Toyota GR86

The Toyota badge carries an expectation of measured choices, but the GR86 creates an interesting question when placed against 599 other cars. Its power rank of 556 out of 600 shows a machine that sits far away from the catalogue’s upper performance levels, yet its identity becomes clearer through the details around that figure. With 228 bhp, a 0-100 km/h time of 6.3 seconds and a top speed of 226 km/h, the GR86 is not defined by chasing the largest numbers.

Its distinction comes from a configuration that is rare within this collection. Only 6 of 600 cars use a flat-four engine layout, and just 4 combine that layout with rear-wheel drive. The GR86 is also one of only 2 naturally aspirated flat-four cars in the catalogue. That combination gives the 2022 Toyota a position shaped less by outright statistics and more by the mechanical choices behind them. Its 2.4-litre engine produces 250 Nm of torque, paired with rear-wheel drive in a 2-door coupe body style.

The catalogue rankings reinforce that character. The GR86 ranks 558 of 600 for acceleration and 566 of 600 for top speed, figures that place it away from the fastest cars available here. The same data also shows a different kind of appeal: the car comes from Japan, a country represented by 48 cars in the collection, and Toyota contributes 7 cars overall. At a used price of £28,000, it ranks 529 of 600 by price, making it more expensive than 71 cars in the catalogue. Its cost per bhp sits at £123, a reminder that this is not a simple performance-per-pound calculation.

The GR86 occupies a narrow space in a 600-car garage. It does not rely on dominance in power, speed or price to separate itself. Instead, it brings together a naturally aspirated 2.4-litre flat-four, rear-wheel drive and a coupe format in a way few cars in the collection can match. For a collection built from numbers as much as emotion, this Toyota adds a different kind of balance: a car whose appeal is found in the combination of details rather than the size of the headline figures.