2005 Scion Xb Base Wagon 5-door 1.5l on 2040-cars

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Toyota GT86 turbo, convertible, sedan variants back on the table

Okay Toyota, make up your mind. Figure it out. Quit playing games with our heart. Either build a bunch of variations of the excellent GT86 (also known as the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ) or don't. At this point, we're just tired of the back and forth. After no shortage of denials, an Australian website is claiming that Toyota is reconsidering convertible, four-door, turbocharged and all-wheel-drive hybrid variants of the GT86. Kindly pass all the salt.
It's not that we don't want to believe the Aussies; we do. But when the story lists the same "sources in Japan" as a lot of the other denials and confirmations about GT86/BRZ/FR-S variants, well, there's a certain sense of the "Boy That Cried Wolf," here. Ignoring all that, then, what does Motoring.com.au claim to know?
Sources claim the GT86 Convertible will arrive in October 2014, while the turbocharged and hybrid sedans are slated for 2016.

Ryan Tuerck's Ferrari-powered Scion drifts, crashes, fixes, and drifts again

We were pretty astonished when Ryan Tuerck and Gumout shoved a Ferrari 458 V8 into a Scion FR-S. And as awesome as that fact alone may be, it's even more amazing that it's a fully functional drifter, not just a show car. Tuerck recently took it out to Portland, Ore. to do some sweet drifting on a mountain road. Unfortunately for him and the car, he did something substantially less sweet right off the bat. As you'll see in the video, in just the second corner of the course, Tuerck drives the front corner of the GT4586 right into the dirt cliff on the side of the road. For a moment, it looks like things are all right, but the car starts pulling to the right and he stops the car for repairs. After fixing bits including a thoroughly bent tie-rod, the GT4586 is good as new. We're glad the car wasn't down for long, because the drifting show following the repairs was fantastic. In the video, Tuerck throws the Scion into high-speed, super smoky drifts. And all of it happens to the tune of a shrieking Ferrari V8. It's well worth a few minutes of your time to watch. Related Video: Image Credit: YouTube / Donut Media Ferrari Scion Coupe Racing Vehicles Videos toyota gt86 toyota 86

Scion pondering move upmarket?

Scion is simultaneously celebrating its ten-year anniversary with the 10 Series models and trying to figure out what to do with itself over the next ten years. Once a go-to consideration for young, first-time buyers who wanted something cool and different, in 2013 it has a model everyone is still talking about in the FR-S, a model few are still talking about in the iQ, and three models in between in the tC, xB and xD that make everyone wonder, "What happened?"
Automotive News spoke to Toyota's North American CEO, Jim Lentz - he was the VP in charge of Scion when it launched - about the options, and Lentz said one of them could be a move upmarket to challenge the established luxury brands that are moving downmarket. "There's going to be a big need in the $25,000 range for a fun-to-drive, nice-looking, value-oriented product," he said, and the FR-S, which starts at $25,255, could provide the platform for Scion to climb up a notch or two in price and perception. An idea like this could conceivably work in tandem with a proposal to move entry-level Scion products over to the Toyota brand - but remember, this is all just ideas on a whiteboard at the moment.
As opposed to an "entry-luxury fighter," the brand could swing back to the other option that was considered when it was formed, directly challenging the Korean makes that have usurped its cachet with first-time buyers. Lentz said Scion could go either way, and the tone of the piece seems to indicate that the final direction is still a ways away from being resolved.