Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: Toyobaru Turbo After All?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

About a year ago we heard that European emissions standards had killed off any hope of a turbocharged version of the Toyobaru sports coupe. That may be true for the European market, but Japan’s Holiday Auto Magazine [as translated by the Toyobaru-crazed gents of FT-86.com] swears that a Subaru STI is under development which could offer a 40 to 50 hp bump over the stock 200 using a 2.5 liter turbocharged engine. Bigger wheels, fender arches and other racerish accoutrement would help set this apart as the only sporty variant of the FT-86 Toyobaru. And Holiday Auto won’t even speculate about a price premium, let alone the model’s chances of escaping the JDM. Still, it would be a great day to see the European market denied a truly desirable sports car that you could buy in the U.S. I want to believe! [Hat Tip:Yuichi]


Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Brock_Landers Brock_Landers on Oct 14, 2009

    Yes, Subota means in Russian Saturday.

  • Fincar1 Fincar1 on Oct 14, 2009

    Note to Paul N. - perhaps with a new subie-ish coupe in the wings, it would be a good time to do a retrospective on the SVX. I'd think you could find one in your area; there seem to be plenty of them on Craigslist in western WA. That was an interesting car that started a lot of styling trends, and not just on Subarus; I think almost everyone copied their directional wheels. Well, to a point - a lot of the copies swing forward on one side of the car, back on the other.

  • Paul Niedermeyer Paul Niedermeyer on Oct 14, 2009

    fincar, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for one. Used to be several around, but not lately. But it will happen. Do have the older XT coupe in the can, though.

  • Carve Carve on Oct 14, 2009

    Yeah- they should call the Subie "XT" or "SVX". The SVX's styling was so ahead of it's time. WTH happened to Subaru styling? Anyway, with the turbo, this looks like it'll be the return of the Toyota MR2. Much rejoicing! If they can make it run even with my 335i for under, say, $28k, I'd get one of those for a fun commuter/play car and a RAV4 for when I need more space, clearance, and awd.

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