You may know this little coupe as an entry-level performance piece at Toyota, or you may not recognize it as a Toyota at all. That’s because the Toyota 86, as it’s been known, is also sold as the Subaru BRZ, representing an early (but definitely not the last – see the forthcoming Solterra EV) collaboration between the two automakers, under which Subaru supplies its snugly fitting flat-four powerplant and builds the car for both brands at the Fuji Heavy Industries assembly plant in Gunma, Japan. The news that the car’s been extensively redone for 2022 means that both Toyota and Subaru will have a fully contemporary, intelligently price sport coupe on their showroom floors in very short order. At Toyota, there’s been enough newness added to justify giving the coupe a coveted Gazoo Racing badge, officially making the Toyota-badged version of the car the GR 86.
Scaling in appealingly at around 2,800 pounds dry, the GR 86 gets a notable boost in its new iteration via an enlarged bore number for its naturally aspirated, 2.4-liter Subaru engine, which increases its output by more than 20 horsepower to a new total of 228, with an attendant improvement in usable torque. Cross-pollination across nameplates is also evident by the adoption of Toyota D-4S direct fuel injection. Driveline choices at Toyota include either manual or automatic transaxles. The Gazoo Racing goodies include model-specific seating and an in-your-face spoiler treatment, both apropos given that the new 86 beats the old one to 60 MPH by more than a full second.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 