Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.The Affordable Midlife Crisis CarMy wife would never approve of me purchasing a Corvette Stingray and not just because it's out of our budget. It's just too much to be seen in and far too powerful to use where we live. Then, there's more modest fare that's under the radar, like the GR86. That said, the 2nd-generation Toyota GR86 is getting old, kinda like me. Having debuted in 2021 as a 2022 model, it's creeping up on its sixth year. But getting behind the wheel of this dynamic sports coupe makes old things new again and rekindles my love for a truly analog driving experience after driving slushbox crossovers ad infinitum.Amos KwonThe GR86 is not fast by modern sports car standards. It is not luxurious. It will not impress the neighbors (at least not mine). But it is one of the last true sports cars (RWD, manual, naturally-aspirated) sold in America, and after a week with it, the GR86 remains near the top of my personal ownerhip list. How the nex-generation GR86 will play out remains a mystery. I doubt it will be as pure as this one.AdvertisementAdvertisementMy test car this time was a 2026 GR86 Premium with the six-speed manual, with a base price of $33,800. Combined with the $1,195 destination charge and options such as the GR Aero kit ($2,700), Performance Package ($1,500), GR Performance Stabilizer Bars ($1,320), and GR Performance Strut Brace ($640), the total price came to $41,783.Exterior & Interior Styling – 8/10Amos KwonThe last Toyota 86 was fine, but it lacked cohesiveness and presence. This one is better, far better. The crisp front end, simplified headlight shape, better proportions, and that ducktail spoiler! The hood is low and long, the cabin is pushed rearward, the roofline tapers into a short rear deck, and the whole thing sits close to the ground on a 101.4-inch wheelbase. It reads as a proper front-engine, rear-drive coupe that looks good from every angle. In grey with black wheels and red calipers, it's truly attractive. It doesn't look expensive, but it does look purposeful.View the 4 images of this gallery on the original articleThe Premium trim level earns its money visually. It swaps in 18-inch matte-black alloy wheels wrapped in 215/40R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires, adds adaptive LED headlights and finishes the tail with a color-keyed ducktail spoiler. It even gives the near-exotic looking Mazda MX-5 Miata RF a run for its money. I dare say it looks even better, at least from the outside.Amos KwonThe cabin of the GR86 works, and the overall styling takes a back seat to the purposeful driving setup. Aside from the suede sport seats and analog controls, there's not much to boast about. The Premium's sport seats are trimmed in Ultrasuede with leather bolsters and two-stage heating, the pedals are aluminum with rubber inserts, and everything the driver touches sits exactly where it should. Gray and black plastics abound, and the graphics on the screens are lackluster. I love the GR logos on the steering wheel and start button, as well as the red numerals and illumination on the climate controls, I can't help but think Toyota/Subaru could've made the interior just a litle more special.AdvertisementAdvertisementView the 4 images of this gallery on the original articleMaterials on the door cards and lower dash are hard plastic and make no secret of it. I don't particularly mind, but if you're shopping this against even a Civic Si, you'll notice. The layered dash is bulky, the center stack looks cheap, and the center armrest comes across like it was an afterthought. None of these issues are deal-breakers, however, because they all of it functions properly and without complexity. This car is about driving, not about plush materials or state-of-the-art technology.Infotainment and Technology – 6.5/10Amos KwonEvery GR86 gets an 8.0-inch touchscreen with standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (wired, not wireless), plus a SiriusXM trial, and the Premium upgrades the base six-speaker audio to an eight-speaker system with an amplifier. There's also a 7.0-inch reconfigurable digital gauge cluster with Normal, Sport, and Track layouts, and the Track view pulls up a linear tachometer with a shift indicator that's genuinely useful when you're chasing the redline.View the 4 images of this gallery on the original articleAdvertisementAdvertisementThe touchscreen itself is dated. Graphics are plain, the menu logic is a generation behind current Toyota software, and there's no wireless CarPlay, so plan on keeping a cable in the center bin. The graphics look dated, and the system is a Subaru product, hence the same look that has grown old quickly. What I appreciate is that the climate controls remain large, easy to grab, physical knobs and the volume is a real dial. Sure, the head unit looks like it came from a Crutchfield clearance sale, but everything works just fine. Just don't pit it against the setup in a Hyundai Elantra N, much less a regular Elantra Limited.Driver assistance is where the Premium adds meaningful content: blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert joins the standard suite of adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic high beams. Note that on manual cars, some of the pre-collision braking functionality is unavailable, which is a longstanding quirk of this platform.Comfort, Space, and Usability – 7/10Amos KwonThere's no question that the GR86 is not meant to be modestly comfortable for more than two people. The driving position is superb, with your hips near the floor and a tilt-and-telescoping wheel that adjusts to get you ready to hit apexes and kick out the back end. Toyota and Subaru spent a lot of time on this, and it's apparent. Front seats are firm, well-bolstered, and comfortable across a few hours, and forward visibility is excellent thanks to that low cowl. The cupholders are set back in the center console within the folding compartment. They're not as frustrating to use as the Miata's, but they're also not convenient.Amos KwonThe rear seat is a joke if you think that they're for humans. At 29.9 inches of legroom and 33.5 inches of headroom, it will not hold an adult unless that adult is a contortionist or a fan masochist. Even my 4th grade son had to shove the front passenger seat all the way forward just to get a modicum of legroom. If anyone over 5 feet sits in front, rear occupants can't really sit with their feet in the footwell. The back seats are, basically, extra storage, but it's more than a Miata can offer. The GR86's party trick is that with the backrest down you can fit a set of four track tires inside. The trunk on its own measures 6.3 cubic feet, which is enough for a weekend bag and a laptop bag or about five grocery bags. Still, it's more than a Miata.AdvertisementAdvertisementRoad noise is constant and the ride is firm and busy over broken pavement, which is a real consideration in Chicago. The manual is rated 20/26/22 mpg city/highway/combined, and with a 13.2-gallon tank you'll be stopping more often than you'd like on a long trip. This is a second car, or a first car for someone who has understood the limitations and has accepted the GR86's terms. No one buys this car for its practicality. That said, it's better than, well, a Miata.Driving Experience – 9.75/10Amos KwonThis is the headline, in all honesty. Without the superb dynamics of the GR86, the car is just a sporty-looking coupe. The 2.4-liter naturally aspirated flat-four makes 228 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 184 lb-ft at 3,700 rpm, driving the rear wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential, with a 5.4-second sprint to 60 mph with the manual. That might not raise anyone's hair, but the collective experience of throttle, brake, clutch, and shifter bring delights this modest horsepower on paper cannot equal. The GR86 is an utter delight to drive.Amos KwonThe chassis is sublime, and the steering is sharper than the Miata's, although it gives up a smidge of feedback to the Mazda. Turn-in is immediate, the car gracefully rotates around you, and the boxer engine's low center of gravity is something you feel. Steering and shifting are sublime, albeit the latter is a tad tall for us. Best of all, the GR86 lets you use most of its capability at legal speeds, driving it at 9/10ths won't get you locked up. You can carry real momentum through a 35-mph sweeper, feel the rear axle take a set, then adjust the car's attitude with your right foot. Most modern performance cars need a racetrack before they start communicating with you. The GR86 started the moment I turned the corner from my house.Amos KwonEven with a the car's available 6-speed automatic, the GR86 would still be fun to drive thanks to the engine tuning and chassis balance, but it's the manual transmission that awakens the car properly. Throws are short and mechanical, and the clutch takeup is easy to learn. The GR86 is one of those cars that heightens the senses and makes you feel like it's an extension of the driver.AdvertisementAdvertisementToyota recently revised throttle mapping for better linearity, retuning the electric power steering for stability over rough surfaces, and widening the chamfer on the shift gate between fourth and fifth gear by half a millimeter. That might not sound like much, but you feel the changes when you push the car. It feels more lively and also smoother, at the same time. Although pedal spacing is good, the brake and gas exist on different plane,s making heel-and-toeing a challenge, unlike in the Miata.Amos KwonIt's an utter delight to drive. Handling is remarkably intuitive, and you can easily recover from mistakes, of which there are few. There's a soft patch in the torque curve around 3,000 rpm where the engine goes momentarily flat, and the flat-four sounds coarse and industrial near the redline. You learn to keep the revs up and drive around both. Even with the optional SACHS dampers that come with the performance package, the ride is not compliant over undulating pavement. You bounce around like a rag doll. These are small prices to pay when the driving experience is better than most cars costing twice as much.Final Verdict – 9/10The 2026 GR86 Premium is a specialist that makes no apology for its shortcomings. The final rating is so high because you ignore most of its flaws the more you drive it. The Premium trim doesn't cost much more, and it's the trim I'd buy. The upsized Michelin tires, LED adaptive headlights, and heated seats actually change how you live with the car, and at a little over $40k all in, the value argument still holds. Spend money on the Performance Package, too, even if you're not a weekend trackhound.If you need one car to do everything, buy something else. If you want a car that makes any length of time in the car feel like an autocross event, and if you want a car that teaches you to be a better driver, and that costs less than the average new-vehicle transaction price, there is nothing else quite like the GR86.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Aug 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Reviews section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.