Is the BRZ/86 a front mid engine car? - Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community

Dirty Harry · 09-19-2019, 09:03 PM

Sorry if this has been spoken about before but I couldn't find a thread that answers this question and nothing official online. Is the BRZ/86 a "front mid" like the S2000? I think the FD RX-7 is in this category too, thoughts?

Clutch Dog · 09-19-2019, 09:04 PM

It is not.

the entire engine assembly would have to be behind the front struts. to be "mid"

Dirty Harry · 09-19-2019, 09:13 PM

Cheers, I'm guessing they did their best but not quite hey. It still looks pretty far back when I pop the bonnet.

Mr.ac · 09-19-2019, 10:17 PM

How high are you?
And more important, dude puff, puff, pass.
Sharing is caring.

Leonardo · 09-19-2019, 10:21 PM

ZDan · 09-19-2019, 10:45 PM

As a huge fan of 2-seat FR sports cars with engines set WAAAY back, I'm still gonna say that "front/mid" is a bullsh*t designation. My 50/50 240Z was not a fundamentally different vehicle architecture than my 50/50 S2000 was, despite about a cylinder and a a half of its long L6 engine residing in front of front wheel centerline.

The 55/45 FT86 is in a different category from those cars, but IMO it is 100% more to do with its way aft rear wheel/axle location due to 2+2 seating, NOT that its engine is situated kinda forward.

My 0.02 on what is IMO a stupid subject, "FMR" is marketing to make standard FR cars seem more "exotic". We all knew a rearset engine was important for an FR sports car way before Nissan marketed the not-even-50/50 350Z as "front/mid-engine". B.s...

Lantanafrs2 · 09-19-2019, 10:58 PM

Why not a rear engine/front drive?

Spuds · 09-19-2019, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Why not a rear engine/front drive?

Wrong thread.

cjd · 09-19-2019, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirty Harry

Cheers, I'm guessing they did their best but not quite hey. It still looks pretty far back when I pop the bonnet.

If they'd not gone cheap parts bin it could have been quite a bit further back. They didn't try at all.

humfrz · 09-19-2019, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Why not a rear engine/front drive?

get back in the box.

humfrz

Irace86.2.0 · 09-20-2019, 12:48 AM

It is front mid-engine enough to call it front mid-engine and to not sound crazy. There is probably more benefit to having weight over the drive wheels like it is for rear mid-engine cars, so arguing whether the engine in the 86 is short a few inches of being front mid-engine is kinda silly. Could it benefit from a few less pounds in the front that could be in the middle? Yes, but it really doesn’t change much.

why? · 09-20-2019, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Why not a rear engine/front drive?

uncontrollable oversteer, never mind snap oversteer hell.

churchx · 09-20-2019, 07:18 AM

I'm sure rear engine / front drive can be made to work with some suspension redesign, but it makes no business sense to make such, as it won't have FR pros but will have FR cons.
It won't handle better by each axle wheels doing just one job, but it will be costlier to make, it will weight more and there will be less internal cabin volume due need of routing axle / middle column.

RayRay88 · 09-20-2019, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Why not a rear engine/front drive?

I'll just leave this failure here.

Not quite rear engined/FWD, but Mid engined/FWD...

It really was a bold design, and if they had more money/time I'm sure it would have been a formidable opponent to most of the LMP1's at the time.

09-19-2019, 09:03 PM	#1
Dirty Harry Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2019 Drives: 2013 BRZ Satin White Pearl Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 636 Thanks: 584 Thanked 674 Times in 331 Posts Mentioned: 3 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	Is the BRZ/86 a front mid engine car? Sorry if this has been spoken about before but I couldn't find a thread that answers this question and nothing official online. Is the BRZ/86 a "front mid" like the S2000? I think the FD RX-7 is in this category too, thoughts?

09-19-2019, 10:17 PM	#4
Mr.ac [insert cool phrase here] Join Date: Aug 2015 Drives: BRZ Premium Location: Central Coast CA Posts: 2,369 Thanks: 709 Thanked 1,558 Times in 930 Posts Mentioned: 30 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	How high are you? And more important, dude puff, puff, pass. Sharing is caring. __________________ New daily driver - Subaru BRZ Premium Weekend fun/track car - '91 MR2 Turbo Gen3 Old daily driver - '88 MR2 Supercharged

09-19-2019, 10:21 PM	#5
Leonardo Country Boy 4 Life Join Date: Jul 2012 Drives: 19' & 06' Ridgelines, 13' FR-S Location: EUGENE Posts: 5,228 Thanks: 6,719 Thanked 5,291 Times in 2,720 Posts Mentioned: 47 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	__________________ I LIKE TIRES!

09-20-2019, 12:48 AM	#11
Irace86.2.0 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Drives: Q5 + BRZ + M796 Location: Santa Rosa, CA Posts: 7,884 Thanks: 5,668 Thanked 5,805 Times in 3,299 Posts Mentioned: 70 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	It is front mid-engine enough to call it front mid-engine and to not sound crazy. There is probably more benefit to having weight over the drive wheels like it is for rear mid-engine cars, so arguing whether the engine in the 86 is short a few inches of being front mid-engine is kinda silly. Could it benefit from a few less pounds in the front that could be in the middle? Yes, but it really doesn’t change much. __________________ My Build \| K24 Turbo Swap \| K24T BRZ SOLD

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09-19-2019, 09:04 PM	#2
Clutch Dog Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2019 Drives: 2017 BRZ PP , 2005 Saab 97X Location: CA Posts: 1,052 Thanks: 754 Thanked 721 Times in 405 Posts Mentioned: 4 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	It is not. the entire engine assembly would have to be behind the front struts. to be "mid"

09-19-2019, 09:13 PM	#3
Dirty Harry Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2019 Drives: 2013 BRZ Satin White Pearl Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 636 Thanks: 584 Thanked 674 Times in 331 Posts Mentioned: 3 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	Cheers, I'm guessing they did their best but not quite hey. It still looks pretty far back when I pop the bonnet.

09-19-2019, 10:45 PM	#6
ZDan Senior Member Join Date: May 2011 Drives: '23 BRZ Location: Providence, RI Posts: 4,585 Thanks: 1,377 Thanked 3,892 Times in 2,033 Posts Mentioned: 85 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	As a huge fan of 2-seat FR sports cars with engines set WAAAY back, I'm still gonna say that "front/mid" is a bullsh*t designation. My 50/50 240Z was not a fundamentally different vehicle architecture than my 50/50 S2000 was, despite about a cylinder and a a half of its long L6 engine residing in front of front wheel centerline. The 55/45 FT86 is in a different category from those cars, but IMO it is 100% more to do with its way aft rear wheel/axle location due to 2+2 seating, NOT that its engine is situated kinda forward. My 0.02 on what is IMO a stupid subject, "FMR" is marketing to make standard FR cars seem more "exotic". We all knew a rearset engine was important for an FR sports car way before Nissan marketed the not-even-50/50 350Z as "front/mid-engine". B.s...

09-19-2019, 10:58 PM	#7
Lantanafrs2 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Drives: 2013 frs red Location: South Florida Posts: 3,517 Thanks: 2,520 Thanked 3,089 Times in 1,654 Posts Mentioned: 6 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	Why not a rear engine/front drive?

09-20-2019, 07:18 AM	#13
churchx Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Drives: 2014 GT86 Location: Latvia, Riga Posts: 4,333 Thanks: 696 Thanked 2,085 Times in 1,436 Posts Mentioned: 53 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	I'm sure rear engine / front drive can be made to work with some suspension redesign, but it makes no business sense to make such, as it won't have FR pros but will have FR cons. It won't handle better by each axle wheels doing just one job, but it will be costlier to make, it will weight more and there will be less internal cabin volume due need of routing axle / middle column.

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