A Move For The Better? Toyota To Divorce Subaru And Pursue BMW For Future GT86 Development

Taking the GT86 to BMW is brilliant and maybe the next generation can ditch the Subaru engine for something smoother and more powerful. I'm sure BMW could also tune the tail happiness of the GT86 out as well while they're at it.

The FRS is a "fun" car to drive at the track because all you need to drift in it is a gust of wind, but it needs more tire, a revised rear suspension, and more power to make it a sports car.

In many ways it's a Celica i.e. sporty looking, not really that fast, and Camry bland in its handling.

It's actually a Toyota designed flat-four.

Subaru did everything else, except for the Toyota supplied bits and pieces: car alarm, knobs, etc.

You may wish to contact Road and Track and Car and Driver to set them straight because they both have reported the engine as being Subaru's. Their credibility is at stake. Help them!

The perplexing thing is why Toyota let Subaru design an RWD sports car in the first place when Subaru had ZERO experience in designing such a vehicle and when Toyota had so much MORE experience in RWD.

Combined Subaru and Scion sold almost 27K units of them last year. While that's nothing to sneeze at, addressing the power and handling issues and giving them completely different tail lights and different noses would improve sales.

My friends as Scion and Subaru do not like that they have the exact same car on the lot because people can easily pit them against each other. Not having differentiation is dumb design and dumb marketing. The FRSBRZ also languishes on the lot. It's not a fast seller and that should not be.

If they could get a turbo under the hood and sort out the strange suspension tuning, they could probably double sales. The FRSBRZ is a great car that begs for the parent company to take it seriously so that it is sorted out.

The real threat is the new V6 Mustang which will be similarly priced but a way better sports car.

Yes the Mustang isn't JDM . I get that. But even JDM import tuner boys scratch their heads over the FRSBRZ.

It will also be interesting to see if the next Genesis coupe gets a V8. Not having a V8 in the Genesis Coupe was a major blunder. The GC begs to be a Korean pony car.

Subaru block and cylinders with Toyota fuel injection, and probably management.

MorePower is correct about the engine design, it's just as he said. The BRZ was intentionally set up to be way less tail happy than the FRS. Both are very fun cars for the price. I like the Genesis coupe as well but I bought the BRZ because the Genesis is 700 lbs heavier. A V8 wouldn't help that situation. Light weight sports cars and Pony cars are very different animals and I wouldn't say the Mustang is a better sports car whether it's faster or not. Speed isn't the whole ball game. If you want outright speed there are a lot of choices out there. If you value light weight and nimble the choices are few. I think the BRZ/FRS would have been a better car had Toyota done the whole thing. I think BMW could improve the car but at what price? My fear is that it will no longer be a bargain once BMW touches it. Everything else they make is over priced IMO.

The problem is that neither are very fast at the track. In the real world the FRSBRZ is outgunned by a LOT of pedestrian vehicles. As for handling, it's not that brilliant. We can go down the bull spit path of "like it's like so totally balanced, dude" but that's fine if your idea of a sports car is one that a secretary named Cyndie would drive.