Subaru BRZ Turbo confirmed

Subaru BRZ Turbo - which should be good for 300bhp

Subaru in the US has confirmed that they are planning to build a turbo version of the new Boxer engine in the BRZ to create the Subaru BRZ Turbo.

Finally, after promises that it was on its way for what seems like ever, we saw the arrival of the production versions of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota FT-86 at Tokyo (which had a small name change and arrive as the GT86).

But what was a disappointment was that despite Subaru saying the BRZ would come with ‘less than 300bhp’, it actually came with almost exactly the same power as the GT 86 – a much less enticing 200bhp. Which was a bit of a let down.

But it appears all is not lost. Motortrend are reporting that Subaru of America has confirmed that Subaru will be building a turbo charged version of the new 2.0 litre flat four Boxer lump in the BRZ. It would seem that Subaru aren’t actually saying the turbo version of the FA20 engine will be turning up in the BRZ, but we would be amazed if it didn’t.

That should give us the 300bhp Subaru mentioned earlier this year, and turn the BRZ in to a properly swift little sports car – probably getting in to the high 4 seconds plus range 0-60mph. It will also mean – as Subaru are the junior half of the GT 86 / BRZ partnership – that Toyota will bolt the turbo version of the FA20 in to their version to create a GT 86 Turbo too.

It could be the turbo FA20 will actually turn up first in the new Impreza – giving Toyota and Subaru time to bed-in sales of the naturally aspirated FA20 – but we’d expect the BRZ Turbo to arrive for 2013.

Even if it will be very much the wrong side of £30k.