Subaru has confirmed first deliveries of its new BRZ sports car will start early in 2022 with pricing from $38,990 plus on-road costs – and availability will be limited.
The second generation of the rear-drive sports car twinned with the Toyota 86 gets a bigger 2.4-litre horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine making more power for snappier acceleration.
It will be offered as a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, with the manual expected to account for most sales.
Prices for the new Subaru BRZ range kick off at $38,990 plus-on road costs or $42,790 (plus ORCs) for the automatic.
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That’s for the basic BRZ Coupe that comes with 18-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres. There’s also smart key entry, dual-zone ventilation, satellite-navigation, digital radio tuning, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and an 8.0-inch touchscreen incorporating Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
There’s also a 7.0-inch customisable instrument cluster.
Automatic models also pick up paddle shifters and Subaru EyeSight, which uses dual front-facing cameras to provide additional features such as adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking (AEB); the manual models miss out on that safety assist technology, which means they won’t be eligible for a five-star ANCAP safety rating.
There’s also the choice of seven colours, one of which – WR Blue Pearl – will be exclusive to Subaru (so not available on the Toyota 86).
There is also a BRZ Coupe S for another $1200. The Coupe S also gets fake suede (called Ultrasuede) and partial leather seats, as well as a heated front seats.
In the original BRZ iteration the Toyota 86 twin had a more affordable option, something that is also available overseas in this new model (Toyota is yet to confirm details of its 86 for Australia).
But Subaru said it was running with a car with more equipment.
“We’ve focused on the spec that we think best suits the Australian consumer,” said Subaru Australia general manager Blair Read. “We’ve chosen the variants we think best suit that.”
But it’s the engine and driving experience that is ultimately the big appeal for the BRZ.
Drive is sent to the rear wheels in what is a simple but pure layout.
Subaru says the body has 50 percent more torsional stiffness in an effort to sharpen the already-impressive handling.
Whereas the original BRZ and 86 had an aluminium bonnet, the new car also gets an aluminium roof and boot to contain the kilos and also lower the centre of gravity, again with a focus on dynamics.
Subaru says the new 2.4-litre engine makes 170kW and 249Nm, which is well up on the 152kW/212Nm output of the previous car when hooked up with a manual gearbox (the auto made 147kW/205Nm and about 40 percent of BRZ sales). And Subaru says the emphasis has been on improving mid-rev and top-end outputs, which is in line with the car’s sporty positioning.
The initial BRZ allocation for Australia will be just 500 cars and Subaru says it is already holding more than 2900 expressions of interest. Subaru currently has a left-hand drive car in the country (pictured) but is expecting early deliveries very late this year or early in 2022 ahead of customer deliveries in January.
The company has just opened an online ordering system – the BRZ can also be purchased through dealerships – will cars to be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
But Subaru Australia chief Blair Read says “we are anticipating overwhelming interest in new BRZ”.
Pre-orders can be placed with a refundable $1000 deposit from now.