Subaru

Toyota will be officially showing its GT 86 sports car in Tokyo, after several years of concept cars and redesigns and extensive collaboration with Subaru, which will sell an almost identical car. The compact 2+2 sports car is an incredibly important release from the world's largest auto manufacturer, which is hoping to bolster its reputation by creating a superb handling, driver-focused, low center of gravity, beautifully balanced with excellent power-to-weight ratio. The front-mounted 197bhp Subaru 2.0-litre flat-four has rear wheel drive, goes on sale mid-2012 and is expected to sell below GBP30,000 in the UK to "those for whom driving is a passion, not a necessity." Read More

It's a well known fact that simply driving a new car away from the dealership is one of the most horrifically expensive things you'll ever do. ALG measures automotive residual values in the American marketplace - that is, the value of a car when you sell it, three years after purchase. Depreciation of the value of a car is often the largest part of the cost of ownership, and hence a good performance in ALG's Annual Residual Value Awards is a strong indication of how much that brand will cost to drive, and for the average man in the street, the current retained-value king is Subaru. Fuji Heavy Industries Subaru brand has now won the award three years running, with Lexus regaining top spot amongst luxury brands. The report suggests that German and American manufacturers are a long way behind Japanese (11 of the 21 awards) manufacturers in this critical but often overlooked aspect of real car ownership costs. Read More

Subaru's biggest announcement for next month's Tokyo Motor Show was expected to be the BRZ sports car, but now news has arrived that it will also show an “Advanced Tourer Concept” powered by its trademark horizontally-opposed engine and Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD), but with turbocharging and direct fuel injection, plus a single-motor hybrid system, all driving through a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). Paradoxically Subaru has fitted the car with its EyeSight driver assist system, and a steering wheel which incorporates a “large monitor” for access to “maps, television and internet services.” Perhaps news about the carnage resulting from distracted driving hasn't reached Japan yet. Read More

It feels like we've been waiting for Subaru's BRZ concept forever. The BRZ is a joint development effort between Toyota and Subaru, using a 2.0 liter version of Subaru's signature horizontally-opposed engine with Toyota's direct injection system. Toyota will sell the car as the FT-86 which it showed as a concept two years ago at the Tokyo Motor Show and has since shown with revised styling. The near identical BRZ concept will be seen for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show two weeks from now and can be expected in showrooms in the United States spring of 2012. Read More

Subaru will be showcasing a 'BOXER Sports Car Architecture' Concept concept vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show next week and released a darkened image of the vehicle to the media earlier today. A bit of a play with Adobe Photoshop and … a great deal more about the shape of the forthcoming vehicle has been revealed. Read More

At the 3D and VR Expo in Tokyo, Japanese company Forum8 demonstrated the company's UC-win/Road Drive Simulator software. The software allows for custom maps and environments to be created according to your specifications. You can control the environment and location, the terrain and street layout. You can even adjust the traffic, weather conditions, and even time of day. The minute details in the graphics are impressive, even showing barely noticeable elements such as the signal lights on individual vehicles. Read More

Driving is a sight-response game and as the line between robots and cars begins to blur, cars will develop ever more advanced vision systems. Subaru began fitting a stereoscopic “EyeSight” system to some Japanese market cars nearly two years ago and has just announced a major upgrade. It's reportedly a major improvement, but it's worth thinking about the issues associated with becoming reliant upon systems which take over the responsibility for driving your car. Read More

Subaru rolled-out its Hybrid Tourer Concept this morning in Detroit and what a feast for the eyes it is. Featuring gullwing doors, an array of screens including one integrated into the steering wheel and a wide open interior facilitated by a flat floor design, the Hybrid Tourer first seen at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show is a showcase for the company's planned development of a gas/electric hybrid system based on the boxer engine set to hit the market in 2012. Read More

We've seen this approach to Arctic off-roading at a concept level, but this snow-eating Subaru WRX STI is most definitely for real. The 400bhp TRAX was built by Subaru Rally Team USA's technical partner, Vermont SportsCar from a rally-prepared 2009 WRX ST. EXE-TC Group N competition rally dampers were added, the drivetrain lowered three inches and the wheels tossed in favor of a Mattracks rubber track system. Read More