Toyota MR2 vs Toyota 86 Comparison: They Aren’t As Far Apart As You Might Think [Fun]

The 1988 Toyota MR2 and the 2018 Toyota 86 have very little in common, other than a badge. The MR2 is Mid engined, supercharged, and from the 80’s. Whereas the Toyota 86 has a naturally aspirated Subaru engine, mounted in the front. But, if you take a close look at the cars’ specifications, you’ll begin to see a lot of congruencies between the two.

2018 Toyota 86
2018 Toyota 86. [Photo: Toyota]

Powertrains

Obviously this is one of the major differences. The MR2 came with a mid-mounded 1.6-liter supercharged four cylinder that makes 145 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual.

Comparatively, the Toyota 86 has a front-mounted, 2.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-four that makes 205 horsepower and 156 lb-ft of torque. Similarly, power is sent to the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual.

1985 Toyota MR2. [Photo: Toyota]

Specs

Here is where the similarities really start to grow. The MR2 does 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, only 0.3 seconds slower than the Toyota 86. Their quarter mile times are even similar. 15.0 seconds for the MR2 and 14.8 for the Toyota 86.

They are even similar in size, though the Toyota 86 is a bit heavier and a bit larger.

As for fuel economy, more similarities emerge. The MR2 gets 21 MPG in the city, just like the Toyota 86, and 27 MPG on the highway, only 1 mpg worse than the modern 86.

Price

If you were to take the base prices of these two cars, you would think the MR2 was an absolute steal. But inflation is a cruel deceiver. If you adjust for inflation, the MR2 was actually a lot more expensive when it was new. Though, they are both sports car bargains at the end of the day.

Special thanks to Olathe Toyota and Spork Marketing for putting together this cool infographic. It is really interesting to see how far we have come, and how little has changed at the same time.

Check out what we think of the Toyota’s latest sports car in the video below: