For those of you living under a rock: Toyota and Subaru have together built a sports car. The concept was called the FT-86 and now its a reality revealed at Tokyo and NYC auto shows!
http://www.subaru.com/brz/2013/index.html
http://www.insideline.com/scion/fr-s/2013/2013-scion-fr-s-to-hit-us-showrooms-in-spring-with-under-30000-price-tag.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/30/toyota-gt-86-gt86-tokyo-2011/
That haters have already started with "200hp isn't enough" and all that crap. But the engineers were smart and focused on light weight, balance, and a revvy n/a engine, much like Mazda engineers with the MX-5. I'm sure the whiners will get a turbo version by 2015. But, this still isn't a replacement for the old 2JZ Supra, it's in fact a descendant of the venerable AE86, or for the layman, the late 80's Toyota Corolla GT-S, which was in fact a RWD two door sports coupe and is still loved by enthusiasts and drifters today.
They are the same car basically using a 200hp naturally aspirated 2.0L boxer 4cyl in the front and drive to the rear with two doors and two seats in back. Now THAT's a new car I'd want to buy!!! I'd get the Subaru because I refuse to own a Scion badge. North America won't be getting the Toyota GT-86 version bc Toyota North America only cares about trucks and Prii (the official plural of Prius). There will be a HUGE demand for these cars considering the last 15 years without affordable lightweight Japanese RWD sport coupes (Hyundai Genesis doesn't count in my book, not only because it's Korean, but it's ugly and heavy). Scion dealers won't be able to mark up the FR-S but Subaru dealers will mark up the BR-Z and they will not be sitting in showrooms for at least a year after launch, think 2006 Civic Si demand but 10x worse. Anyway it's not only a lightweight balanced fast coupe, but it looks really good! Finally a new car that isn't totally fucked in exterior design! It looks like a Lexus LF-A!!!
This car I predict will trigger the competition to build new cars, which means Nissan will make a new Sylvia, Mazda a new RX-7, and likely Honda an S2000 successor. Nissan has actually said they want the car to do well so they have a reason to build a baby 370Z, which I think they already have reason by the fact that Toyota and Subaru found the demand for their car and thus built it.
I'm truly excited that sports cars could be on the rise again. And I can pretty much guarantee I will buy one of these when I can afford it. Who says you can't have two RWD sports cars in one garage?
