2025 Toyota GR86 Hakone edition: Driven!

Toyota has launched the Hakone edition of their sports car, the GR86 using the 86 GT as the base car. You probably know that GR is short for Gazoo Racing, and is the indication of the highest performance of each of Toyota’s models.

The 2025 GR86 Hakone, with only 15 units available in New Zealand, is a special edition. It pays homage to its motorsport routes: It’s named after a famous road in Japan where everyone aspires to drive it as fast as possible. Call it their Pikes Peak, if you will. It looks the part, with a deep Ridge Green exterior, bronze alloys and badge, plus gorgeous leather accents. Green and tan is always a winner in my book. It’s powered by a 2.4 liter rear wheel drive, naturally aspirated engine with six speed manual or six speed auto. The power of this car is perhaps somewhat tame compared to other GR models, however, with rear wheel drive, naturally aspirated engine and an excellent chassis, this car is a very rewarding drive. Rear wheel drive gives it a lively, sporty feel. It’s long and low and has surefooted flat predictable handling. A driver’s car, and it’s begging to be modified. This is one of the most popular cars to turn into a drift machine. There is no doubt that performance modifications would bring more out of this motor. but if you’ve bought this extremely limited edition Hakone then maybe you’re going to keep it stock. It’s a pleasure to drive despite being a little underpowered in my view and just feels like a sports car. Of course power doesn’t equal fun, you can have a great fun car with low power or a car with a normal amount of grunt that lacks a soul.

It’s worth remembering that the GR 86 is a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru at it’s heart. The engine and gearbox and much of the heavy bits of the car come from Subaru, while Toyota has done the body and interior styling on this version. But that Subaru engine is a boxer flat four, with low centre of gravity, one of the reasons this car handles so well.

This special edition 2025 GR86 Hakone is great to drive and looks the part – that’s why we took so many photos!. With such limited numbers, owners will probably keep them in perfect condition to show off that beautiful paint!

The 2025 Toyota GR86 Hakone is listed for $61,990 in manual or auto.