2025 Toyota GR86 Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The GR86 is a twin to the Subaru BRZ. Once in a while, car companies will pool their resources on a vehicle. While each manufacturer will add or subtract small features to make the vehicle as on-brand as possible, they are essentially selling the same car. As such, you’ll find Subaru-specific switches on the car you drove off the Toyota showroom floor.

Our Hakone Edition gets a stunning Ridge Green exterior colour with 18-inch satin bronze wheels, but the standard colours are great as well. Every sports car should have a good red option and Toyota provides. Regardless of colour, this curvy two-door looks great with its tight proportions, rear spoiler, and standard dual exhaust.

The GR86 is a 2+2, which means it has rear seats. However, good luck sitting back there. With under 759 millimetres of legroom, it’s hardly feasible for kids, let alone full-size adults. You’re better off using it as a place to store your bag or groceries. Having said that, it’s possible for someone who is over six feet tall to fit behind the wheel of the GR86. It might take some slouching to fit with the 940 mm of headroom, but move the six-way adjustable driver’s seat all the way back and down and you might make it work.

The only interior colour option is black, but there are some different material choices for the seats. The base trim sports cloth seats, while the GR86 Premium and Hakone Edition get Ultrasuede and leather trimmed seats. Regardless, the bolstering strikes the perfect balance between support and comfort. It keeps you snug in your seat on a twisty road, but the seats are still comfortable and easy to get in and out of.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel is small in both diameter and thickness. It feels great in your hands, but we wish there was an option for suede over leather as it gives your hands more grip during spirited driving.

Showing the Subaru influence, the GR86 sports a 2.4-litre boxer-four engine under the hood making 228 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. Start it up and the engine emits a deep growl that sounds nothing like your average small powerplant. The boxer engine sends its power to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual or automatic transmission.

While our U.S.-spec Hakone Edition test car has an automatic transmission, this version is available only with the manual transmission in Canada. But if you opt for the Premium AT configuration, you’ll find the automatic transmission still has some fun in store thanks to its quick shifts and a set of paddle shifters for when you want a bit more control. Still, you’ll zip from zero to 100 km/h a bit slower in the automatic. Toyota says it takes 6.6 seconds if you let the car do its own thing or 6.2 seconds if you row your own.

Regardless of which transmission you have, there is no doubt that this car is a peach when the road turns twisty. The nimble chassis takes every turn with aplomb. The Hakone Edition’s Brembo brakes do their job confidently, getting the car slowed down without the tail wiggling back and forth. Add in a standard limited-slip differential, and the GR86 eats mountain roads for breakfast and goes back for a mid-morning snack. You’ll likely find yourself taking the long way home often. As an added bonus, Toyota equips the GR86 with a mechanical handbrake, so you’re ready to take your car out drifting.

There are modes for Sport, Snow, and Track, and drivers can turn off the stability control should they want to be more in command. Some might say the GR86 is underpowered, but we say the sub-250 ponies are a selling point. This car is all about momentum. One mistake and you’ll fall behind quicker than a cat pounces on its morning meal. You have to drive this car to its full potential at all times, but at the same time it’s not overwhelming. The power is accessible, and you can wring out every ounce of it even on public roads. Anyone can be quick in a 500-horsepower Porsche. Not everyone can be quick in this little coupe.

However, there are some trade-offs. While the sport-tuned dampers shine on the back roads, some might find them a little too stiff for rougher city streets. The quick steering ratio that is a joy in the corners can feel twitchy on a daily commute. These are the kinds of compromises you have to make with an inexpensive sports car like this. If you want a ride that’s cushy on the commute and sporty on curvy roads, you’ll need to upgrade to something with adaptive suspension like the Toyota GR Supra.

Most of Toyota’s development effort went into the driving dynamics of the GR86, so you won’t find many fancy-pants features. All models get one-touch power windows, dual-zone climate control and push-button start. The top two trims get heated seats and an eight-speaker audio system.

However, to complement the driving experience, Toyota includes a bunch of performance gauges so you know exactly what’s going on with the car. You can check out your horsepower and torque curves, monitor engine, coolant, and oil temperatures, see how many g-forces you’ve experienced while turning, and even time your laps around the track.

A surprise here is the size of the trunk. At 178 litres, it is huge for the overall size of the car. You can easily fit a carry-on suitcase and a backpack, and the opening is nice and wide. Fold down the rear seats and you can easily fit luggage for two people.

Interior storage is limited with just the glovebox and a tiny centre console. The cup holders are placed well away from the shifter, so there isn’t much risk of your road soda getting in the way of your gear changing.

This second-generation GR86 has been around since the 2022 model year, and the infotainment system is starting to show its age. The eight-inch touchscreen certainly is easy to use, but the graphics are comically bad and functions basic. The screen lets drivers control the audio system and a few other settings, but that’s it. There isn’t a native navigation system here, which is fine as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. However, we found that the native infotainment system sometimes didn’t mesh well with Apple CarPlay and was slow to respond to icon taps.

One odd feature we found in the infotainment is the ability to record birthdays and anniversaries. Start the car on the appointed day and you’re met with a lovely greeting. This comes from the Subaru side of things, as does the particularly terrible rearview camera. You’ll be able to see blobs and basic shapes behind you, but you’ll have to guess as to what they really are.

The GR86 is first and foremost a sports car, so don’t expect the same safety features you’d find in say, the family-focused Highlander. Automatic high beams are standard, but to get features like forward collision warning and pre-collision braking, lead vehicle start alert, lane departure warning, and adaptive cruise control, you’ll need to opt for the Premium AT trim (AT stands for automatic transmission). The forward collision warning system was pretty sensitive, calling out warnings when we were nowhere near danger.

The adaptive cruise control is awkwardly placed on a stalk on the steering column, not on the steering wheel itself. You’ll need to take a minute to memorize the functions as they may not be visible from your driving position. And keep in mind that this adaptive cruise system doesn’t have any stop-and-go functionality. The system will disengage once it brings the car to a stop, so be ready to put your foot on the brake lest you roll into the person in front of you.

Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert are only offered on Premium and Hakone Edition models, but these are welcome additions. For a small sports car, rearward visibility is pretty bad thanks to the wide rear C-pillar. This feature alone is enough to warrant skipping the base model.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) had not given the 2025 Toyota GR86 an overall safety rating at the time of publication. However, the organization said the forward collision warning, lane departure warning, crash imminent braking, and dynamic brake support met its performance criteria. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave the GR86 top scores of “Good” in crashworthiness as well as crash avoidance and mitigation. It gave the car a mid-score of “Acceptable” for child seat anchors.

Unlike other sports cars with larger engines, the GR86 is far from a gas guzzler. The automatic transmission does it best with a Natural Resources Canada fuel rating of 11.2 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, 7.8 highway, and 9.7 combined. You take a bit of a hit with the manual, but it’s not too bad. Look to get 12.0 L/100 km city, 8.9 highway, and 10.6 combined. Even with all our spirited driving with the automatic, the car managed 7.8 L/100 km during our week with it. Huzzah!

Toyota’s warranty coverage is average for the class. You’ll get a five-year/100,000-kilometre powertrain warranty and a three-year/60,000-kilometre new vehicle warranty. Toyota will also provide 24-hour roadside assistance for three years.

The 2025 Toyota GR86 starts at $35,399 in Canada including destination, but our top Hakone Edition sits at $40,364. When you look at horsepower per dollar, the GR86 is a stellar buy. However, you can’t look at the GR86 without also taking a look at the Mazda MX-5. Yes, it is down on power but it’s lighter, roughly the same price, gets better fuel economy, and it’s a convertible.

If the GR86 is a little underpowered for you, the Nissan Z sports 400 ponies under the hood and starts in the mid-$50,000 range. You could also look at the Ford Mustang with the 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, but it’s much heavier and is only available with a 10-speed automatic.

If you’re someone who enjoys a good back road drive, you won’t be disappointed with the 2025 Toyota GR86. It’s a car that rewards drivers with exceptional handling and adequate power, wrapped up in a pretty package with an affordable price tag. Sure, you won’t be as quick as a Porsche 911, but you’ll be crying all the way to the bank.