2012 Scion FR-S / Toyota FT-86

Toyota is such a tease. Way back in the fall of 2009, it showed a swoopy yet angry-looking rear-drive, two-door sports-car concept called the FT-86. Although we weren’t big on its looks, we were excited by the thought of a north/south powertrain once again gracing a Toyota coupe—and surprised that Toyota was working on the car with Subaru, which will get its own version. Then, at Geneva this year, we saw a slightly redesigned version with a bigger maw accented by LEDs, appropriately called the FT-86 II concept. Our mouths watered, and at the New York show we learned that the car would arrive in the U.S. as a Scion, which was previewed by the FR-S concept. But, based on these shots from our spy photographers, it seems that the FT-86/FR-S will lose much of its visual snap in production.



We can see that grille outline and greenhouse carry over from the FR-S concept, as does the basic headlight shape, although the latter is tamer here. The remainder of that voluptuous red body we saw in New York appears to be gone, including the bulging front wheel arches and the hockey-stick lower bodyline that kicked up hard to form the rear shoulders. The aggressive triangular front air intakes are filled in with fog- and marker lights, and, of course, the wicked rear diffuser has been defused, replaced by a plain valance cut to house a pair of cannon-sized exhaust finishers. The overall appearance has been diluted from acidic to neutral, fitting the Toyota theme. (Unless Toyota’s biggest surprise will be wildly different sheetmetal on the U.S.-market Scion version.)



Hopefully, the powertrain won’t be neutered like the styling looks to be. Hooked to a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters will be the newest version of Subaru’s naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter flat-four engine. We’re expecting it to be good for about 200 hp thanks to Toyota’s port-and-direct-injection system, and a turbocharger should emerge sometime later on a hotter model.



Pricing for the rear-drive Scion is just as secret as the final shape of the prototype seen here, but Scion spokespeople have said the car will arrive for less than $30,000. The current front-drive tC starts at about $19K and the rear-drive Hyundai Genesis Coupe starts just over $23K. We’re expecting this Scion to slot in right around the Genesis, fueling a Korean/Japanese showdown. That is, of course, assuming Toyota is through toying with us.