Toyota 86. Scion FR-S. Subaru BRZ. Call it whatever you like
it really doesn’t matter much…yet. Actually I should rewind a bit first, I was
bummed back in 2009 when I found out Honda was kicking the S2000 to the curb.
I, like many others, took it for granted that Honda had stepped out of the FWD
layout and brought us a roadster with a high rev count and a push-start button.
It was a revolutionary Honda at the time and had the makers of the Miata a
little concerned. It was this concern that I think pushed Mazda’s executives to
“okay” production of the RX8. Nissan jumped on board by finally finishing the
long developed new Z car, which was the first Z sports car since the mid 1990s.
I remember around 2004 thinking, “Alright! We have Nissan, Mazda, and Honda
competing with sports cars. Come on Toyota! Where’s the new Supra?!” My
request, prayers, and hopes fell on deaf ears. I was then teased with little
concept photos and artist renditions of what the Supra would look like. Blogs
and forums would fill my head with thoughts like, “Will it be a Supra or a
2000gt? Maybe both!”
Suddenly, without warning, Toyota killed the Celica. I
became concerned. Now some might wonder why that mattered, or how could that
small deletion destroy my hopes for Toyota’s entry into this sports coupe throw
down. Some would be skeptical of my concern and give reassurance that they still
were producing the MR2-Spyder. Some might even be quick to remind me that the
RX8, 350Z, and S2000 were RWD while the Celica was FWD. But I knew placement of
the drive wheels didn’t matter, the Celica stood for something…performance.
Killing off the Celica made Toyota useless to any car enthusiast and let me be
completely honest, the MR2 really died in 1998. Toyota tried to fill the
growing hole in my heart with some techno-plastic company called Scion. To keep
up with the Fast and Furious crowd I could, for little money, get a bright blue
car with a black hood, some ambient lighting, and oh-so-awesome subwoofers. I
wasn’t impressed.
To make matters worse…things, bad things, started happening.
The RX8 was dealing with recalls, Porsche was building a 4-door, and Toyota was
all caught up over itself and its flower-friendly Prius. Unreal. This downward
slide continued as the Subaru WRX got uglier and Chrysler was making a Bentley
look-alike. Then it happened. Like being kicked in the groan and having your
dog die, the S2000 was gone. The RX8 was also becoming a fading star and Toyota
was nowhere to be seen because they were on acid filming grass-morphing-into-people
Prius adverts. While all of this was going on it seemed Nissan was the only
sane company left in the race. They, in the midst of Asian car catastrophe,
were doing rather well and continued evolving the now 370Z and even brought out
the game-changing GTR.
But like it does from
summer to fall the air changed when a new but strangely familiar breeze blew
in, and boy was it refreshing. A little Korean car company wanted to play hardball
and quickly snuck in a RWD coupe with a “Track” and turbo option. Then rumors
started about a bastard child from Subaru and Toyota (quick note, we all know
who was the man in that relationship). Things began looking up. US car
companies responded with higher horsepower V6 options for their base model
muscle-cars and 9-months later (eh…why not?) an Asian star is born. Lo and
behold the rumors were true and it had three names; Toyota 86 (Japan), Scion
FR-S (US), and Subaru BRZ. I guess Toyota finally stopped the acid binge to
answer their fan mail and saw that they had missed the mark, but now thanks to
Subaru were finally on the right track.
So this is what we have. A Toyota chassis glued to a Subaru
engine with RWD bits. I like where this is headed even though Toyota, in the
US, is giving the credit to the Like-Me-On-Facebook Scion. As for me, if I were
to buy one, I’d wait for the STI version of the Subaru BRZ due out soon. However
the thing that makes me the most happy in all of this; knowing Honda and Mazda
are studying and watching like a hungry lion…waiting to pounce.
If you had no idea that Subaru had a new coupe out (like a lot of people) you might want to click the link below to see the BRZ promo.
Photo courtesy of Shane K via Flickr
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