Rear-wheel-drive (RWD) relatively inexpensive sports cars that aren’t overpowered, are a dying breed. A dead breed, you could almost convince me. “Almost” does important work in that sentence. It’s there because of a tiny number of cars.
Two: The Toyota GR86 and its nearly identical twin, the Subaru BRZ.
A week driving one of the last of its kind left me a little in love with the GR86, and very nostalgic.
My tester was a middle-of-the-line GR86 Premium with a manual transmission, Trueno Blue paint, and the Performance Package, which adds Brembo brakes and Sachs suspension dampers. It retails for $34,495, including a mandatory $1,095 destination fee.
Yes, They’re Really Dying
Are cheap sports cars endangered? Sadly, they’re at least threatened. Toyota plans to drop the 4-cylinder-engine option from the GR Supra, pushing its price too high to count. And yes, the Sports Car Club of America races Mazda MX-5 Miata cars. But the Miata’s convertible nature makes it something different (and something better, but that’s for another time).
So, on our list of the Best Sports Cars, the GR86 and its twin are the only affordable options that aren’t doing double duty as convertibles or muscle cars. They are the last of their kind.
Sports cars aren’t going anywhere. But pure sports cars available on a working person’s budget are now exceptionally rare. They’re getting rarer.
A week driving the GR86 helped me remember why RWD sports cars built to do their best work at legal speeds are some of history’s most beloved cars.
Is the GR86 the best of them? Not even close. The best of them live in your past or your imagination if those are different.
But take it to a winding road under a canopy of trees, shift it a second too early out of a couple of corners, let the low-mounted weight of a boxer engine keep the front wheels planted and the push of the wheels behind you try to break that loose, and it will remind you of drives you’ve taken only in your dreams.
Power Is a Distraction, Balance Is Sublime
Automakers build plenty of sports cars these days. The beloved Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche 911 will, I hope, never die. But expensive, powerful cars like that compete to post big power numbers and great times on Germany’s Nürburgring.
Drive them around your neighborhood, and you quickly learn that most of their power is useless day-to-day. To make the most of them, you’d have to risk your driver’s license and put everyone around you in danger.
The GR86, however, is taut and nimble from stoplight to stoplight. It gets 228 horsepower from a 4-cylinder boxer engine with no turbocharging. That’s nearly what you get in a 2025 Toyota Camry. It’s not here to post a record-breaking 0-60 time.
But a firm suspension and a short-throw 6-speed manual transmission mean it’s fun on a highway cloverleaf, where you can enjoy it legally.
It Insists on Some Impracticality
But the GR86 won’t fit everyone. I mean that literally. I’m five-foot-six, and my first thought when I sat inside was, “This is a little tight.”
That’s slightly overstating things. The front seat offers 37 inches of headroom. That’s 0.6 inches less than you’ll find in a Camry with a moonroof. The legroom in front is 41.5 inches – just 0.6 less than the Camry. If you can fit in a midsize sedan, you can probably fit in the GR86 comfortably.
The rear seats are a different story. Toyota calls them seats, but they’re so small I wouldn’t ask a small child to sit in them regularly. A suitcase complains the fit is a little tight back there.
The ergonomics are good for driving and little else. Toyota squeezed in two cupholders. But they’re situated so far back that you’re effectively left reaching behind your back for your cup of coffee. While driving. Not fun.
Electronics Seen a Generation Behind
The electronics seem like an afterthought, too. An 8-inch touchscreen controls climate and entertainment functions. Most automakers have moved to larger screens, even for budget models today. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto let you listen to streaming entertainment, but only when connected with a wire. Wireless connections are the norm in many 2024 cars.
These could easily be mistaken for complaints. They aren’t. I found the GR86’s aging electronics exactly what the car needed.
Your Budget Shows Your Values
Why? Because a window sticker is a bit of a values statement.
Some cars are for people who find 36-speaker stereo systems and hands-free highway driving assists worth their cost. The GR86 is for people who don’t.
The little coupe is built for people who find their entertainment from the driving experience and have no desire to give it up.
It will never be the right answer for most drivers, and it’s not trying to be. Instead, it’s a stick-to-the-road sports coupe with little to offer but the thrill of driving.
That echoes some of history’s most beloved cars.
That appeals to you, or it doesn’t. That’s why automakers don’t make many cars like it anymore. And why they do make this one.
