Subaru and Toyota have teamed up to develop a rear wheel drive, 6-speed coupe dubbed the BRZ for the Subaru fans, and the FT-86 for Toyota aficionados. From what I understand, it won't even be released as a Toyota, it will end up selling on Scion showrooms near the end of 2012. If the rumors are to be believed, the car will run you about 25-29 thousand dollars, depending on the options you want. Personally, all I need is the standard six speed and the sport package, but there are those of us who will want every bell and whistle available. I did some research online and apparently, it will come standard with navigation, Ipod hookups, and Bluetooth, which are all decidedly pricey options on other similarly priced vehicles. I can't think of any new cars on the market that are genuinely fun to drive, and under thirty grand. Of course, you can buy a used G35 for under the 20K mark, but generally, it'll be 10 years old and not very well maintained.
I think the kicker for me on this one is that the engine powering this little car is the legendary Subaru Boxer engine. It's a 2.0L flat four and it has roughly 200 HP, which is definitely enough to have some serious fun. On top of all this, Subaru has done some hard-core research and engineering to make this an excellently performing platform. It also has a super low center of gravity, making it one of the most entertaining cars to drive on the road. Many of the design elements and handling properties were inspired from the Porsche Cayman, and using the Cayman as inspiration to build the ultimate handling car was an excellent idea on Subaru's part. In the end, I'm pleased with the way the car looks and I believe that Subaru ditching their iconic AWD and stepping into another realm of possibilities is an awesome marketing scheme. Doing something different every now and then is only a good idea, if you do it really well.
More pics of the 2011 Toyota FT-86 here: www.auto-hd.com
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