Every once in a while we hear news of Toyota's FT-86 and it's yet unnamed Subaru twin. The FT-86 was close to being launched but then Toyota decided to delay it till 2013 to work on the fuel consumption of the engine.
The FT-86 is powered by a retuned version of Subaru’s naturally aspirated 2.0-litre flat four, using a revised head to produce around 200bhp. And though both the Subaru and Toyota are supposed to be very similar, Subaru seems to have plans of its own.
Reports are suggesting that the Subaru will be more powerful and more aggressive than its Toyota brethren. It will feature a revised version of the Impreza STI's turbocharged powerplant good for about 260hp, 60 up on the Toyota. However both cars will use a variant of Subaru’s six-speed manual gearbox, similar body panels and also share a modified platform from the Subaru Legacy.
Sadly for hardcore Suby fans though, the Subaru version won't feature all-wheel-drive because of the simple reason of the added complexity factor like weight and price.
Testing of the rear-wheel-drive Subaru has already started at the Nurburgring and it is said that Subaru's engineers are also working on the initial stages of the FT-86 because their test drivers are more familiar with it's Subaru underpinnings like the Legacy platform and Impreza rear suspension.
Expect the Subaru to take another two years or so to make it's debut and cost way over a quarter of a million ringgit.
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