FR-S, A Rebadged Subaru? (Article)

[suaveflooder]

I'm confused why people are so mad about this. My car says subaru all over the place.

I changed my oil, filter said subaru on it.

All those little vin number matching plaques all over the car body panels, don't have a toyota or a scion emblem, take a look..... I see little stars

Also, I was detailing my car today and starting laughing. The rear trunk lid has "subaru" stamped on the inside of it toward the bottom, middle left if the trunk is fully open.

Even when I lowered the car, all the suspension parts said Subaru.

Pretty hard to miss the boxer engine in there.

Even the stock wheels SCREAM subaru in design. They look nothing like toyota wheels, and look very much like a subaru design. STI comes to mind.


It's so funny that the BRZ guys bitch about the scion not being a Subaru and now seeing this has me shocked. Come on guys, get over it. Toyota was involved for sure, but subaru did quite a bit on the car and I'm completely fine with that....I've got a car with a low center of gravity, good gas milage, reliability (hopefully), and KILLER handling. Why nitpick over the small stuff?

[Anaxilus]

I think the problem is how little people comprehend or are educated to how much the GT86 is primarily a Toyota conception and design. There's a reason Subaru's Gunma plant only cranks out 1 BRZ per every 4 86s/FRSs. It's a car Subaru never wanted to build at all and wouldn't have if not for Toyota's vision, engineering oversight, management and funding. The only reason Subaru is making the car is because Toyota bought into FHI and wanted to use a boxer engine. Otherwise, Subaru would never have been involved. Btw, I own an actual Subaru too.

There's some weird revisionism that comes from recent selective short term memory where new kids seem to associate Subaru w/ performance and Toyota w/ bland Camrys. Therefore, Toyota get's little to no credit for anything. Despite the fact that Toyota has historically done more and won more in all of motorsports than Subaru or most other car makers have combined.

The problem with the article and anyone that agrees w/ it is that it is just ignorant on so many levels to say the FRS is just a rebadged Subaru. I like my Subaru too, but if you think buying a BRZ will save you from exposure to icky Toyota Cooties, think again. Embrace the truth, the twins are a Toyobaru, revel in it.

Next up, Toyobimmeru.

[5th 86]

Wtf are you guys getting all worked up about, the article was about how shitty scion has been doing the last few years, sure he was trolling or just plan ignorant on the joint venture of the 86 but the article wasnt really about the 86. Only that the frs is saving scion from life support.

[Techfl3x]

Originally Posted by Anaxilus

I think the problem is how little people comprehend or are educated to how much the GT86 is primarily a Toyota conception and design. There's a reason Subaru's Gunma plant only cranks out 1 BRZ per every 4 86s/FRSs. It's a car Subaru never wanted to build at all and wouldn't have if not for Toyota's vision, engineering oversight, management and funding. The only reason Subaru is making the car is because Toyota bought into FHI and wanted to use a boxer engine. Otherwise, Subaru would never have been involved. Btw, I own an actual Subaru too.

There's some weird revisionism that comes from recent selective short term memory where new kids seem to associate Subaru w/ performance and Toyota w/ bland Camrys. Therefore, Toyota get's little to no credit for anything. Despite the fact that Toyota has historically done more and won more in all of motorsports than Subaru or most other car makers have combined.

The problem with the article and anyone that agrees w/ it is that it is just ignorant on so many levels to say the FRS is just a rebadged Subaru. I like my Subaru too, but if you think buying a BRZ will save you from exposure to icky Toyota Cooties, think again. Embrace the truth, the twins are a Toyobaru, revel in it.

Next up, Toyobimmeru.

Thank you! Exactly my intent. Both companies deserve recognition as it took both to bring this car to us. Apologies friends, I did not mean to troll or stir up the badge/branding debates...

[kajun]

Toyota's chief was the prompt behind the Twins ever coming to existence, no doubt, but there's truth in the fact that the car is fundamentally a badging exercise - put a BRZ next to an FR-S or a GT86 and you're going to find that other than a couple of cosmetic differences, they're the same car. That's what "rebadged" means.

This isn't the first rebadged car ever, and it's not really a "dis" on the FR-S - remember that the article is more about Scion in general being a failure in branding and getting mind-share than about whether the FR-S is a good car. If you actually read to the end, the point the guy who developed the Scion brand (now working at Ford) makes is that the idea was to keep the brand fresh by constantly delivering new models, which it hasn't been doing. If you've got a static lineup that doesn't appeal to your target market, why keep a separate brand?

[ZC6BRZ]

Originally Posted by Rampage

I cannot say that I disagree with anything in that article. Lift your hood and find a body panel that does not have Subaru stamped on it.

That does not make the triplets (GT86/FR-S/BRZ) any less of a great car.

FTFY; Quintuplets. 86, BRZ, FR-S, GT86.

[kajun]

Originally Posted by ZC6BRZ

FTFY; Quintuplets. 86, BRZ, FR-S, GT86.

FTFY: Quadruplets :P

[JDM FRS]

Originally Posted by kajun

Toyota's chief was the prompt behind the Twins ever coming to existence, no doubt, but there's truth in the fact that the car is fundamentally a badging exercise - put a BRZ next to an FR-S or a GT86 and you're going to find that other than a couple of cosmetic differences, they're the same car. That's what "rebadged" means.

This isn't the first rebadged car ever, and it's not really a "dis" on the FR-S - remember that the article is more about Scion in general being a failure in branding and getting mind-share than about whether the FR-S is a good car. If you actually read to the end, the point the guy who developed the Scion brand (now working at Ford) makes is that the idea was to keep the brand fresh by constantly delivering new models, which it hasn't been doing. If you've got a static lineup that doesn't appeal to your target market, why keep a separate brand?

Yea take any part of the car apart and you'll find a Subaru logo or name on it. My trunk has Subaru on the inside of the lid and even the little tray behind the shifter has Subaru on the back of it.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

[ZC6BRZ]

Originally Posted by kajun

FTFY: Quadruplets :P

touche!

[BadMoon]

I don't care who did what and what is who. These cars fawkin !

[5th 86]

Lol, figured it out, subaru probably stamped every last piece to say fuck you toyota we built the damn thing so stop saying you guys did

[joop1987]

This car is far from a real Subaru. No broken ringlands on the FR-S and the auto tranny is not junk like the 5EAT.

[Luis_GT]

Originally Posted by joop1987

This car is far from a real Subaru. No broken ringlands on the FR-S and the auto tranny is not junk like the 5EAT.

That's cause the transmission is based on the IS-F's auto transmission...

[Muaddib]

This car would of never took off from the drawing board if it wasn't for Toyota's involvement.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHVhaTNRk8E"]2013 Scion FR-S/Toyota 86 Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada Interview - YouTube[/ame]