Toyota's 2026 GR86 Yuzu Edition: A bold new look for the iconic sports car
Toyota's 2026 GR86 Yuzu Edition: A bold new look for the iconic sports car
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Self-driving tech coming to personally owned vehicles
Waymo & Toyota have announced a partnership to co-develop autonomous vehicle platforms, aiming to integrate Waymo's self-driving technology into Toyota's POV's.
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Toyota's GR86 sports car is still around, and still without a (factory) turbocharger. That quick razz out of the way, the GR86 is being kept fresh — or at least fresh in the minds of customers — by way of yet another special-edition variant for 2026. Following similar efforts in past years such as the GR86 Trueno Edition and last year's Hakone model, the 2026 Toyota GR86 Yuzu special edition wears its name on, well, its entire body: "Yuzu" is denotes the blazing yellow paint that comes standard.
Lest you think this special-edition GR86 has all the depth of that coat of paint, just wait. This specific yellow hue has a history tied to Toyota's 2+2 sports car — it dates back to the 2015 Scion FR-S Series 1.0 release. (Remember: The GR86 was preceded by the Toyota 86, a name- and badge-swapped variant of the Scion FR-S that carried on the lineage after Toyota's affordable and youth-focused Scion brand was buried in the backyard in 2016.) Seeing as how time these days seems to stretch on forever, 2015 feels like a different era altogether, seemingly so far back that we'll give the Yuzu revival credit for being "retro."
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Not-so-mellow yellow
The yellow theme continues beyond the sheetmetal, with yellow accents brightening the stitching on the steering wheel, handbrake handle and door padding. Yellow is also used on the otherwise black sueded seat upholstery. The black-and-yellow contrast is further set off by the 18-inch matte-black wheels.
Every Yuzu Special Edition GR86 comes with the GR86's Performance package standard, which means up-sized Brembo front and rear brakes and SACHS-brand shock absorbers. This setup is available as a dealer-installed kit on other GR86s, so its factory inclusion here is matched only by the 2024 GR86 Trueno special edition. Toyota says Yuzu buyers can also add an accessory cat-back exhaust and even a body kit, seemingly for extra cost.
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Mechanically, the Yuzu is otherwise identical to other GR86s. A 2.4-liter flat-four engine lives under the low hood, making 228 hp and 184-lb-ft of torque, and doing its work through a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Don't get us wrong, the GR86 is huge fun to drive, but it's merely satisfyingly quick — it is not fast.
It'll be rare
Toyota will only ship 860 GR86 Yuzu Special Edition models to the U.S. market, making it sure to be a pretty rare sight on American roads. Hey, when was the last time you noticed a Scion FR-S Series 1.0? At least the Yuzu paint will make those rare sightings pop a bit more. Expect the 2026 GR86 and Yuzu versions to go on sale by this fall, near the end of 2025; final pricing, option availability and other details will be revealed closer to the launch.
Photos by Jofel Tolosa and manufacturer
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