The Subaru BRZ and the Toyota GR86 are cars I hold close to my heart. Not only are they excellent to drive, but they represent two of the last bastions of truly affordable enthusiast vehicles in the new car market. Whenever someone asks me what I’d buy if I could only have one car, these little coupes are always at the top of my list.
Neither the BRZ nor the GR86 are as cheap as they used to be. I went to both of the cars’ launches back in 2022, and back then, the Subaru started at $28,990, while the Toyota started at $28,795—pretty damn reasonable for how much fun they were.
Toyota has managed to stay relatively cheap despite the upheaval caused by tariffs. The base trim with the manual transmission—the gearbox you want—costs $31,995 including destination. That’s about $1,200 more than the current MX-5 Miata (the guiding light for this segment, and a good gauge of how expensive an affordable sports car should be). Compared to the Mazda, the Toyota also gets a much more usable trunk and two back seats, though how usable they are depends on how small your kids are. So I think it’s still a relative deal.
The BRZ, however, has now become far more expensive. Subaru just announced pricing for 2026, revealing the base Premium trim will now start at $37,055, including destination. That’s a delta of $5,060 for two cars that look nearly identical and use the exact same powertrain.
Surely you must be getting a bunch of extra performance equipment and tech for your money, right? Yes and no (well, in this case, no and yes). There aren’t any performance-related changes between the base GR86 and the BRZ; the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires are the same from car to car, while the brakes are the same size. Suspension likely differs car to car due to the manufacturer’s tuning preferences, but it’s not like the Premium trim BRZ has the fancy Hitachi dampers from the high-grade tS model. We’re talking base versus base, here.
Subaru dropped the base Premium trim for the BRZ for 2026, but the new base trim, the Limited, comes with many of the same features as the base GR86. Stuff like keyless entry, a bush-button start, dual-zone climate, LED exterior lighting, steering-sensitive headlights, heated exterior mirrors, and a suite of active safety tech are standard across both models. The only difference I could find is in the interior trim. The BRZ gets an Ultrasuede-trimmed interior, while the Toyota does not.
Source: Subaru
A Subaru spokesperson pointed out that in addition to the interior, the BRZ also has aluminum front wheel hubs and a different rear sway bar with differently located mounts. But that’s always been the case between the two cars, independent of trim or options selected.
Having a cool interior is nice, but I’m not exactly sure it’s worth an extra five grand. It’s possible Subaru is passing more tariff costs onto the consumer than Toyota (both cars are assembled at Subaru’s Gunma assembly plant in Japan and shipped via ocean freight).
If you’re in the market for a car like this, I commend you. You’re single-handedly keeping the cheap sports car segment alive. My advice? Just get the Toyota. Not only is it cheaper, but I think it’s better to drive, too.
[Update: A previous version of this article claimed the Subaru BRZ comes with different safety tech than the GR86. As commenter GreatFallsGreen kindly pointed out, that’s actually not the case! The GR86 also gets Subaru’s EyeSight suite of safety features—it’s just not called EyeSight. Sorry, I’ll do better research next time. – BS]
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
Source link
