The BRZ front is more appealing to me. But there are other things that I'll have to wait for (and of course we need to see them both in the flesh).

I'm not a real fan with the 'WRC Blue' as a special paint, so if Toyota brings something nice there as its 'release' paint it could swing me.

The other little things are I think could win me over to Toyota - looking at its current base infotainment I think it will look better than the subaru one (more of a dark glass look that matches the aircon controls).

I also really adored by frameless rear vision mirror (GTS), so slick and added a tiny bit of class to the cockpit. Not to say I couldn't just raid the Toyota parts bin to grab it for a BRZ :)

^ Completely agree on all points Blighty. If Toyota brought that Hakone green over to the new gen it would be very very tempting.... Another factor that might be decisive in making a choice is any differences in handling and ride quality between the two.

I suspect any variance in suspension setups across the second generation will be very minor - didn't the first-gen twins converge in their handling characteristics over time?

I'm not fussed about minor suspension differences.

But I REALLY want more pearlescent color options.

I went for a chat at my local Toyota dealer, I was told not to hold my breath for a new 86, when I asked when Toyota would likely be importing them into Australia, they said to their knowledge they were not going to....meh

They did try and sell me a Yaris though, as Toyota now class the Yaris as a sports car....???....wtf

You should be like
"You'd better be talking up the GR Yaris to me and not the regular one, otherwise stop wasting my time!"

that doesnt really make sense to make. both patent images for the 86 and BRZ have been filed in Australia.

And yet, also, the broker I use for buying new cars hasn't heard anything positive either, both from Toyota and Subaru

I haven't ventured into a Subaru dealer here to get info of Subaru Australia importing their variant of the twin

In the end, we don't always get the variants we want

Now would have been a great time to release a new cheap little sports coupe, every kid with a licence is after a cheap new car

As for the Yaris GR, yeah nah, not something that I would own, my daughter does like it though, same as the new Hyundai Veloster which is on her short list

I’d be surprised if this was was true. The General Manager for Subaru Australia in the article below is quoting no confirmed 2nd gen launch date yet, but made it sound like it is arriving at some point in the future. I’d be surprised if we don’t get it. We were the 3rd largest market for twin sales I believe.

https://www.motoring.com.au/slick-ne...vealed-127372/

I wouldnt count on dealers, they often dont know much.

When I asked about upcomming GR86 scheduled for fall this year, I was at one of the biggest Toyota dealers in Europe, this is their response from their sports-car seller: but its not gr86, its gt86, there is gr yaris and we dont sell gt86 anymore, its out of production. All that with puzzled looks on his face like I asked about high level quantum mechanics. Kk thx bai.
I also wait till this day for response how much Supra 2.0 with sport package (brembo brakes, e-lsd, adaptive suspension) weights officially compared to standard 2.0 model with no SportPack. Asked all dealers around me, no response. So I'll just need to research on my own.

I think the worst that could happen is a delay into 2022 because of covid. We are getting the car - japan manufacturers sell us everything (for various reasons).

just because you havent heard something from xyz stealershiper doesnt mean its not going to happen.

in other news, sometimes dealers lie to get you to buy whats already on the lot.

i took my mom car shopping in 2005 for a new Camry. i told since them since the next gen (XV40) is just right corner what kind of deals are they having on the 06 model year. the salesmen told me that "a new Camry is still years away and that this model (XV30) will still be here for another 3-4 years". i was like this things have a 5 yr life cycle and its been on sell since 2002. that means a new model is coming in 07. he was like "yeah that may have been true in the past but the car market isn't the same as it was and 9/11 has impacted everyone and Toyota is going to hang onto this model for a few extra years. you can even ask the dealer manager, he can confirm all of this if you don't believe me".

in my head i was like "dude there are already spy shots of the 07 Camry on the net". but i was like thanks and we'll think about it. two months later Toyota debut the 07 at the 2006 North American auto show. so i told my mom, look a new Camry has debut. if you dont care about having last years model we can probably get you a good deal on a 06. so we waited until the new one was on the dealer lot and we found some dealers with remaining 06s and $6k+ off of MSRP. got her a LE for just $15k.

I asked a sales guy about the new 86 and he basically told me that he has no information about the 2022's and doesnt even know if it'll even see a second generation........ (i specifically mentioned about rumors and the already unveiled 2022 BRZ in my email).
I dont think this sales guy knows anything (he also mentioned they have a 2020 in the showroom that's an automatic...when i have been following the exact car for the past year since i saw it when i brought my scion in for service. It is clearly a manual since its on their webpage and i saw it with my own two eyes.

This tells me 2 things:
-Toyota has been strangely super hush about this car and perhaps havent shown it to any dealerships or provided any information to them (in comparison the upcoming 2022 Tundra apparently has been previewed behind closed doors already). If the rumors are true we'll hear nothing about this car until around July.....(and then it'll hit showrooms a few months after that).
-Sales guys dont know jackshit unless they follow the cars on their own time (This isnt new information). Im guessing the salespeople gets their information from the head office. And if nothing comes from that, they dont know anythign. They're just there to sell cars, and they're probably good at it.

A nice pearlescent ruby red would be nice, rather than just solid red.

I’d like to see the standard colour palette expanded to include the yellows, oranges and blues that are normally reserved for limited editions. It’s a sports car, it should stand out with some bold colour options. It’s so boring when the majority of colours are variations of grey (white, silver, grey, black). And I say that as someone who loves pearlescent white on a coupe.

Why would he have any more info than us, unless he is a high up in Toyota or Subaru? Brokers don’t have any unique insight into upcoming releases - they get the same info and rumours we do. Ditto the average dealer or car sales person - many of them know less about upcoming releases than potential customers, because most sales staff aren’t car enthusiasts and don’t chase up any morsel of info like enthusiasts do.

There is almost no chance that both the new BRZ and GR 86 don’t come to Australia. After Japan, we are one of the easiest markets for them to export to, since we are a) a fellow RHD market, b) have a FTA with Japan, c) have safety etc regulations largely in harmony, d) were one of the biggest markets for the gen 1 twins, and e) are a sportscar obsessed market.

Sure, but they likely aren’t ready to release it. Among other things, COVID has delayed lots of automotive production, including new releases. Just gotta be patient.