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New Subaru Levorg teased ahead of Tokyo Motor Show

While we only get a sedan version of the Subaru WRX in the U.S., Japan has had a wagon version to go along with it called the Levorg. The Subaru Levorg is about to get a big update, too, since the company teased a new generation for the Tokyo Motor Show. Based on the teaser image and video, the new Levorg's styling will be evolutionary. The various creases along the side have a bit more curve to them to emphasize the bulging fenders. The lines also look similar to those of the Subaru Viziv Tourer concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show last year. The current Subaru Levorg is offered with either a 1.6-liter turbocharged flat-four or the WRX's turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. We wouldn't be surprised if those engines carry over to the new model with some minor changes. Curiously, the current model also only comes with a CVT, which will probably continue to be the only transmission option. We would be more disappointed by that if the Levorg had any chance of coming to America. That said, if there are any Subaru product planners reading, the Levorg might sell well here if it was given a small suspension lift and fender flares. Call it the Crosstrek+ or Crosstrek XL or something like that. The turbo 1.6-liter would be a nice upgrade over the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine. And there are probably some old WRX hatchback fans who would love the turbo 2.0-liter Levorg, provided a manual was made available.

2018 Subaru BRZ Quick Spin Review | Curves required

I had a 2018 Subaru BRZ Limited with a six-speed manual and half a day to play on wet, windy roads hemmed by pine trees in the foothills of a massive mountain range. But Michigan was on my mind. Some cars work everywhere. Michigan's the perfect place to find those that do: The roads are flat and pockmarked, and the seasonal extremes are brutal. It's easy to love a car on one of those bucket-list Alpine passes, but on Michigan roads the car has to work hard to win you over. For example, the MX-5 Miata works in Michigan just fine. It's fun in all conditions in which you can get the rear tires to hook up, and some that you can't. It cheerfully entertains in traffic, on city streets, undulating but uninteresting country roads. Some grand tourers work perfectly well there, too, soaking up enough punishment from the atrocious roadways without battering the occupants. The more voluptuous Aston Martins are particularly good at this trick, and they're plenty entertaining to cruise around in — or mash it flat after a scan of a country intersection shows nothing doing for at least 50 miles in every direction. These cars have more than just compliance — they have a subjective, elusive charm in suboptimal conditions. And the 86 twins, well, aren't Miatas. The car isn't lacking in dynamic ability, of course, but there's a flatness, a one-dimensionality to it. It's simply suffocated, starving for a little bit more. It doesn't have to be this way. Put the 86 in a better situation and its foibles recede but don't disappear. Straight, pock-marked slabs are the death of the thing. So I grabbed one out West, in Washington state where I now live, and fed it revs and curves until I was satisfied that the BRZ works as intended when you keep it happy. And when it's happy, you're happy. The BRZ was on high-performance summer tires, and some of the best roads in Washington are up in the hills currently blanketed by slush and ice, so that was a nonstarter. But there's a windy, weedy little farm road bending through a river valley just 20 minutes from my house. It's got lots of sudden, blind bends — not to mention working farms — so it's not the place to exercise a Corvette Z06. But there are enough turns you can see all the way through to make it fun, and three unbelievable uphill hairpins right at the end. We're talking 15 mph posted speed limit turns, and those signs aren't far off.

Are you the Subaru WRX Concept for New York?

When Subaru dropped a hint about bringing an "all-new performance concept car" to the New York Auto Show this year, we immediately started hoping and praying that a conceptual iteration of the next WRX was in the offing. Looks like that might have paid off. While no official word has yet been written or uttered from Subaru, a French website called Blog Automobile has released a gallery of images that would seem to spill the beans about the WRX Concept.
If the leaked images are correct - and they look awfully complete and well done if they're not - WRX styling is taking a turn for the handsome. The sleek sedan in these images has all of the cues that we've come to expect from our rally-ready Imprezas: a dominating hood scoop and very wide stance with beefy wheels, and seems to miss only the rear wing to fit the perfect WRX stereotype. (And, yes, it should have gold wheels.)
There's no press release to be found, but the source is citing specifications as if it knows what it's talking about. We're told that 275 to 300 horsepower are the likely output of the turbocharged boxer four-cylinder engine, and that brakes with ventilated discs and six-piston calipers are there to haul the all-wheel-drive Scooby down from speed. If our earlier reporting is correct, we might expect to find an electric turbo under that imposing hood, too.