The Toyota GR86 is the perfect grassroots race car, affordable with great handling and an ideal chassis. However, not many people can picture this low-slung coupe competing in the Baja 500 or the Dakar Rally. That is where this vehicle comes in, a GR86 that borrowed CGI attitude from the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
As the logo on top of the car suggests, this is the latest in a long list of renderings by Sugar Design. The 3D artist is quite well known for converting existing sports cars into hatchbacks or wagons. He already had a number of GR86 hatch renderings, including one featuring the Initial D livery.
However, this takes things in an entirely new direction: off-roading. The GR86 hatchback gains unpainted bumpers, more resilient to damage, followed by a skid plate with a protective bar and recovery equipment.
Don’t overlook the fender flares, which constitute a widebody GR86 kit unlike what most people picture. Those Jeep-like accessories are needed because extra-wide tires have been fitted. Hopefully, the 2.4-liter boxer engine has been turbocharged. Otherwise, it’s going to have trouble spinning up those massive rubbers. Maybe that’s why a WRX-style scoop sits atop the 86’s normally flat hood.
Why this GR86 needs more power
As a reminder, the GR86 was developed by Toyota with Subaru. And while the 2.4-liter four-cylinder is similar to the one powering the WRX, engineers and company bosses have repeatedly said no to the sports Impreza’s turbo. This leaves the output at just 228 hp versus 271 hp for the latter.
This extra-juicy off-road Toyota conversion also integrates what’s probably the first snorkel ever designed on a GR86. We wouldn’t want the engine to get flooded while crossing rivers!
And because the roof has been extended to make this a hatchback, there’s room for a sturdy roof rack. Not big enough for a camper, perhaps, but still pleasantly decked out with extra lights and sexy storage boxes. Maybe a tire repair kit can take the place of the traditional spare.
Obviously, this is just a rendering, but there’s a lot of heritage behind it. The old GT86 has been used as a rally race car in Europe. Obviously, Subaru has more off-road racing history than most other automakers. It even made a vehicle called “Baja”.
But the biggest influence here has to be Porsche’s 911 and its history of taking things off-road. This really took off in the 1970s when Porsche competed in East Africa and, of course, later in the 1980s with the Dakar Rally. Nowadays, a 911 Safari build can be a great excise to blow half a million on a custom car. So why wouldn’t you want the same look on a much cheaper Toyota?
