Originally Posted by Maxim
To answer the original question of the thread....
Ways in which the 86/FR-S/BRZ is not an RX-8:
The RX-8 is priced one vehicle class above the Subyota. RX-8 was an affordable performance car. The Subyota is an inexpensive performance car.
The RX-8 had very usable rear seats. I fit in them comfortably. Snug...but not uncomfortable. I'm 5'10''. The Subyota appears to be much more cramped in legroom.
The RX-8 had a slightly "better" suspension layout and slightly better weight distribution.
The RX-8 had a freakin rotary engine, so it was crap for gas mileage but great on maintainance as long as you treated it like a rotary and not a traditional piston engine. The "bad reliability" repution was a result of people not knowing what they were dealing with, or buying a used RX from an owner who didn't know what they were doing. Rotaries are also absolutely phenominal in terms of engine character....rev happy, smooth as hell, and they can sound really awesome given the right exhaust.
The RX-8 was significantly more fancy inside. The Subyota has a great interior design, extremely functional ergonomics, but it is very very simple. It'll probably age more gracefully though.
The RX-8 essentially did not respond to mods. Getting a tune was an incredible headache due to the way the ECU was set up, and the intake and exhaust were already extremely efficient from the factory - to the point that many in the RX-8 community will tell you that the only point in getting a new exhaust is changing the sound. The Subyota will probably respond to mods better (but not as well as a factory turbo, or a mustang or small block chevy), and the ECU looks to be designed with tuners in mind.
Overall, the RX-8 was a quirky car with some really great qualities that basically answered a question nobody was asking. It was just expensive enough that it came into competition with significantly faster cars, and it got poor fuel economy during a time in which the public began paying much closer attention to fuel economy. That, I think, is really what scuttled it....they designed a sports-car that made several compromises in the name of utility so people could have it as an only car...but it got piss poor mileage and thus made a less than ideal daily driver.
The Subyota is inexpensive enough, especially in scion form, that it will compete against the hot-hatch set, and in that company it has several advantages: it's sexier and it's RWD. It's probably a tick faster than a Civic Si, comparable to the GTI, but slower than the rest. It'll be easier to launch though since it's not FWD....stoplight races will probably be won against faster FWD cars because of that, even though it might fall a bit short in 1/4 E.T.
Basically, the Subyota is the car that Hyundai wishes it would have designed instead of the Genesis Coupe. Inexpensive RWD, simple, a great handler, and differentiated in character and price enough that it's not going to be directly cross-shopped with the Mustang and Camaro.
I was really hard on the car last year during the development....all the leaking info suggested that the weight target was going to be missed by a couple hundred pounds and that it would be priced higher than we wanted....but I'm fully on-board now and plan on a BRZ limited. 2700-2750lbs, 200hp, Nav, HIDs, alcantara/leather heated seats, pretty decent looking stereo, great looking simple interior, good mileage, and from what I've seen, a fully-loaded BRZ Limited will be going for around 27k. The Scion will probably be around 23-24k. That's really really fair. Price out a loaded Mustang GT and you're knocking on 38k if you want all the go-fast parts.....and 32-33k if you want a fully loaded V6 model with the performance goodies.
I think this car will do just fine. It'll have to upgrade the power 20hp or so within a couple years to compete with newer versions of the hot hatches, but such is progress. Given a healthy aftermarket, I should have no problem keeping up as the car ages.
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