Scion FR-S
Half-Toyota, half-Subaru, lightweight, rear-drive, boxer powered sports car Scion FR-S is ready to rule the streets. The FR-S takes the best of both worlds using Toyota engineering and Subaru’s boxer engine. The Scion FR-S is a spiritual successor to the 1983-1987 Corolla AE86 Hachi-roku. The LED headlights and taillights, the muscular wheel arches, the enormous rear diffuser, are all gone. Despite that, Scion's FR-S still has a mean look and at least they
kept the double exhaust pipes, left and right. The production version of the Scion FR-S will be powered by a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine developed by Subaru. It has a front engine / rear-wheel-drive architecture and promises to be a lot of fun to drive.
The FR-S is a seeming diversion from the FWD vehicles Toyota has been known for during the past 25 years. It features a longitudinally mounted engine with a choice of six-speed manual transmission or an available six-speed automatic transmission. Affordability is key, with the manual tranny model checking in at $24,200, while the paddle-shifting automatic will cost $25,300.
Power comes from a zesty naturally aspirated 2.0-litre engine, the product of a symbiotic relationship between Toyota and Subaru. Mounted front mid-ship, it is touted as being the world’s first horizontally opposed D-4S engine
created from the combined DNA of Subaru’s newly developed engine technology and Toyota’s D-4S direct-injection technology.This is not the first time that a Toyota brand vehicle has used a boxer-style engine. Toyota’s first sports car, the late 1967s Sport 800, had a flat two cylinder that produced, wait for it, 45 horsepower.
As for the cabin, the FR-S sticks to the functional, a clear indication the designers don’t want the driver to be distracted by a plethora of buttons that typifies many a modern sports car’s center stack. Rather, it’s to the point and straightforward. That said, it lacks a little flair for my taste. Then again, the FR-S’s attractive exterior makes up for it more than adequately.
BOTTOM LINE
Scion has never been a sales leader for the Toyota brand, but maybe things are about to change.
With the quirky, boxy designs nearly excised and hot fastbacks like this FR-S in place, Akio Toyoda’s dream of a car that buyers will become passionate about should easily come to pass. That they will become fanatical about it is a big likelihood, as well.
Half-Toyota, half-Subaru, lightweight, rear-drive, boxer powered sports car Scion FR-S is ready to rule the streets. The FR-S takes the best of both worlds using Toyota engineering and Subaru’s boxer engine. The Scion FR-S is a spiritual successor to the 1983-1987 Corolla AE86 Hachi-roku. The LED headlights and taillights, the muscular wheel arches, the enormous rear diffuser, are all gone. Despite that, Scion's FR-S still has a mean look and at least they
kept the double exhaust pipes, left and right. The production version of the Scion FR-S will be powered by a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine developed by Subaru. It has a front engine / rear-wheel-drive architecture and promises to be a lot of fun to drive.
The FR-S is a seeming diversion from the FWD vehicles Toyota has been known for during the past 25 years. It features a longitudinally mounted engine with a choice of six-speed manual transmission or an available six-speed automatic transmission. Affordability is key, with the manual tranny model checking in at $24,200, while the paddle-shifting automatic will cost $25,300.
Power comes from a zesty naturally aspirated 2.0-litre engine, the product of a symbiotic relationship between Toyota and Subaru. Mounted front mid-ship, it is touted as being the world’s first horizontally opposed D-4S engine
created from the combined DNA of Subaru’s newly developed engine technology and Toyota’s D-4S direct-injection technology.This is not the first time that a Toyota brand vehicle has used a boxer-style engine. Toyota’s first sports car, the late 1967s Sport 800, had a flat two cylinder that produced, wait for it, 45 horsepower.
As for the cabin, the FR-S sticks to the functional, a clear indication the designers don’t want the driver to be distracted by a plethora of buttons that typifies many a modern sports car’s center stack. Rather, it’s to the point and straightforward. That said, it lacks a little flair for my taste. Then again, the FR-S’s attractive exterior makes up for it more than adequately.
BOTTOM LINE
Scion has never been a sales leader for the Toyota brand, but maybe things are about to change.
With the quirky, boxy designs nearly excised and hot fastbacks like this FR-S in place, Akio Toyoda’s dream of a car that buyers will become passionate about should easily come to pass. That they will become fanatical about it is a big likelihood, as well.
