Quote:
Originally Posted by a2cpc
Cocoa Beach Bum posted this article from Australia...
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/t...809-2rleu.html
"Tada confirmed to Drive he is already developing the concept for a successor, and hinted that it could be a radically different car, potentially dropping the boxer engine altogether - which raises questions about Subaru's involvement and whether there will be follow-up to the sister BRZ."
Uh oh...  Could the BRZ be another footnote in Subaru's history, like the Brat, XT, SVX and Baja?
A 2.5 NA engine producing 250hp could be interesting though. |
What happens is that Toyota does not agree with Subaru in term of how expensive their PowerTrain is costing to produce.
Expensive Power train = because Subaru had this Power train in mind for Turbo set up. Do you see Subaru vehicles ? they are Turbo-ed.....I don't know much about Subaru, but wherever I look....they are Turbo-ed.
Toyota originally wanted to stick with NA engine for the Simplicity of maintenance, parts, labors.....whatever. It is not that they don't have the Turbo Technologies. But they just want Simplicity. Toyota vehicles are very simple from the way they engineer Electrical, to everything else. Just ask any mechanics, or whoever knows car.
By that stand point. Toyota wanted the most Simple car that was a Resurrection of the 86, just Cheap, and fun.
While Toyota did not develop any new engine for that 86 revision project, they had a proposal from Subaru for the FA20 in trade of the DI. It is here.
So their problem is that now. Subaru is pissed because Toyota was so Arrogant that they do not want a Turbo for the platform, because of that, Subaru can not Turbo their own. Toyota is pissed because they wanted a simpler and cheaper car....but Subaru is setting them up Turbo ready.....results in the more Cost to produce = more Expensive vehicles.
If you paid attention, the 86 now can tolerate After market Boosts fairly well with Stock internal...and drive train...it can easily be 300 BHP without changing too much of the supporting mods
Conclusion, I wouldn't say it is the end for the BRZ. After the contract is served, the car is owned by Subaru, and the engine is owned by Toyota. Subaru can choose to keep the car, or kill it. Toyota can choose to keep the engine, or kill it. Tada San is developing his own....so what may happen could be
1/ FR-S will no longer have Boxer engine. It could remains the same with cheaper engine to keep it cheap, and simplistic, if Toyota is sticking to the original plan. By this, you will have to swap, change A lo of things to Mod it well.
2/ BR-Z will still be produced, but with the original plan from Subaru. We will see Turbo BR-Z. Heck, Subaru already have Hybrid Turbo patent filed back in 2007. They may use it in this case. Subaru saw the DI from Toyota as a good deal = probably a good combination for their Hybrid Turbo. BR-Z will be more expensive by going this route, but they will be Polished, and probably Flag-ship Coupe for Subaru Brand. I am guessing it may be around 40k....but it will be very:
Balanced, Agile, Powerful, Tail happy.
Conclusion, the last good FR-S / BRZ will be the one that is Boxer and Mods friendly would be the 2.5 FR-S. They may be limited production (probably last year of the current Gen) Subaru will agree to this, because of the transition of the contract.
After that, the second gen, BR-Z and FR-S will be too different to even realize....they will suddenly become Female...and Male...instead of Uni-Sex as of now.
With all that analysis. The best to buy in this current gen will be the 2.5, and it will get into the History as the Supra before. Why ? Because of Mods friendly, Stroked bigger engine. If you think about it, the second gen BR-Z with the new set up will be 2.0 turboed...maybe doing 300/300. The 2.5 with the same turbo mildly modded will probably be close to 400/400.
That is in a perfect world for assumption. They may not do anything at all as how Pissed they are toward each other, and we still stuck with the same Gen.
End of rant. Thanks for reading