2025 Toyota GR86 Hakone // Lean Mean Green Machine

[00:05] those little skitty any bits. And I'm James. though. Thanks.

[00:40] props to Toyota and Subaru, I will say, because when Mazda do a special edition because when Mazda do a special edition for the MX5, it's our anniversary. You right? It's our anniversary. This Hakone, Yuzu, Ikazuma, I don't even

[00:55] all sounds cool. You could have been saying any words there and I would have been like, "Yeah." So, we've driven this car before or versions of it. The last one we drove was a BZ TS, which

[01:07] we didn't like for a reason that we will discuss in a second. But this one has been tweaked as they usually do. Same kind of damper setup. Everything is roughly the same, but they've tuned those dampers to be sport here. They've

[01:23] adjusted the throttle so that downshift blips are a little bit easier apparently. Oh, you almost over revved. So maybe that's true. Maybe that's true. They have uh tweaked the torque

[01:35] apparently so that it's a little bit more usable. Except it hasn't. Except it hasn't. It got more lifeless.

[01:50] doing that? Actually, I spent some time on the forums uh kind of reading people's opinions on the steering and no one can agree. Um, a lot of people seem to think that the steering in the original Subaru BRZ and FRS, which we

[02:06] Yes. Was just heavier, not better. Not true. It isn't true. This is a really lifeless steering rack, and it couldn't be changed with tweaks here and there. I don't know.

[02:19] Yeah. It's still one of the best cars for the money. And also, the MX5 steering isn't That's true. Yeah. It's not like it has a lot of competition anywhere, right?

[02:32] control off. I'm going to do this. It's very complex. gajillion minutes. No, you just hold it down for like a few No, no, no. That's not right. So, there's a click and a hold or something.

[02:46] it wrong. No, I've done No, you So, there's track when it goes fully off. You're not fully off. What did that track goes off there? Press it once hard

[03:02] speed. No, no. Press it. Just press it once. No, no. Press it. Just press it once. Huh?

[03:30] Not at all. No. That was a low point in our lives. to play with. It weighs 2,800 lb.

[03:42] Yes. That number still is seems so insane. 2,800 lb is so light these days. But we were recently in the Alpha 4C and that thing's like £2,400. A Civic Si is about this a bit more, but

[03:54] And those are all great cars to drive. True, true, true, Still doesn't sound amazing. What is that sound? They haven't changed it much like this exhaust. It's just a really annoying version of

[04:08] the sound. Does the Hakone have a special exhaust? Yeah, I think it could do with one. Sometimes in the past when they've done the special editions, I remember the TRD of the GT86 was very boommy.

[04:21] So, I'd still take this over that. I still think the best version, the best sound that you can get out of one of these cars is to do unequal length headers and lean into the boxer. Right. Stop trying to make it sound like

[04:34] a Porsche. You're just not going to do that. Right. Bring out the warble. But weirdly, I like when I see stock ones of these cars. I like someone ones of these cars. I like someone keeping it.

[04:47] Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That was the sickest 180. reverse at the end. Yeah. At the end, that was amazing. Yeah. I called it the reverse switch up. It's a signature James move.

[04:59] Yeah. Smells like tires. Smells like PS4s. Yeah. I think they've done a great job with the interior. I I forget my I remember my 2012 one was so rubbish that now I

[05:12] don't like is the steering wheel. Counterpoint to that. I think that some were a bit better than this. I like the But are you being tricked by stitching and and like cheap leather? Cuz I' I'd

[05:26] No, you wouldn't. You said that out loud. It didn't sound right. It didn't I'm missing a knee pad. Where's my knee pad? I prefer a knee pad. You know,

[05:41] so much better at your own trick. Thank you. I got this one. Thank you. I got this one. [Music]

[05:55] See the cool shake on the shifter cuz it says Hakone edition. there when it goes into the the the hole and out. That quick.

[06:07] The lack of weight. The lack of weight. Yes. It just is. And there's so few like it now. And there's so few like it now. So few like it.

[06:21] I keep put going on about the manual manual naturally aspirated combo with the rear wheel drive, but it's just so good. It's one of those things where I think everybody needs to do it. Like everybody needs to do this at some

[06:35] point. If you're if you're a car enthusiast, you at some point need to combination. Manual, naturally aspirated, rear wheel drive. Alpha to be a car enthusiast. No, it's not that.

[06:48] You need that formula. You need naturally aspirated manual rear wheel you There you go. Now we're the gatekeepers.

[07:02] The reverse click. The reverse shutter shutter push button That's a once. I can only do that once and then I got to wait 10 minutes to Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

[07:17] All right. So, I've started to realize something about the 86 BRZ twins over the years. They've slowly got more refined. The ride has been improved and

[07:29] in some ways they become less raw like in the steering department. Yes. So, they're kind of trending towards Interesting. Right. So, I I I don't mind a nicer

[07:42] you know, that was one of the faults of my old car. Absolutely. It was. Yeah. And and I think that with like they just keep improving everything here and there and it ends up being a more refined experience.

[08:04] grippy enough that this car can't hold a power slide. That's what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe you'll achieve my trick which has yet to be named. I think I

[08:22] I'm saving it for the next edition. You just got to keep flicking it into a skid. That's ridiculous. power slide. That's for sure. But it's I don't know if this is the type of car

[08:36] that you would want to be able to hold a third gear power slide, which means that It's blippy. It's really blippy. Like that's a good thing. This is this is like the perfect learner car because

[08:49] is like the perfect learner car because that over steer happens so slowly. This is the well the very early version of this car is the first car I ever had That's right. Yeah. This is my first love.

[09:03] A little bit of rain. I pop my cherry in an 86. It sounds like a weird country song. It does a little bit. Yeah. But here's the other thing that it was so good at doing.

[09:18] Well, it got slippery over here. It's raining over here. Yeah. And another place where it potentially nips to the hills of Porsche is this car and especially now and maybe especially in the special editions look so much better

[09:33] than the dollar you spend to buy it. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[09:46] of part of my theory heading towards this like direction of Porsche uh I Because like the original versions of this car were a little bit like I don't know what the word is. There's like too much stuff going on and some of it

[10:01] didn't really always visually make sense to me. This has gone to this level of like clean simplicity and proportion that I really like. Especially the that I really like. Especially the profile like this line here over to this

[10:14] the originals still look great. I don't think they have that much. but I just think that this is it's it's just like a it's in the direction of Do you prefer the aesthetic of the Toyota's front or the Subarus?

[10:27] I can't remember. I think I prefer the Toyota in the first gen and No, I think There's there's disagreement among our team. I thought everyone would prefer

[10:39] Yeah. Harrison, our sound engineer, loves it. Hakone edition stuff. Yep. Ridge green, bronze wheels, rainbow brakes.

[10:52] the tan. Really nice. The seats. Yeah, we got the duck bill spoiler also in ridge green. Yeah, I think that these should be more bronze. so when you post it to Instagram, turn the thing the saturation up a little

[11:05] I think it looks really fantastic. No, no, no. It still does. And it still does the 86 BRZ thing, which is you can fit crazy amounts of stuff in it. There's whole subreddits dedicated to the things that people like

[11:18] the back. Well, that's because from the its very weekend track day car. So you can fold the seats down and fit a spare set of brilliant right from the beginning. And it's something it has over an MX5.

[11:32] The big thing. And all the other stuff, too. It's better in every way, really. The shifting experience in the engine is still better in the MX5. the shifting experience. When the when the MX5 35th anniversary

[11:45] Yeah. June 4th. Don't forget it. A few who's already got it wrong. I also forgotten it. We will grab the whatever the current awesome named special edition is. Probably the yuzu. That yellow one with a sick body kit around

[11:58] Do you know is that the citrusy sauce thingu sauce? makes it taste better. And that's what that special edition up against the MX5 and then we'll have a real special edition off.

[12:13] as wagon. No. Yeah. Really? This is still such a fantastic car. And this is, you know, lot. Was it 800 and something in North

[12:28] There's not that many of these. This is one of 30 manual option editions Yeah, that that's that's pretty rare. That's kind of cool, right? That's kind of cool, right? That's like one per 7,000 square miles.

[12:43] There's no way he did that math correct. So, feel free to to check it. All I see It's actually really distracting. Yeah. No, this is still a brilliant car. Yeah. No, this is still a brilliant car. I absolutely love it. And uh should you

[12:56] buy one today? Yeah. Go ahead. Just Yeah. Rear wheel drive mass rated manual. Whatever. We'll just cut at my bit and then we'll just cut that part out.