Among the many commendable aspects of the 2022 Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86 is that if you don’t mind a small vehicle, they both still function well as cars, unlike their higher-priced supercar counterparts. Indeed, according to newly released ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, they’re both pretty safe, too.
The two small sports cars, which are based on the same platform and vary minimally, earned themselves the IIHS’s highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick+ award. In order to do that, vehicles must earn “Good” ratings in six IIHS crashworthiness evaluations, including the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength, and head restraint tests.
In addition, they must also be available with a front crash prevention system that earns “Advanced” or “Superior” ratings in the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. Finally, to earn the Top Safety Pick+ award, they must have “Good” or “Acceptable” headlights as standard across all trims.
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Per IIHS testing, the two sports cars meet all criteria. Between them, they are available with four headlight systems that all earn “Good” ratings and vehicles equipped with the automatic transmission (which account for up to 70 percent of GR86s sold) come with a crash prevention system that earns “Superior” ratings in the above-mentioned evaluations.
Both cars are powered by a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder boxer engine that makes 228 hp (170 kW/231 PS) and 184 lb-ft (249 Nm) of torque. Both have also been designed for driving pleasure and our own Michael Gauthier called the Toyota “a delight on the track.”
Judging by the surprising number of wrecked models showing up on Copart, though, there’s a very good reason for these cars to have excellent safety ratings.
