We've tested the new Toyota GR86: 'Close to affordable sports car perfection,' says TimPollardCars 👀
► Final production version testedcoupe enters a very different enthusiast marketplace. With many manufacturers retreating from performance models and shying away from high-CO2 emitters, there will soon be just the evergreen Mazda MX-5 and this on the affordable sports car shopping list. Hats off to Toyota for chasing this discerning – yet diminishing – buyer.
Torque has risen from 151lb ft to 184lb ft, and power has risen by 35bhp to 231bhp. A new fuel injection system and redesigned air intake and manifold have sharpened the throttle response, too. More to the point, peak torque is developed at 3700rpm rather than the GT86’s 6700rpm, making the engine far more flexible and muscular. Cooling has been improved too.
The wheelbase is 5mm longer, and the driver sits 5mm lower, the better for stability and centre of gravity respectively. You certainly feel snug and low-down when you slide over the sill and perch in the grippy, heavily bolstered sports seats.You feel it instantly. We’re testing the car on hilly and beautiful roads to the west of Seville, with climbs that would have necessitated a downshift or two in the GT86. In the GR, they’re loped up easily in fourth gear.
Tail-happy handling was part of the GT86’s appeal but its low-resistance Prius-spec Michelin Primacy tyres meant that when it did slide, it could do so in quite a binary way, and its stability control system then grabbed brakes to pull the car straight, which could make it feel clumsier than it really was. Versions fitted with wider, grippier tyres ironically felt more delicate and precise.