I want to thank everyone for their responses to this thread! Everyone's contrasting opinions and quite specific recommendations have been enormously helpful to me in making a decision!
My apologies for taking so long to reply. I had a surgery to get through and heal from over the last month and as you can imagine that slowed me down for a bit and prevented me from catching up.
I would like all of your responses if I could but there seems to be some limitation with my account that doesn't allow for that yet.
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After considering everyone's responses and doing even more research and finding a couple of GR86's to scrutinize in person and considering what I really needed and wanted in a fun daily I put down a waitlist deposit for a 2023 GR86 Premium 6MT. I'm good with the white, black, light and dark gray colors so hopefully that will increase my odds.
And yes, I did do a HUGE amount of research on dealers combing threads and Google doc files for GR Corolla, GR Supra and GR86 buyers of markup and non-markup dealers to compile my own list of dealers to approach to do an MSRP sale or very close to it. I am in Florida so there really weren't many to choose from in that regard.
I am in no immediate hurry to get the car so waiting for a while is doable for me.
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With the GR Supra... the price is certainly a stretch to get into... but besides the much higher price over the GR86 and its excellent engine and transmission what ultimately made me pull away from it was a few things:
First, I do already have a Supra-ish turbo car at this point in my SC. It's getting to be an impractical-for-daily-duty classic now but it can be enjoyed any time.
And second, it is really a new daily practical all around use car that I am looking for... but which is still a true driver's car that is always fun. The Supra is gorgeous and has tremendous performance.... but it's a two-seater and even with that hatchback storage area many of you mentioned how oddly shaped it is. I agree about that and I've been all over the interior of one front to back before.
It's just not enough room laid out in a practical way for my purposes.
The GR86 looks very beautiful to me as well however.
I spent a good 30min at one dealer inside a GR86 trying everything out from front to rear, the back seat, the fold down function, the trunk, etc.
While it is definitely compact inside the GR86 I still found the interior room to be more usable overall.
The back seat area in my Lexus SC300 is much more generous in both head room and leg room for rear passengers. You can seat four people comfortably in the SC for reasonable out of town drives.
The back seat area in the GR86 is really only good to seat one extra person on the passenger side (I'm 5' 8") but it is doable with just acceptable legroom. That is good enough for me since usually I do not have more than one extra passenger in my car anyway.
At least one full size suitcase will fit in the trunk with some extra room available even with the tighter opening.
The fold down rear seats actually gives more usable trunk space over my SC (which has an upright gas tank between the rear seats and trunk liner).
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And as far as the power difference between my SC and the GR86... I feel that evens out as well.
The turbo'd SC and GR86 are very different cars with two very different expressions of power. One wasn't even turbocharged to begin with but even with the mild stock turbo engine I think it's only as fast as the stock GR86 is.
Since my SC300 weighs about 3600lbs in current trim (+200lbs more than an MKIV TT) and is set up for stock sequential boost pressure only this recent video comparing a stock GR86 6MT and a 99% stock Supra MKIV TT 6MT is very telling as to how far along overall technology has come in 30 years.
My SC has been deliberately built to be a 100% California BAR emissions compliant car and so keeping its new engine unmodified has been part and parcel of one of my goals with it.
Yes, you can easily modify the Supra MKIV's engine to blow the GR86 away but it is impressive nonetheless for the GR86:
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And there is one more important factor:
Which car just... speaks to me more?
The GR86 does that for me. It is very simple and very focused yet in my opinion still very practical as an everyday car that is the total opposite of boring to drive.
It just seems like the most fun option and something that I wouldn't worry about so much in any situation.
A do-anything small sportscar that has all the traditional controls and interior and exterior layout that I really like when I'm honest with myself.
I sat in the GR86 interior and I just LOVED being in there. It felt right to me. I think that feeling is more important than all other factors. This is not a car I would get rid of in a couple of years. It's something I want to be driving for a long time.
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I am keeping my SC300 of course but it's definitely going to become the secondary use classic car now. It'll also reduce overall wear and tear on it from now on.
I'm pretty much done with the modifications I wanted to do to it all along from the day I bought it and now all I really want is to finish up its remaining cosmetic restoration.
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Someone mentioned that I have the "modification bug" since I did so much to my SC300.
Well... yes and no.
The SC300 is a great chassis with great potential but is like a fun and racy but floaty Buick with a short geared manual transmission and woefully undersized brakes in stock form.
Mind you that given the kind of big coupe that it is I really liked the giggle-worthy contradictions in its stock chassis tune when I bought it.
I knew from the moment I had it home what my long term list of parts and modifications for it would be to improve it and bring it up to the standard that I wanted from it to begin with. I bought a used vehicle which I planned from the get-go to modify exactly as I eventually did.
Still, I haven't owned a car to date that I didn't feel needed a few changes and adjustments from 100% factory stock. There is almost always something.
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By contrast the 2000 Honda Prelude Type SH I used to own from new only saw a very few modifications in the decade that I owned it:
--Switched to Hawk HPS brake pads with Brembo blank OEM spec rotors
--Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars
--Koni Yellow shocks w/Ground Control coilovers on stiffer H&R liner rate springs
--Various superior summer tires in the stock diameter over the atrociously horrible stock Bridgestone Potenza RE92 all-seasons
--ACT aftermarket clutch
--RS*R exhaust
The sliding caliper brakes on that car would warp the rotors frequently and so a swap to early NSX two piston calipers with larger rotors was planned but I never got around to it.
That car I wish had more horsepower and torque but overall it did not need a whole lot done to it to set it up well.
Granted however... it had far less aftermarket parts specifically developed for it than any of the FR-S/86/BRZ models have over the years.
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The while a GR Supra really doesn't seem to need much at all done to it out of the box the GR86 is still very close to being just as dialed in as it needs to be off the showroom floor (in my opinion).
Nonetheless after doing plenty of thinking and research on it I am planning to do the following to mine once I've signed the papers and have the keys:
Major:
--Widen the tires to 225/40-18. I'd like to go with staggered wheels but sizing vs clearance/rubbing is difficult.
--Full 2017-2020 BRZ Brembo braking system conversion (with Hawk HPS pads and Centric or DBA rotors)
--Spacers in a very modest thickness +3mm or less if needed for the Brembos
--2017-2021 BRZ/GT86 4.30:1 final drive
--Billetworkz short shifter
--Throttle controller (possibly depending on how it feels stock)
Minor:
--Stronger aftermarket clutch pilot bearing whenever a clutch job becomes necessary
--Switch to 5W-30 synthetic engine oil with change intervals 1/2 that of what the factory manual's "severe" schedule calls for
--Aftermarket oil drain plug which has a magnet built in at the tip
--Switch to Redline MT-90 manual transmission oil (I run the same in my SC)
--Disable the fake engine noise generator (Techstream or just unplug the unit)
--Eightyzips aftermarket knee pad assembly for the driver's side
--OLM Carbon hood struts or other brand aftermarket gas charged hood strut kit
And then basic things like some Llumar window tint, door edge guards and probably some PPF on the front and usual areas where dings and chips are most likely to occur.
Overall these are still far fewer and less severe modifications overall than my 30 year old SC received.
And the 4.30:1 final drive is not unfamiliar to me. I used to run my SC300 5-speed (with the original W58 and with the 100lb lighter stock NA engine) against a 4.27:1 final drive with the LSD for several years before it got the engine swap. It was quite a fun setup which I liked a lot.
The longer gearing (3.77:1) with turbocharging suits it much better in the long run given its size and weight however for the 2800+lb shorter wheelbase GR86 I think going back to the earlier 4.30:1 final drive ratio would be just fine.
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With all that being said I am in line and playing the waiting game for an allocation to come up at the dealer I'm working with. It'll be a few months at least but I feel I made the right choice.
All of you helped me come to my decision with your input, thank you!
I appreciate you all taking into account where I was coming from in all of this!
I am looking forward to soon being an owner of one of these awesome sportscars!
