We have said Toyota was plain boring before especially when it comes to sports cars or even “sporty” coupes. The question I have been asking for several years now, where is Toyota’s AE86 Corolla for the new millennium? Well, I think they have answered my question (and prayers). Toyota and Subaru, in a joint venture, plan to introduce a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe in 2011 or 2012.
Subaru is already an exciting brand but it is pretty sad that it takes Subaru to inject some excitement into Toyota. But anyway, it is going to happen and it is putting a big smile on my face already!
Road and Track explains in their July 2009 publication that Toyota will be entering into the affordable sports-coupe game with a new RWD model sporting 200hp and a $20K to $25K price tag. Those numbers remind me of the seventh generation 2000-2006 Toyota Celica only this time it will be rear-wheel-drive sports coupe.
Powering the coupe will be a Subaru 2.0 liter flat-4 power plant with 200hp and 145 lb-ft. of torque. Road and Track is predicting that the car will weigh in at about 2700 lbs. That would make this a pretty quick car pushing 0-60mph around 6 seconds or better. The chassis will be based off of the Subaru Impreza and Legacy and code-named 086A which is, as you may have guessed, reminiscent of the 1983-1987 Corolla/Levin AE86. Time for some drifting!
The joint venture is more along the lines of the brother-hood of Toyota and Pontiac building the Toyota Matrix along side of the Pontiac Vibe. Now with the out of Pontiac, Toyota will be forming some new alliances and this is one that I am really looking forward to!
This sounds like a tuners dream car! I can only imagine the mods that come out for this thing. Should we call up BMW and tell them they have a contender for the 135i? Okay, I am jumping the gun.
[source: Road and Track]
