Tick the manual on a GR86 order form and Toyota takes away your rear parking sensors. In a low coupe with a letterbox rear window, that’s a strange thing to lose for choosing the gearbox the whole car is built around.
It’s also the most useful fact to know before you decide whether this can be your only car. The short version: yes, if it mostly carries one or two people and you go in with your eyes open about fuel, the back seat and reversing.
We haven’t driven the current GR86. This guide is built from Toyota’s specs and published Australian road tests, mainly CarsGuide’s test of the GTS and carsales’ review of the same car.
What $43,940 gets you
A 2.4-litre flat-four with 174kW and 250Nm, rear-wheel drive, a six-speed manual and roughly 1.3 tonnes to push along. That’s the GT, before on-road costs. The GTS is $46,090, the Dynamic Performance Pack (Brembo brakes and Sachs dampers) adds $2,200, and premium paint is $575. A GTS with the pack and a colour comes to $48,865 before on-roads.
Nothing else new in Australia gives you that layout for the money. It’s also a brilliant base for tinkering, which is half the reason people buy them.
The GR86 as a Daily
Works as a daily
- 237-litre boot, more than most sports cars
- Physical buttons, minimal chimes
- Five-year warranty, seven if dealer-serviced
- Services capped at $335 each
Fights you as a daily
- No ANCAP rating at all
- Manual deletes rear parking sensors
- Rear seats suit short hops only
- 98 RON only, about 11.0L/100km in road tests
The bits that work
The boot. 237 litres is more than you’d guess, and enough for a weekly shop or two soft bags. The opening is narrow, so think suitcases, not flat-pack.
The cabin controls. An 8.0-inch screen for audio and phone, and real switches for the climate. In 2026 that counts as a feature.
The running costs you can predict. Five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with seven years on the driveline if you service at Toyota. Services are every 12 months or 15,000km, and CarsGuide quoted them capped at $335 each in February 2026. Get the current figure from your dealer.
The bits that don’t
The back seat is for bags
Toyota calls it a four-seater. CarsGuide’s tester gave the rear seats about 15 minutes before an adult would want out, and carsales called them a token gesture. Treat them as a padded parcel shelf and you’ll never be disappointed.
The roof sits 1,310mm off the ground, so you lower yourself in and climb back out. Fun on a Sunday. Less fun twice a day in a work car park.
It drinks 98, and plenty of it
Toyota claims 9.5L/100km for the manual and 8.8 for the auto, on 98 RON only. Both CarsGuide and carsales saw about 11.0L/100km in mixed driving. With a 50-litre tank, expect to see a servo around every 450km.
The safety list has gaps you choose yourself
There’s no ANCAP rating for this generation. Then there are two ways to lose equipment:
- Pick the GT and you miss out on rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring.
- Pick the manual and you miss out on rear parking sensors and the parking support brake.
Order a manual GT and you’ve opted out of both lists. Seven airbags, lane departure warning and auto high-beam are standard, and CarsGuide and carsales both report the manual now has autonomous emergency braking. Toyota’s own GR86 page still described AEB as auto-only when we checked, so confirm it with the dealer before you sign.
What testers say it’s like to drive
Both outlets rate the steering and handling highly. That’s the reason the car exists and nobody disputes it.
The complaints are about living with it. CarsGuide found the ride firm over urban bumps and thought the clutch lacked feel, to the point where you might stall it. carsales said the sharp throttle mapping makes smooth gear changes harder than they should be, and described the noise and vibration as excessive. Neither would bother you on a mountain road. Both will be there at 7:40am on the Monash.
One thing the two tests don’t agree on is the Dynamic Performance Pack. CarsGuide found the ride firm with it fitted, while carsales thought its dampers soaked up bumps well. Drive a car with the pack and one without on a rough street before you spend the $2,200.
On your Ps? It’s banned in NSW
New South Wales bans provisional drivers from anything over 130kW per tonne, and it measures that against tare mass. At 174kW and 1,226kg tare for the GT manual, the GR86 works out to about 142kW per tonne, and carsales lists its NSW status as banned. Victoria uses the same 130kW per tonne limit.
Our P-plate legal cars list has the state-by-state detail. Save this one for when the green Ps come off.
Who should buy one
Buy the GT manual if this is your car and nobody else’s, you can park by mirrors and camera, and the fuel bill doesn’t scare you. Put what you saved over the GTS into good tyres.
Skip it if the back seat needs to carry people, or if it’s the only car for a household. A used warm hatch gives you four real doors, and a Saturday on the Black Spur will tell you whether you can live without rear-wheel drive.
The GR86 is a sports car that puts up with commuting. If you buy it expecting a sporty commuter, you’ll be annoyed by Christmas.
