Toyota GR86 ZN8 vs Mazda MX-5 Miata ND
We watched 84 videos from 37 reviewers. If it's your only car, get the GR86: it's the one you can live with every day, and it has the edge on grip and pace. If it's the weekend car, get the Miata. Nothing here is more fun, and the reviewers aren't split on that.
What looked like a split on handling has mostly closed: reviewers now largely agree the GR86 is the better-handling car. Where they still argue is whose steering feels better.
Counts are head-to-head calls: each time a reviewer picked one car over the other.
Performance
GR86 is more track-focused and dialed in.
“the gr86 is just more dialed and it's more track focus and you'll definitely be able to take Corners quite a bit faster.”
“GR86's 2.4-liter boxer four-cylinder engine makes 228 horsepower, which is more than MX-5 Miata's standard 181-horsepower two-liter engine.”
“the gr86 engine makes way more power than this oh yeah doesn't have anywhere this level of like wanting to be wound out”
“It is way underpowered comparatively to other sports cars on the market, particularly the GR86. The GR86 has beaten it for a few years now.”
Handling
Sharper steering rack than the ND Miata.
Where reviewers split. Steering is where reviewers genuinely split; body control isn't. Most channels give the GR86 the flatter, more planted chassis, and Roads Untraveled calls it "way sharper" with the quicker rack, which Toyota's own numbers back up: 13.5:1 against the Miata's 15.5:1. The other camp, led by Jubbal & Cars and joined by Realistick, Beyond The Test Drive and TFLnow, says the Miata's steering is more natural, and Jubbal adds that its double-wishbone front end stays more neutral while the strut-front GR86 pushes into understeer. The same reviewer calls the GR86 the better learning tool and the Miata the car you keep progressing in. Daily use isn't a clean sweep either: the GR86 wins on space and seating, but A Auto Buyers Guide gives the MX-5 the better ride, Realistick finds its materials less cheap than the GR86's, and it's the more frugal car. Straight-line pace is closer than the power gap suggests, with testers landing on both sides.
Fun to drive
Easier to keep progressing as a driver compared to the GR86.
“I think it's easier to plateau with the GR86 and BRZ whereas the Miata allows you to keep progressing as a driver in a way.”
“even though like you know the G86 and the BRZ continue to refine the shifter to feel better, it still doesn't even come close to the Miata.”
Daily drivability
GR86 is more practical for a single-vehicle owner.
“if you have only one vehicle, the GR86 is the better buy because it's so much more practical.”
“That's one of the reasons why enthusiasts love this car as a daily driver and as a track car. This is something that you can't do in a Miata because it doesn't have this much trunk capacity.”
Value
GR86 is a better budget track car out of the box.
“the Miata does get 34 m gallon highway and this only gets 27 MP gallon highway”
Hear it in the reviewer’s words
“Capability against connection — the coupe that does more versus the roadster that feels more.
The GR86 is the more complete car: the 2.4-liter boxer has a flat torque curve from about 3,000 rpm, the body stays flat where the Miata leans, and it is the more stable, more progressive one when you go looking for the limit. Then it folds its back seat for a spare set of tires and does duty as your only car.
The MX-5 trades all of that for feel — the shifter the Toyota still doesn't come close to, a double-wishbone front end that, by Jubbal & Cars' account, rotates on the brakes where the GR86 pushes, an engine that wants to be wound out, and an open top. On which is more fun, reviewers barely argue.
One is the better tool; the other is the better toy.