Toyota is bringing back the limited edition Hakone trim for the 2025 GR86, reviving the green machine we last saw in 2020.
Special editions are rampant, especially on models that have been around for a while. Automakers use them to bait car collectors and driving enthusiasts that may have passed on the standard model. While they’re often little more than an appearance package, the good ones usually offer some performance upgrades. The Hakone is a little bit of both.
Based on the Premium trim, the Hakone Edition receives an upgraded audio system and the optional performance package that yields Brembo brakes (with larger rotors) and Sachs dampers. This is supposed to improve the handling and is fitting considering the car is named after a stretch of road where handling can make all the difference.
Naming a car after a turnpike sounds pretty daft but the Hakone is actually loaded up with switchbacks and runs through a beautiful forest. It’s an iconic driving road in Japan with the toll basically existing as the starting line for a road that effectively exists to delight the senses of those who have paid to be there. The corners are even marked to indicate when you should be on the brakes. The point is that it isn’t just just a road, it’s one of the most famous touge runs in Japan.
While Toyota shoppers can upgrade the standard GR86 to match the Hakone’s agility, they’ll be harder pressed to match its looks. Every model will be painted in Ridge Green and come with 18-inch satin bronze wheels and a duck-tail spoiler. Unique badging is a given and the coupe likewise gets a unique shift knob and complementary accented stitching on the upholstery. Seats are leather with ultrasuede trim, making the interior both a little more upscale and grippy vs base GR86 models.
But the rest is available on every other version of the car. For 2025, every GR86 comes with a 2.4-liter flat-4 motor outputting 228 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. Rear drive, the vehicles feature a Torsen limited-slip rear differential and can be optioned with either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission. Both are said to benefit from some revived throttle mapping, which is supposed to make downshifting easier at higher engine speeds.
Electronic steering has also been updated, with Toyota putting a focus on offering better feedback. Suspension tweaks are likewise said to help improve both feedback and handling.
It’s unlikely that these changes have resulted in totally transforming the GR86. But the coupe was already loads of fun to drive, particularly through a chain of tight corners, and any performance upgrades are welcome. Nobody is going to be mad that a good car has been made better.
But there’s not quite enough here to rationalize the Hakone as the must-have model. It feels more like an alternative to the limited Trueno Edition released in 2024. Whereas that model existed as a tribute to the AE86 from the 1980s, the Hakone serves to tempt those who felt the Tureno paint scheme was a little brash.
There is a subset of enthusiasts who believe green paint and bronze was the pinnacle of automotive fashion. This includes your author, who once owned a Plymouth Voyager and Eagle Talon with exactly that color scheme. But it hasn’t been commonplace in years, so manufacturers have been teasing it out as part of limited edition models.
If you missed the 2020 Toyota GR86 Hakone Edition, here’s your chance to get the new one. With the exception of the modern updates to the standard model and slight differences in paint color — the new one is a little less glossy — it’s basically the same idea.
Pricing has yet to be announced. But production for the special edition is limited to just 860 units in the United States, so markups are probably going to be an issue. Toyota plans to put it on sale this fall.
[Images: Toyota]
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