Next Toyota GT86 Arrives Summer 2021 With 260bhp Turbo Engine

It’s all change for the next Toyota GT86. The coupe will be much more powerful, use a turbocharged engine, and won’t even be called GT86 - in line with the Japanese’s company’s more recent performance cars, it’s expected to adopt the mantle ‘GR86’.

Key details for the car have been divulged via a presentation slide and other details purportedly leaked from a dealer conference, as posted on GR86.org. According to this new information, we’re looking at an output of 256bhp (260hp) from a 2.4-litre boxer engine.

As with the current GT86, that engine will be supplied by Subaru, which will make its own BRZ-badged version of the GR86. That matches the output of the recently developed 2.4-litre ‘FA24’ found in the Ascent, an engine we’re anticipating to be the starting point for a 400bhp boxer designed for the next WRX STI.

Complain all you want about its lack of power and the torque hole, but the naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre boxer with its 7000rpm peak power mark is one of the GT86’s USPs. The FA24, in contrast, develops its output at 5600rpm. Hopefully, it’ll be tweaked to have a livelier top end in the GR86.

In any case, the GT86’s main draw - its front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout - will be retained. It’ll have a better interior, too, and it hopefully should still be relatively affordable, given that Toyota will need to slot it under the inline-four version of the GR Supra.