The Kuhl Outroad GR86 Is the Off-Road Toyobaru We’ve Been Begging For—But Can’t Buy
Every time a supercar brand lifts a sports car and throws knobby tires under it, the internet loses its mind—and then remembers the price. A Porsche 911 Dakar or Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato is fantastic, sure, but for most enthusiasts they’re poster material, not purchase options. The Kuhl Outroad Toyota GR86 flips that script: a safari-style, off‑road‑capable sports car built on one of the most accessible driver’s cars on sale. On paper, it’s exactly what budget-minded thrill‑seekers have dreamed of. In practice, there’s one big catch: it’s not coming to the U.S.
Why This GR86 Matters
At its core, this is still a Toyota GR86—front‑engine, rear‑wheel drive, low seating position, and that wonderfully communicative chassis that has made the car a hero for purists. What Kuhl has done is lean into a question enthusiasts have been asking ever since the first lifted sports‑car renders appeared online: “What if you could have that rally‑raid stance without Porsche or Lamborghini money?”
Where a 911 Dakar or Huracán Sterrato shoots deep into six‑figure territory, Kuhl’s Outroad package is priced at the equivalent of about $26,500, including paint, installation, and tax, on top of a standard GR86. Even with the cost of the base car added, you’re still nowhere near the sums being asked for those exotic off‑road machines. This is the safari sports car for people who don’t own a private island.
Kuhl Outroad Toyota GR86 Is the Lifted
Design: Rally Attitude Meets Coupe Proportions
Visually, the Kuhl Outroad looks like someone took a GR86 to a gravel rally and never brought it back down. The custom coil‑over suspension lifts the car roughly three inches over stock, giving the coupe a stance closer to a hot hatch on stilts than a traditional sports car. For those who think that’s still conservative, Kuhl offers an optional hydraulic lifter that can add another 1.5 inches of ride height at the touch of a button, giving genuine clearance for rutted approaches and steep driveways.
The bodywork tells the rest of the story:
A new front bumper and spoiler reshape the nose for better approach clearance and a more purposeful, squared‑off look.
Side steps make getting in less of a climb and visually connect the front and rear arches.
A redesigned rear bumper and under‑spoiler give the tail a tougher, more off‑road‑ready character.
A 25‑mm wide fender kit pushes the arches out to cover chunkier tires and wider wheels, giving the car the kind of planted footprint you’d expect from a gravel‑spec rally car.
Add in the inevitable off‑road wheel-and-tire combo and the GR86’s familiar coupe silhouette takes on a very different mood: less track‑day tool, more mountain‑road mischief.
Kuhl Outroad Toyota GR86 Is the Lifted
Performance: From Grip to Ground Clearance—and Maybe a Turbo
In stock form, the GR86’s 2.4‑liter flat‑four delivers 228 horsepower, which has always been more about balance than brute force. Kuhl respects that baseline but also understands that extra weight (and bigger tires) justify extra shove.
The optional turbo kit, priced around $8000, transforms the numbers. With revised ECU tuning, an upgraded oil cooler, and a new oil pan, Kuhl claims output climbs to roughly 290 horsepower—about a 27 percent increase over stock. That’s enough to offset the additional rolling resistance and still feel like a meaningful step up in straight‑line pace.
Crucially, the power still goes to the rear wheels, preserving the GR86’s playful balance even as its mission shifts from apex clipping to slide‑happy gravel exits. With the lift, the car won’t carve corners like the original at the limit, but on broken pavement and loose surfaces, the trade-off starts to make sense: instead of backing off when the road turns nasty, you keep going.
Optional upgrades round out the dynamic package:
18‑inch forged wheels to reduce unsprung and rotational mass
An upgraded braking system to deal with higher speeds and heavier wheels/tires
A roof carrier and trunk spoiler that nod to long‑weekend adventure duty as much as aesthetics
It’s the kind of spec that makes sense for someone who daily‑drives their sports car and still wants to follow a dirt road just to see where it goes.
Kuhl Outroad Toyota GR86 Is the Lifted
Pricing: Dakar Looks Without Dakar Money
The headline here is value. At roughly $26,500 for the Outroad kit—installation, paint, and tax included—you’re looking at a transformation that costs less than the sales tax alone on some exotic off‑roaders. Add that to the price of a new GR86, and you land in a total range that, while not cheap, is still attainable for committed enthusiasts.
The turbo package at around $8000 isn’t pocket change, but again, in the context of 911 Dakar or Sterrato options lists, it looks almost modest. For buyers used to scanning six‑figure window stickers, the whole thing almost feels like a loophole in the system.
Availability: The Big “But”
Here’s the frustrating part: this is a Japan‑market project. Kuhl will show the Outroad GR86 at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon, and the kit is intended for customers who can either buy locally or import and convert on their own. Official U.S. availability isn’t part of the plan.
For American and European enthusiasts, that means admiration from afar—at least for now. The Kuhl Outroad doesn’t just represent a neat one‑off; it quietly makes the case that affordable, off‑road‑capable sports cars don’t need to be the sole domain of ultra‑luxury brands. It shows what’s possible when a lightweight, rear‑drive coupe is treated as a canvas instead of a finished product.
Kuhl Outroad Toyota GR86 Is the Lifted
The Car Enthusiast’s Daydream
If you’ve ever looked at a gravel road and thought, “I wish my sports car could go there,” the Kuhl Outroad GR86 hits a nerve. It blends the accessible fun of the Toyobaru platform with the visual drama and real utility of the safari trend, without demanding lottery-winner money.
It’s not perfect, and it’s not global. But as a concept brought to life in the real world, it’s exactly the kind of project that keeps enthusiasts hopeful: if an aftermarket tuner can imagine and execute this so convincingly, maybe one day an automaker will decide that off‑road sports cars shouldn’t always come with a supercar badge and a house-sized price tag.
