Toyota GR86 (2022-2025) review | Simple sports car fun
Toyota GR86 cars for sale
5.0
Expert review
Pros
Brilliant fun to drive
Much improved powertrain over predecessor
Affordable to buy and run
Cons
Very difficult to get hold of
Interior feels very basic
Refinement could be better
The CarGurus verdict
The GR86 isn’t flawless. It’s rather noisy at high speeds and the interior is sensible and comfortable, but not particularly pretty or classy. But we still adore this car because it is so simple, fun and uncomplicated. It’s perfect for British roads, being compact enough, light enough and just powerful enough to feel like you’re really using most of its potential without risking your licence. It’s also more than thrilling enough to warrant the occasional track day, yet it won’t cost a fortune to buy and run. And it’s sufficiently practical and comfortable to be used as a daily commuter.
In short, the Toyota GR86 feels like one of the best expressions of a simple, affordable breed of sports car that has become almost extinct. It’s an absolute gem, and if you have the opportunity and means to buy one, don’t hesitate to do it.
What is the Toyota GR86?
The Toyota GR86 was the follow-up to the popular GT86. It retained a two-door coupe body, as well as the remit of offering light weight, moderate power and rear-wheel drive for simple driving fun. We say ‘popular’ knowing full well the GT86 was never sold in great numbers, and it was a similar story with the GR86. However, in terms of how appreciated it was by enthusiasts, the GR86 proved to be just as successful.
The ‘GR’ stands for Gazoo Racing, which is Toyota’s performance arm and motorsport team. Or at least it was: Toyota is currently managing to tie itself in knots by using both ‘Gazoo Racing’ branding for GT and customer racing projects, then ‘TGR’ for its World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship and Formula 1 racing projects (the latter with the TGR Haas F1 Team). Putting to one side the complicated naming shenanigans, think of the GR86 as the Japanese firm’s entry-level sports coupe. It slotted in below the also-now-discontinued GR Supra, and alongside the bonkers GR Yaris hot hatch.
The GR86 coupe was only offered with one engine: a 231bhp, 2.4-litre, horizontally-opposed (also known as a ‘boxer’) petrol, which was mated to either a manual or automatic transmission, both with six speeds. This powertrain is notably improved over the Toyota GT86, offering more low-down torque to address one of few routine complaints in reviews about the GT86.
The engine isn’t turbocharged, though, as was just about every hot hatch alternative when the GR86 was on sale. From Toyota’s own GR Yaris through to the Ford Fiesta ST and Ford Focus ST, Honda Civic Type R, Volkswagen Golf GTI and Hyundai i30 N, all used turbochargers to boost their power and torque figures. But that was never the point of the GR86. It was about having a balanced car with relatively low levels of grip, so it could be enjoyed on public roads and at normal speeds.
The closest rival the Toyota GR86 had was its own sibling, the Subaru BRZ, which was ultimately the same car with different styling and slightly different handling characteristics. The BRZ was never offered for sale in the UK, however, unlike its first-generation predecessor, which again was a GT86 with slightly different handling and a different badge.
Other than that, the Mazda MX-5 (which is also naturally aspirated, in case you wondered) came closest to the Toyota’s simple, fun recipe, and – mercifully – it’s still on sale in fourth-generation form, more than a decade after it was launched. That car offers a similar lightweight, modestly powered, rear-wheel-drive experience, albeit in two-seat, drop-top format rather than the 2+2 coupe layout of the Toyota and Subaru.
Despite being more expensive, both the Porsche Cayman and Alpine A110 could also be considered as rivals, particularly the Alpine as it’s just so light. While we’re at it, if the truly purist driving experience is your absolute priority, it would be remiss of us not to mention the far less practical but even more entertaining Caterham Seven.
In the UK, the really big problem with the GR86 was getting hold of one. Unfortunately, due to changes in European safety legislation that required new cars to have certain cameras and emergency safety aids as standard from 2024, the GR86 had a very short lifespan and only a very limited allocation in European markets. The UK only got 500 examples and they all sold out within a matter of minutes. If you’re not one of the lucky few who got their deposit down quickly enough, your only option now is a used Toyota GR86.
How practical is it?
In the context of two-door coupes, the Toyota GR86 is fairly practical. For a start, it’s got two small seats in the back, which aren’t terribly comfortable for adults but they are still really useful when you need to squeeze a few people in for a short journey. Smaller children might be happy to use them for longer journeys, too.
Perhaps more realistically, the back seats make for a great place to chuck your bags and coat, leaving the 226-litre boot free for anything else. And yes, that boot does have quite a high lip and a small aperture, but if you want a coupe body then it still offers surprisingly usable everyday practicality. If you need better versatility, yet still with a sporting focus, you’ll have to look at a hot hatchback instead.
Up front, the dashboard in the Toyota is far from premium. There are none of the plush, soft-touch plastics or textural finishes that you’ll find in a used BMW 2 Series or Audi TT, but the Toyota’s interior does feel durable and it’s also easy to use. Big rotary air-con controls are a doddle to operate while you’re driving. Besides, the money was spent on engineering the GR86 to be as enjoyable as possible, rather than fancy materials. And while it’s still important to point out that the interior isn’t premium, we’d rather that than nicer plastics and a weaker driving experience.
The driving position is very good, with plenty of adjustability and side-support for the low-set seat, and ample room for a tall, six-foot-plus driver (unlike in the rather cramped MX-5). Forward visibility is very good, and visibility to the rear is reasonable for a coupe, plus there’s a standard reversing camera to help in tight spots.
Want a load of accessories to make your GR86 more practical? Well as you can imagine, making products like that wasn’t high on Toyota’s priority list. Even so, Toyota it did sell a few interior, exterior and GR-badged goodies, as well as a few products from ‘trusted brands’ – third-party companies that Toyota was happy to partner with. There were door edge guards and mudguards, for example, as well as Toyota-fitted paint protection film. There were also rubber floor mats and a larger rubber boot liner, alongside boot nets and storage dividers.
What's it like to drive?
The Toyota GR86 is just brilliant to drive. It’s a very straightforward concept; it weighs only 1,276kg (similar to a Ford Fiesta), and the 2.4-litre, naturally-aspirated ‘boxer’ engine sends 231bhp to the rear wheels via a limited-slip differential. The GR86 also uses narrower Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rear tyres compared to most other sports-oriented cars, in order to keep grip levels modest.
That doesn’t mean the Toyota GR86 feels flighty or nervous; it is still a very predictable and manageable car to drive. That’s actually the very point of what makes it so brilliant. It isn’t scary, but is still a thrill. It steers pointedly into corners, and you feel really keyed into where the nose of the car is going, along with how much grip you’ve got at each corner.
At 6.3 seconds to 62mph, the GR86 isn’t slow. Granted, it’s certainly not fast by sports car standards, but it’s the fact that it isn’t too powerful or too rapid is what makes this car so perfect for UK roads. You can use much of the performance without doing crazy speeds. The engine is a bit coarse and boomy as you rev it, but extra mid-range torque compared to the old GT86 means the 2.4-litre flat-four feels quite fizzy enough without having to rev it to the redline. That being said, there is certainly a reward in pushing it beyond 4,000rpm, when the sound and acceleration gain extra urgency.
Ride comfort is pretty good, as the passive dampers of the GR86 do a decent job of keeping bumps from bothering you in the cabin, or unsettling the car’s traction when you’re enjoying a good road. It really is just fantastic fun, making even rather boring roads something to relish. The springy, six-speed manual gearbox has a satisfyingly positive shift, even if it is a touch heavy compared to the even more enjoyable gearshift that you get in a manual Mazda MX-5. The Toyota’s clutch pedal feels quite heavy, too. Yet, it’s worth pointing out that the GR86 will also sit on the motorway quite happily and be a comfortable, perfectly liveable long-distance car when you need it.
Altogether, manageable power levels and confident, playful handling mean that, in the real world, you may have more fun in the Toyota than in plenty of much pricier sports cars.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
The GR86 is a simple car in terms of its technology, as in every other aspect. An 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity was standard, and while the graphics were nowhere near what you’d find in an Audi or BMW, it is a logical and user-friendly system.
The Toyota GR86 didn’t have trim levels, but there were differences between the manual and automatic gearbox models. Manual GR86s have cruise control, climate control air-con, keyless entry and go, a reversing camera, heated part-leather seats, blind-spot monitoring, LED headlights and 18-inch wheels. The automatic GR86 gets all the same features, plus adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking.
Toyota GR86 running costs
The Toyota GR86 went on sale for £29,995, or £32,085 for the automatic version. Now, with only used examples available, and 500 cars in the UK in total, they’re still floating around the £30,000 mark to buy used. If you fancy one, why not find a GR86 on CarGurus?
Despite holding its value so strongly, the GR86 is still quite affordable for a genuinely usable sports car. It’s also reasonably efficient. The official combined fuel economy figure from Toyota is 32.1mpg, and in our experience you can get close to – or even over – 30 mpg on a relaxed motorway run. Insurance costs may be quite high, though. The GR86 is rated in insurance group 50 (much higher than a Mazda MX-5, for instance), so do ensure you get a quote to check how much you’ll be paying before committing to the Toyota.
Servicing is every year or 12,000 miles, and will cost around £300 for an intermediate service or £500 for a major service. There will be Toyota specialists around the UK, however, who can do just as good of a job as a Toyota main dealer, but be mindful of having your car serviced elsewhere if it still has a warranty – you will invalidate the cover if so.
Toyota GR86 reliability
The Toyota GR86 is too new to have been included in any reliability surveys. But as a brand, Toyota has a world-class reputation and routinely tops owner ratings for durability and customer service, whether you’re buying new or used. In the 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey, for example, Toyota claimed fourth position out of 30 manufacturers.
The GR86 came with Toyota’s standard three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, which is then extended for an additional year and 10,000 miles each time the car is serviced at a Toyota dealer. That continues for up to 10 years and 100,000 miles, which is the best manufacturer warranty in the industry. To that end, a used example, direct from Toyota, could provide you with many happy years of enjoyable motoring.
- There was an optional six-speed automatic gearbox available on the GR86, but you’ll find very few cars have been specified with it. Expect to see most with the six-speed manual gearbox that best suits the car’s back-to-basics, keen driving remit.
- The GR86 was available in seven different colours: metallic silver, grey and black, plus pearlescent dark blue, light blue, white and red. The metallic black was the standard colour, while the other metallics were an extra £645 and the pearlescent paints were £965.
- The rear seats in the GR86 drop down to allow through-loading from the boot. Toyota points out that this leaves enough space to carry four spare tyres to the track…
- If you want the best value: There are no trim levels in the GR86, but the manual car – likely in the standard, black paint – was the cheapest way into a GR86 when new, and will likely be a touch cheaper than average on the used market as well. The usual rules apply when buying used, like checking the service history, as there’s little point buying the absolute cheapest GR86 if you’re going to be forking out lots of cash six months down the line because a big service was missed.
- If you want the sportiest: Avoid the automatic if you can, but even with the two-pedal carl, you literally can’t buy a GR86 that isn’t fun to drive. If you really want the purest, most hilarious driving experience possible, and you’re not fussed about comfort or indeed crash safety, do look to the Caterham Seven. There is nothing out there like it (well, apart from other Lotus Seven replicas).
- If you want the best track car: Stick to the manual gearbox. Job done.
