2017 FR-S And BRZ To Get A Power Boost - But Is Lack Of Power The Main Reason One Isn't In Your Stable?

Scion’s FR-S (and the car’s Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT 86 cousins) was launched on the market with great fanfare back in 2012 but since then sales have fizzled, with Scion managing to move just a thousand of the cars in April, down 29 percent on levels a year ago. The lack of sales has led to Toyota ruling out additional variants of the car, but it appears a planned mid-cycle update will still go ahead.

According to Motoring, the FR-S will have a shelf life of about eight years, which means we can expect the car’s mid-cycle update to coincide with the 2017 model year. The Australian publication reports that among the planned changes is more aggressive styling around the front section and extra horsepower under the hood.

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balldoc54 - 5/12/2015 4:08:45 PM

+3 Boost

I don't think it really needs that much more power. With a car that light, 220-230 would be more than plenty for any purist. I think if Toyota would have branded it as a TOYOTA instead of Scion, it would have sold better. Sorry, but most people don't want their car associated with the Xb and IQ.

MDarringer - 5/12/2015 7:14:25 PM

-2 Boost

It should have been a Toyota Celica. Lack of power is one issue. Another is the Camry bland styling. Beyond that, at the track the Hachiroku is a slider. It's tuned to drift easily and that does not make is fast around a track.

freeagent - 5/12/2015 8:42:01 PM

-1 Boost

8 more hp is a joke and wont change any buy/not-buy decisions

mini22 - 5/12/2015 9:31:40 PM

+1 Boost

Its more than just a lack of power. Yes that is one issue. I think if it had 225 HP and 180LBS of Torque it would be right in the sweet spot of reasonably quick. This would help it break 0-60 below six seconds. Next the other complaint is how the engine sounds. (As in not very good)When you are talking about a sports car engine sound "is important". Both Subaru and Toyota to do some work to improve this. The appeal of this car is it's great steering and RWD handling. The reason it is able to drift so well is that it uses the same "high mileage" tire as the Toyota Prius does. Simply switching out the tires would solve some of the easy tendency to drift. Road test journalists love this drift ability. However as MDarringer says it is not the fastest way around the track. So really buying an FRS and BRZ is great for the aftermarket for people wanting to turn the car into a better performing machine. However, it begs the question why Toyota and Subaru just wont agree to turn up the wick a little bit more so it could compete better with the V6 cars from Mustang, Camaro and the turbo FWD cars from Mini Fiat, and Ford. Sales have not been great. How much would it cost them to revise the engine a bit. If the car had that extra power and torque they could still charge an extra grand or two and more people would buy these.

7msynthetic - 5/13/2015 7:15:53 PM

+1 Boost

208 HP wont cutt it. Needs 220 or so. They should try to squeeze that without forced induction.. maybe up the engine to 2.2L?