New Toyota GR86 (and BRZ) to use Subaru’s fresh 1,8-litre turbo flat-four?

By: CAR magazine

A fresh report out of Australia claims the successors to the Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ will use the latter automaker’s upcoming turbocharged 1,8-litre flat-four engine.

While Autocar recently claimed the next-generation sportscar twins would likely employ Subaru’s turbocharged 2,4-litre unit (with the GT86 also being rebranded as the GR86), GoAuto.com says a new 1,8-litre “lean-burn” powerplant from Subaru is more likely.

At a recent technology briefing, Subaru revealed it was working on a “new downsized turbo engine” set to be used in the upcoming Levorg in Japan. A slide in the day’s presentation showed the new unit displaces 1,8 litres.

GoAuto.com asked the Japanese firm whether the fresh boxer mill was destined for use in the next-generation rear-driven sportscar too, but the firm would say only that the model was still “under development”.

While peak outputs for the new engine have yet to be confirmed, they’ll surely far exceed the current naturally aspirated 2,0-litre engine’s 147 kW and 205 N.m (although Toyota won’t want the GR86 to step on the toes of the new base 190 kW 2,0-litre Supra).

In September 2019, Toyota and Subaru announced a new “business and capital alliance”, which includes the Japanese firms jointly developing “all-wheel-drive models” as well as the follow-ups to the GT86 and BRZ. This came after reports out of Japan suggested the two sportscars were facing the axe.

The Toyota GT86 line-up in South Africa currently comprises just a single derivative, priced at R632 200. The BRZ, meanwhile, was pulled from the local market back in September 2015.

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