2022 Toyota GR86 Review
Toyota GR86
Price as tested: $33,250
2.4 liter 4 cylinder
228 HP / 184 TQ
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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi
The Toyota ‘86 has been with us for awhile now and it’s history has been plagued with the internet doing what it does best…ruining everything. When news first arrived of a small, affordable, RWD sports coupe by Scion/Toyota…the expectation was massive.
When the specs arrived of the 200 HP non-boosted power plant, it was meant with so much negative energy that it could have caused a wormhole to Hell. Mind you, nothing was wrong with that power plant and for a vehicle weighing only 2700 lbs, it was plenty but common sense did not reign supreme.
The FRS and it’s subsquent naming conventions was not about power. It was about purity. It was about the joy of just driving. It was about the happiness between man and machine. The mentally and spiritually cleansing experience behind the wheel on a curvy bit of road.
Relagating the previous ‘86 to anything more than that is like saying Miata has to have the same specs as a Porsche Boxster. Two completely different vehicles, with different intentions and different benchmarks.
“The mentally and spiritually cleansing experience behind the wheel on a curvy bit of road.”
So even before its launch the FRS, at that time, was weighed down by this never ending negativity. Nevermind that nearly everyone who drove the FRS concluded that power was not it’s defining trait…but rather it was handling and response. The internet did not relent and anytime anyone mentioned that generation ‘86…there was always someone grinning like an idiot stating that it was ‘slow’.
Now 9 years and about 3 different naming conventions later…we have an entirely new ‘86. So has the internet learned it’s lesson? Well, no.
But, the interest in it is so great that we may see a turning of the tide.
So let’s go ahead and break down this newest generation of the ‘86!
The Great
Handling and Ride (duh and huh?)
Feel (duh)
Ease (kinda duh?)
Handling and Ride
It goes without saying but the GR86 handles like it’s on rails. But it is more than that. The old ‘86 also handled like it was on rails but it did so at the expense of your spinal column.
This GR86, on the other hand, rides…well…there is no other words:
Perfectly.
It doesn’t crash, jitter or otherwise torment your bones but rather it absorbs the imperfections. After a 150 mile trip to the mountains and back to home…I felt refreshed and not drained. Heck, I felt ready to turn back around and do it again!
Just perfect. It honestly rides and handles like you slapped on a set of professional tuned coilovers. It’s planted and wonderfully precise over everything from uneven pavement to sweeping bends.
Speaking of sweeping bends…the handling can only be described as telepathic. Like you shoved an electrode into your brain and then the GR86 anticipates, adapts and executes everything in that instant.
It does so in such a fashion that it whispers to you to push it more and more. The more you do and the more the GR86 gives you.
Mind you this is with ‘only’ 228 HP on tap, so even pushing it…you are not exceeding into ‘deploy the spike strips’ territory.
Feel
Saying the GR86 has steering feel, doesn’t quite do it justice. The GR86’s steering has so much taction, tactility and definition that you could swear it’s a corporeal being. Heck that being ends up being your co-driver. Feeding you every detail you need to tackle that next corner. Informing you how much grip you have on the front and what the rear end is doing at any given moment.
That, added with the slight give in the suspension right when you turn in, gives you the sensation the GR86 is working with you instead of against you. It bonds with you, it helps you and it teaches you.
Ease
A sign of a great sports car is the ease of which you can drive it to your capabilities without crashing.
The GR86 is one of those vehicles. The ease and confidence that the GR86 conveys to it’s driver is almost without equal. It’s a vehicle that will help you squeeze out the maximum potential in your abilities and all without fear.
That lack of fear can be directly correlated to the supposed ‘lack of power’ but it’s not a lack of power.
It seems mathematically, mechanically and scientifically the perfect amount of power for this chassis.
Enabling you to do extraordinary things behind the wheel without the sense of losing control.
The Good
Space
Refinement
Space
Visually, I know the Supra is bigger…but this GR86 is in fact either bigger or the cabin in fact is a quantum tunnel. Because the amount of space on the inside of this GR86 can only be described as errrr spacious.
No I don’t know how it’s possible but damnit the GR86 is so roomy on the inside that you can describe the cabin as ‘airy’. Compare that to the claustrophobia inducing cabin of the Supra…the GR86 is a better place to sit.
Add that to the fact I can fit two child seats in the back…
AND it has a bigger trunk…
While the Supra maybe faster, the GR86 is more practical, comfortable and spacious.
Refinement
The old ‘86 had felt like it was made in some dude’s garage. It was tinny, plasticy and honestly just downright cheap feeling and flimsy.
This new one…isn’t.
It’s not just better than the last generation…it’s better than the Supra!
I hate to keep on harking on the poor Supra (because I actually do love that car) but the GR86 exudes quality, craftsmanship and refinement that is missing from it’s bigger brother.
The materials from the switchgear to the door cards are just of a better quality. They are better looking, feeling and performing.
The Bad
Automatic Transmission
Automatic
Our tester was stuck with the 6 speed automatic and uhhh yeah…just don’t get the auto.
It’s frustrating when trying to use the paddles but it’s too dimwitted to leave in full ‘auto’…so you are stuck in this mechanical version of purgatory
But, atleast, it’s decent while you are stuck in traffic?
The Ugly
THE NOISE
THE NOISE
The noise that careens into the cabin above 4k RPM is a high pitched shrill that is borderline painful.
I have never, ever experienced a vehicle whose induction noise caused a physical wince each and every time I got on the powerband.
Overall:
For the past several years, there was one answer to the proverbial question ‘What’s the most fun car you have ever driven?’
I would say Miata and then walk away.
Not anymore…this new GR86 maybe better…
Which is the highest praise I can give.
