Revealed: New Toyota 86 has ace up its sleeve over BRZ cousin

While the rest of us spent our weekend stuffing our gobs with Easter chocolate, Toyota went ahead and finally unveiled its next-generation 86 coupe over the weekend.

Now, the initial thought from many will be whether the new 86 (now known as the GR 86, instead of as the GT86) is all that different to its Subaru BRZ blood brother, which itself was revealed late last year.

By and large, this story could be a copy-paste of the BRZ launch article, as plenty of the 86’s attributes are indeed something of a carry over. However, there are a few nuggets of difference to note.

The most notable of these is regarding powertrain. The 86 utilises the same Subaru-sourced 2.4-litre boxer four as the BRZ, only in this case it produces a lick more power. It’s rated at 173kW, two whole kilowatts more than the BRZ. It gets one extra newton metre of torque, too, with Toyota claiming 250Nm.

This allows the 86 to hit 100km/h in 6.3 seconds, some 1.1 second quicker than the outgoing model. Peak power and torque hit at 7000rpm and 3700rpm. Curiously, the Toyota gets a lower redline than its BRZ sibling; 7400rpm, to the Subaru’s 7500rpm.

In the launch, Toyota helped answer a question a lot of enthusiasts have had of the new model. Despite it being so close to the outgoing 86 in terms of dimensions, the new model is very different to the last one under the skin. This is no simple reskin.

The 86’s outer shell and interior are very similar to the BRZ, unsurprisingly. The 86 does get a different front and rear bumper, although the rear bumper, headlights, and taillights all appear to be carry-over parts from brand to brand.

Another big difference between the two models is accessibility. Subaru recently announced that the BRZ would not be sold in Europe, to the despair of enthusiasts all over the continent. The 86 however has been confirmed for Europe. This is nice to see, given that Europe will also miss out on the Nissan ‘400Z’.

And what about New Zealand? While, Toyota’s local arm hasn’t released any Kiwi details just yet, we expect the 86 to also head our way in due course.