Subaru never knew what to do with the car, or how to market it, so it didn't. There was very little dealer interest in it, and face it "Performance Subaru" is WRX/STI and those could be a major dealer headache. I used to love the advice on Subaru Forums "Go beat the dealer demo to death, and then demand a different car" or "They wouldn't let me or any of my posse drive it". The profit was in the CUV/SUV market, so that's where the effort was placed.
When I was car shopping in 2008, neither the Mitsubishi dealer nor the Subaru dealer would let me drive their Evo/STi. Even after I gave them my card and said if I liked the car I'd purchase it that day, for cash.
Ironically the Porsche dealer had no issue throwing me the keys to a far more expensive 911 and telling me "Go have fun! See you when you get back."
As a result, I bought neither an Evo or an STi. Don't let me test drive it? No sale for you!
docwyte said:When I was car shopping in 2008, neither the Mitsubishi dealer nor the Subaru dealer would let me drive their Evo/STi. Even after I gave them my card and said if I liked the car I'd purchase it that day, for cash.
Ironically the Porsche dealer had no issue throwing me the keys to a far more expensive 911 and telling me "Go have fun! See you when you get back."
As a result, I bought neither an Evo or an STi. Don't let me test drive it? No sale for you!
That was my problem with the Focus RS.
The Ford dealers here wouldn't let me drive one at the end of 2017. But the Chevy dealer had no problem letting me drive an SS 1LE (I even took my helmet with me to see if I would fit), then the Subaru dealer down the street let me drive an STi.
alfadriver said:Knurled. said:alfadriver said:Toyota has more than enough money to keep the BRZ going, but sometimes it's hard to see the point. Especially for Toyota as they are not using that engine anywhere else- it's more of a gift to Subaru. The Miata has suck around for so long largely because it uses one of their mass produced engines in it. Honda didn't and the S2000 didn't last long. GM does with the Vette, and it's going on +60 years, Ford does with the Mustang, and it's going on 55 years. Heck, the Viper lasted a LONG time using a truck V10.The engine is the single most expensive part, so sharing it goes a long, long way.
You propose an interesting point, but I do hasten to point out that the Corvette engines are only peripherally related to the everything-else engines, and the Viper's V10 shared absolutely nothing with the truck V10s in anything but displacement. The Viper V10s were based on the old shaft-rocker LA engines, the truck engines were based on the Ford Cleveland-rocker Magnum engines. Blocks different, heads massively different, so on and such as. Ironically, the truck engine was the more modern one. It'd be as if Ford were making Mod motors for the trucks, and then they made a special engine for the Mustang based off of the flathead.
The most important thing is that it's not fully a unique engine. The Mustang engine isn't the truck engine, other than being a DOHC V8- but if not for the truck motor, the Mustang V8 would not be around. They can be made in the same plant on the same line without dedicated tooling to make it. Same goes for the Corvette and the Viper and the Miata. Even with different heads, they are cast in the same place with mostly the same tooling. So all of the really expensive things for an engine are spread out among hundreds of thousands of examples.
Toyota isn't doing that with the flat 4- not even sure how many subaru's really have that engine. And Honda didn't do that with the S2000 at all.
But the F20C was the precursor to the K-series and the homage to the F/H series before it.
The FA20D is the BRZ/FRS/86 is unique to the Subaru FX2XX engines in that it's perfectly square at 86x86 bore and stroke vs. the Crosstreks FB20 84x90. When I had a crosstrek I thought it would have been cool to have that FA20 swapped in there; but, then it's like if I'm gonna go through all that might as well throw in a EJ207 or FA20T
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
Again, to Subaru, sure. To Toyota, they paid Subaru for a motor that is going into a bunch of new vehicles. Also, how many FA20D's are being sold?
And if Subaru isn't trying, then Toyota is footing all of the effort, and just spending money for not much. I just don't see this as a good deal for Toyota anymore.
captdownshift said:Toyota, bring back the Tacoma X-Runner and I won't care about this loss.
But if they do it won't have a manual transmission so it won't really be an X-Runner...only Taco's with a manual now are 4wd which defeats the point of a manual transmission (to save thousands by buying a 2wd MT and get a lower cg)
docwyte said:As a result, I bought neither an Evo or an STi. Don't let me test drive it? No sale for you!
That is why I wound up with a used FR-S. Toyota dealer 3 miles from my house had one on the showroom floor and wanted a signed contract before they would roll it out the door for a test drive...plus $5k in ADM. Bite my shiny ass!
Appears this may not be true. Both Subaru and Toyota are saying that neither car is going anywhere any time soon.
"After we talked to Toyota yesterday about whether the 86 was going to be axed, and receiving an immediate reply that this is totally false, we thought we ought to chat with Subaru, too, and find out their plans about the BRZ
Subaru USA spokesman Ron Kiino’s response was swift and leaves no room for interpretation:
“We do not endorse this report coming from Japan’s Best Car”, he told CarScoops. “We are moving ahead with a next-generation Subaru BRZ, but have no further details at this time.”
In reply to NickD :
The new BRZ will be all wheel drive, and have a turbo, and four doors and 40 cubic feet of cargo space.
(hey, this is now on the Internet, and you can't put false info online)
I could see it going either way. Usually in the world of public relations, the stronger a denial is = the more likely the report being denied is true...
The rumor that started this thread was based on a Japanese magazine reporting on another Japanese magazine's preparations to write an article for Feb 26 2019 about the BRZ/86 maybe getting axed. Then every news outlet says "Japanese media says BRZ/86 officially cancelled!"
Sounds like Carscoops actually performed proper journalism and asked the manufacturer in question!
In reply to AlcantaraFTW :
Sounds like a comspiracy theory. The first news was the REAL news, everything that contradicts it is fake news/coverup/backpedaling/the CEO changed his mind after public outcry/etc
From road and track and carscoops
https://www.carscoops.com/2019/01/subaru-tells-us-next-gen-brz-definitely-going-happen/
Stefan said:Sometimes boring is as much about the owner as it is about the vehicle in question:
This is a 1jz swap away from legendary status.
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