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Toyota/Subaru FR sportscar, no turbos for the EU

Japan's buff books are at it again, peppering a bit of informed speculation with a healthy dose of rendered conjecture to create images of Toyota's front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car. While we dig the pic above, which blends a bit of Fisker Karma with the Mitsuoka Orochi, we're giving the design a snowcone's chance in Hades of resembling the production version of the coupe. The renderings posted below the fold seem a bit more plausible and the dimensions, measuring 4,300mm long (14.1 feet), 1730mm wide (5.7 feet) and with a wheelbase of 2,570mm (8.4 feet), makes it a little smaller than the Scion tC that the FR coupe could replace.
posted : 10/21/2008 @7:53:06 PM
Subaru Forester named Motor Trend Sport Utility of the Year

Motor Trend has gone back to the basics by picking the newly redesigned Subaru Forester as its 2008 SUV of the Year. Right off the bat, editor Arthur St. Antoine claims that the choice wasn't a reaction to high fuel prices, with the Forester posting the highest fuel efficiency in a group of contenders that includes the BMW X6, Ford Flex, Kia Borrego, Infiniti EX and FX, Nissan Murano, Toyota Sequoia, Volkswagen Tiguan, Honda Pilot, Chevy Traverse, Dodge Journey and Lexus LX570. In fact, their choice may seem somewhat surprising considering that the Forester's 2.5L flat-four engine (turbocharged in the Forester 2.5XT and naturally aspirated in the 2.5X) is borrowed straight from the Impreza and makes do with only a 5-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. There's surely lots more innovation in this field of SUV contenders, but MT gave the Forester credit for being a Swiss Army Knife in a drawer of specialized cutlery. The rest of the field each does its own particular thing well, but according to MT, the Forester often equals or betters the field in some surprising areas like space efficiency and ground clearance. It lacks a lot of whiz-bang gadgets, but was appreciated by MT editors for keeping it simple and doing many things well. By virtue of this last quality the most, they deemed it the winner seemingly because it stretches the family dollar in more ways than just good-for-an-SUV fuel economy.
posted : 10/16/2008 @6:16:56 PM
eBay Find of the Day: the VolksAru

While sharing our nightmares around the Autoblog virtual water cooler, we've discovered that it's common for interweb auto scribes to wake with a start in the middle of the night, cold sweat trickling down our brows. The common terror? Frankenstein cars. The dreaded dreams are usually brought on by late night eBay surfing, and this vehicle may haunt our slumber tonight. If you've ever thought to yourself "Gosh, I wonder what a Type I Beetle coughing up a Subaru GL would look like," here's your ride. It's got a Subaru dash and door panels, while the seats are VW, so the seam is somewhere up there. It's being sold as a gas-saver, likely because both of the flat-four powertrains - there are two - are relative fuel sippers. We can't discern whether the engines are synchronized to run at the same time, or if it's a one at a time type thing with the other motor and transmission serving as 500 pounds of extra mass to haul around when not in use. Like our nightmares, the seller of this vehicle is definitely dreaming with a $20,000 starting bid. Check out more awkward angles of this monstrosity in our gallery below, but don't blame us when the Boogey Man begins driving it in your dreams.
posted : 10/15/2008 @10:05:55 PM
Subaru Impreza WRX STI Takumi concept hints at future Spec-C

Our Parisian friends over at LeBlogAuto were on hand at the Motorsport Japan 2008 event in Tokyo this past weekend, where FHI unveiled an Impreza-based "concept" dubbed the Subaru WRX STI Takumi. Featuring upgraded springs and shocks, revised suspension bits, lightweight 12-spoke wheels, undisclosed engine tweaks and a slightly reworked exterior, the Takumi foretells the future of the rumored Spec-C variant, due to hit the market sometime next year. Subaru execs at the show remained mum on if when the Spec-C would debut, but the smart money is on the Tokyo Auto Salon this January.
posted : 10/13/2008 @9:18:09 PM
Note to Subaru: whoops, your agency doesn't know your product

It's a fact that the English language is currently being sliced to ribbons. Spelling and grammar have gone out the window, and elocution is such a lost art that we're amazed when a speaker can manage a paragraph. It's interesting to see where these shortcomings manifest themselves. One would assume that an advertising agency, being in the business of communicating, would double- and triple-check a message before sending it out for the world to see. Imagine our surprise, then, when across our digital desks slid a memo from Carmichael Lynch trumpeting the Minneapolis, MN agency's relationship with Subaru of America. It didn't start well. The subject header of the email read: "Subaru 360 Goes Airbourn (sic) To Find Home on 10th Floor." Interesting capitalization, and a very creative spelling of airborne. Bush league for an agency that handles Harley Davidson, Jack Link's, Cargill, and Toys 'R' Us, to name a few. Intrigued by the mention of a 360, Subaru's diminutive first stab at automobiles, we read on. Carmichael Lynch, upon landing the Subaru of America account in 2007, located a 360 and had it spiffed up for display in the company's 10th floor lobby. While small, the only way to get the little Subie ten stories up was a crane, which hoisted the car through a window last Saturday. Delightful little story, and we were inclined to give the wacky subject line a pass until we read the last sentence, which started: "Today's Subaru Forrester..." Whoa. If we were SoA, we'd be incensed. Spelling bee time: Forester. F-o-r-e-s-t-e-r, Forester. Forest is a chronically misspelled word, but it's still intolerable when it's the very firm being paid to represent the actual product.
posted : 10/3/2008 @7:48:29 PM
Paris Preview: Subaru debuts boxer diesel Forester and Impreza

Subaru debuted its new 2.0L diesel boxer engine earlier this year in the Legacy and Outback, and soon it will also be offered in the Forester and Impreza, though only in Europe. These two latest models to feature the unique horizontally opposed oil-burning engines will debut at the Paris Motor Show next month. The Forester 2.0D will offer 147 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque while returning 44.8 combined mpg in the European cycle, which is class-leading for a small CUV over there, while the Impreza 2.0D offers 148 hp and 258 lb-ft (fuel economy for the Impreza 2.0D was not released for some reason). The diesel Forester will hit showrooms later this month while Euro shoppers will have to wait until January for the diesel Impreza. While we certainly hope Subaru is tweaking its 2.0L diesel boxer engine to meet emissions standards in all 50 U.S. states, we haven't heard one word about it.
posted : 9/22/2008 @9:57:01 PM
apan's Subarus get Stereoscopic Vision

Both Honda and Toyota have been toying with laser-based Active Cruise Control systems for over a decade now, while the German luxury car makers have offered more expensive radar-based gizmos for almost as long. The premise of both is that an electronic copilot keeps an eye on the road ahead maintaining a safe distance from the car in front, even slamming the brakes at the last moment in an emergency should the driver fail to react. Now, Subaru has come up with a third system, which while not quite as advanced as KITT, is as close as we've ever seen. For a premium of $3,000 a new JDM Legacy or Outback can be fitted with twin cameras, one on each side of the rear view mirror, that use human like stereoscopic vision to judge distances and generally keep tabs on the driver. Not only does "EyeSight", as the system is called, can help you keep your distance on the highway (which would have been handy for the McRae convoy on Sunday) and in stop start traffic, but also incorporates a lane departure warning system, a wake up call should everyone pull away from the lights but you (put your iPhone down), and even keeps an eye out for pedestrians while you look for that illusive break in traffic at a T-junction. Best of all, EyeSight will stop you driving through your own garage door because you selected Drive instead of Reverse – a shockingly common occurrence according to Subaru.
posted : 9/14/2008 @6:16:30 AM
Colin McRae tribute convoy reaches 30-miles long

Oh, those Brits. When they're not faking making corn circles they're writing a rally legend's name using 1,086 Subaru Imprezas as pixels. This, of course, was the finale to the weekend long celebration of Colin McRae's life, which saw over 1,100 Scoobys converge on Prodrive's test track in Warwickshire. Precisely how many cars took part in the ensuing 30-mile convoy is unknown, but if you don't have anything better to do right now, you can have a go at counting them in the video after the jump (and look out for the near miss at 6:42). Even the local constabulary showed up in a WRX pursuit car. The half-mile-long sign you see above broke the Guiness World Record for, err, writing signs with cars by a cool 800, but more importantly Colin's fans raised over $80,000 for the McRae family's chosen charities.
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posted : 9/14/2008 @5:25:02 AM
Subaru WRX STI getting ECU reflash for combustion issues

Subaru of America announced a service campaign this week focused on the 305-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter four powering the 2008 WRX STI. According to the verbiage on a letter sent to an owner, Subaru states that "abnormal combustion" could occur when the engine is repeatedly or continuously operated above redline (6,700 rpm). At these high engine speeds, the Engine Control Module cuts fuel to the powerplant to protect the engine from even higher revolutions (this is common industry-wide, not just with Subaru). Unfortunately, under certain situations the Subaru 4-cylinder Boxer is still under high boost and the fuel cut-off causes the engine to run "over lean" resulting in combustion that breaks piston ring lands... eventually destroying the engine.Subaru's "Service Program Campaign WVE15" reprograms the Engine Control Module software to improve combustion at engine speeds above redline, preventing engine damage. Subaru is quick to point out that the revised programming "will not adversely affect the peak performance" of the vehicle, so owners need not worry about the free campaign messing up their 0-60 sprints. Letters from Subaru will go out to owners in the next week or two. In the meantime, try keeping the white needles out of the red zone!
posted : 9/2/2008 @1:53:55 AM
VIDEO: Time lapse build of Subaru rally car over 800 hours

It's no secret that running a motorsports team is a lot of work, but probably most of us don't know how much time and effort it really takes. Just building the race cars can take hundreds of man hours, as evidenced by this stop-motion video created by the U.S. Subaru rally team. Starting with a stock 2008 WRX STI, the team strips the car down to its frame by removing the engine, drivetrain, interior and even the windshield. The complete transformation takes an amazing 800 hours of labor. Knowing that makes us cringe even more when we see one roll end over end.
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posted : 8/31/2008 @4:47:40 PM
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