Toyota 86 GTS 2021 Review

As the Toyota 86 heads towards its 10th year on the Australian market and a second-generation model is expected to arrive in early 2022, it seems timely to hark back on the history of what is the Japanese brand’s biggest-selling sports car since the long-running Celica, which launched in 1971 and retired after 35 years and seven generations in 2006.

The Toyota 86 is the company’s most successful sports coupe since then. In 2018 its local sales passed the 20,000 mark (the Celica reached that figure only four years after its Australian launch) and in early 2021 were well on the way to 21,000.

Sharing its development with Subaru’s virtually-identical BRZ coupe, the Toyota 86 launched locally in June 2012 and was so eagerly anticipated that potential buyers were faced with an 18-month waiting list.

Like its Subaru cousin, the Toyota 86 has not changed much over almost a decade. With its balance of great handling and carefully-judged engine performance, the 2+2 coupe can be likened, in basic concept, to Mazda’s respected and even longer-running (the original version launched in 1989) MX-5 two-door convertible.

Things happened to the Toyota 86 along the way of course. The suspension was tweaked in 2014 for more overall refinement and, in July 2016, the engine was boosted from its initial 147kW/205Nm power outputs to 152kW/212Nm (not bad for an aspirated 2.0-litre) and further helped by lowering of the final drive ratio from 4.1:1 to a more revvy and accelerative 4.3:1.

This dropped the admittedly-conservative manual-transmission version’s 0-100km/h acceleration time from an officially quoted 7.6 seconds to 7.4sec.

The Toyota 86’s evolution also included an optional factory-sanctioned performance kit tagged at a bit more than $2000 on GTS models, which left the boxer powerplant untouched but brought, among other things, more substantial Brembo brakes and a set of performance-tuned Sachs dampers.

Along the way, the Toyota 86 picked up standard sat-nav across the range, along with progressive, subtle improvements to the interior, which at first tended to reveal its introductory low-price roots.

Today, the 2021 Toyota 86 GTS manual will set you back $37,380 plus on-road costs, while the base GT manual is tagged at $32,180.

These are not great hikes over the 2012 sticker prices ($35,490 for the manual GTS and $29,990 for the entry-level manual) and include stuff that wasn’t in the original, such as Toyota Link connectivity, a reversing camera and – in the base model – standard sat-nav.

Other than these things, the Toyota 86 is still pretty basic: The seats are adjusted manually, the headlights are LED but lack self-dipping capability, there’s climate-control but no seat heating, no Apple CarPay/Android Auto and a pretty crumby six-speaker audio system.

But the glaringly obvious shortfall concerns safety technology. Literally, the Toyota 86 belongs to another era.

Autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane tracing and all the warning systems we’ve come to expect across a broad cross-section of vehicles from light-class upwards – such as lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and driver attention detection – are simply absent.

The enjoyment factor figures pretty strongly in the DNA of the 2021 Toyota 86. Providing you buy it for the right reasons, the still slick-looking 2+2 coupe is hardly likely to let you down.

Many other cars in the same price bracket are bound to feel lifeless and non-inspiring by comparison. There’s rarely a time when dropping (way, way) down into the Toyota 86 driver’s seat doesn’t rejuvenate.

It’s a fast car, not a powerful one, even if the artificially-induced engine note suggests otherwise.

One doesn’t line up in an 86 with the intention of blowing away everything else on a club day, but the experience is always going to be an enjoyable one as the Toyota’s predictable, finely balanced handling – helped in this case by the tweaked suspension and tenacious Brembo brakes – shows the way through the tight bends.

Exit speeds become important as, even with the extra punch made more usable by the lower gear ratios, the non-turbocharged torque and the high rpm at which it arrives, means there are plenty of performance holes to fall into.

The gears are there to use – though smooth changing is made tricky by the ‘electronic flywheel’ effect which keeps the revs up while shifting and interferes with accelerator/clutch coordination.

In regular driving, the 86 steers wonderfully and the ride meted out by the tweaked suspension remains on the comfortable side of firm. The manually-adjusted seats are laterally grippy and it’s not difficult to find a comfy driving position. Just forget about offering anyone a space in the back.

With the front seats set to comfortably accommodate even a medium-size front passenger, the front backrests are pressed firmly into the leading edge of the rear cushions.

If that’s not enough to deter, then the flimsy, fumbly strap that releases the front backrest and slides the seats forward is hard to find and requires the fingers of a robot superhero to activate.

And the sound system, as alluded to earlier, is pretty useless in a cabin which celebrates engine noise and doesn’t mind a bit of intrusion from the tyres either.

The tiny, old-school display for navigating the road network might be welcome for at least being there, but it still leaves one yearning for one of today’s super-size screens.

Clearly the 2021 Toyota 86 is fundamentally purpose-specific. Yes, it might not be a bad thing to be seen in, but it’s what it delivers to the driver that’s most important.

Therefore if you’re part of an adventurous couple that likes to throw a couple of bags aboard and take a random blast for a weekend down the coast, preferably on winding, up-hill, down-dale roads, then there are not many cars that would deliver more enjoyment.

The boot is pretty reasonable at 237 litres (a Mazda MX-5, by comparison, will carry just 127 litres) but the 86 is not for throwing aboard a full-size mountain bike or two, or even toting a surfboard. Maybe a couple of sets of snow skis on the roof?

Also, being the lowest-slung of all current Toyotas, a kindly offer to an elderly relative of a lift to the shops is absolutely not on the cards.

It’s pretty unlikely that an unaware buyer will have a Toyota 86 on his/her new-car radar.

It doesn’t take much to figure its limitations and if you don’t have some idea of where the positive points lie then you either need to do your research or look elsewhere.

No it’s not going to perform like a Ford Mustang – four-cylinder or V8 – and in many ways it’s not going to be an easy car to live with day-in and day-out, particularly if you need to factor other passengers into your calculations.

Yes, the Toyota 86 is a very specific vehicle and if your needs/wants gel with what it offers then it’s hard to imagine a sports car that offers better value.

Do we like the car that is on the verge of being replaced by an undoubtedly more modern, more tech-savvy reflection of the increasingly-pragmatic needs of today?

Most definitely.

How much does the 2021 Toyota 86 GTS Performance Pack cost?
Price: $37,380 (plus on-road costs and approximately $2200 for Performance Pack)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol boxer
Output: 152kW/212Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 8.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 194g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (2012 ANCAP)