There Is Some Wicked Magic in the Toyota GR86

The forecast called for rain all week. I couldn't have been more excited.

This was not a car I was driving, exactly. This Toyota GR86 was an opportunity, or maybe better framed as some kind of lens. I saw things through it.

What was always a desolate mall I drove past became suddenly inviting. Maybe there was a big back parking lot. Maybe it was empty. Maybe you couldn't see it from the road. Maybe I could drive there, quietly, during off hours, and shift into first, or second, my left foot so abrupt with the clutch, my right foot working to be calm but also deliberate, rear tires spinning but not overly so, just past the limit of traction, just, and not far far and away. The car sliding, gracefully, in tidy donuts, tight and narrow, then wider and wider. That first transition, feeling the weight of the car, energy unloaded with the gas pedal. With and without; as much affected by its application as its cessation. Stepping off of the accelerator so that the car may move, switch its direction, re-center itself from the rear axis to the front, then squeezing back on the gas. A spin. A spin again. A spin again and again until it is caught, a little figure eight, something informative about the soul of a car.

I am a miner digging, convinced that there is a gem in this car. I look at the outside of this Toyota, and see qualities hiding beneath its sheet metal. The low hood: a boxer engine is there. The tin top roof: there is space there, back seats and a trunk with room enough together for a full set of wheels and tires for when you drive to your own track day, no trailer needed.

I swear I see something more; that there is a sports car driver in this car, me, behind the wheel, controlling powerslides and judging corner entry speeds out in the country. I see this car, even parked perfectly still in a garage, and I hear all four tires just barely howling. The car glows like it has its headlights on.

But are these real qualities? Am I imagining them, projecting them? Is this a sports car or just a sporty coupe that looks like one? Is there really gold in them thar hills?

After all, this isn't really the most powerful car. You get 228 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque, this 2.4-liter FA24 engine a big step up from the 2.0-liter FA20 in older 86s, with a healthier punch in the middle of the rev range. I will admit that you do feel the difference, or at least I thought I did, my last time in a BRZ before this being nearly a decade back. It's still down on power compared to a Hyundai Elantra N, or some of the other sport compacts.