 What is up you guys, welcome back to another one, if you're new to the channel, I'm Gold Pony, I do new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube, and today, we are in the brand new 2023 Toyota GR86 courtesy of younger Toyota in Hagerstown, Maryland for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below, so today we're in this one because this is a very affordable and fun car from Toyota, a manual transmission is still available, we actually do have the manual transmission with us here today, so that is pretty cool. Also the 86 is a pretty legendary name known as the Hachi Roku in Japan, so ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system exhaust, all that fun stuff, so having said all of that, what do you guys say, let's just go ahead and jump right into it and as always, let's start with pricing. So as you can imagine, there are a few different trim levels for the 86, first one being the base setup starting at $28,400, then there is the premium being the one we are in today starting at $32,500, and lastly the 10th anniversary special edition going for $34,360, and by the way that 10th anniversary edition, only 860 units will be available, which is kind of funny seeing as it's called the 86 and 860 units, yeah. Good job Toyota. Anyways, powering the little beast is a 2.4 liter naturally aspirated horizontally opposed, four cylinder boxer engine, if that sounds familiar, yes, that is a Subaru setup putting out 228 horsepower at 7,000 RPM, 184 pound-feet of torque coming in at 3,700 RPM, that power being sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual for the base and the 10th anniversary edition it is optional for the premium or a six-speed automatic that comes standard on the premium with paddle shifters, by the way, if you went with that six-speed automatic, 0 to 60 time approximately 6.1 seconds, top speed 140 miles per hour, it's pretty impressive considering the size of this thing. With MPG nervous coming in at 20 in the city, 27 on the highway for the manual, 21 city, 31 on the highway for the automatic, but taking premium, unleaded fuel. But so then before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in our 86, I did want to mention to you guys, there is one driving mode, it is a track driving mode, that button is located, it's a silver button located directly behind the shifter, so you do have that, you simply just hold that down for a second or so, but ultimately that is going to adjust things like the gauge cluster, I'll show that to you guys in a little bit, but also the VDC system is dialed back a little bit as well, so that's going to help you out with a little extra fun. But now I haven't got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find it straight away, let's put this acceleration here to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2023 Toyota GR86 here, up to speed. All right, just pulling out to the highway, let's just do this. Oh, it's quick dude, that's actually really quick, that's fun, that is definitely a fun acceleration without a doubt, the manual transmission, it's okay, it's not as smooth as some other transmissions like the Integra Type-S that I drove or something like that, but it's a little notchy, but it's still fun because it's a six-speed manual, so I don't have any issues there and again, this thing is pretty darn quick, I will say it is a very light car, so I guess this is to be expected, but anyways, two more along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important, so up front you will find 11.6-inch ventilated front discs, in the back 11.4-inch solid rear discs, as far as that 60-year stopping distance goes, it comes in at approximately 104 feet, which is dang good, that is an extremely good braking number, typically you find in sports sedans, 100 teens, and the 120s is pretty average, so 104 feet, that is dang good, that is sports cargo, which is what this car is, and it's an affordable one at that, which is even better, so as far as braking feel goes, it's definitely on the firmer side of things that immediately brings you to a stop, so absolutely no issues whatsoever when it comes to the braking on this thing, touching on suspension and handling, up front you're gonna get a McPherson strut front suspension, in the back independent multi-link rear suspension, front and rear stabilizer bars, but also GR circuit tuned springs as well, so that is pretty dark cool, so ultimately as far as ride quality goes, it's been fine, you do tend to hear a little bit more of the road, or you tend to feel a little bit more of the road, I should say, in smaller cars like this, and that's certainly the case in the 86, but it's to be expected, so I personally don't have any issues there, as far as steering feel goes, it's beautiful, I love the steering feel in the GR 86, they did a wonderful job with that, 100% weighted on the heavier side of things, there's no dead spots or anything like that, it instantly points you in the direction that you want to go, I don't think they could have done the steering feel any better, it's honestly one of my favorite steering feels that I've probably ever tested in my past seven or eight hundred drives, so brilliant job with that, but as far as cabin noise goes, it's noisy in here, you guys could probably tell on my camera if you've watched my past reviews, there's a lot of road and wind noise coming into the cabin, a lot of exhaust noise, not that I don't mind that one, but the cabin noise is kind of pronounced, I will say that, but anyways touching on visibility, I can see 100% perfectly fine out the back, so definitely not going to have any issues there either, this is a small vehicle after all, but that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys, let's go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Toyota GR 86. Alright, so here she is, you guys, the new 2023 Toyota GR 86, finished in Torino blue, cool name, I think you guys probably know that reference if you're a fan of the 86, but it's always, let's go ahead and start with where this one is made, taking a look at the VIN, first character is the letter J indicating that the 86 is built and assembled in Japan, but let's go ahead and start up front on this one, projector style LED headlights do come standard for all trim levels across the board, they do come with the automatic feature, meaning when it starts to get dark at night the headlights will turn on automatically for you there, adapt the front lighting system though, coming with the premium and the 10th anniversary edition, so when you're going around a bended night these headlights are actually going to swivel based on the direction of your steering angle, better help illuminating what is around that bend, so less likely to hit a deer or an animal or something like that, so I do love that, but also with these two trims the auto leveling feature for the headlights as well and with the premium trim only you will find automatic high beams, so if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams, then when that vehicle is gone it's going to automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you there, so very convenient feature there, my wife absolutely loves that one on our own car, but black front grille with the GR logo, you guys can see that down in the corner there, kind of upper corner I guess you could say, but also front air curtains to the sides, they're helping direct air around the wheel and tire combination, but overall extremely good looking front end of the 86, I love the look of this thing, but anyways that pretty much rounds out the front end, listen I'll go ahead and make our way to the side, all right and something else, so you're around to the side of this one, the side profile is just simply perfect, black windows surrounds do come standard, gloss black side mirrors, they are power adjustable, they are heated then as well, so absolutely love that, functional front fender vents and actually let me get up a little bit closer so I can show this to you guys, it's actually you got the GR lettering found in the upper portion of that as well and then of course the functionality is right behind that, so a little better aerodynamics because of that, I like that, as far as the wheel setup goes, 17 inch machine finished alloys is going to come on the base setup, but the premium and 10th anniversary editions are going to give you 18 inch matte black alloys, that of course is what you guys are looking at right now, but again the side profile is nothing short of perfect on the 86, I love this look, but that pretty much rounds out the side, so now go ahead and make our way to the back, all right and something else, so you are around to the back of this one, all the way to the top, you do find that body colored shark fin antenna, just below that you kind of got that duck bill rear spoiler, it's going to be body colored for the premium trim level, but you will find a matte black rear spoiler for the 10th anniversary edition and then no rear spoiler for the base setup, so I do want to mention that, LED tail lights you guys can see they do come standard on every trim level across the board, of course you got that GR86 badging found in the bottom corner along with the like the video badging as well as subscribe to the channel, I've been doing this for almost nine years guys for reviewing new cars whenever I get a chance, so feel free to hit the subscribe button if you are into new car reviews, but down below it all you guys will find dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips for the base and the premium trim levels and then dark black tips, of course they're going to be dark if they're black I shouldn't have said it that way, but anyways for the 10th anniversary edition, but having said that I do believe you guys know what we have to do next as always here is that exhaust clip all right so now since you are around to the back of this one when it comes to opening that rear trunk there is a button on the key fob that's that kind of bottom button there, but there is a rubberized button on the trunk itself then as well, but once it opened up cargo space comes in at 6.26 cubic feet, so not a ton, but these receipts do fall down though for some extra space though if you did need that, but there is of course some cargo lighting back there if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor you are going to find a little bit of in-floor storage and a tire and player kit back there, but then make our way up to the rear legroom that comes in at 29.9 inches which gotta be honest is like nothing that's like a foreign Mustang rear legroom right there and this is a smaller car so it's as to be expected so for reference I'll get this a shot I'm an even six feet tall this is me having no space back there, but anyways to make your way up to the front seats manually adjustable claw seating does come standard there is going to be a leather suede combo for the premium and 10th anniversary editions that's what we have today I love it then there is going to be heated front seats for the premium and 10th anniversary edition trim levels as well so also very nice there overall the seats definitely holds you in place well they're definitely very sporty bucket seats so the kind of side bolsters on this thing definitely holds you in place around the turn so I absolutely love that but then take a look at the steering wheel it is tilt and telescoping it is going to be leather wrapped for all trim levels across the board also like the GR lettering found at the very bottom portion of that steering wheel so no issues there for me then make our way to the startup but let me start by showing you guys the key here this is definitely a Subaru key with a Toyota logo on it for sure lock on the top unlock button is going to be the Toyota logo and then the button to pop the rear trunk of course but it is all keyless entry with the push button starts all I'm going to do here simply put my front of the brake and clutch and press that GR start stop button located just to the left of the climate control information there so once started up there is going to be a seven inch digital gauge cluster that does come standard of course there are steering wheel mounted controls you can adjust what is up there if you wanted to and of course if you were to hold down that track mode that is going to completely change the look of the gauges up there kind of reminds me of the gauge readout on the old Honda s2000 just the the rpms up to 9000 rpm so I think that looks dang good actually so no issues for me but so then make your way to overall interior quality you're going to find dual zoom climate control actually does come standard for all trim levels to both driver and passenger can set their own temperatures you're going to find aluminum sport pedals for the premium and 10th anniversary editions I loved seeing that but overall everything is pretty much on the basic side but one thing I do love is that the suede leather combination is brought throughout the rest of the vehicle as well especially the doors you're going to find a lot of that suede on the doors you're also going to find it just above the the digital gauge cluster as well so I like that they continued that suede feel throughout I like the leather shift boot as well leather shift knob do what I also mentioned that there is kind of a center armrest it's kind of a padded for your elbow so I like that they did that but there's also two cup holders within that center armrest though if you did have some drinks because there is nothing surrounding the shifter because obviously that would get in the way of actually shifting with a manual transmission if the cup holders were there so they put them back here there's some charging ports there as well but overall everything is laid out pretty nicely so now let's go ahead and take a look at the infotainment screen here you're going to find an eight inch color touch screen display coming standard for all trim levels bluetooth and audio streaming android auto apple car play of course but it's also going to display some maintenance information if you're curious about that there's outside temperature of course time of the day and your radio information and so when it comes to the sound systems there are two of them you're going to find six speakers on that base configuration but an eight speaker sound system with an amplifier on the premium and 10th anniversary edition so having said that we do have the eight speaker sound system with us here today so what do you guys say let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing this morning and let's test out the clarity this one it's okay like the clarity was really really good i will say that the clarity was fine not a ton of bass i i don't know i wish you had a little more bass that's all i'm saying honestly though eight speakers in the vehicle the size of the 86 is 100 perfectly fine but anyways last thing i wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen of course is when you do put the 86 in reverse you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board letting you know what is behind you which is always is going to lead us into safety and so first let me start with the most surprising thing at least for me is the 86 actually is an IIHS top safety pick plus which is crazy because it's such a small vehicle who would have thought but that's the very highest designation by the way that you can get with IIHS front side side current airbags do come standard there's a driver's knee airbag up front as well of course you got latch in the back aka lower anchors to tether children for the rear car seats tire pressure monitoring system but the premium trim level is going to give you a bunch of advanced safety that is not had on the other trim levels and that's with the six-speed automatic by the way so gives you blind spot detection adaptive cruise control pre-collision braking system pre-collision throttle management laid departure warning and sway warning rear parking sensors and reverse automatic braking then as well so overall what a customized final thoughts of the 86 i'm just going to start by saying i think the braking was the highlight for me the braking on this thing is absolutely insane no no no i take that back braking was good the steering feel that is the best part of the 86 the steering feel and the handling are remarkable on the 86 probably the best i've tested like i said in quite a while so i absolutely love that this is a very affordable drift car why do i say drift car because it's rear wheel drive and it's got the handbrake so yes you could throw this thing around a little bit if you wanted to very good looking car as well as far as room for improvement goes i just wish Toyota would put their own six-speed manual in this thing as opposed to Subaru's because every time i drive a six-speed manual in Subaru it i get used to it it just takes me so long to get used to and you probably will get used to this quite honestly but it is so much notchier than most other manual transmissions out there Toyota manual transmissions they're great Honda perfection Acura of course there's also a Honda so that's perfection as well so i don't know i just wish they did their own six-speed manual on this thing i could tell it's Subaru's because basically the whole setup of this car is a Subaru but anyways overall this thing was an absolute blast to drive let me know what you guys think of the 86 in the comment section below but that is about it for this one you guys thank you so much for watching feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to youtube be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in a new car reviews because that is what we do here on this channel after all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know but i will see you guys all in the next video stay gold