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Subaru BRZ vs Toyota 86

What's the difference?

VS
Subaru BRZ
Subaru BRZ

$40,290 - $46,890

2023 price

Toyota 86
Toyota 86

$36,990 - $45,990

2020 price

Summary

2023 Subaru BRZ
2020 Toyota 86
Safety Rating

Engine Type
Inline 4, 2.4L

Inline 4, 2.0L
Fuel Type
Premium Unleaded Petrol

Premium Unleaded Petrol
Fuel Efficiency
8.8L/100km (combined)

7.1L/100km (combined)
Seating
4

4
Dislikes
  • No EyeSight safety
  • Practicality
  • Service pricing

  • Lacking equipment that should be standard in 2020
  • Cramped ergonomics
  • Hot hatches offer better value
2023 Subaru BRZ Summary

It’s an increasingly rare combination. An affordable sports car with a naturally aspirated engine in the front, driving the rear wheels through a manual gearbox. 

In the not-too-distant future enthusiast drivers will be talking about the good old days when the second-generation Subaru BRZ was sitting new in showrooms with a sub-$45K price sticker on the windscreen.

And maybe this BRZ S manual represents your last chance to acquire a mainstream performance-focused combustion car offering such a pure experience behind the wheel.  

It’s roughly 12 months since Subaru launched the current BRZ in Australia, well ahead of its Toyota GR86 twin, with the first 500 examples selling in the blink of an eye.

So, now that the dust has settled, and a relatively modest price rise from earlier in the year has been bedded down, it’s time to catch up with Subaru’s in-demand two-door.    

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2020 Toyota 86 Summary

Cast your mind back to 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen’s super-catchy Call Me Maybe single was at the top of the music charts, the first Avengers movie had just hit movie theatres and Toyota’s 86 sports car finally arrived in Australian showrooms after a lengthy teaser campaign.

Fast-forward eight years to 2020, and Carly Rae Jepsen is still releasing bangers, the Avengers have become the zeitgeist of 2010s popular culture and... the Toyota 86 is still available in local showrooms.

Sure, Toyota has tweaked, fiddled and updated the 86 a little since then, but the formula for an affordable, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive coupe is still the same.

But the 86 now competes in a market that has moved ahead in leaps and bounds, and while direct competitors like the Mazda MX-5 are few and far between, it now has to fend off competition from some light-sized warm hatches.

Does the Toyota 86 manage to hold its own in 2020? Or is it better off relegated to the annals of history?

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Deep dive comparison

2023 Subaru BRZ 2020 Toyota 86

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