Normies would probably say that Toyota’s best sports car was the MK4 Supra, but they’re wrong. The coolest and best thing to ever roll into a Toyota showroom is, without a doubt, the Celica All-Trac and GT4. Those rally-bred icons delivered manic turbocharged and all-wheel drive performance, and Toyota had an opportunity to do the same thing with the GR86, especially working with another rally legend brand, Subaru, to build it. This year at SEMA the Toyota will display one with the drivetrain from its GR Corolla, finally giving the GR86 the Celica soul it always needed.
Pretty much everyone who has ever driven a GR86 has seen the promise of that wonderful chassis, but has begged for just a little more power and the traction of all-wheel drive forward bite. Working with Evasive Motorsports, Toyota delivered a brand new GR86 and a brand new GR Corolla to the shop to begin the transformation, wedding the two chassis into a single all-wheel drive turbocharged rally-inspired monster.
The GR86 chassis is around 400 pounds lighter than the GR Corolla, and the weight is better balanced through the platform with a lower center of gravity. Swapping all of the Corolla’s hubs, axles, and differentials will probably see the 86 add a bit more weight, but even if the weights meet in the middle, you’d still have a sub-3,000 pound all-wheel drive two-seat super coupe. The turbocharged three-cylinder engine from the Corolla makes 72 more horsepower than the 86’s stock boxer four, more than making up for the extra weight.
This is a very exciting build, and I can’t wait to see the finished product. It’s truly a shame that Toyota doesn’t offer this as an option for the 86, because it just might be the perfect sports car for 2024.