What's Wrong With This Picture: Sube Coupe Looks Promisingly Awkward Edition
The guys at SpeedLux caught the Subaru version of the Toyobaru coupe practicing for the big dance at the Nurburgring. It sure isn’t as pretty as Toyota’s FT-86 concept, but Subaru’s brand faithful won’t let that get in their way. Of course there’s the minor detail that this is a mule, not a concept, but given Subaru’s perennial styling challenges, this might just be as good as it gets. Looks aside though, the shared boxer engine and Subaru-developed RWD driveline make it clear that the FT-86 will be the poser rebadge of the two coupes. Which is why it’s preening in Tokyo while the Subaru is running reps on the Norschleife. Here’s hoping we won’t have to stretch so far to determine the difference between Toyota and Subaru versions when they hit the market sometime in 2012-ish.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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First off, Scooby Doos are always either ugly or weird, this one is no different, just so long as they keep the weight and price down. Secoindly, Why are car magazines and manufacturers so obsessed with this Nerdbergthing? There are other race-tracks for testing cars and anyway most people drive on roads with speed bumps, pot-holes and expansion gaps. Can we have a car that can get around these in under 8 minutes please?
Petemoran The list is endless Yea and without correct aero forces the data useless. You have to ship it to Germany for that? This is a PR Mule for blogs to chatter about, it appears to be working.
Mashed-up Impreza wagon fake. As someone above points out, much greater distance from wheel well to front of door than in AWD or FWD Subies, so she's a RWD chassis, with engine set-back not suitable for AWD. Clever, bet it looks nothing like this in the end -- it's a camouflage of a camouflaqe.
Doesn't make any sense for Subaru to give up their AWD rep for this sedan. Not one bit. Enthusiasts who buy Subys will buy an Impreza which as real racing bones and is moddable to hell. Toyota desperately needs this car. If the platform is sufficiently flexible, they could take it up market with bigger engines to remake the Supra as a modded up Celica duology that actually would make financial sense. It could also form the basis of a sportier IS and even a small Lexus roadster. If the price is above $25K, it will be DOA versus the 370z though.