Toyota GR86 Review (A/T) — The Friendly Face of a Driver’s Car

Offer price: 306000

Currency: MYR

• Appearance - 9/10
  9/10
• Efficiency - 5/10
  5/10
• Features - 7/10
  7/10
• Materials - 7.5/10
  7.5/10
• Performance - 8/10
  8/10
• User Experience (UX) - 7/10
  7/10
• Value - 6/10
  6/10

Summary

If the Toyota GR86 is going to be your daily driver and the manual feels like too much commitment for city traffic, the automatic makes sense. If it is going to be a dedicated weekend car, do yourself a favour and get the manual. The GR86 deserves to be driven the way it was meant to be driven.

Overall

7.1/10

7.1/10

Pros

+ A Genuinely Unique Product in the Malaysian Market

+ Design That Earns Its Looks

+ The Automatic Makes It Genuinely Liveable Every Day

+ The Transmission Rewards Commitment

+ A Capable and Forgiving Driver’s Companion

+ Well-Equipped for a Sports Coupe

Cons

– 237 PS at RM306,000 Is a Hard Sell in 2026

– The Automatic Is the Less Rewarding Version of This Car

– Rear Seats Are Functionally Useless

– Fuel Consumption Requires Acceptance

– Practicality Is Limited By Design

– Infotainment System is Rather Outdated

• Shopee

Toyota GR86 Walkaround

If there is one thing the GR86 does not need to apologise for, it is how it looks. The current generation is a meaningful visual improvement over its predecessor, with bodylines that flow with far more coherence and purpose. The rear end in particular is excellent, with every line arriving at the right conclusion. The front is perhaps the one area where the design feels slightly less resolved, a touch busy compared to the clean confidence of everything behind it, but it is a minor observation against an otherwise well-proportioned sports car.

Our test unit arrived in black, which is less of a show-off compared to the red colorway but still eye-catching nonetheless. It is the kind of car that earns attention at petrol stations and traffic lights without trying too hard, and its compact, muscular proportions communicate athletic intent even when it is standing still. At 4,265mm long and 1,310mm tall, it is genuinely small by modern car standards, and that low roofline and wide stance give it a silhouette that is unmistakably a sports coupe.

Inside, Toyota has kept things appropriately focused. The cabin is driver-oriented without being spartan, with leather and suede seats in black with red trim that look and feel the part. The 8-inch display audio with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto handles infotainment without overcomplicating the dashboard, and the 7-inch colour TFT instrument display keeps driving information clearly in view. The 3-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel is tilt and telescopically adjustable, and the dual-zone automatic climate control is a practical inclusion for a car you might genuinely use every day.

The back seats exist. That is about the best that can be said for them. For a car of this size and purpose, their presence is more symbolic than functional, and most owners will treat them as additional luggage space rather than seating for humans. Build quality is solid throughout, befitting the GR badge. The GR86 feels like a car that was engineered with intention rather than assembled to a price, and that integrity carries through in how every surface and control feels in use.

Specifications

Fuel Consumption

At approximately 9.4 L/100 km on the manufacturer’s figure, and considerably more if you are using the GR86 the way it is meant to be driven, the running costs are a reality that daily drivers will feel. This is not unusual for a sports car, but it is worth factoring into the total cost of ownership calculation, particularly at the GR86’s price point. From my own experience while reviewing the car, this is what I got:

• Starting odometer: 18,722 km
• Last odometer reading: 19,067 km
• Fuel used: 37.5 litres (rough estimate)
• Fuel consumption: 345 km / 37.5 litres = 9.2 km/L (4.48 L/100km)
• Last average fuel consumption reading on instrument cluster: 20.8 km/L (10.87 L/100km)

While it’s no surprise to see that my results differ from the manufacturer’s figure, it’s still within expected levels, especially for a car like this where I find myself driving faster than usual most of the time. My driving is roughly 40% city and 60% highway.

The Good

A Genuinely Unique Product in the Malaysian Market

The GR86 occupies a space that almost nothing else does in Malaysia at its price point. A brand-new rear-wheel drive sports coupe with a naturally aspirated engine, proper driving dynamics, and Toyota reliability behind it is an increasingly rare thing to find anywhere, let alone here. Unless you are considering the Mazda MX-5, there is no direct rival at this price. That scarcity alone makes the GR86 worth paying attention to, and it is something you appreciate more the longer you spend with it.

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Design That Earns Its Looks

The GR86 looks like a sports car because it is one, and the proportions back up the promise. The low roofline, wide stance, and compact footprint give it a visual athleticism that does not feel borrowed or manufactured. The attention it drew on the road was consistent and genuine. Inside, the driver-focused layout and red-trimmed black cabin feel appropriately purposeful without being uncomfortable for everyday use. If you want it to be flashier, get the red colorway instead.

The Automatic Makes It Genuinely Liveable Every Day

In normal driving mode around town, the automatic GR86 is remarkably composed and easy to live with. It is quiet, smooth, and undemanding in traffic, behaving more like a well-mannered daily car than a sports coupe with something to prove. For someone who wants a single car that handles both the commute and the occasional spirited drive without requiring constant manual gear management, the automatic transmission makes that proposition significantly more realistic.

The Transmission Rewards Commitment

Where the automatic GR86 reveals its character is when you ask something of it. Put it in Sport mode and the transmission holds gears with an eagerness that feels almost communicative, as if it is actively encouraging you to explore the rev range. The boxer engine’s sound at higher revs is genuinely rewarding, and the paddle shifters give you enough manual control to stay engaged without the physical demands of a traditional manual gearbox. It is not the same experience as the manual, but it is not trying to be a different car either.

A Capable and Forgiving Driver’s Companion

The short wheelbase and rear-wheel drive setup make the GR86 naturally playful, but its light weight and compact size mean that when things get lively, there is less inertia working against you and more room to correct mistakes. For someone building confidence with rear-wheel drive dynamics, the GR86 is about as ideal a learning environment as a car can offer. It will expose your limits without punishing you for finding them, which is a harder balance to achieve than it sounds. The Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres on 18-inch alloys provide appropriate grip for both spirited and everyday driving, while also being a major upgrade over the previous Pilot Sport 4 in terms of comfort and longevity.

Well-Equipped for a Sports Coupe

The GR86 does not shortchange you on features for the sake of keeping weight down. Adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitor with rear cross traffic alert, a pre-crash system, lane departure alert, front and rear DVR, dual-zone automatic climate control, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are all present. Seven airbags and a full suite of active safety systems mean the safety credentials are taken seriously, which matters for a car that many buyers will use as a daily driver.

The Bad

237 PS at RM306,000 Is a Hard Sell in 2026

The GR86 is not about raw power and never has been, but at RM306,000 for the automatic, the headline figures are difficult to present without acknowledging what else that money could buy. Used performance cars with significantly more power exist within or near this price range, and while the GR86’s driving experience is about much more than horsepower, buyers who prioritise performance figures over driving engagement will find the numbers underwhelming for the asking price.

The Automatic Is the Less Rewarding Version of This Car

This is not a criticism of the GR86 as a product, but it is an honest observation about the variant reviewed. The manual transmission is the more engaging way to experience what the GR86 is about. Throttle modulation, rev matching, and the full mechanical involvement of a traditional stick shift are part of what makes a rear-wheel drive sports coupe like this special, and the automatic, for all its daily usability and transmission character, removes a layer of that connection. If the GR86’s appeal is primarily about driving engagement, the manual at RM296,000 is the more compelling buy, and knowing that while driving the automatic is a persistent undercurrent.

Rear Seats Are Functionally Useless

The GR86 has four seats in the technical sense. In practice, the rear seats are only usable by small children or as supplementary storage. For anyone considering the GR86 as a sole vehicle with occasional passenger duties beyond the front two seats, this is a genuine limitation worth understanding before committing. You can still have a fun drive with more proper rear seats with the likes of the GR Corolla.

Practicality Is Limited By Design

The Toyota GR86 is a two-door coupe with a small boot and a low roofline, and those are features rather than flaws, but they do mean that anyone expecting the kind of everyday versatility that a hatchback or sedan provides will find the GR86 demanding in ways that go beyond its transmission. Long highway drives, grocery runs, and airport trips all require a degree of planning and compromise that a more practical car would not. Realistically though, one would not even consider this car for practicality anyway, but if this would be the only car you can use daily, really think through your living situation first.

Infotainment System is Rather Outdated

At RM300K, you’d expect the infotainment system to be up-to-date but unfortunately, it’s rather outdated by today’s standards. It hasn an 8-inch display, which is decent but rather small, and there’s no wireless Apple CarPlay support from what I can see. It connects to my iPhone via Bluetooth just fine but I can only use it to play music that way. If you want the full Apple CarPlay experience, wired is the only way unless you buy some form of aftermarket wireless adapter.

If they can transplant the same 10-inch infotainment system from the GR Corolla, it would have been good enough, and I’m only saying good enough because I still hate that the unit requires the USB port to be directly on it instead, resulting in an eyesore. But hey, at least having the ability to use Wireless CarPlay means you can avoid that same eyesore. At present, the USB ports to connect to the GR86’s infotainment system is located below the armrest, which is a much better affair.

Toyota GR86 A/T Verdict

The Toyota GR86 A/T is a genuinely special car in a market that has increasingly little room for cars like it. Its design is excellent, its driving dynamics are engaging even without a manual gearbox, and its combination of daily usability and weekend fun in a single package is something very few new cars can offer at any price. The automatic transmission makes it more accessible and easier to live with, and for the right buyer, that is exactly what is needed.

But at RM306,000, the automatic variant asks you to pay a premium over the manual for a version of the GR86 that is objectively less engaging to drive. The power figures are modest for the price, the practicality is limited by design, and the knowledge that the manual version of this same car exists for RM10,000 less sits with you throughout. The GR86 A/T earns a Bronze Pokdeward, and it is a high one. The car itself is better than Bronze, but at this price and in this configuration, the manual is simply the more honest recommendation.

If the GR86 is going to be your daily driver and the manual feels like too much commitment for city traffic, the automatic makes sense. If it is going to be a dedicated weekend car, do yourself a favour and get the manual. The GR86 deserves to be driven the way it was meant to be driven.

Big thanks to Toyota Malaysia for loaning us this car for the purpose of this review.