What Was That About Boring Toyotas?

by Edward Niedermeyer

Updated: December 2nd, 2012 Published: April 20th, 2011

The joint Subaru-Toyota “FT-86” has been hyped for some time now as a modern-day AE86, a car with which Akio Toyoda hopes to recapture the “splendid flavor” of driving excitement that has been missing from Toyotas for some time. An affordable halo, in other words, which reconnects Toyota to the youthful enthusiasm of young men in search of rear-drive antics. And since it’s facing an aging demographic, that’s not a bad idea for the Toyota brand. Unfortunately, the latest look at the Toyobaru’s evolving styling is being shown in New York as a Scion, the brand that exists to prove that the Toyota brand can’t be youthful and exciting (and which just got a new sports coupe).

I’ve been on the record as a Scion-basher for some time, so I won’t beat a dead horse here… but if the FT-86 is supposed to be a halo for Toyota, it can’t just be shuffled off to the Scion ghetto. The car will probably sell regardless of the badge it ends up wearing, but the Toyota brand needs this enthusiasm investment, and Scion just needs to die.

#Branding #Design #FT-86 #FutureVehicles #Hachi-roku #Scion #Toyobaru #Toyota

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Geozinger on Apr 21, 2011

I would join those who say Scion should be cancelled, and this car placed in the Toyota lineup. Clearly this should be the new Celica and not Scion's Sunfire. To my eye, there are (unfortunate) styling cue similarities to the Sunfire. There's no mention of price or weight in the post, but considering recent trends, I can't imagine this will be too far away from the 3000 lb. mark. Which would put it squarely in the old Supra's target weight. Pity.

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- Quentin on Apr 21, 2011
  
  Let's use a little logic here. New Impreza is 2900lbs with the FB20 engine. Scion FR-S is much smaller than the Impreza. Why, again, will the FR-S be around 3000lbs? Here is an overlay of the Impreza and the original FT-86 concept. Pretty substantial difference in size. http://wiki.nasioc.com/w/images/0/03/CompareDriveFT86-08Impreza.jpg Next, we'll look at price. This will have a direct injection version of the FB20. Again, comparing to the Impreza, that would be a cost up. It being a smaller car and making similar power as the Impreza and tC, there is no reason this should cost much more than either. The Impreza and tC can be had for $18k. I see no reason that the FR-S wouldn't be between $20k and $22k. That undercuts the Miata by about $3k. BTW, the Miata is going to lose weight with the next generation, and I'm sure that Toyota is aware of this. Toyota doesn't price their cars by (cost to produce) + (margin) = MSRP. They figure what the market will pay for the car and that determines the margin. If the margin is too low, they don't make the car.
  
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JMII on Apr 21, 2011

Read the transcript and it sounds like they are going in the right direction, but think in the end its going to be under powered. Seems like every car comes in overweight and over budget, so balance and handling might be on the money but it can't move then it will miss the mark. This is clearly a vehicle that should (like the Genesis, Mustang and Camaro) come with two different engines. One for people want a sporty daily driver and one for people who can afford to smoke the rear tires. Come on Toyota (Scion) don't wimp out on us.

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- Quentin on Apr 21, 2011
  
  It definitely should come with a 2.0L N/A and a 2.0T, IMO. I'll choose the cheaper option because this is going to be a weekend toy/daily driver. I'm really hoping it is a free revving, N/A engine because that is what a proper sports car should be, IMO. Those that want power should have the option. I want handling and balance, though.
  
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