Since the demise of Scion and the rebadging of the FR-S to become the Toyota 86, the days felt numbered for this small and active sports coupe.

The Toyota Supra has been on the horizon for a few years and now it’s in the market to give us the fun and impressive tuner car that we love to drive, but it makes us wonder what the Toyota 86 will offer for the future. Now, we’ve learned that Toyota plans to bring the 86 back for a second generation, but when it does, this car will need to be better.

What Does Better Mean for the Toyota 86?

Even though the future of the Toyota 86 isn’t assured, this is a car that Toyota wants to be “better than the current Supra” to give us a sportier and more powerful drive. This is a bold statement considering the Supra has just returned to the market and is positioned to make the drive right when you head to the track. The new Supra is offered to pique your imagination and make your heart run faster than ever before. There’s a chance we might see a concept version of the new Toyota 86 at the Tokyo Auto Show in late October.

Continuing to have Subaru Influence

As in the past, the new Toyota 86 is expected to share a lot of what it offers with the Subaru brand. It might not be the BRZ this time, although we may see similar improvements to the BRZ, but the power could come from the flat four-cylinder 2.4-liter engine that’s offered in the three-row Subaru Ascent. This engine is rated at 260 horsepower in the Ascent which it uses a turbocharger and the evolution of the Toyota 86 should use turbocharging for the drive.

Other items to Improve the Toyota 86

The next version of the small sports coupe we admire from Toyota will continue to emphasize the power to weight ratio to make this car better than the Supra. The added benefits the Toyota team is working on will create a nimbler, smaller, and better-balanced car than what we see in the Supra. The engine alone improves these factors because it’s lighter than the straight-six used in the Supra while also moving the center of gravity closer to the ground where you need it to be in a car that’s ready to rip off some fast laps on the track.

Test Models Will Arrive Soon

If the schedule offered by the rumors of this car is true, we will see a new concept model arriving in Tokyo in the next few weeks and test models will be ripping off laps at the Toyota test tracks before this time. If all goes well, we can expect to see a new Toyota 86 arrive during the 2021 calendar year as a 2022 model in the US. This leaves us wondering if the same changes will take place for the Subaru BRZ which has shared the platform with the Toyota 86 during this first generation.