Genesis G70 vs Toyota GR86

What's the difference?

The updated Genesis G70 3.3T Sport Luxury is beautiful to look at and drive. It features premium features, trims and great power but the cabin is tight on space. Which makes it a little awkward to use, so this will suit a small family best or families where this may not be the primary mover. That said, I love the after-care program and it suited my small family of three, so it gets an 8.0/10 from us. 

You’ve reached the end of this review and might be looking at the final score thinking it seems low. If you’re a keen driver and considering a GR86, all you need to know is this: the GT will provide plenty of fun for the money.

But if you’re more serious about your two-door rear-driver, and thinking about track days, the GTS with Dynamic Performance Pack might be worth it. It’s not an obscene amount more, and in a few years the extra cash might not even register.

Plus, there might not be much longer to be able to pick up cars like this new, anyway.

The G70 sedan is absolutely gorgeous to look at and the our test vehicle's 'Kawah Blue' paintwork makes the crisp pleating across the body stand out.

The G70 has a muscular stance, much like its BMW rival, but the rear is softer in its shaping.

The front looks sophisticated with the wide-set LED lights and black air-intake vents. The sporty 19-inch alloy wheels and red calipers behind them hint at what the powerful V6 engine can do.

The interior looks high-end with our test vehicle’s white quilted Nappa leather upholstery and a soft-touch black headliner. The dashboard looks solid and robust but the slick looking 10.25-inch touchscreen multimedia system and digital climate control panel elevate the overall design. 

The only thing I didn’t like about the design was the ambient lighting. It’s limited to two panels on the roof and is a little distracting when you drive at night. I think if it was scattered more throughout the cabin, it would be less intrusive.

The 86 was already an attractive sports car, with a traditional shape and just enough aggressive detailing to be appealing without looking too fussy.

Luckily, the GR86 remains restrained enough and changes are light enough that the lineage is clear. The car now looks a little more aquatic thanks to some rounding at the front, and its tail-lights are even more clearly from the Subaru side of the partnership.

While being less aggressive overall, the GR86 retains the essence of its first-gen forebear.

The interior is also clearly tweaked rather than entirely refurbished. Aside from the red carpeting and highlights in the example we’re driving it’s not massively exciting visually. But function beats form in this case.

Speaking of form and function, the red Brembo brake calipers are for more than show, with twice as many pistons helping stopping power. But given the number of comments from non-enthusiast friends, they’re also doing the job looks-wise.

Oh, and as mentioned, the White Liquid premium paint comes in at $575. 'Spark Red' is the only no-cost colour.

The practicality is hurt a little by the space available for passengers. The front row benefits the most when it comes to head- and legroom but if you’re ferrying passengers in the back seat, you’ll have to scoot your seat forward to accommodate them.

Especially if they’re tall because my knees brush the back of the driver’s seat when it’s in my driving position and I’m only 168cm tall!

The individual storage options throughout the car are okay for the class with the front enjoying a small middle console and glove box, two cupholders and two small drink bottle holders in each door.

The rear gets map pockets, two cupholders in a fold down armrest and two very small storage bins in the doors.

The other amenities are great in both rows and a high-level of comfort will be found for adults with the heat and ventilation functions on the front seats and the heat function on the rear outboard seats.

However, the width of the rear seat and the tall transmission tunnel means the middle seat should be strictly reserved for a kid. Think of the G70 as more of a four-seater if you have adults to carry.

The boot has a 330-litre capacity and it’s not too hard to reach to the very back if items roll that way. The back seat has a 60/40 split and there is a temporary spare tyre underneath the floor. 

In terms of technology, you get a USB-A and USB-C port up front, as well as, a 12-volt socket and wireless charging pad to choose from. Rear passengers get two USB-C ports and the boot features another 12-volt outlet.

The 10.25-inch multimedia system looks great and is easy to use with a responsive touchscreen. It also has built-in satellite navigation, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and the system now features over-the-air updates and Genesis Connected Services functionality.

The digital climate panel is responsive and very simple to operate, which is handy when on the go. The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is semi-customisable and it’s handy that the 8.0-inch coloured head-up display pulls through satellite navigation directions and traffic sign information. 

For what it is, the GR86 provides enough to make par when it comes to interior convenience, but there are drawbacks to buying a compact four-seater, two-door sports car.

If you’re tall, getting in and out can be a struggle. Even at 180cm you might feel like getting out after a long drive is a bit of work.

The fact there are seats behind the front seats means you’re relatively snug even as far back as they’ll go, but the driver-focused feeling of the cabin is worth it.

The physical switches and buttons are welcome, and the fact the 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen is only for audio, settings, or nav (if you have phone mirroring plugged in) is a win for minimising distractions.

The materials feel relatively rudimentary aside from the seating upholstery, and the cabin doesn’t escape the cost-cutting presence of plastic, but the layout is functional.

Cupholders can be hidden under a cover just behind where the driver’s elbow might rest, which can be annoying to reach even if its purpose is to be out of the way.

Behind the main seats, there’s room for kids for a decent trip or, if you’re not hugely fond of them, adults for a while. Again, I’m a fairly average height and I don’t feel like I could spend longer than a 15-minute trip there before getting antsy.

It’s good they’re there, because having bad seats is better than no seats in a pinch, but don’t seriously think of this as a car for getting more than two people around.

The 237 litres in the boot is decent for a sports car, enough to get luggage or groceries in, but a limited opening space means stowing bulky stuff is trickier.

While inexpensive on the scale of sports cars, the Toyota GR86 GTS with the 'Dynamic Performance Pack' option ticked is relatively pricey for the badge.

The GTS’s starting price of $46,090, before on-road costs (regardless of automatic or manual transmission), is joined by a $2200 bump from the Performance Pack, then in this example’s case there’s a $575 charge for the 'White Liquid' premium paint.

Toyota’s website suggests $53,924, drive-away, for a GR86 specified to match our test car. It’s not a huge ask in today’s world, but a Toyota 86 used to start for less than $30,000, before on-roads (we’re talking more than a decade ago), and the car wasn’t dramatically different.

Compare the top-spec Mazda MX-5 GT RS, the GR86 GTS’s (with the Performance Pack) natural rival, at $51,790, before on-roads, or even the GR86’s Subaru BRZ twin in tS spec at $49,190, before on-roads, and the GR86 looks like decent value.

Other options for little sporty things like the Mini Cooper or Hyundai i30 N start in the low $50,000 range, while $41,990 before on-roads snags you a slightly smaller VW Polo GTI.

For the money, the GR86 GTS packs in enough features to feel decently premium for such a small space. Having said that, the 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen and 7.0-inch digital driver display are nothing to write home about, nor are the six-speaker sound system or wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The GTS’s combination synthetic suede and leather (heated) front seats and its sportier trim (sports pedals, door scuff plates and door lamp) are notable however, as is the addition of extra safety kit over the base model. Really, though, rear cross-traffic alert and rear blind-spot monitors should be standard.

The G70 3.3T Sport Luxury sedan has a 3.3-litre V6 turbo-petrol engine with a maximum power output of 274kW and 510Nm of torque. The G70 sedan is a rear-wheel drive and features an eight-speed auto transmission.  

The V6 engine responds eagerly, being able to do a 0-100km/h sprint time in just 4.7-seconds. Suffice it to say it’s fun to drive.

The GR86’s 2.4-litre flat-four petrol engine remains naturally aspirated (rare for a modern sports car) and drives the rear wheels via either a six-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual gearbox - the latter also increasingly rare.

Outputs are 174kW at a lofty 7000rpm and 250Nm at 3700rpm regardless of transmission.

The compromise for getting all of the power is that she’s a thirsty gal and the official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is 10.4L/100km and my real-world usage came to 10.6L/100km.

However, that’s after mostly doing open-roading – expect the fuel usage to be higher in an urban setting.

Based on the combined cycle and the 60L fuel tank, expect a driving range of around 577km on average. Which means you’ll be filling up more on a longer journey than more efficient sedans.

A 50-litre fuel tank provides minimum 98RON petrol to the engine at a rate of 9.5L/100km according to Toyota, that’s here in the manual. The claim for an auto is 8.8L.

On test, we saw 11.0L/100km, which included a spirited mountain drive, a long highway stint and some rather stop-start inner-city commuting.

It’s not a bad figure for a sports car, but you’d be disappointed to see it from just about any other small Toyota.

With that in mind, realistically you’re looking at around 500L to a tank if you’re not pushing things too hard.

The G70 sedan is a lovely car to drive with graceful handling and a good well of power to dip into.

That oomph is there when you need it and it’s as easy to drive in the city as it is on the open-road.

The responsive steering makes the G70 sedan feel nimble and well-balanced in turns, even when you accelerate out of a hair-pin corner.

The suspension is on the firm side and that can lead to a few grunts when you hit bigger bumps but the ride is not unpleasant, even for back-seaters. 

The cabin is generally quiet but you can get road/wind noise at higher speeds. It’s not enough to intrude on chatting but you don’t forget it’s there, either.

The G70 sedan is easy to park because it has an outstanding 11m turning circle. The 360-degree camera system is clear and the front and rear parking sensors make light work of a tight car park.

This is where the biggest question lies regarding the GTS’s value proposition. Is it worth paying several thousand dollars more for a GTS with the Dynamic Performance Pack when a GT might be all you need? 

The GR86 sticks to the basic formula that made the previous 86 a gem, and just slightly improves areas where there was ‘feedback’ from buyers.

The biggest one is the torque dip that used to plague the middle of the 86’s rev range. If you looked at a dyno chart (which the 86 had built in, funnily enough) you could see the little drop where the torque fell away, so driving in either a lower of higher gear was sometimes necessary to dodge it.

No more with the bigger 2.4-litre engine. It’s more powerful, if thirstier, but still feels like a tool rather than something to really enjoy. It’s not the most characterful of things, and its fake engine sound through the cabin can feel a infantile. 

The gearbox is also not at the forefront. The shift feel is decent but there could be a little more clutch feel, getting into it after driving an old manual might see you stall and embarrass yourself once or twice.

The steering and handling, though, is sublime. The steering feel is sharp and tactile, you know what’s happening at the front tyres and you’re given the right information to make adjustments accurately. It’s well-weighted, and doesn’t have a big numb spot on-centre.

If you were so inclined, at a track, this is a relatively easy car to slide and let the tail hang just a smidge. 

If you find yourself making a mistake, the traction control is very good at catching errors before they become problems, but without stopping the fun while also letting you feel where it went wrong.

When it comes to the tweaked brakes and suspension included in the DPP, the GR86 is never going to be truly comfortable and unless you're tracking the car it’s not heavy enough to overwhelm the brakes on a public road.

The suspension on bumpy inner-city roads, even with the Sachs sports dampers which Toyota says “improve both on-road ride comfort and handling in dynamic situations”, don’t soak up the rough stuff particularly well. But they do stop it from feeling properly crashy.

Spoiler alert. Aside from the upgraded interior features, the GT’s $43,940, before on-road costs, price tag is some of the best-value motoring around, even if it’s much more expensive than the 86 was a decade ago.

The GTS’s asking price with the DPP at $48,290 isn’t atrocious, but it’s probably worth asking yourself whether the extra few thousand dollars is necessary, especially when the Sachs sports dampers don’t exactly make the car magically comfortable.

You’re going to have fun with this car in any form, so spending the extra on the GTS is optional, and the DPP is something you’ll probably get the most out of on a track.

The car we tested, despite costing the most it possibly could, still lacked some safety kit.

There are two ways to miss out on some safety features in the GR86 - buy the GT, or buy a manual.

If you opt for the GT, you don’t get rear cross-traffic alert or blind-spot monitoring. If you have a manual, you forgo a parking support brake and rear parking sensors.

There’s also no ANCAP rating for the GR86 though we aren’t marking it down for this. Toyota and ANCAP seem to think buyers of small sports cars are aware there might be safety drawbacks and understand what they’re getting into.

The GR86 has seven airbags, a seat-belt warning, auto high-beam, AEB in all variants, lane departure warning, and hill-assist. Nothing intrusive and a lack of annoying beeps and chimes which is welcome in a car focused on letting the driver be in charge.

If you're determined to fit a child seat (or two!) in the back there are top tether points and ISOFIX anchors for both positions.

The Genesis after-purchase program is hard to beat and such a treat because you get five years or up to 50,000km complimentary servicing with the G70. How good is that? 

The G70 also comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the servicing intervals are every at 12-months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first. The interval could be annoying if you travel a lot but any annoyance will be softened by the fact that the services are free.

Toyota offers a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which increases to seven years if you keep your servicing within Toyota’s network.

It’s a step-up from what has been the standard mainstream warranty for some time, but other brands are pulling ahead with eight- or even 10-year warranties.

There’s also a capped-price servicing plan for five years and the first five services are limited to $335 at the time of writing.

Finding somewhere for that should be a breeze, Toyota has so many dealerships it simply lists ‘over 275 locations’ as its latest count.