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With the Subaru Viziv Performance Concept, be careful getting your hopes up

Subaru fans have reason to be excited. The company revealed the Viziv Performance Concept at the Tokyo Motor Show, and it's pretty obvious that it's a preview of a future WRX. The big vents, hood scoop, fenders, and its sedan profile all shout WRX. Someone from Subaru's design department even confirmed that the study could influence the next model. While admiring the concept's lines and imagining the next model, we, as well as some of our commenters, realized that we should keep our hopes and expectations low. The reason for this is that Subaru pulled a bit of a bait-and-switch with WRX styling before, back in 2013. That year, the company revealed the WRX Concept. It, like the Viziv Performance Concept, was a vented, scooped, flared, low-roof interpretation of the next WRX. Everyone loved it, and they were psyched to see a Subaru that could truly be described as beautiful, rather than say, unique, or interesting, or different, or any other kindhearted euphemism. View 11 Photos Then Subaru unveiled the production WRX for 2015. To the company's credit, it did manage to include design cues from the concept such as the fender flare lines and fascia shape, and it shared very few exterior panels with the Impreza. Unfortunately, it was still based on the Impreza platform, and those lines had to be pulled in and compressed onto the tall and narrow economy car. Without the low roof, ultra-wide fenders, and long, defined trunk, the car lost a lot in translation. The result thoroughly disappointed, and on occasion infuriated, fans. Basically, we've been burned before by Subaru's concepts. Heck, if you want more proof, take a look at the Subaru BRZ STI Performance concept that had a turbocharged engine. And yet, we still have no turbo BRZ on the market. But just because we're trying to be realistic doesn't mean Subaru won't surprise us with a close-to-concept WRX in the future. And the company is showing some signs that its concepts are more realistic. Looking at the evolution of the Viziv-7 concept into the Ascent concept and production prototypes, it seems a lot of the original design has survived. So hope isn't lost, just tempered. Related Video: Featured Gallery Subaru Viziv Performance Concept Tokyo Motor Show View 12 Photos Tokyo Motor Show Subaru Concept Cars Performance Sedan 2017 tokyo motor show subaru wrx concept subaru viziv perfromance concept

Subaru investigation confirms vehicle data tampering in Japan

Subaru has admitted that alteration of fuel-economy and emissions data took place in its Gunma and Yajima manufacturing plants between December 2012 and November 2017. Some 900 vehicles were affected by data tampering, which Subaru says was done in the vehicles' final inspections by factory-floor inspectors. In a report, Subaru says "non-conforming" final vehicle inspections were identified in late 2017, and that the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism demanded that Subaru undertake an internal investigation of the matter. Almost 7,000 vehicles were subject to inspection in the investigated time period, and the measurement equipment retained test data for some 6,500 of those. It showed that 903 vehicles had had their data "inappropriately altered," partially so that average data values would meet quality control standards. Subaru says that the decision to do this was made among vehicle inspectors and their foremen. As Subaru's statement reads: "Inspectors engaging in sampling of fuel economy and emissions were instructed by their seniors that, if results for each vehicle did not meet such standards, measurement values should be altered to those that meet such standards, and, according to such instructions, the inspectors altered measurement values. [...] Even if there were no problems in comparison with the internal quality control standards, inspectors altered measurement values with the intention of reducing variance in measurement values in order to avoid questions from the Group Chiefs and the Section Chief on such variance. It should be noted that alterations were made not only to make results better, but also to make them worse." It appears that everything was done to keep the average values right. Subaru adds: "Although the relevant laws and regulations stipulate that, in certain limited cases, measurement values could be altered in order to adjust errors caused by measurement equipment, inspectors misunderstand such adjustment method because of deficient internal rules and inadequate training. Inspectors altered measurement values by adjustment methods not stipulated in the relevant laws and regulations, without understanding that their methods were inappropriate." Test equipment did not contain data from earlier than 2012, but Subaru suspects such tampering took place as long ago as 2002. However, the matter will not result in recalls.

Watch Subaru WRX STI's ripping record run at Nurburgring

As expected, Subaru had a bunch of cameras rolling when they gunned for a Nurburgring lap record attempt. The car they used was a specially honed (deep breath) WRX STI Type RA NBR Special, and it proved to be good for a 6:58.9 lap around the Nordschleife, in the hands of Richie Stanaway. Now, video material of the sedan car record run has been posted on Subaru's social media pages, and it includes a separate "Behind the Scenes" video. The record car was built by Prodrive, and it consists of a 2017 WRX STI with a full roll cage, fitted with a WRC specification two-liter turbo engine that produces more than 600 horsepower thanks to its 75mm intake and 25 psi of boost. The transmission is also a WRC item, and its hydraulic paddle-shift setup together with an automated clutch enables shift times of 20-25 milliseconds. The track time is quicker than a recent privateer attempt using a 2017 Dodge Viper ACR, which squeezed the time down to 7:01,3 until a tire failure caused it to crash. Of course, the Viper was classified as a production vehicle, unlike the Subaru. Here's the Behind the Scenes footage: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.