[wbradley]

The current power level is what the majority of buyers will prefer and pay for as determined by the decision makers at Toyota and Subaru. Big corporations make very educated decisions in most cases and spend significant amounts of money to find out what the market demand will be for. That for example would be the reason for steering wheel controls on the update of their original "pure sports car". They can sell the most units this way and optimize profit/maximize their objectives. Subaru already has more powerful models that many twin owners will transition to if they enjoyed their twins. The volume cannot justify multiple engine choices at this point in time. Dont rule out any upgrade being offered except more power. The manufacturers have made it clear this is as much power they want to sell the model with. Fortunately if you want more, the aftermarket is very developed on this vehicle. Depending on fuel consumption and CO2 objectives, I believe they could use the FA24 na on the 2nd gen. Or a 1.6 turbo except the issue of rapid onset of torque especially FI is something Toyobaru seem to want no part of for these cars. Insurance rates do affect potential sales on a model targeting youth. And of course finally a light hybrid version though Toyota would likely lead the powertrain development for this and at the present weight not sure this model needs that much powertrain development.

In the 90's the displacement increase would have been more likely for USDM models. Not so sure now based on trends.

Oh, and in response to OP, more power definitely doesn't hurt these vehicles although there are other things that will then need to be upgraded to support this. Think STI. Or think ts plus added FI.