Toyota GR86 v GT86 v AE86: DRAG RACE

Thanks to Ross for lending us automobiles for this race:
Thanks to Ben for joining us for the race: @BenCollinsDrives

What's the performance distinction between the brand-new , the GT86, and the timeless AE86?

Well, we've got all 3 lining up here, so we're going to put them to the test over the quarter-mile!

So let's see how the cars compare. Starting with the GR86, it's powered by a 2.5-litre 4-cylinder boxer engine that can produce 234hp and 250Nm of torque. It drives the rear wheels only, includes a manual shift, and weighs in at 1,275 kg.

Next up it's the GT86. Under the bonnet, you'll find a 2-litre 4-cylinder fighter engine with a power output of 200hp and 205Nm. It's also equipped with rear-wheel drive and handbook transmission, and it is available in somewhat lighter than the GR86, tipping the scales at 1239kg.

Lastly, it's the timeless AE86. Powered by a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine, the power output is well down on the 2 other competitors, at 124hp and 145Nm. Much like the others, it's rear-wheel drive with a manual transmission, however it's a whole lot lighter than the others, being available in at simply 970kg!

So will the GR86 walk it? Or could the others spring a surprise? There's only one way to discover … LET'S RACE!

Mat's sporty, practical deal:

Supra drag race:

Offer your automobile with :

Comments

71 responses to “Toyota GR86 v GT86 v AE86: DRAG RACE”

  1. carwow Avatar
    carwow

    What’s the best car in this line-up?

    1. Jialiang liu Avatar
      Jialiang liu

      Ae86

    2. Dave Mitch Avatar
      Dave Mitch

      AE86

    3. legendary351 Avatar
      legendary351

      Ae86 is legend. Not only this car but all school cars are classic and have more soul than new cars. This is the only real toyota in this video!

    4. Matthew Norman Avatar
      Matthew Norman

      You know what we need a Hyundai Getz sx on this channel day 176

    5. Radu Anatol Avatar
      Radu Anatol

      AE86

  2. Just a YouTube Commenter Avatar
    Just a YouTube Commenter

    Like it or not, you have to admire that AE86 just because it is such a JDM Legend!

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Me too. As a diehard Nijigasaki fan, i also love this legend car from Initial D.

    2. SspeedD Avatar
      SspeedD

      I mean, the GR86 also deserves a credit. After a struggle to beat it’s competition for years the GR nailed it now. Even the GT can’t keep up with the elder.

    3. Mr. Wheelz Avatar
      Mr. Wheelz

      Pop up head lights!! Sexy. AE86 wow still punchy.

    4. thomas grabkowski Avatar
      thomas grabkowski

      Yeah, Initial D car

    5. Fred in the Shed Avatar
      Fred in the Shed

      Same engine they put in the MR2 AW11. Sounds awesome 6.5 k onwards.

  3. Zohir ChΓ©rifi Avatar
    Zohir ChΓ©rifi

    I like Matt & Ben but I’m rooting for the classic AE86

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Me too, Zohir rooting this classic AE86.

  4. Joseph Flemming Avatar
    Joseph Flemming

    The Gr is remarkably beautiful and the AE is a great classic look.

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Agree. Classic look that never dies.

  5. C. Fecteau-AU-MJ13 Avatar
    C. Fecteau-AU-MJ13

    Mat’s got his “I beat the Stig” T-shirt, cap, mug, hoodie and pyjamas on order.

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Yes.

    2. Andy Lloyd Avatar
      Andy Lloyd

      And so he should πŸ˜‚

  6. TATTVA RAJPUT Avatar
    TATTVA RAJPUT

    That AE86 has got a really good paint job and some tasteful wheels. Good job to the owner in keeping it mint.

    1. bananowy Avatar
      bananowy

      @Grubby no it doesn’t, the ae86 is known for pretty crap handling in stock form. But if you think a live axle and a tendency to slide is “good handling” then I really can’t help you. On the plus side, of course the car is light. That plus low price made it popular at one point and then obvs the comics and cartoons made all the weebs think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Kinda like the 12yos who think stock mk4 supras have 1000hp lol.

    2. Grubby Avatar
      Grubby

      @bananowy no point in arguing
      We have different opinions

    3. Grubby Avatar
      Grubby

      @bananowy the live axle suspension can be fast if driven smoothly. Ofc that any aggressive handling done by some newbie would lead to ” a tendency to slide”. I guess if u compare it to a new multi link suspension gr86 it would be totally outclassed even tho the weight difference(337kg). My point is that for a car that is 40yrs old, the ae86 handles extremely good if in good hands. And stop saying abt the anime and whatever 12 year olds are saying, take for example Tsuchiya. He said from experience that “if he didn t stay in the torqueband his car would understeer, but if he was watching his tach and doing good accelerator handling he would be extrememly fast thru the corners” He also said that the car had more of a understeer tendency rather than an oversteer one, although it is indeed easy to slide still. We are talking abt a man that raced this car all the way back in 1984 and still does to this day. There isn t anyone better at driving and understanding the 86 as well as him.

    4. jason21jburg Avatar
      jason21jburg

      @Purwanti Allan they are really snappy

  7. B RM Avatar
    B RM

    That AE86 is beautiful 🀩

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      As beautiful as even 1999 Honda S2000 and 2002 Viper GTS.

    2. Ben S Avatar
      Ben S

      Easily best of the bunch for character and legend status.

  8. Panaceias Úberes Avatar
    Panaceias Úberes

    Love the drone angles during the race and the augmented reality when showing info on the phone.

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Agree man.

  9. Apothecary Terry Avatar
    Apothecary Terry

    Considering Ben gets a rubbish launch every time he drives a car on this channel, we definitely need to see a car swap to prove if it’s the driver in one of these…is the Stig just rubbish at launching? I mean, it’s not a main skill for him whereas launching cars is basically the only skill the Carwow team need most of the time!

    1. alpanzo Avatar
      alpanzo

      Man i was thinking the same. I don’t wanna say it but is he… bad? Like in every video that he was in, Matt was better at launching all the time? Maybe he’s better around a track but this channel doesn’t need that…

    2. AhEmGee Avatar
      AhEmGee

      In quite afew videos now hasn’t properly disabled the TC. Schoolboy error.

    3. Andy Lloyd Avatar
      Andy Lloyd

      I’ve also thought this especially on the bmw e39 video where he made a M5 looks slow next to an auto 540i ffs and i know this wouldn’t happen as i own a M5
      He’s frustrating rubbish
      Should be Matt, Yanni and Mark in my opinion

    4. Curt Petrus Avatar
      Curt Petrus

      I have to agree.

    5. SoNnY Avatar
      SoNnY

      Should of been yanni in the 86 not Ben, plus yanni is hilarious unlike robotic Ben

  10. ms Avatar
    ms

    Really good to see that abs difference, kinda insane the extra braking distance.

    1. Purwanti Allan Avatar
      Purwanti Allan

      Yes. Added braking distance by 20m.

  11. S18RSG Avatar
    S18RSG

    Was a pleasure to help out with both this video and the Supra video guys, thanks for having me along.

    Whenever Mat wants me to come and convince him to buy a GR86 again, you know how to get hold of me πŸ˜‚

    1. HALOphobic Avatar
      HALOphobic

      does it have fake engine audio coming from the speakers

    2. S18RSG Avatar
      S18RSG

      @HALOphobic Stock yes, like in this video. I’ve since fitted a new exhaust and disconnected the fake engine noise however.

    3. HALOphobic Avatar
      HALOphobic

      @S18RSG oh okay, it sounded somewhat different from actual exhaust. thanks for clarifying

    4. George Hone Avatar
      George Hone

      should get mat to do another race but with a modded gt86 like mine. ive kept it na but its pushing 220hp now and bought it with 40k miles for 11,500 but with a 2k mod chaning the exhaust and a few other tweaks im curious for the comparison

    5. moldyrefrigerator Avatar
      moldyrefrigerator

      @George HoneI have a Scion FRS with full bolt-ons and e85 OFT tune, as well as a new 2023 BRZ. My stock BRZ is still faster.

  12. Eldrid Venter Avatar
    Eldrid Venter

    Seen Ben driving a few times now, and I cant say I am impressed… 🀨

    1. Halligalli514 Avatar
      Halligalli514

      @Tylan Smith you are a tough guy i guess… Are you his lost child? Or why do you mond my words?

    2. Tylan Smith Avatar
      Tylan Smith

      @Halligalli514 I am!

    3. Halligalli514 Avatar
      Halligalli514

      @Tylan Smith so, sorry I guess. Or, no. I dont care. My oppinion should not trigger you. Sorry for your poor ego

    4. Cited Canvas Avatar
      Cited Canvas

      I cant believe im saying this but Ben is not good at DragπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚.

    5. Tylan Smith Avatar
      Tylan Smith

      @Halligalli514 lol it’s to easy to troll nowadays

  13. Nqobile Mahlaba Avatar
    Nqobile Mahlaba

    GR86 is a great car and we all knew which car was going to come 1st 2nd and 3rd in the race. The AE86 honestly is the underdog in the race. I am impressed.

  14. A.W. Avatar
    A.W.

    As a GT86 owner myself, I think the problem with Ben’s launches is that TC was not fully off, so the computer kept cutting power in the wet. When you press the TC off button once, it only turns off part of the TC (which is what Ben did). To further disable control, you will need to hold the button for 3 sec. And for older model such as the one in this video, you will need to do the pedal dance to fully turn off all electronic control (except for ABS).

    1. Scnottaken Avatar
      Scnottaken

      Doesn’t help that the new GR has way better tires as stock compared to the older gt86.

    2. Air-headed Aviator Avatar
      Air-headed Aviator

      Wild. Toyota is consistently weird about their traction control

    3. Roger G. Walters Avatar
      Roger G. Walters

      That was very helpful advice, too bad Ben didn’t get it before the race.

    4. slipp3ryslop3 Avatar
      slipp3ryslop3

      @Roger G. Walters Ben has been in enough cars to not assume he knows what the traction control settings mean. They differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and even model to model, and he chose not to consult google or the owner’s manual. πŸ€·πŸ½β€β™‚οΈ

    5. Denaco  Avatar
      Denaco

      damn right. i had a standard trd edition one for many years, then sold it and bought a tuning developments turbo’d one as my last 86 before moving on. the thing cuts power bad on a wet day even with traction control reduced after one press, so it was a no go here. definitely need it fully off to keep full power to rear wheels. and yea! the pedal dance lol. actually forgot about that as only tried it once. Also, can’t believe how slow the gt86 is compared to the gr86 on even the rolling race.

  15. Henne Avatar
    Henne

    Would be fun to have a 20v swapped with it as well. See how that compares!

    1. Eugene Beaty Avatar
      Eugene Beaty

      Ooo I want to see that

    2. The Unknown Avatar
      The Unknown

      ive got an AE111 Levin with the 20v Black top engine.. I raced a GT86. I smoked him..

    3. Mohamad Azlee Avatar
      Mohamad Azlee

      Same

    4. BiSBAR45 Avatar
      BiSBAR45

      If you get a 20v in a ae86 you have to upgrade you transmission then … i had 20v with stock tranny and it really lower the 20v potential , i mean , my bluetop with little work on the head was faster than my 20v coz of 5 speed

  16. Stefan Stefanov Avatar
    Stefan Stefanov

    Just an Idea for future races. Maybe try changing the lanes where each car is between launches in the initial drag race. It will help us see if maybe the tarmac has anything to do with the times.

    1. DaBaltimoron Avatar
      DaBaltimoron

      I wanted them to change drivers.

  17. Jay Jay Avatar
    Jay Jay

    Mat I have a suggestion! Can you also put the Mph when crossing the line? It would be great to see how fast these cars when crossing the 1/4 mile

  18. Jorge Pinto Avatar
    Jorge Pinto

    God old clutch feathering, stoping wheelspin without removing throttle, good for engines with small torque figures.. and burning a clutch or 2 πŸ˜…πŸ˜‡ great work mat and carwow team.shout-out to Ben, always great to see him back.

    1. tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow Avatar
      tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow

      CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS CAR’S AFTER NOW ✌️🀟

  19. Okith De Silva Avatar
    Okith De Silva

    We want more Japanese car drag races like this one with more classic Japanese cars!

    1. tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow Avatar
      tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow

      CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS CAR’S AFTER NOW πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸ‘†

  20. Okith De Silva Avatar
    Okith De Silva

    Mat never fails to wow us with all these insane reviews, drag races and videos!

    1. tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow Avatar
      tele_g_r_a_mExpertCarWow

      CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS CAR’S AFTER NOW πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸ‘†

    2. Rasher basher Avatar
      Rasher basher

      Same old BOT COMMENT πŸ’€πŸ’€

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *