Toyota GR 86 vs Subaru BRZ

What's the difference?

The new, second generation take on the hachi-roku formula adds a serious amount of 'GRRRR' to the mix. This is it - the new-look, more powerful and much angrier Toyota GR86.

It takes the familiar front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car formula and mixes in a bit of madness - there’s a more focused chassis setup, redone steering, a firmer ride and of course, a bigger capacity engine. Still no turbo, though.

The question is - does it improve on the original? And can it live up to its new jaw-dropping price?

Subaru struck gold when it first launched the BRZ in 2011.

It, alongside the related Toyota 86 (now GR86), has been the standard for budget two-door sports cars for 15 years now. Nothing besides the MX-5 convertible is in the same class.

However, buyer’s preferences have changed dramatically over the years and sports cars are at risk of becoming more mundane and vanilla to please the general public. It’s great that Subaru continues to offer the BRZ, importantly with the availability of a manual gearbox. Hallelujah.

Last year Subaru made some slight tweaks to the BRZ, including adding active safety tech and a ‘Sport’ mode to the manual trims, plus a full-size spare wheel on the top-spec tS grade.

Speaking of, we’ve got the BRZ tS manual on test here, so let’s see how it fares in 2026.