Toyota GR86
Why 8.3: The cheapest RWD manual coupe on sale, bought to learn car control and used exactly that way. Track-day sign-in sheets are full of them.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The FA24 boxer is naturally aspirated, revs to 7,500 and hardens up usefully past 5,000. But where the GT86 piped real induction noise into the cabin, the GR86 plays a fully synthetic track through the speakers, and it sounds it. Honest engine, dishonest delivery.
4-cylinder · naturally aspirated · 7,500 rpm redline · rated 5.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €26k (2022) → €23k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
"ISOFIX child seat anchor points" checked on Toyota's UK equipment sheet; the token 2+2 rear bench gets the anchors, matching the GR Yaris/GR Corolla "outer rear seats" pattern.
A separate "Passenger airbag on/off switch" line item covers the front seat — belt installation only, no ISOFIX hardware up front.
Rear seats are notoriously tight in the GR86/BRZ 2+2 — anchors exist per spec but usable space is minimal.
Toyota GR86 UK Equipment Specifications (media.toyota.co.uk)
The long version
This is the car driving instructors point beginners toward, because it's cheap enough to spin without a financial crisis and balanced enough to teach the lesson properly. Values track a normal used car's depreciation curve rather than anything speculative, which is the tell — nobody buys a GR86 hoping to sell it for more later, they buy it to use up. The mod and autocross community around it is enormous relative to the price, and the car spends its life exactly where that community lives: parking-lot cone courses and midweek track nights.