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I get it. “Save the manuals.” “Sports cars should have a stick.” “How can you even heel-toe and double-clutch, dude?” For sure, there are many great reasons why a true sports car like my 2025 Toyota GR86 can be a blast with a stick shift. I agree with that view to a large degree, but I have to live with this thing, and it will be my daily driver for many years to come. So here’s why I ended up with an automatic GR86.
My Job, My City, My Type of Driving
I have a day job, but my passion is drumline. I’ve competed all over America and was proud to be part of four great drumlines, including the UMass Amherst band and Cadets out of PA. Now, I’m a member of Flagship Entertainment, and we play gigs in Boston. We play at Celtics pre-games, timeouts, half-times, and are expanding to Patriots games. I get some pop-rock concert work, too. Every time I commute in and out of a gig, I’m in hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic. It can take three hours to exit a Patriots Game in Foxboro. I need a car that won’t give me hip bursitis to and from performing.
I Live In And Out Of Boston
I’m in my mid-twenties, and I have lived in the Brighton neighborhood of Massachusetts. I may move to Allston. These are some of the most congested areas of America. Cars with sticks are zero fun in the city. I also borrow my buddies’ cars once in a while, and they sometimes need mine. Having a stick is very limiting, and I don’t want to live with a car with stripped synchros or a cooked clutch that I’m still paying off.
Long Highway Hauls Are Part of My Drum Life
Once or twice per year, I attend events in Ohio or other pretty long ways from home. It’s all highway, all boring driving, and we carpool. I need a car that makes sense on the highway and one I can let someone else drive. A stick does me no good on a five-hour highway slog. It would also limit the drivers I could have helping me.
Of Course I Tried the Stick
I’ve had a chance to drive stick shift cars, including the GR86 and the BRZ. Yup, it’s fun to drive a stick. I loved it. On a lonely mountain road, downshifting into corners, matching revs on downshifts. Great stuff. And literally 5% of my potential driving at best. Some of my driving is suburban and rural. Sure, a stick would be cool in that scenario, too, but by comparison to the upside of the automatic leaving a gig after a game stuck in traffic at midnight? Not so much.
Related Story: Suddenly Toyota Has 3 Stick Shift Sports Cars
Researching the Stick Opened My Mind
Before I pulled the trigger on the automatic, I looked for reviews of the GR86. My dad’s a car tester here and has driven and reviewed the GR86 stick and auto, both or all the generations, and he’s tracked both. He offered honest input. He said the first-gen FR-S cars had too little torque to enjoy much as autos. The new, larger displacement engines enabled the car to be fun with an auto, particularly in Sport Mode with paddles.
I found owners who reported loving their GR86 autos online. There’s a pretty good Reddit thread. One Owner wrote:
Should you get the chance to have a more spirited driving session like you mentioned visiting the family, the manual mode in the AT is still very fun and engaging, IMO. Paddles feel good, even the up and down stick shifting is entertaining.
There is also a GR86.ORG thread that has owners saying good things about the auto. One owner wrote:
The automatic is good. As an owner myself, I recommend leaving it in sport for performance driving instead of the full manual mode with paddles. I like to use the paddles to occasionally force the gear I want, and find that it works better with the car than using the paddles for every change.
These owner opinions, and many more like them, really helped me make the call.
I’m Loving This GR86 Auto
Wrapping this up, I’m loving this car. It handles fantastically. The brakes are insane. Having the front tires freed up from having to pull makes the steering sharp. I can downshift with the paddles into corners. When I’m having fun with the car, I can hold the car above 3K RPMs and make it have instant response. Would a stick have been more fun? Maybe. But the Celtics are about to start the postseason, and I will be in and out of TD Garden in monstah traffic jams.
Feel free to go off in the comments. I am open to your side of the debate.
Ean Goreham is a long-time behind-the-scenes contributor to Torque News. He holds a B.A. in Communications and is a fan of Formula 1 Racing. In his spare time, Ean enjoys performing as a member of a professional drumline at Boston Celtics and New England Patriots games and during concerts. His favorite online driving experiences are Need For Speed, Forza Horizon 5, Assetto Corso, and Wreckfest. You can also reach Ean on LInkedIn to follow his writings and comments about cars.
Image of percussionist Ean Goreham performing at a New England Patriots game courtesy of Flagship Entertainment. Top of page image by Ean Goreham.
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Source: torquenews.com
