What's The Best Place For Your Teen To Learn How...

Scion FR-S To Get Decontented Motorsport Version?

 
2 1,799 views Feb 8, 2012

2013 Scion FR-S live photos

2013 Scion FR-S live photos

Enlarge Photo
The long-awaited Toyota GT 86 / Scion FR-S seems ideally suited to motorsport events like drifting, autocross, time attack and club racing--particularly compared to anything else in the Toyota/Scion stable. It stands to reason that many cars will undergo the transition from street car to race car immediately after delivery, so why not offer track car builders the least expensive version available?

That’s the logic behind the Toyota GT 86 RC, a model currently available only in Japan. To save money, the car comes with steel wheels, unpainted bumpers and an interior missing components like the audio system, air conditioning and glove box.

As Britain’s Evo explains, it also comes with a starting price equivalent to 16,200 British pounds ($25,758), a savings of 8,800 pounds ($13,992) off the cost of a standard production model. Before you tell us that the Scion FR-S won’t cost $39,750 in the United States, we know, but that’s the current price for the Toyota GT 86 in the UK.

Subaru is building an equivalent model, dubbed the BRZ RA, also for the Japanese market only. The Subaru version will sell for about $1,300 more than the Toyota GT 86 RC, but it includes painted bumpers and a few more amenities.

Will we see a version here in the United States? We’d call it possible, but highly unlikely. The Japanese yen is strong and the U.S. dollar is weak these days, meaning that Japanese manufacturers need to keep prices high to make even a reasonable profit.

Building a low cost and (relatively) low-demand version of the FR-S just doesn’t make financial sense for Toyota or Subaru. On the plus side, both the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ will likely start at a lower price point in the U.S. than in many other countries.





Tags:
Posted in:
 
Contribute
Send us a tip Comment Contact the editor
Follow Us

 

Have an opinion?Join the conversation!

  • Posting indicates you have read this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • Notify me when there are more comments
Comments (2)

  1. fb_835255255 avatar Lamar Wilson Posted: 2/8/2012 12:46pm PST

    They should sell it without the engine too. It will be the first thing any racer, or drifter takes out. Especially since fitting a huge turbo is impossible due to how the engine sits in the engine bay. They will be swapping in V8's
     
    Post Reply
    Vote
    Bad stuff?

     

  2. Ernst avatar Kurt Ernst Posted: 2/8/2012 2:21pm PST

    @Lamar, I'm not sure that's the answer, either. Assuming you could get a V-8 to fit under the hood, it would completely change (i.e., ruin) the handling balance of the car. Plus, most racing series require you to at least retain a stock engine block, with perhaps a larger bore.
     
    Post Reply
    Vote
    Bad stuff?

 

Have an opinion?Join the conversation!

Connect with Facebook

Motor Authority. Now with your friends.

Discover stories your friends read.
Share stories more easily.
You control what you share.
Learn more

Research New Cars

Go!

More from High Gear Media

 
 
MotorAuthority
  • Follow Us
  • Twiiter
  • Facebook
 
 
© 2011 MotorAuthority. All Rights Reserved. MotorAuthority is published by High Gear Media. Stock photography by Homestar, LLC. Send us feedback.