Subaru FA20 Turbo Engine Debuts. Start Dreaming About A Boosted BRZ.

by Derek Kreindler

Published: May 8th, 2012

subaru fa20 turbo engine debuts start dreaming about a boosted brz

Even with vehement denials of a boosted Subaru BRZ, Subaru has still managed to debut a turbocharged version of the 2.0L Boxer engine. And just because the BRZ won’t get it doesn’t mean other products won’t.

Set to debut first in the Legacy, the new engine makes 296 horsepower and 295 lb-ft but comes mated to a joyless CVT gearbox. Womp womp!

The FA20 Turbo motor does away with the Toyota D4-S system and gets a true DI system instead. Expect this engine to appear, with a manual gearbox, in the next generation WRX, and perhaps in a higher state of tune for the WRX STI. And who knows…maybe it will end up in a turbocharged BRZ, or Scion FR-S.

#Boxer #Fa20 #Scion #ScionFR-S #Subaru #SubaruBRZ

Derek Kreindler

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7 of 29 comments

Detroit-Iron on May 08, 2012

Awesome! I bet this will show up the BRZ/FT? right around the same time that Mazda finally puts the RX-8 engine (or whatever vaporware you were hoping for) in the Miata, and we can race them!

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Type57SC on May 08, 2012

Will they sell it as a crate motor?

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Daveainchina on May 08, 2012

Would they even need to change anything other than the engine to create a boosted BRZ? brakes? nope, suspension.. maybe minor tweaks for differences in engine weight. trim.. no tires no seems like a no brainer to me

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- Raph on May 08, 2012
  
  @daveainchina - can you say "clapped out tuner car" - seriously injecting nearly 100 extra HP needs to be backed up with the appropriate hardware. Unless of course it was engineered from the getgo to handle nearly 300 hp
  
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- Ihatetrees on May 08, 2012
  
  This engine would be a notable increase power and torque. I think better (and more fade resistant) brakes would be a no brainer. Stopping is important. And you may want more than just a tweak with the suspension and tires - or at least allow the customer a tighter suspension option.
  
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- Benzaholic on May 09, 2012
  
  You'll have extra weight in front, so suspension tweaks to handle that. Possible tweaks in rear suspension to maintain desired balance. Driveshafts (or whatever Scoobie calls them) to front and rear may need upgrades in material, design, mounting, etc., to handle the extra torque. Cooling system probably needs upgrading. Fuel pump may need upgrading to feed the new beast. Now if something about the turbo, the piping, the intercooler, the bigger fuel lines, etc., gets in the way of the BR/FT pieces, like steering or inner fenders or hood, then you just have to get creative. Dropin engine upgrades with no complementary work are often a bad idea.
  
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Kurtamaxxguy on Apr 24, 2013

Took a while to get stateside (all the better to work out bugs!), but FA20's now in the '14 Forester XT and seems to works nicely. Turbocharger's on engine bottom which probably makes it too bulky for the BRZ's lower height engine compartment. Also, torque curves suggest it's neither peaky nor a screamer (unlike the peaky on-off STI engine) Unknown is how well engine will resist intake manifold carbon buildup plaguing many DI engines. Subaru added a two stage system to better manage manifold air flow. Also, FYI, Subaru offered forester turbos with stick shifts up to the 2009 model year. Guess what? They didn't sell ! So Subaru dropped that variant. In fact, apparently only 5% of all Forester sales are XT's, though that may change now that '14 XT can burn regular fuel.

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