It’s well known that Subaru and Toyota have been in the same bed developing the FT-86 but one question that remains on everyone’s lips is how, if they are developing the same car, can the two be different? Well it’s emerged that Subaru has been busy waving their wand over the 086A/FT-86 and is going to bring some very Subaru style magic to the table.
Just as soon as the Toyota FT-86 was born and came to this world at the Tokyo Motor show, it’s bigger, badder twin brother is about to hit the stage.
The biggest news to come out of all this is that rumors of the car being turbo and all wheel drive are now in fact confirmed. However staff close to the Subaru development side of the project have revealed is that the first thing to differ will be the codes which the cars will be known by. While the version of the FT-86 to go on sale in Japan will be known by the code 086A and in the US and Europe as the 087A and 088A respectively, the Fuji Heavy Industries version will be branded as the 216A. This is to “clearly distinguish between the Toyota and Subaru version of the car”. Things get juicier from there though with the confirmation of what many have been suspecting all along. The car will be driven by a 2.0 liter turbo charged powerplant feeding power to all four wheels. This will either come in the flavor of a revised, lower power but more efficient 250ps and 34.0kg/m EJ20 from the Impreza 2.0 GT or the EJ20 Turbo from the current Impreza WRX STi pumping out 308ps and 43.0kg/m of torque. Our guess is the latter may well be used for an STi version of the car down the track. No pun intended.
Subaru will further distance the 216A from the FT-86 through signature styling elements (as presented in these artist renderings), longer and wider dimensions and an extra 100kg in weight. However, the closeness in actual wheelbase and overall length with the current hatch mean the two could share even more parts.
Pricing has been speculated at around ¥3 million (€22,267/ US$32,880) when launched in Japan in 2011.
via 7tune
