Subaru BRZ News

Toyota Australia has issued a recall notice for nearly almost 15,000 of 17,000 locally delivered 86 two-door coupes to remedy a potential fault that could affect the car's steering.

Flares have never gone out of fashion in Japan and the annual Tokyo Auto Salon shows why.

At the New York motor show, it revealed the STI Performance Concept, a lightweight, race-focused car with a 2.0-litre turbo boxer "Super GT" engine developing 257kW/441Nm — more than the current WRX STI.Expect a lengthy lag before the turbo finds its way into a roadgoing version. The Super GT engine will be used in Japanese races to assess its durability before any decision is made on a production variant.Even in a detuned "street" guise, power would be massively up on the 147kW/205Nm naturally aspirated engine in the road cars and would address one of the few shortcomings of the 2012 CarsGuide Car of the Year winner: the chassis is capable of handling more power.I don't want you to think that this is coming tomorrow because it's notSubaru America CEO Thomas Doll says the concept is a mobile testbed to gauge the feasibility of a forced-induction BRZ production car but warns it will happen later rather than sooner."That's the idea," he says. "We can't tell you exactly when that's going to happen but the concept (is a pointer) to achieving extra horsepower. We know that's one of the issues and that's part of our plan."We are still evaluating how to do all of that. I don't want you to think that this is coming tomorrow because it's not. It could, but we have to do some other engineering and testing," he said.How much can we do that doesn't affect balance, that doesn't affect feel?Subaru America spokesman Michael McHale intervened as journalists started to quiz STI president Yoshio Hirawaka on timing of a turbo BRZ."The BRZ has a very tight, compact engine bay," McHale says, "so how much can we do that doesn't affect balance, that doesn't affect feel? This is Mr Hirakawa's challenge in life."He hears that some people would like more power but ... if we listened to everyone in the world we go bankrupt in 10 minutes."The STI concept was built to promote Subaru's performance division as a stand-alone division responsible for developing performance models, aftermarket accessories and motorsport.Subaru in the US markets itself as a family oriented, safety conscious brand and, according to US journalists, is looking to distance itself from the performance models that don't fit into that ethos.The concept car has a reinforced chassis to improve rigidity, race suspension, upgraded brakes and a massive front spoiler and rear diffuser.Inside there are race-style bucket seats, track-oriented telemetry with G-force monitor and lap-logging capabilities and a steering wheel with LED gearshift indicators built into the rim.

Special Edition BRZ sports coupe now available.Less than four months since the BRZ was refreshed for 2015, Subaru have released the BRZ Special Edition. Priced at $40,650 driveaway with a manual transmission, Subaru have raided the STI parts bin to add a healthy dose of showroom appeal for $3,500 more than the standard models’ driveaway pricing.The latest BRZ Special Edition includes 17-inch alloys and STI bodywork details such as boot lip spoiler and skirts on the front, side and rear as well as a rear diffuser. GT stripes also run the length of the body in either white or black depending on body colour.On the inside there is an STI push-button start switch, with manual Special Editions also receiving STI short-shift assembly and shifter knob for the gear shifter.The new BRZ Special Edition comes with the same 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer engine as the standard BRZ, and can be mated to either the existing six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmissions.The Special Edition is similar to last year’s BRZ S, adding a selection of usually optional accessories to the BRZ while leaving the car’s outright performance unchanged. Unlike the BRZ S, the Special Edition does not get lowered suspension.2015 Subaru BRZ Special Edition driveaway pricingSubaru Special Edition BRZ - manual - $40,650Subaru Special Edition BRZ - automatic - $43,230

Toyota hosts the second Festival of 86 gathering for fans of Australia’s favourite sports car.Sydney’s Inner West throbbed to the tune of 2.0-litre boxer engines at the weekend, with hundreds of Toyota 86 owners converging for the second running of Toyota’s Festival of 86. Moving to Sydney’s new White Bay Cruise Terminal after last year’s event tested the capacity of Toyota’s NSW headquarters, the 2014 gathering once again encouraged owners from around the nation to gather in celebration of Toyota’s instant cult classic.Australia remains the third-largest market for the 86 behind Japan and the US, and on a per-capita basis, it’s fair to say we love the low-cost rear-driver more than anyone else. Proving his ongoing passion for his creation, 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada once again flew from Japan to attend. Helping to justify his trip was a hero’s welcome from the 86 devotees, queuing in their hundreds to meet the Waku Doki master.   Speaking with CarsGuide, Tada-san expressed his delight with Australia’s embrace of the 86. “When I started the 86 project, it was my dream that owners would have such passion for the car,” he said. Among the 400-plus vehicles in attendance, there was a cross-section of standard and modified examples, with a few of the 86’s Subaru BRZ twin and the 86-inspiring Corolla AE86 from the 1980s thrown in for good measure. When I started the 86 project, it was my dream that owners would have such passion for the carAsked what he thought of the many owners who’d dared to modify his pride and joy, Tada-san was surprisingly supportive. “Most manufacturers are against aftermarket modifications. I am happy that 86 owners can grow with their car as their driving improves,” he added. Toyota Australia’s sales and marketing boss Tony Cramb also used the event to confirm plans for an Australian 86 one-make race series, which could happen as soon as 2016. "The concept is a pro-am with amateur drivers from across Australia competing against selected professional drivers," Mr Cramb said.Toyota Australia also used the event to test the waters for possible factory-backed personalisation options, with four uniquely-styled show cars on display. The 2014 Festival of 86 forms part of Toyota’s Oh What a Feeling! Discovery Tour, showcasing several models at events across Australia.

Updated2015 Subaru BRZ poised to offer improved comfort and style.

Subaru plans to introduce a limited edition BRZ to help stop a forecast sales slide. The popularity of sports coupes typically fades after the first two years on sale. Although the BRZ is still selling at a steady rate, Subaru predicts sales will peak later this year -- and the new WRX released this week could also dent sales."I think some people will come out of the BRZ (and into a WRX) because at the end of the day it’s a more practical vehicle," said Subaru Australia boss Nick Senior at the launch of the WRX in Tasmania this week (first drive impressions have been embargoed until midnight Thursday)."We’re still selling 90 (BRZs) a month at the moment, it’s holding up well, we’re not flooding the market," said Mr Senior. "But everyone over time realises when you add a couple of years (to) a two door coupe … it will settle down to a number, and (for us) that number’s certainly not going to be 90 (BRZs a month)."Probably this year’s going to be the peak and then it’ll start to settle down a little bit." To stop the sales slide Subaru Australia says it is looking at some limited edition models, but warned not to expect any extra power."There’s a couple of things the (Japanese) domestic market is doing that we’re looking at," said Mr Senior, some of which hasn’t yet been released. "The great thing about BRZ is you can have a bit of fun with it, (there are) things you can throw on it to make it look differently."Sales of the Subaru BRZ are down by 4 per cent so far this year, while sales of the Toyota 86 twin are down by 22 per cent. Despite the slide, the two-door twins are still Australia's most popular sports car. Toyota has attempted to stop the 86 coupe's sales slide by selling about 90 cars into rental companies across Australia to give potential buyers an extended test drive.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

Nissan is stoking up its sports car mojo. It's developing the next-generation GT-R, looking at developing the IDx Concept, and has unveiled a slew of hot variations of the GT-R, Juke and Pulsar from its Nismo tuning arm.So what's happening with the Z car, with the 370Z having been around for six years and starting to now look a little long in the tooth against new rivals like the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ?Expect to see a departure from the current car, with a smaller vehicle powered by a similarly downsized engine -- a turbo-charged four-cylinder, according to Autocar -- rather than the 3.7-litre V6 carried by the 370Z. Power is likely to slightly rise over the six's 245kW, while torque will likely at the least match its 363Nm, depending on the expected lighter weight of the new Z (the 370Z rings the bell at 1468kg).The design is yet to be signed off but Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura confirmed to the Britsh site that a plan was already in place and that the coming Z "could be smaller" while product chief Andy Palmer pointed to the turbo four engine, adding that we'll see both a standard version and a Nismo one.With Nissan Australia still working on a business case for the Nismo offerings, there's no certainty we'll see that model here, but we're sure to get the cooking Z, following in the footsteps of the 370Z that arrived first in 2009, and a lineage of 44 years that stretches all the way back to the Datsun 240Z in 1970.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

The fanfare surrounding Nissan’s IDx and BladeGlider concepts at last year’s Tokyo motor show was such that the Japanese brand has green-lit plans for production versions, according to Autocar.

Fans of the long-gone and much-mourned Toyota Supra -- and those hoping to see a successor after its 11-year absence -- can perhaps take heart in news today that Toyota and BMW have confirmed a deal to jointly produce a new sports car platform.BMW development chief Herbert Diess told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper the architecture would spawn two new cars. "We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car," Diess said, however declining to reveal more details about the platform.Toyota has previously partnered with Subaru to produce the wildly successful Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ, but while they are near-clones, it seems the Toyota/BMW collaboration will focus on ensuring the two resultant cars are strongly differentiated. "What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands," Diess said.Watch our video review of the tweaked Toyota 86The announcement is not unexpected, following the two brands making an agreement in mid-2012 to collaborate on a range of technology -- including weight-saving strategies and  lithium-air batteries -- and also consider the potential for a medium-sized sports car platform.Toyota is tipped to be unveiling a sports concept that could point to a Supra successor at the Detroit motor show in a couple of weeks, so it's possible that a production vehicle seeded from the show car could include the BMW collaboration. However the Toyota end of the joint development could also end up wearing a Lexus badge.And Toyota is not the only Japanese carmaker partnering with a European brand for a sports car. As we've reported previously, Mazda is collaborating with Italy's Alfa Romeo on a platform that will be the basis for both the next Mazda MX-5 and Alfa Spider.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott