Normally the annual Subiefest event in southern California is a cornucopia of stanced WRXes, flat-brimmed hats, and vape smoke. This year, though, Subaru brought something pretty special: a well-camouflaged example of the long-awaited second-generation Subaru BRZ.
A few lucky attendees got to see the car up close (well, behind a curtain). Judging by photos posted on Instagram, it retains classic sports car proportions, even if the greenhouse seems proportionally smaller than the current-gen’s. In other words, the car may have gotten a bit bigger, or the windows got smaller. According to one attendee, the engine will be a FA24D with D-4S direct and port injection, naturally aspirated with 217 horsepower and 156 lb-ft of torque, but it’s not clear that these are accurate. In any case, it’s an encouraging sign that in a sport car-starved world, the BRZ lives on.
I see an important spec got left out… curb weight. If they made it bigger then it must also be heavier. That would be a bad thing. After all, lightness is it’s own reward.
The rims from the GR Yaris also used in this one
“Only” 217 hp? Still underpowered compared to the competition. And no complaints from the Toyota side that another company will be making the 86? So you can bitch about BMW and the Supra, but not Subaru making an underpowered Toyota? ?
217hp is perfectly adequate, assuming it’s as light as, or lighter than, the current model.
Don’t know why.anyone would bitch about it being built by Subaru now; that discussion happened 8 years ago.
But I will say this, I do wish Toyota/Subaru had agreed to switch things up and have a Toyota powertrain installed this time around. The only good thing i have to say about the Subaru motor is that it is to very easy to change the oil filter. Oh, and the clutch slave cylinder…
Maybe this time TRD will offer a 50-state emissions legal, plug-n-play, Toyota crate motor, engine swap kit. I’d pay up to about $10k for that option.
One can dream…
Steve, I agree totally, but there is a very vocal subset of enthusiasts who think that a car that can get to 60mph a tenth of a second faster than another car is the better car, and all other attributes be damned. These are the same guys that show up at track days and brag about the lap times their 500+ bhp ride lets them get because they streak down the straights, while holding up everyone else in the twisty bits as they tippy toe around.
Well the overhangs have increased on the new one. It doesn’t look any taller than the previous model. The greenhouse has shrunk. Doing a very unscientific test of putting the picture side by side with the old one of the same size and angle it seems like the bottom half of the car has got taller (from the bottom of the car to the bottom of the window)
No doubt in my mind the new one looks heavier and less agile with those big overhangs. Oh well, it doesn’t bother me too much since my money is going on the new Z