Subaru Sports Coupe Continues: Next Subaru BRZ Spied
The Subaru BRZ, which shares its bones with the Toyota 86, is a delightful and affordable little sports coupe. It’s also a bit long in the tooth. Never fear, as a 2022 model is on the way.
Subaru has shown off a camo’d car that gives away most of the shaping, most notably the rear taillamps as well as vents aft of the front wheels (unclear if they have any aerodynamic or cooling function). It appears the car was shown at Subiefest as a teaser for a full unveiling this fall.
As per usual, Subaru didn’t put out any specs, but one enterprising Twitter user has some speculation: A spring 2021 production start date, a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated boxer four-cylinder engine, dual-injection (direct and port), and 217 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. No mention of transmission or drivetrain layout.
Those specs sound realistic, but it’s Twitter, so we’re not taking it as anything other than speculation at this point. Nor should you. Salt, grain, et cetera.
No word yet on any Toyota version.
We imagine the truth will be revealed soon enough.
Until then, head here to see the pics.
[Image: Subaru]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Comments
Join the conversation
I bet the version after this get an upright of slant Toyota Four. Or not.
Autocar in the UK is much more direct on the new BRZ. The chassis is the TNGA from the CH-R set up for RWD, thereby ditching the original which no one complained about, and two engines are available. A new atmo 2.4 with roughly 220 hp as mentioned here, and the Ascent/Legacy/Outback 2.4 turbo with roughly 260 hp. If the atmo 2.4 has 220 hp, the screws will have to be turned up compared to say the Toyota 2.5, Mazda 2.5 or Nissan 2.5 cooking motors. The current Dynamic Force Toyota has to rev to 6600 rpm to coarsely produce 203 tongue-hanging-out horses. The Subie motor isn't blighted with a long stroke though, so it should be able to rev. Next hurdle to pass, the midrange torque dip that made the old 2.0 feel like a Nissan 1.6 in regular driving, and seems to be a feature of flat-fours due to the long runner intake manifolds and minimal plenum volume. Judging by past efforts and the weight of the CH-R, it's almost certain Toyota/Subaru will produce another obviously flawed vehicle. We just don't know what feature it'll be this time, yet. At least the interior is supposed to have a higher grade of leatherette and polypropylene panels, for that special luxo feel.