2024 Toyota GR86 Sharpens Its Tool Kit Ever So Slightly

Given the precision required to drive on a racetrack, small tweaks could make a giant distinction. Toyota is hoping {that a} new Efficiency bundle for the 2024 GR86 sports activities automobile will enchantment to homeowners who usually convey their automobiles to trace days and autocross occasions. This new improve, which can even be supplied as a retrofit for present 2022 and 2023 fashions, consists of bigger brakes and upgraded Sachs dampers that should enhance the rear-wheel-drive coupe’s responses.

We not too long ago bought an opportunity to run some laps within the GR86 with this bundle in new-for-2024 Trueno Version kind, with some back-to-back laps in a typical GR86 offering distinction. An identical bundle was supplied on the prior-generation 86 within the TRD model added late in that automobile’s run.

The upgraded brake rotors—measuring 12.8 inches in entrance and 12.4 inches within the rear—are bigger by 1.2 inches and 1.0 inch, respectively, in contrast with the usual automobile. Brembo calipers—four-piston in entrance and two-piston in rear—clamp down on these rotors, and the pads provide extra floor space as effectively. We felt a bit extra chunk from the pedal within the Efficiency bundle automobile, but it surely’s not a transformative impact. We stay up for testing the upgraded GR86 at our Lightning Lap occasion, as we beforehand discovered the inventory brakes in each the GR86 and its Subaru BRZ twin to be a weak spot after repeated laps. (It is necessary to notice that the brake fluid you utilize could make a distinction, too, because the inventory BRZ’s brakes exhibited much less fade with high-temp brake fluid.)

The impact of the Sachs dampers can also be refined, and Toyota says that these are supposed to enhance stability fairly than increase stiffness over inventory. We did not get an opportunity to drive the 2024 GR86 on public roads but, however we doubt there’s a lot of a distinction within the Efficiency pack’s journey high quality. Relaxation assured that the upgraded chassis does nothing to dilute or disrupt the playful nature of the GR86, and we had loads of enjoyable ripping the little coupe round.

Toyota is providing this bundle as a dealer-installed choice. It will come normal on the limited-run Trueno Version, which has an AE86-inspired graphics bundle and particular badges. The larger brakes solely match with the Premium trim degree’s 18-inch wheels, although, so you may both have to purchase this dearer trim degree or supply your individual wheels for the Efficiency pack to be appropriate.

Current GR86 homeowners who need these upgraded brakes and dampers will have the ability to retrofit them, and a Toyota consultant informed us that dealerships might even promote the elements on their very own if you wish to set up them your self or use a third-party store for set up (although this might doubtless void the guarantee). Pricing for the bundle is not out but—and we’re curious to see if Subaru presents an equal improve for the BRZ—however on the floor, this new Efficiency improve is wanting like a worthy buy.

Senior Editor

Regardless of being raised on a gentle weight loss plan of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or maybe due to it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive business all through his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He discovered a strategy to write about automobiles for the varsity newspaper throughout his school years at Rice College, which ultimately led him to maneuver to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first skilled auto-writing gig at Vehicle Journal. He has been a part of the Automotive and Driver group since 2016 and now lives in New York Metropolis.