’s that simple.

That’s because the manual models miss out on now-expected (and, frankly, embarrassingly absent) potentially life-saving safety features like forward autonomous emergency braking (AEB) or lane keeping assistance.

You get AEB in the auto, as well as a form of rear AEB (parking support brake) with rear parking sensors, and adaptive cruise control, as well as lane departure warning.

Another kicker? You have to choose the GTS if you want blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, which is on both manual and automatic models.

The BRZ gets that rear-facing safety gear on all versions. Advantage Subaru, I guess.

There’s no ANCAP crash test safety rating for the new GR86. 

Like all new Toyota vehicles, the 86 comes with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is also accompanied by a seven-year anti-corrosion assurance.

The first service is due in the first month of ownership and is free, while scheduled servicing is usually every 15,000km/nine months, which every comes first.

Each of the next four services covering up to 36 months/60,000km is capped at $200 per servicing, while the next service rises to $391, $1860 and $391

Therefore, the first 63 months/105,000km of ownership will set buyers back $3051 in servicing.

Toyota’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty runs to the GR86, too. And if you maintain your car with the brand, that extends out to seven years for the powertrain.

The brand offers a capped-price servicing plan for five years/75,000km - meaning servicing intervals of 12 months/15,000km. 

Is it fairly priced when it comes to maintenance costs? Well, at $280 per visit for the first five services, it represents an annual saving of about $215 over the equivalent Subie. So that’s a nice way to recoup a bit of the cost.

There’s no included roadside assist, which you do get if you buy a BRZ.