Toyota 86 Chief Engineer Promises Next Gen To Exceed Expectations
The Toyota 86 weighs up to 2,862 pounds and delivers as much as 205 horsepower. Thats a power-to-weight ratio of 13.9 pounds per pony or 0.07 horsepower per pound. That doesnt sound like a lot, but they are light, and they are agile. And, thats why the next-gen 86 and BRZ wont be turbocharged. By turbocharging, the whole purpose of the car changes and that amazing driving and handling dynamic goes away. Toyota and Subaru will continue to deliver a car that handles beyond expectations and is quick. 27,000. Remember, they are designed to be quick in all circumstances, not fast in a straight line. All-wheel drive is great, amazing, and provides plenty of traction when you (usually) need it the most. But, the simple fact of the matter is that the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ are compact cars, and theres not really the room to make it happen. Thats not the only reason, though.
It comes right back to the handling and overall dynamic of the car itself. You throw in AWD, and you immediate add hundreds of pounds of extra weight. That means the car goes from being quick to slow or you need to up the horsepower, and you can see where it goes from there. Add in the fact that putting more weight up front will greatly affect the cars handling capabilities and probably not in a good way. Engineers have designed the 86 and BRZ with an extremely low center of gravity and a specific 53:47 (front:rear) weight distribution. You throw AWD in the mix, and that goes bye bye. Instead, the next-gen Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 will, undoubtedly, carry over with rear-wheel drive. If you still dont believe me, heres a little hint about our next point 聳 they will right on a different platform too. The reason behind this falls directly on the purpose of the platform itself.
The platform is flexible as hell and can support nearly any vehicle shape and size, but Subaru only produces AWD cars. The Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 are destined to maintain RWD, so Subbies new platform has been ruled out with extreme prejudice. The writing on the wall is quite obvious now, and there are only two options 聳 the Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 will either ride on the same, aging platform or will move to Toyotas TNGA platform. Thats the same platform that underpins the Toyota Corolla, Camry, RAV4, and Kluger. With the platform sitting below the current 86 and BRZ being so old 聳 the cars themselves are coming up on eight years old 聳 the obvious choice is a move to the TNGA platform. But, what does moving to a Toyota-developed platform mean for drivetrain choices? Despite the fact that the 86 and BRZ will most likely switch over to a Toyota Platform, the boxer flat-four works exceptionally well. Its not just because of Subarus reliability, either. See, the magic behind that flat-four is that its not very tall and can be mounted relatively low in the cars chassis.
Thats part of how the 86 and BRZ manage to have such a low center of gravity. We already know that neither manufacturer wants to fix something that isnt broken so, if youre placing bets, you should place your money on the next-gen BRZ and 86 having a Subaru engine under the bonnet. Despite the amazing driving experience offered by the current 86 and BRZ, people continue to shout that the car needs more power. The 2021 86 and BRZ probably will have more power sent to the rear wheels. Ive heard a lot of people saying that the 2.0-liter from the WRX would be a good fit, but thats not going to happen. 268 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque are just too much for a car of this size and purpose. Putting that much power to the rear wheels would make this thing squirrely at all the wrong times, and thats not what this car is about. Instead, expect to see that 2.0-liter Boxer deliver somewhere in the area of 230 horsepower 聳 a sizable increase over the current models but not enough to throw off the driving dynamics.
