2022 Subaru BRZ PVOTY Review: What If?

If you’re a textbook overthinker, the 2022 Subaru BRZ and 2022 Toyota GR86 are not the cars for you. These two small rear-drive sports cars have the same chassis, same engine, and same transmission, and they roll off the same factory line. The differences amount to a couple hundred bucks and some minor suspension tweaks, exterior visual differences, and interior trim bits. So how do you choose? And how will you know if you made the right choice?

Truth is, you might as well flip a coin, because either way you’re going to be left wondering: What if?

The new BRZ and GR86 are both heavily revised versions of the 2012–2020 BRZ and Scion FR-S/Toyota 86. The pair gets an updated platform that’s 50 percent stiffer than before, plus more aggressive rubber and, most important, a new, more powerful 2.4-liter flat-four that produces its 228 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque in a more linear fashion than before. Both cars come standard with a six-speed manual and are available with an afterthought six-speed automatic. Do yourself a favor and skip the auto.

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The key differences between the Toyota and Subaru amount to the speed they’re capable of and how well they rotate. On the former front, the GR86 was inexplicably quicker to 60 mph (5.8 seconds to the Subaru’s 5.9) in our testing and a full second faster around the figure eight, lapping the course in 24.7 seconds at 0.76 g average, versus the BRZ’s 25.7 seconds at 0.71 g average. This performance difference largely explains why the GR86 advanced to the finalist round and the BRZ didn’t.

But what if?

The reason the Toyota is quicker around the figure eight is because it has sharper front-end bite and a rear end that’s constantly on the verge of stepping out into a big, pretty drift—a boon on tight roads where you’re frequently changing directions. The BRZ, on the other hand, is more planted and stable, really coming alive on the types of corners you’d see at a track day. In other words, the Toyota embraces sliding, whereas the Subaru is about sticking.

That led more than one judge to question if the BRZ should’ve joined us in our finalist round on Angeles Crest Highway and at the Streets of Willow over the GR86, whose squirreliness was less appreciated in those scenarios.

But even if we had brought the BRZ along, we have a sneaking suspicion the flaws that (spoiler alert) sank the Toyota would have held the BRZ back, too. The new flat-four, for instance, while worlds better than the engine it replaces, remains agricultural, and with a chassis this good, it still leaves us pining for more power. NVH—hardly a concern for most sports car buyers—could be improved, as well, especially considering the engine isn’t all that pleasant to hear. (At least it’s easy to drown out by cranking the stereo and dropping the windows.) The shifter is classic Subaru: long and notchy but still somehow capable of direct throws. You either love it or you don’t.

The better solution, we found, to the mindless spinning of the anxious, indecisive brain, is to not engage. Instead, shut up, grab the keys to a Toyobaru, crank it on, dump the clutch, and enjoy—you’re alive, after all, aren’t you?