The new Subaru BRZ is finally here. Now in its second-generation, the new BRZ has been fine-tuned to be more powerful and offer better handling for all the rear-wheel-drive thrill you could ask for: Purists will be happy for sure. But, while the Subaru BRZ promises to be all the sports car you will ever need, it does take us back to a time when we were equally excited for the release of another JDM sports car.
You may recall back in 2003, Toyota debuted the Scion brand. Targeted at young buyers with its inexpensive and flashy cars, the energetic Scion brand quickly became popular. At the same time, Toyota had begun developing a concept sports car with the help of Subaru. Fast forward to 2012 and the iconic Toyota 86 was born, as well as the Subaru BRZ. Both were initially JDM cars, but there was a huge demand for these compact cars in the US and Canada. Eventually, Toyota brought in the 86 and rebadged it to be under the Scion umbrella and the FR-S was born. Subaru brought in the BRZ, and well, they kept the name.
With the arrival of the new 2022 Subaru BRZ, it isn't hard to imagine what the Scion FR-S would have looked like if it was still around today. So, let’s cruise down memory lane and look at why the new BRZ reminds us of the Scion FR-S, and figure out if we really miss the car, or not.
The Subaru BRZ And Scion FS-R Have The Same Origin Story
Platform sharing is not uncommon. Today, it seems almost every carmaker is joining forces and pooling resources together to come out with new products. It might not seem fair to a lot of enthusiasts, but business models never do. Sharing platforms allow carmakers to save a lot of money and time. The end result might be two or more car models with the same DNA, and therefore a generic set of cars.
The same chassis, the same engine, and more or less the same design is what shared platform cars have in common, and that’s why the BRZ might make us reminisce the Scion FR-S. Both cars had almost an identical silhouette and they nearly had an identical interior layout as well. The new BRZ might be a little more flashy and comfort-conscious in its new interior layout, but make no mistake, one look at the new BRZ and you will see that it shares the same design elements as the Scion FR-S. Both cars were also manufactured at the same factory.
Born out of a partnership between Toyota and Subaru, both the FR-S and the BRZ were in fact the same car. Throw in the 86, and you have three identical cars with different names. Toyota had borrowed the chassis from Subaru and there were even rumors that the engineers almost got into a fistfight over whether the car should be RWD, as Toyota had imagined it to be, or if it should be AWD as was the customary setup for Subaru. It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but finally, it was decided that the first prototypes would be RWD. The FR-S might have gotten a better welcome than the BRZ, but the Scion brand just wasn’t strong enough to last very long.
Technically, The Scion FR-S Is Still Around
The fact that Scion couldn’t make it in the US market speaks volumes of brand power. There might not have been as many Scion fanatics as there were for Subaru, and that’s pretty evident today. Just try convincing a Subaru customer to buy from another car brand and you will find out for yourself. The FR-S was a fun little compact sports car that looked the part. It was edgy, sleek, and had a powerful stance on the road. But then so did the BRZ.
Buyers of these cars would almost always customize them with aftermarket components, and that was the only time you could see some uniqueness and difference. There were of course a few mechanical differences to set the cars apart and target them towards their customer audience. The FR-S, for example, had a stiff suspension setup, while the first-generation BRZ was a lot softer. If anything, the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ could very well have been different trim levels of the same car. But, as we all know, the Scion brand never made it, which meant we lost the FR-S forever.
But, Toyota was smart enough to understand that even though the Scion brand failed, the FR-S was a noble and respected affordable sports car, and that’s why we still have the 86. In fact, the 2022 Toyota GR 86 launched at the same time with its identical twin, the new Subaru BRZ.
So, if you really think about it, we haven't lost anything at all because the FR-S is still here with us but it wears a different badge.