2013 Subaru Forester on 2040-cars

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2015 Subaru BRZ tS First Drive [w/video]

The Subaru BRZ is a brilliant driver's car: lightweight, rear-wheel-drive, tactile, nimble and fluid at speed. In terms of qualities that allow for dazzling point-to-point performance, it lacks only power and intense mechanical grip. In the US, options for tuning the BRZ to amplify its strengths or diminish its weaknesses are mostly found in the aftermarket. In Japan, meanwhile, driving enthusiasts can start with the factory-tuned model you see above: the BRZ tS. Designed and built with the engineering prowess of Subaru Tecnica International, the limited-edition tS is tuned for track competence over and above that of the base model. The intent of the tS wasn't lost on me as I stared over the front fender towards Turn 1 at Japan's Suzuka Circuit. Not just a proper place to test STI's claims of increased handling brilliance for its BRZ tune, but a perfect one. Suzuka is challenging – fast and technical in equal measure – and a playground for sorting out the margin of improvement from the standard that BRZ I know so well. Wait, Why Am I Here? Of course, Subaru didn't invite me and a half-dozen other motoring journalists to Japan for an academic exercise in JDM hotness. We were there at the behest of STI, as a first step in what will undoubtedly be a deliciously drawn-out expansion of the performance brand in North America. STI started life as the motorsports division for Subaru-parent Fuji Heavy Industries. But chances are good that you, like me, first encountered the three-letter-logo as a Cherry Blossom Red punctuation mark at the end of a WRX road or rally car. The world came to know STI through Subaru's 1990s WRC dominance and prominence in the Gran Turismo franchise. But outside of Japan the significance of the initials was known more as the designation of the top-dog Impreza, rather than a motorsport and performance engineering unit. The company is set on changing that and building STI into a performance brand that's as easily recognizable in America as M and AMG are today. That message was delivered a body in the STI Concept car at the New York Auto Show earlier this week, but as I mentioned then, we don't expect Subaru to turn up with a production-ready BRZ STI next year. First STI will deploy its parts catalog to the US, removing the half-hearted Subaru Performance Tuning parts business in the process. Next, according to a vague timeline presented in Japan, Subaru will offer a car like the tS to US customers in approximately 18 months.

Rally Racing with Subaru Rally Team USA Driver David Higgins | AutoblogVR

So you like rally racing, huh? Well so do we. We like it so much, in fact, that we asked professional rally racer David Higgins to take us for a spin in his #75 Dirtfish Subaru Impreza STI. Lucky for us, he happily obliged! If you thought rally racing looked thrilling on TV, just wait until you've experienced it with a 360-degree field of view. While zipping around the track at the Port of Los Angeles, David lets us in on some of the specs of his car, which can hit 60 mph in an astonishing 1.9 seconds. Although the car has the ability to "easily hit 130 [or] 140," according to David, the real focus on its 0-100 mph acceleration, as that's where the action happens in rally racing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this unique experience sitting passenger-side in a rally car! Each week, new episodes will launch on the AutoblogVR App. We'll be posting them here on Autoblog, but for the best experience, head over to the app, which you can download for free from the App store and Google Play. Be sure to try it with a cardboard viewer, too! Subaru Videos VR Original Video virtual reality david higgins 360 degree

The Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake Concept is real

As a two-door wagon the shooting brake exists at the unusual but captivating intersection between practicality and sportiness. This Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake Concept is no different – it's a standard GT86, with no mechanical alterations save the grafted-on wagonette roof and hatch. It's fully functional, too, having turned some laps on Toyota's test tracks. It even has the blessing of Tetsuya Tada, the father of the Toyota 86 and its Subaru BRZ and (now rebadged) Scion FR-S, who's been protective of the original GT86 concept to the point of strenuously resisting any serious power upgrades. This isn't the first shooting brake concept we've seen from the Toyobaru twins, but it's the first Toyota-badged one. Subaru brought the Cross Sport Design Concept to the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. So how did the GT86 Shooting Brake Concept happen? The story, as Toyota tells it, involves the company's Australian design team. They created a 1/4-scale clay model of the shooting brake, and showed it to Tada when he visited in late 2014. He was so impressed, Toyota says, that he had his hand-picked craftsman in Japan bring the idea to full-scale fruition. The Australian design team, in the outdoor-loving spirit of their country, immediately thought that the longer roof would be perfect for carrying surfboards and other unwieldy sports equipment. And it would be. Meanwhile, Tada and the rest of the Toyota corporation want to tamp down expectations. It's a design study, the company says, and it's just "testing the waters." Toyota won't rule anything out, and Mazda recently surprised everyone with the MX-5 RF's unusual and attractive targa model. Maybe in a world where Mazda felt confident enough to introduce the RF, Toyota can be daring enough to bring a sporty wagon to the masses. We can hope, and maybe if we all make enough noise together Toyota will make it a reality. Related Video: Featured Gallery Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake Concept Scion Subaru Toyota Coupe Hatchback Wagon Concept Cars Performance shooting brake toyota gt86 gt86