resurgence

It has been a while since Toyota came out with a car that generates any kind of excitement for a car enthusiast like myself.  It seems like they have been content with selling boring appliance-cars like Camrys and Corrollas, and also leading the hybrid revolution with the equally yawn-worthy Prius.  I'm not excited at all by the prospect of driving any of these cars.  I've been a Toyota loyalist for many years though, and so I tried to stay in the family, buying my last two cars from Scion and Lexus.  But I've held on to my last real sports car from the year 2000, my Toyota MR2 Spyder (known as the MR-S in the home Japanese market).  To me, that was the last time Toyota made anything truly sporty.  Sadly, US sales of the MR-S ended in 2005.

Fortunately, Akio Toyoda, the current president of Toyota, felt the same way.  He is a true car guy and even takes the time to be involved in motorsports. Now that's leadership by example.  He wants to bring back sporty and fun driving to the Toyota family of vehicles and that started with the Lexus LFA, which he helped push into production.  However the LFA costs a cool $375,000 -- er, how about something for the regular folks Akio?

Fear not, 99%-ers, Akio has your back too.  Toyota and Subaru started work on a joint collaborative project that would create a new Front-engined, Rear-wheel-drive platform.  Inspired by Toyota's past sports cars like the 2000GT (another one of my dream collectible cars), and the wildly beloved RWD AE86, it will be powered by a Subaru-developed boxer 4-cylinder engine and make 200hp.  It will reach dealerships as the Subaru BRZ, and in various forms around the world as the Toyota 86 (Japan), GT 86 (Europe), and Scion FR-S (US).

Early press reviews are quite positive, describing the car as fun to drive and easy to push hard to the limit, making it a very attractive car to enthusiasts and drifters in particular.  Toyota/Subaru even go so far as to say that they set the Porsche Cayman as their handling benchmark while developing the 86/BRZ/FR-S.  If that is indeed what they are trying to go for, I will definitely want a test drive when these little rockets come out.    The styling is pretty sweet and dare I say it, from some angles it even looks like a baby LFA:

Scion FR-S

Lexus LFA

Unfortunately my old MR-S is starting to show its age, and it might be time soon to start thinking about a replacement.  Could be that an FR-S is the answer.  Coming to dealerships, your local twisty roads, and the racetrack, in May 2012.