Toyota 86s Scion FR-S in Name Only, Gets Power Bump
Scion’s slow-selling FR-S rear-wheel-drive coupe is about to become Toyota’s slow-selling rear-wheel-drive coupe, and it will be branded with the same moniker as in many other parts of the world.
That’s right: this is the Toyota 86, also known as what it should have been named here in the first place.
The sports coupe gets a mild mid-cycle refresh thanks to some reworked body elements, massaged exterior lighting with LEDs, and new alloy wheels so people hopefully won’t mistake it for a Subaru. Performance gets a bump to 205 horsepower (+5 hp) and 156 pounds-feet of torque (+5 lbs-ft), which is welcomed news, but it still won’t be that Supra you lusted over in that sticky-paged back issue of Super Street.
The 86 isn’t the only former Scion being renamed, but the rest are given the Irish orphan treatment. The single-model-year Scion iM will become the Toyota Corolla iM, and the single-model-year Scion iA — known as the Yaris Sedan in Canada, Yaris R in Mexico, and the Mazda2 Sedan everywhere else — will receive the Toyota Yaris iA nameplate in the United States.
Simple.
Toyota will show off its new Toyota-nee-Scions at the 2016 New York International Auto Show alongside the Toyota C-HR Concept, a subcompact crossover to take on the likes of the Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade and — arguably Honda’s worst current product — the Honda HR-V.
More by Mark Stevenson
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Nothing wrong with this car that a small turbocharger can't fix. It would then have the power and more importantly, the torque to make it interesting. Imagine how much fun it would be with 250 lb.ft. available at just 1500 rpm. Toyota really dropped the ball on this car.
I like the revised rear bumper. The front is a bit overdesigned compared to the simple lines of the rest of the car. It will be interesting to see what the BRZ front bumper will look like. My guess is they share the same rear as they do now.