As any reasonable enthusiast should, I adore the Toyota GR86. From serious noise improvements over the old car to more torque to an even better chassis, it truly makes me wonder if anyone actually needs more performance car for everyday use. For 2024, Toyota’s right-sized coupe gets a fresh special edition and a seriously useful round of upgrades. If you’ve been holding off on buying one, this might be the sign you’re looking for.
While the Trueno Edition is officially commemorating 40 years of the AE86 Corolla, I suspect many people will think that Toyota’s pandering directly to weebs. Yes, the Initial D panda livery of everyone’s second-favorite anime car (Speed Racer’s Mach 5 FTW) mostly came as stock equipment on the AE86 Sprinter Trueno, but that’s not what people remember it for. Still, it should make some people jump for joy.
Toyota only plans on making an extremely obvious 860 Trueno Editions, some in red and some in the obvious white. No matter which color you pick, you’ll get black vinyl stripes down the doors and front fenders, a black vinyl patch on the hood, a black spoiler, and special Trueno badges that are likely worth the price of admission. I don’t care terribly much for the graphics package but those badges are pretty.
Also worthy of your consideration? The interior. Toyota has wrapped the seat bolsters and door cards inserts in red leather which really brightens things up in there. Thanks to the pesky modernity of things like side impact protection, it can feel a bit dark in the standard car’s black interior, so a dash of color is much appreciated. Naturally, the red leather accents come paired with red stitching on the steering wheel, handbrake boot, and shift boot, while a special gear knob with the Trueno logo and a numbered dash plaque cap things off.
Unsurprisingly, the Toyota GR86 Trueno Edition is based on the Premium trim so it gets 18-inch wheels, an eight-speaker stereo, all the mod-cons you could realistically want, and one big problem. See, if you tick the box for the Premium trim, you could bag everything except the stripes, the emblems, the plaque, the shift knob, and the red interior bits at what could very well be a lower price. Well, almost everything — you’d have to spec a package to get the really good bits.
Yes, the big news for 2024 is the GR86 Performance Package which comes standard on the Trueno Edition, can be optioned on other 2024 models and retrofitted onto any existing GR86 with 18-inch wheels. Consisting of retuned Sachs dampers, four-piston Brembo fixed front calipers, and two-piston Brembo rear calipers, it promises improved damping and a huge selection of off-the-shelf pads for the trackday enthusiast who doesn’t want to compromise their daily driver with stiff coilovers. As a bonus, front brake disc diameter jumps by 1.2 inches and rear brake disc diameter grows an inch. Pricing isn’t out yet, but this Performance Package certainly seems like an upgrade worth considering.
The other thing worth noting is that manual cars now come with a full suite of advanced driver assistance systems including automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic high beams. While this sounds like it could get expensive for tuners wanting to do their own facelifts, don’t worry just yet — Toyota claims that the suite uses stereo cameras, and no unsightly front grille radar tumor can be seen in the press pics. What this all essentially means is that if you’re 17 and your parents want to buy you a new car that will slam on the brakes in an emergency, your list of options just got immensely more fun.
Pricing hasn’t been released yet for the 2024 Toyota GR86 but expect more information to surface closer to the car’s on-sale date later this year. With the Performance Pack option and the manual gearbox, I have a strong feeling that this could be the best 86 yet.
(Photo credits: Toyota)
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Apologies, but my favorite anime car is Sweet JP’s Trans Am
I’m surprised that Toyota didn’t just go all in and make it an “Initial D” package or something. Include a gimmicky “ramen heater” and some Japanese text on the door that says “Toyota” and the weebs will be out in masses.
Hell, you could even sell the automatics with a crazy looking, light up LED badge around the shifter housing to really sell it.
Tofu themed matching luggage
All that black vinyl and the black wheels, all I’m seeing is a car that’s pre-second-ownered.
Did I miss it? You say the badge sure is pretty, but I don’t see the badge in any pictures. What am I missing?
I really wanted a GR86 to replace my GT86, but they all sold out in the UK before any cars got to dealers. I’m on the waiting list in case anyone drops out of the list for the second batch.
I’m not even remotely happy about buying a car I’ve never even seen, so I’m not sure how I’ll react if I get a slot.
I’ve never bought a new car before, and Toyota are trying their best to make sure it never happens.
Although Nissan are trying even harder to make sure I can’t buy a new Z instead.
A performance package on a car with rear shocks smaller than a mountain bike is kind of laughable. I get that FRS/BRZ needs the trunk space, but a set of turrets and full size shocks with a normal stroke would help a lot.
I got my GT86 to replace my Elise, and it absolutely had to fit an MTB in the back. There isn’t any spare room back there, and while I understand about chassis stiffness I’d give loads of that up to have a hatch so I don’t have to post everything through a tiny slot.
No different than the original FRSBRZ/Toyobaru — wait for the Performance Package.
Glad it’s finally here.
Hopefully they can get to the bottom of the oiling issues sooner than later. Sure, it’s likely some combination of RTV sealant, oil temps without a cooler, or not running a baffled pan on track … but it could not be either, and that’s specter hangs over the car.
I was recently dismissing it as a problem for sustained high gs on a track and the occasional inexperienced money-shifer, but mine just blew at under 34k miles. Street driven only, treated better than any other engine I’ve owned, and it went after a straight line acceleration and no lateral g of note for probably 80 miles prior—noticed unusually high oil temps, pulled off highway, heard rod knock, and babied it to a nearby dealer. No argument over warranty and they said the pickup was clogged with RTV, but how clogged, IDK. I still think it’s a contributor, but am starting to suspect the main reason is that the higher redline than the other FA24s that aren’t seeming to have problems (even though I imagine they must have the excess RTV present as they’re built on the same line in the same way) and it’s showing the results of a marginal lubrication system originally designed for only 6500 rpm on a turbo engine with peak power lower than that and enough torque that it seldom needs to hit that speed in the first place (and probably falls off before then, I would imagine). Now I need to think about a different car, though I hate all of them and they cost more, but I can’t trust it out of warranty.
Needs a little more sidewall and ground clearance 😛
It would be nice if the GR86 had the GR engine too 😉
C’mon, divorce Subaru already and put in that Yaris motor.
I love the GR86, but Toyota really needs to clamp down on the dealer markups. Same goes for the GR Corolla. I tried to buy a GR Corolla, then a GR86, but I couldn’t find anyone willing to sell either of them anywhere near MSRP. So I ordered a G87 M2 instead, which I was able to get at MSRP. Totally different animals, but I’d rather buy the M2 at list than a GR86 at list + $10k.
Let us know how the M2 is. I really like the look of the G87 (ducks) and have seen a few in Zandvoort blue and I think it’s a great color. It’s slightly more than I should be spending on a car and the wife will probably never sign off on a coupe, but I’d still love to hear about the experience. I think some of the hate it’s getting is probably way overblown.
I’m eyeing the Integra Type S for my eventual next purchase, but we’ll see if the damn markups leave that car alone or not. I feel like the 52k-ish entry price is pretty steep to attract the JDM bro hysteria around the other cars…especially if it’s marked up further, but who knows.
Mine is Zandvoort Blue, and I personally love the looks of the G87. I don’t care what the haters say. Plus, it’s almost certainly going to be the last M car with a manual gearbox. It’s honestly a bit of a stretch financially, but two incomes and no kids makes it a little easier to justify. I’m also not getting any younger, and I’ve always wanted an M car. I feel like I’m running out of time to make it happen.
The Integra Type S looks to be pretty fantastic. A bit spendy in my opinion, but again… last of a dying breed. My primary concern with the Integra is that it’s probably going to be impossible to find one for less than $60k, and at $60k, it’s no longer an attractive option in my opinion.
Without flip-up headlights, that’s nothing but a Levin.
Yawn.
Falseno?
Can’t wait to see what Toyota dealerships charge for these. I’m guessing $15,000 over sticker, and JDM fanboys will line up around the block for the chance to vape in it. Sorry but I can’t see these SpEcIaL eDiTiOnS as anything but cynical cash grabs at this point. It’s just a way for manufacturers and their dealership network to overcharge for products they already make.
…but then again, until they can’t overcharge anymore I understand why they’d just keep doing it. Give literally any Japanese car some sort of lore, stick a manual in it, and people will trip over themselves to buy it. I’d genuinely like to experience the CTR/Integra Type S, GRC, and current Toyobaru at some point but all of this stuff is nuclear right now and it’s harming the enthusiast market in a major way.
In my area manuals are all going for $5,000-$7,500 or so over. If you’re going to spend friggin 40 grand on a GR86 you might as well track down a used Boxster or Cayman at that point…or get a 4 popper Supra if you absolutely HAVE to have JDM
But hey…you can have an auto-tragic one at sticker! Anyway, for whatever reason Subaru dealers seem to be selling BRZs at sticker but they go FAST. Like…within hours of being listed fast
I’m honestly curious about the process that Toyota goes through to decide the seat colors on their special editions and pro’s etc…