2019 Toyota 86 Gets Performance Edition (Sans Higher Performance)
If you were waiting for a turbocharger on the 2019 Toyota 86 sport coupe … well, keep waiting. But Toyota will offer what it calls an “Ultimate Performance” model, the 2019 86 TRD Special Edition with upgraded handing, along with sportier exterior and interior features.
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Shop the 2019 Toyota 86 near you
The Toyota 86 TRD special edition of the rear-wheel-drive coupe will be limited to 1,418 copies and adds chassis upgrades that include Sachs shock absorbers, Brembo brakes and 18-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires. If those bits sound familiar, they’re what’s also mostly included in the Performance Package for the 86’s sibling Subaru BRZ Limited model (compare the 2018 BRZ and 86 here). The BRZ’s top performance model, the tS, adds those bigger wheels and summer tires, while upping the ante with a giant manually adjustable carbon-fiber rear wing, along with a suspension and traction control with track mode tuned by Subaru’s STI performance division.
There is no sports car performance boost under the hood, however, so you’ll have to keep hoping. Power for the TRD Special Edition remains the same 205-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder with a six-speed manual transmission that’s found in other 86 stick-shift models, putting out 156 lb-ft of torque (the automatics are rated 200 horsepower and 151 lb-ft of torque).
The TRD Special Edition at least will look the part, however, thanks to a TRD body kit that includes more aggressive front and rear bumper, side sills, a rear spoiler and a TRD exhaust with brushed stainless-steel tips. You can have it in any color you want as long as it is black, and it’s adorned on the side with what Toyota calls a “classic” accent — a yellow, orange and red swoosh that would look at home in the 1970s.
The interior is black with red accents and red contrast stitching throughout. It includes a red-and-black steering wheel and red-and-black sport bucket seats, as well as red seat belts and a black Granlux faux-suede covering atop the instrument cluster. There’s also a Toyota TRD performance unit logo embroidered on passenger side instrument panel.
The 2019 86 TRD Special Edition will go on sale in August at $33,340 with destination (which remains at $920 for 2019). For comparison, the 2018 BRZ Limited with the Performance Package starts $30,500 with destination, while the BRZ tS starts at $34,355. The 86 will continue to be available in base and GT versions that carry over with a couple of new paint colors, but 2019 prices for those were not announced. The current 2018 GT top model starts at $29,505 with destination.
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