First drive: 2022 Toyota GR 86 review

It has created a motor that revs to higher crankspeeds than the old 2.0-litre did but that also produces 20% more torque, the latter being made more accessibly too (peak pulling power in the old 2.0-litre lump didn’t arrive until 6500rpm).

Because of the nature of this car, owners are unlikely to be too concerned about things like interior equipment specification or material fit and finish – which is handy, because our later validation prototype test cars didn’t have fully finished dashboard mouldings or door trims (not that any looked or felt particularly rough or cheap).

Just as in the GT86, you sit low at the steering wheel, Toyota claiming to have lowered the car’s hip point and roofline just a little, in an pretty compact but comfortable seat that offers adequate lateral support and decent touring comfort. There’s plenty of room for taller adults in the front row; enough really only for kids and bags in the occasional back seats. But those rear seatbacks do fold down in order to expand the car’s boot space, which is usefully large by sports-car class standards.

Visibility from the driver’s seat is great looking forwards thanks to the car’s low bonnet and scuttle; to the rear, it’s more typical of a low-roofed coupé but better, certainly, than you might get from a mid-engined car.

The new 2.4-litre engine starts and idles much like the old 2.0-litre, but get it revving even to middling crankspeeds and it delivers quite differently.

The lead technical manager for the car’s development, Herwig Daenens, told me that they had worked hard with dedicated sound tuning and under-bonnet resonance structures to create an even more evocative boxer sound for this motor, which is all natural rather than speaker-enhanced. It’s even more mechanically authentic and interesting on the ear than the old 2.0-litre; louder, better-defined and more raw as well, and while also typically tremulous and buzzy, still fizzingly addictive beyond 5000rpm.

There’s a weighty, well-defined connected feel about the gearshift quality, too, and a likably unfiltered matching sense of connection about the engagement of drive (it can shunt just a little at low speeds if you’re hurried with the pedals).

But there’s also that extra torque. The GT86 was a pretty slow modern sports car; rather than getting in the way, for us that fact gave it clearer mission statement, which was all about having fun without necessarily going that fast. The GR 86 is only about a second quicker to 62mph from rest in outright terms, and it remains a car with an engine you need to wring right out if you want to get up a proper head of steam – which is exactly as it should be.

But having that fatter torque curve makes a noticeable difference to the accessibility of the car’s performance on the road. You don’t necessarily feel like gear choice is so critical for every successive bend, because the engine will pull strongly enough from 3500rpm in third (although stronger still, of course, from 5000rpm in second). And that frees up a little more of your attention to lavish on what the chassis, suspension and steering are each doing.

Toyota makes no apologies for the marginally more serious suspension rates of this car than of the GT86, nor for the slight dynamic repositioning that comes with them – and perhaps it needn’t. It has used higher-grade steels and new reinforcements to add 50% to the torsional rigidity of the chassis, and that fact alone ought to allow the car to ‘wear’ firmer suspension without any deterioration to ride quality.

Springs, anti-roll bars and bushings have all been firmed up a little (the GR 86's kerb weight has actually dropped by 20kg from that of the GT86). 17in alloy wheels and those famous Michelin Primacy ‘Toyota Prius tyres’ still come as standard on entry-level models, but upper-level models (one of which we drove) now get 18in rims and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 performance rubber.

We tested the car on fairly smooth winding country roads west of Barcelona, on which the ride showed only occasional hints of fidgeting body control, but mostly coped well. It’s easy to appreciate the extra agility and lateral body control that Toyota has added; the car feels notably keener to turn into faster corners than its predecessor was, but also a shade grippier, more secure and more ‘grown up’ when carrying bigger speeds.

Does that make it less fun? I wouldn’t say so. On the road, you have to work a shade harder to find the margins of the car’s adhesion – but certainly not so hard to adversely affect how engaged you feel. The car’s steering is both quicker and weightier than in the GT86, but remains intuitively paced and feels natural. And on track it still has that wonderful party trick of being so blissfully easy to manage when the car does start to slide – which it will do a lot if you allow it to.

The GT86 was a car that oversteered incredibly benignly, with your foot buried deep in the carpet and corrective steering applied so simply. Go in on a trailing throttle and with plenty of revs showing; gas the car once the front axle has settled; and then manage its angle solely with the wheel, like a pilot on final approach trimming the attitude of his Cessna with the rudder. If you want more angle, take some lock off. If you want to tidy it up again, dial it right back. It couldn’t be easier. At all times, just keep your foot in – and try not to die laughing.