Like a robin hopping across a lawn newly free of snow, the first rear-wheel-drive coupe of the year signals the end of winter. Except there’s always at least one more snow-rain “event,” which if nothing else helps determine a car’s year-round livability.

While we’d prefer not to drive a GR86 all the way through a northern winter, we now know that it could be done, especially with proper tires. Even on summer tires, in strong crosswinds and heavy mid-March precip our 86 tracked reassuringly straight and true at speed, and the wipers, defroster and climate control were up to the job too. We expect no less from a modern car, but this coupe is such a throwback in some ways that the question might come up.

In the modern-day SUV Era, the GR86 is a throwback in that it’s so small—with barely three inches more wheelbase than a 3-door Mini—and relatively light, with a cabin that has been shrink-fit around the driver and passenger. Toyota calls it a four-seater, but the rear seats barely qualify as storage for a computer bag. (There is an adequate trunk, however.)

Another throwback feature is a foot-pedal clutch and a crisp, close-ratio 6-speed manual gearbox, items found on only about 8% of new cars sold in America today.

The 86 is a sports car, not just a sporty car, and the 2023 model is a huge improvement over the first version. An extra 23 horsepower doesn’t sound like much but, in such a small package, the difference is immediately noticeable. The torque curve has been fattened too; in first and second gear, it’s easy to break the rear tires loose and good thrust is still available at highway speeds. Yet in a week of enthusiastic driving, we saw an indicated average of 29.3 miles per gallon of premium gas.

The engine is a 2.4-liter Subaru flat-4 (the cylinders are horizontally opposed, like a Porsche 911’s) now rated for 228 horses and 184 torques. In fact, this Toyota is built in a Subaru factory and available in nearly identical form and pricing from Subaru dealers as the BRZ.

In Toyota form, the gen-2 GR86 benefits from fresh styling that now echoes the look of its big brother, the much more expensive and powerful Supra (another joint venture, this one with BMW). GR, by the way, is for Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s motorsports division.

The strong suit of the first 86/BRZ was its handling, and the new car builds on this with a stiffer chassis plus aluminum body panels that, with the low-slung “boxer” engine, help drop the center of gravity a further 1.6 millimeters. Along with the sharp electronically controlled power steering and near-perfect suspension tuning, these tweaks make the 86 outstandingly responsive yet still comfortable enough for daily use.

Also suited to daily use is a well-rounded collection of active and passive safety and convenience features, especially in the automatic-transmission model. Toyota’s MSRP for the basic GR86 is $28,400 and the Premium model starts at $31,425, plus $1,095 for delivery, processing and handling. Our example, with a few extras such as the $1,700 Performance Dual Exhaust, came to a grand total of just $34,123, for a very high smiles-to-dollars ratio.