2026 Toyota GR86: Plenty of fun, if you toss your EZPass

2026 Toyota GR86 Premium: As fun as it looks?

Price: $38,809 as tested. Black dual exhaust added $1,700; Performance Package, $1,500; fancy paint, $475; floor mats, $299.

What others are saying: “Highs: Genuinely rewarding to drive, one of the last manuals available, remarkably affordable. Lows: Noisy cabin on the interstate, we dare you to sit in the back, unexciting exhaust note,” says Car and Driver.

What Toyota is saying: “Level up your drive.”

Reality: Even funner, ‘til you get on the highway.

What’s new: The GR86 gets a new Yuzu Edition for 2026, with yellow paint and black seats. Otherwise it’s pretty much as before, since its redesign in 2022.

It’s a twin to the Subaru BRZ.

Competition: In addition to the Subaru, there are the BMW 2 Series, Honda Civic Si, Mazda Miata, Mini Cooper, and Volkswagen GTI.

Up to speed: The 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine makes 228 horsepower and gets the little sports car to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, says Car and Driver, and I believe it. I’d think it’s a little faster, but we’ll stick with the facts.

It’s truly a sporty car to drive. It’s fine for passing on Interstate highways and such but it’s really at home on the back roads, racing up hills and back down again.

Shifty: You can get a GR86 with a stick, but Mr. Driver’s Seat didn’t. The six-speed automatic transmission is a nice facsimile, with Park up in the right corner so it looks like it COULD be a stick. I actually spent a couple seconds looking for a clutch until I realized there wasn’t one.

The shifter then snakes through Reverse and Neutral to get to Drive, another bit of stick-shift cosplay.

The manual setting works nicely, and really makes the little car even that much more fun. Use the lever to augment the engine’s power for any country road antics and you’ll feel nicely rewarded.

On the road: Did someone say fun? The rear-drive GR86 has plenty of it, snaking through turns and sliding around corners even at fairly low speeds, so you can feel like it’s a blast even when not going much beyond 40 or 45 mph — although faster is funner.

Less fun is the time spent on the highway; I found myself getting a bit of a headache during half-hour trips on Route 202 between King of Prussia and West Chester.

Off the road, the GR86 is great companion for tight parking lots, thanks to a turning radius of 35 feet and change.

Driver’s seat: The cloth seats offer great support and are comfortable enough. They feel firm and a little crowded, so some people might not appreciate the big wings. The Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat found them as nice as I did.

The manual controls adjust height, fore-aft, and backrest simply.

The gauges and steering wheel controls are old-fashioned, looking like last-gen Lexus dials, but I call old-fashioned a good thing these days.

Friends and stuff: There’s a rear seat but it’s pretty cruel. Guests would have been harmed in the making of this review.

I finally build up the nerve to try it out on Day 6. The ceiling is so low that I had to cant my head to the side. Foot room and legroom look impossible, but I could actually get my legs in there by setting the front seat a few notches up from normal. But when I did that and tried out the front, my legs were more cramped than on a Frontier flight.

I would say only put kids in the back. Or maybe kid, singular.

Cargo space is 6.26 cubic feet. (I didn’t round it because you’ll need every .01 cube.) The seat folds (all in one complicated-to-open piece) to create more luggage space.

In and out: In and ouch. It’s way down there and requires a bit of undignified squatting, twisting, ducking, and scooching.

Play some tunes: Sad. Tinny. Sound gets a C grade, probably one of the lowest I’ve ever assigned.

Last-gen controls. You definitely won’t be distracted playing around with the touchscreen, though there is one, because it’s 2026 and I think it’s law now or something.

Keeping warm and cool: The heater controls feature dials for temperature and fan speed and buttons inside the dials for blower choice. It’s such a small car that it runs hot; the seat heaters offer nice support when it’s not too cold out, but the switches are awkwardly built into the armrest.

Fuel economy: I averaged about 26 mpg in spirited drives around Chester County’s old country roads every chance I could get. I would actually park and wait for certain roads to clear and then go make the most of the exhaust note. I guess the dual exhausts are worth $1,700.

Where it’s built: Ota, Gunma, Japan

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the GR86 reliability is a 4 out of 5.

In the end: Definitely lots of joy to be had here, and I could get behind buying a GR86. But with the Mini Cooper and Volkswagen GTI, you get fun and some practicality as well, plus the delight doesn’t diminish at highway speeds.