Toyota GT86: ‘Their simplest yet most exciting model in years’

The designer's back-to-basics approach results in a retro roadster which is a playful pleasure to drive

Toyota GT86
Price 27,285
0-62mph 7.7 seconds
Top speed 130mph
MPG 35.3
CO2 180g/km

A few years ago I went to a 25th-anniversary celebration of Mazda's all-conquering MX-5. It's by far and away the world's bestselling two-seat roadster. It's the dinky sports car that blends big driving thrills with everyday usability and it has doggedly stuck to one simple credo: "Keep it basic." There is nothing fussy or fancy about it. It's functional and, in these days of fake news, autonomous driving and hands-off digital feedback, there is something gloriously authentic about its analogue approach to the road. And it's exactly this pared-back, up-front honesty that's helped Mazda shift more than 1m of them over the past quarter-century.