Toyota Built the AWD GR86 Rally Car of Our Dreams

• Toyota has introduced a new GR86 Rally Legacy concept for SEMA 2024.
• It uses the GR Corolla’s three-cylinder engine making 300 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque.
• It also borrows the GR Corolla’s all-wheel-drive system and has a sequential racing gearbox.

Toyota is pulling out all the stops for SEMA—as it usually does. We’ve already seen the 4Runner TRD Surf, the Land Cruiser Rox, and a handful of other off-road-equipped trucks headed for Vegas. Now the company is throwing it back to the glory days of the 1980s with a rally-inspired GR86 concept.

The GR86 Rally Legacy concept debuts at SEMA this week. It has all-wheel drive and a more powerful turbocharged engine, plus a full Castrol-style rally livery with red mud flaps, white wheels, and a race-ready cabin with little. It has Sparco racing seats, a Sparco steering wheel, a roll cage… and that’s about it.

Photo by: Toyota

Photo by: Toyota

Under the hood is the GR Corolla’s turbocharged 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine. It makes 300 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, matching the production GR Corolla—but Toyota says it’s capable of even more. Photos show a sequential racing gearbox, which means no manual, but the GR86 concept does at least adopt the Corolla’s all-wheel-drive system.

But fitting the GR86 with the GR Corolla’s engine and all-wheel-drive system was no easy task. Engineers had to modify the GR86’s chassis to fit the taller, transverse-mounted engine with a custom subframe and engine mounts. Adding the bulky all-wheel-drive system, meanwhile, meant adding the Corolla’s hubs, spindles, and axles to get power to the front wheels.

The GR86 also borrows the GR Corollas rear differential and housing to maintain its factory gear ratios, and it has nifty center-mounted dual exhaust tips that just look cool.

You won’t be able to buy one, of course. The complexity of the project tells us that Toyota has no plans to put it into production. But if you happen to be at SEMA this week, you’ll be able to see the GR86 Rally Legacy at the Toyota booth alongside the brand’s other awesome concepts.

Doors to the Las Vegas Convention Center open on November 5.