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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

We're going to drive Subarus through Patagonia

Later this month, Chris McGraw and I are going on an adventure. We're heading to South America with Subaru to drive cars through the wilderness, including the gorgeous landscape of Patagonia. It'll sort of be like that Top Gear episode, just without, you know, all the bad stuff (we hope). Since this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we're doing a huge blowout of coverage, and we want to bring you along for the ride. From February 16-21, we'll be posting video updates and a ton of social media coverage, so be sure to watch the Autoblog site as well as our YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds for all of the latest sights and sounds from our amazing trip. Of course, we'll have a big feature story wrapping the whole experience up, after we get back and shake off some of the jet lag. We're stoked, and we hope you're just as excited to virtually come along for the ride. Stay tuned.

Is Subaru close to ditching 6-cylinder engines?

Despite niche outliers like the 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 and 7.0-liter V8 in the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, we live in an era where small-displacement, turbocharged engines are becoming the norm. In many model lineups, a boosted four-cylinder now holds the place that a six might have just a few short years ago. At least in some markets, Subaru could be the next automaker to follow this path by axing its 3.6-liter boxer six-cylinder. Granted, that's not as much of a leap for Subie as some other automakers because the Japanese brand is already closely associated with turbocharged four-cylinder engines. The company's six-pot boxer is currently only offered in the Legacy and Outback in the US. Australian website CarAdvice spoke with Subaru deputy general manager of engineering Yoichi Hori about the company's future powertrain plans at least for Down Under. "Our research said the six-cylinder model is decreasing in the world. So that's why probably the future, many companies take the smaller displacement with a turbocharger, or diesel, or hybrid," said Hori to CarAdvice. He was also specific about which engine he had in mind. "In terms of the body size, a 2.0-liter with a turbocharger is enough, I think," he said. Hori said that the automaker stuck with the boxer-six for so long because of the turbocharged four-cylinder's higher maintenance costs. Slotting Subaru's 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer four-cylinder into the Legacy and Outback seems easy to imagine. After all, the mill already does duty in different tunes in the Forester and WRX in the US. Keep in mind, though, that Hori's words are aimed at the Aussie market. A rumor from earlier this year speculated the company's midsize models might get a smaller displacement six and the turbo four for some trims. Featured Gallery 2015 Subaru Legacy: First Drive View 35 Photos News Source: CarAdviceImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Green Subaru Wagon Sedan turbocharging