Toyota GR86 vs Mazda MX-5: The Affordable Sports Car’s Last Stand

With the internal combustion engine in its dying days, ever-more stringent legislation and a seemingly relentless war on the car in general, some big victims have been claimed recently.

On one end of the scale, the V10 is practically extinct following the end of production of the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan, while on the other the hot hatch as we’ve known it for three decades is on the verge of being consigned to the history books. However, the saddest loss of all seems to have had a more stretched-out death.

That being the affordable sports car. Up until recently, in the UK, if you had about £30,000 you wanted to spend on a rear-wheel-drive sports car, you had two options. One of those being the Toyota GR86, yours for £29,995.

Only, it wasn’t as simple as that. You’d need to be lucky enough to get an allocation of a two-year production run (thanks to EU crash regulations), which all sold out within 90 minutes of orders going live. There’d been a second helping later down the line, albeit that also went dead quickly, leaving your only option to pay overs on RRP for a second-hand car.

This leaves us with the Mazda MX-5 as your sole remaining option if you want something manual, rear-driven and naturally aspirated for anything less than the UK’s average annual salary.

That said, when did the ND get so expensive? A base-spec 1.5-litre Roadster will cost at least £28,015 now, and the one you really want – a 2.0-litre with the LSD – is now a £34,835. This Homura-spec car with a few options takes it to £35,405.

Yet the MX-5 doesn’t offer the same level of performance as the GR86 – its unit down a rather chunky 57bhp on the 231bhp 2.4-litre boxer engine of the modern-day Hachiroku. On paper then, between a car you can’t buy and paying more than we’d like for one you can, we’re not off to a great start here.

Fortunately, paper doesn’t represent the experience either of these cars aims to bring. Both will get obliterated from a standstill by most family SUVs these days, but I promise you the only people who care are the type to watch YouTube drag races religiously.

Rather, the point is to deliver an old-school sports car feel and despite both using naturally-aspirated engines sending power to the rear through six-speed manual gearboxes, in the case of the two cars we have here, a manual gearbox, the approaches are quite different.

Sitting in a GR86 will, for better or worse, mentally transport you straight back to the ‘90s and the age of the Toyota Celicas, Nissan Silvias and Honda Integras. Despite lavishing much of the cabin with Alcantara, it still looks and feels quite plasticky. All the controls are parts-bin afterthoughts – even the aftermarket infotainment software – and it admittedly feels a little bit cheap.

Yet, like the GT86 before it, that’s all part of the charm. You get the impression that the Subaru engineers behind it focused on creating the ideal driving position first and then shoehorning everything else around you.

You’re placed nigh-on perfectly to see exactly where you’re putting the front of the car while still having dials bang in your line of sight, the gearstick placement feels like a natural extension of your arm and yet visibility remains decent. 

All that said, the MX-5 manages to do just that too. Granted, space is a bit tighter than the GR and anyone above my five-foot 10-inch frame may struggle for headroom but once you’re in, the position is bang-on.

It doesn’t feel as compromised elsewhere as the Toyota – material quality is certainly a step up and the infotainment system feels about a decade ahead. It doesn’t seem quite as special or purpose-built to be in as the 86, but certainly easier to live with.

That’s a theme that continues through to the driving experience. The ND formula hasn’t really changed a great deal over the last near-decade, remaining as light as ever despite more regulated safety tech being gradually added in, and with very few mechanical changes over that time. It did gain an extra 500rpm on the redline and four brake horsepower a few years ago, but the feeling has largely remained the same.

It’s an engine that enjoys being worked hard, with peak power coming in at 7,000rpm but with enough mid-range grunt to keep things entertaining while you’re on the ascendency. It’s not fast, but it’s certainly involving. There’s no artificial sound-piping here, and the result is a raw, raspy tone if not an especially loud one.

Throw the MX-5 into a corner and it’s as playful as ever. Its suspension is set quite softly so you do feel some roll as you’re tackling the twisty stuff and it’ll pitch a fair but under braking, but you always have a feeling of control. Pair that with sweet, if not incredibly sharp steering, and that diff we mentioned before that will allow for some movement at the rear and you’ve got a recipe for easily-accessible fun.

Plus, as Mazda continues to avoid turning the MX-5 into some hardcore numbers-chasing sports car, it makes for a delightful thing to use as a daily. It’s not grating to drive over long distances, provided you’re happy to deal with some road and wind noise, and 40mpg is easily doable.

By contrast, the Toyota feels much more like a car engineered to be fun first and useable second.

That FA24D boxer rectifies the biggest problem of the GT86’s 4U-GSE mid-range torque dip, and it’s genuinely transformative as a result. It feels raw, notably more so than the Mazda, and trickier to master yet more exhilarating when you get it right.

A firmer set suspension setup makes it feel that bit more planted when you’re attacking corners and it just wants to swing its rear end out at every opportunity like a wagging tail of the world’s happiest dog. The MX-5 is fun, sure, but the GR86 just has that extra edge that makes a proper sports car.

That does come with compromises when you do want to settle down. It rides harsher, road noise coming into the cabin is more amplified and you’ve no chance of reaching 30mpg unless you’re sitting at 60mph everywhere. In its favour, it has got a bigger boot than the MX-5 and it’s technically a four-seater (good luck with that back row) but it’s not exactly practical. Yet, it all feels justified when you find that one quiet back road.

For something to use every day and offer eight-tenths of the fun on occasion, the Mazda MX-5 has deservedly become the defacto choice. If you seek little more than one of the best, raw driving experiences on the right side of affordable, though, nothing on sale right now at this price can match the Toyota GR86.

The greatest shame of this is, if you’re buying new at least, choosing whether the compromises are worth it for you is no longer an option. The GR86’s regulation-led exit is a sad tale, but it at least shines a brighter light on the continued, if ever more costly existence of the MX-5. Long may it live.