The Car Thread

[DiscoBiscuit]

Actually the engine specs of the STI have come out...

And they're staggering.

The Subaru BRZ STI Engine Debuts in Japanese version of the Legacy and Next Generation WRX

Our insiders have been telling us all along that the Subaru BRZ 2.0-liter flat four boxster engine would be receiving a turbo. Subaru and Toyota have been vehemently denying the rumor during the initial launch of the “Tokyo Triplets” who would be the Subaru BRZ, Scion FRS and Toyota GT-86 models. Yesterday we saw the first official confirmation from Subaru that what we have been reporting all along has the possibility of coming true in the year 2014.

It was announced yesterday that a turbocharged version of the BRZ’s engine will be used in the Japanese market to power the refreshed Subaru Legacy and will find its way in to the next generation Subaru WRX. The turbo FA20 engine has been reported to be output just under 300 hp and will tip the scales at a very impressive and capable 296 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. These stats are staggering as our insiders were previously suggesting that the Turbo BRZ STI would be tuned to 270 hp. Either or the current engine in the BRZ is capable of outputting a clean and even 200 hp and 151 lb-ft of torque.

The new turbo FA features Subaru’s own direct-injection setup, as opposed (boxer-engine pun intended) to the BRZ’s Toyota-derived direct- and port-injection heads. We think the 2013 BRZ is an extremely capable car and with its 200 hp powering the rear wheels, it is incredible well balanced and predicable. A version of the car that has an increase in power of 33% sounds like pure lunacy and we can’t wait to drive it.

Stay tuned to Car Rolodex for Toyota’s TRD division when the step up to the microphone and announce that they will in fact be bolting a supercharger on to the same engine and equipping the FRS and GT-86 with it.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

 

[Nocapszy]

they've insisted that it will not be turbocharged... so i'm not sure how they'll maintain the 25/25/25/25 corner balance if they're going to add more power. that's one of the biggest selling point of this car -- the near perfect handling due to near perfect balance.
the engine is already built with a square bore... i guess they're thinking they'll go for a short stroke motor and wind it to 9,000 rpm like honda's S2000 to get a few extra ponies.
that's my prediction. STi will build an even higher revving engine.
besides that, they'll probably lower the suspension, change the dampening, stiffen the sway bars and lighten the wheels.
perhaps give it a freer flowing exhaust catback.

 

[Nocapszy]

i'd be wary of any article that spells it "boxster engine."
i can assure you they've got their facts crossed.
the WRX and WRX-STi will receive a turbocharged FA20.
the BRZ and BRZ-STi will never see turbocharging until the aftermarket.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

i'd be wary of any article that spells it "boxster engine."
i can assure you they've got their facts crossed.
the WRX and WRX-STi will receive a turbocharged FA20.
the BRZ and BRZ-STi will never see turbocharging until the aftermarket.

They know what kind of audience their trying to reach with this car...

The forced induction crowd. I think the whole"the STI will be N/A thing" is just an attempt at them trying to stir up the fanbase and get more interest in the car and debates going on car forums.

I think the HP figures quoted in the article may be a little strong especially considering the price point the BRZ is at, but I do think the STI will have a turbo on it.

I understand that a free revving N/A motor is a naturally better racing engine given the responsiveness, but with Subaru's expertise with turbo engines, I can't see why they would shoot themselves in the foot and limit the HP in the STI to 250 with the N/A motor.

 

[prplchknz]

first off I know nothing about cars, except they're suppose to go vroom! but anyways my car needs a new radiator the problem is it's 500-600 dollars to fix so basically my dad's been putting water and coolant in to the car but he;s going to show me where the radiator and the overfill resvoir cap is, so when the car over heats again i know where to put the stuff. It's a 2001 acura integra. I usually don't get under the hood i know enough people into cars that they're willing to check my oil and other maintence stuff for me.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

first off I know nothing about cars, except they're suppose to go vroom! but anyways my car needs a new radiator the problem is it's 500-600 dollars to fix so basically my dad's been putting water and coolant in to the car but he;s going to show me where the radiator and the overfill resvoir cap is, so when the car over heats again i know where to put the stuff. It's a 2001 acura integra. I usually don't get under the hood i know enough people into cars that they're willing to check my oil and other maintence stuff for me.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere.

 

[Nocapszy]

They know what kind of audience their trying to reach with this car...

The forced induction crowd. I think the whole"the STI will be N/A thing" is just an attempt at them trying to stir up the fanbase and get more interest in the car and debates going on car forums.

I think the HP figures quoted in the article may be a little strong especially considering the price point the BRZ is at, but I do think the STI will have a turbo on it.

I understand that a free revving N/A motor is a naturally better racing engine given the responsiveness, but with Subaru's expertise with turbo engines, I can't see why they would shoot themselves in the foot and limit the HP in the STI to 250 with the N/A motor.

consider it a bet then. i believe them when they say that the STi version will not be supercharged.
maybe someday, but not in MY13/14/whatever year it finally comes out.

here's another thing for us to disagree on
e32 > e36

 

[Nocapszy]

re:
just read the article.
it doesn't say anywhere in the article that the BRZ will have a turbo.
all it says is that the FA20 will be turbocharged.

that's not insider info, that's been common knowledge on NASIOC since *long* before the BRZ/FRS/FT9837459872938472 went on sale.
in any case, i'd test drive one of the new wrx/STis [those legacies are hot too...] to feel the torque.
i'm worried about the torque loss w/ the 2L engine, but there's all kinds of weirdness that comes along with GDI that might allow us tuner types to bypass the whole displacement thing. ['til we start upgrading our turbo's]

turbocharged FA20 i am excited about.
arousal over a BRZ in any form remains to be seen.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

consider it a bet then.

Bet accepted.

here's another thing for us to disagree on
e32 > e36

Blasphemy!

I actually have heard that argument made, and would have to drive both to answer that for myself. That being said, I prefer the stock HP figures in the e36 line and also the visual styling.

I love cars though, and BMW's in particular, so I'm just splitting hairs at this point.

 

[prplchknz]

I put coolant in my radiator today!! actually some guy did, but i showed him where it was [/is proud]

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

[YOUTUBE="awCuP_umhVA"]Ayrton Senna[/YOUTUBE]

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I'm really looking forward to watching the French Le Mans this weekend at Circuit De La Sarthe!

From Speedhunters:

IT’S ELECTRIC! AUDI E-TRON ON POLE AT LE MANS

We’re already 10 hours of running down, and that’s just through practice and qualifying here at the Circuit De La Sarthe in France. With three drivers itching to get out and a lap taking three and a half to four minutes, a single flying lap costs a minimum of 12 minutes – so what seems like a lot of time gets eaten up very rapidly.

But the six hours of track time on Wednesday and a further four on Thursday have given us a better picture of how the teams are performing, and the answer is that pretty much everyone is performing. The field is very tightly packed, more so than it’s been for years. We have a storming race in prospect.

This is no bluster: yes, the Audis and Toyotas are still faster right at the front, but after the times from the three qualifying sessions were aggregated all of the serious LMP1 and LMP2 runners behind them are covered by just 12 seconds. That’s seventh to 29th position: 22 cars, including the Deltawing. It’s unprecedented. It also shows that, factory cars aside, the rules seem to be working: all the privateer LMP1s are within eight seconds of each other, followed by the top 14 LMP2s within four seconds.

3:30s has always been bandied about as the lap-time that the ACO want LMP1 cars to achieve. Well, once again that’s been smashed by Audi and Toyota – but also by two of the petrol-powered privateers. Both the Strakka HPD ARX-03a and #12 Rebellion B12/60 Lola-Toyota have dipped in under that magic time, which should give something for the factories to think about. They’ll be no cruising up front, otherwise these two – plus the remaining LMP1 hordes – will be ready to pick off any stragglers.

In GTE it’s a similar story. Luxury Racing have retained their form and taken pole with a startlingly quick time that’s well within the four-minute mark.

It’s the new Aston Martin Vantage V8 that’s taken second, followed by the #74 Corvette, #71 AF Corse Ferrari and #73 Corvette.

Right behind is a quartet of Porsches, headed by the Pro-Am class Flying Lizard car 911. All of the GTE cars are covered by just eight seconds.

The quartet of R18s whistle past at unearthly speeds, eating up braking zones and traffic alike. It’s actually difficult to comprehend how fast they are, perhaps fuelled by that absence of noise. They teleport to the end of straights; corners barely register; they warp through traffic.

They’re going to be very difficult to beat.

The Toyotas are almost as fast, but their petrol units make them seem more grounded than the alien Audis.

But as hoped for, the Toyota team have been right up there with the R18s, and even if they haven’t been able to make a bid for pole they have split the Audis on the grid: they line up third and fifth, bringing colour to the first three rows of the rolling start against the black and white bludgeon of Audi.

It’s been a tough introduction to Le Mans for the JRM team: their HPD-03a has been up on jacks far more often than the team want. The latest problem has been with kerbs damaging the gearbox – the team missed the evening Qualifying 2 session, putting in just a shakedown lap right at the end ahead of the final night Qualifying 3 period.

But a solid time has been posted, and the positive is that they know from the Strakka car that there’s a whole boat-load of time to find. Don’t forget that we’ll be carrying the live feed from the JRM team throughout the weekend: we’ll be posting up details on that tomorrow before the race.

But when the HPD isn’t in one piece at least it’s the team’s choice: even in these early sessions there’s the combination of drivers pushing hard and constant traffic. The former can lead to self-induced offs, the latter to heart-stopping last-minute braking being the only thing between you and a wall.

Already we’ve had multiple casualties: Giancarlo Fischicella wiped out the #51 AF Corse, requiring AF Corse to send up a completely new car from their base; both Pescarolo LMP1s have sustained front-end damage, as did the #29 Gulf Racing Lola Coupé and #75 Prospeed Porsche, meaning all these teams lost large chunks of valuable running time.

After the frenzy of the last couple of days, today is a quiet day in tracks terms at least. The pit-lane will be swarming as it’s open all day to the public, the drivers will be preparing for the parade in Le Mans town tonight, and the mechanics will be busy with final preparations for the race, the aim being to get away from the track and rested as early as possible.

It’s all about 3pm tomorrow.

Le Mans 24 Hours 2012
Combined Qualifying Times
1: LMP1 #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron Quattro (Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer) 3:23.787s
2: LMP1 #3 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 ultra (Dumas/Duval/Gené) 3:24.078s
3: LMP1 #8 Toyota Racing TS030 Hybrid (Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin) 3:24.842s
4: LMP1 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron Quattro (Capello/Kristensen/McNish) 3:25.433s
5: LMP1 #7 Toyota Racing TS030 Hybrid (Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima) 3:26.420s

7: LMP1 #21 Strakka Racing HPD-03a (Leventis/Watts/Kane) 3:29.622s
14: LMP2 #25 ADR-Delta Oreca 03-Nissan (Martin/Charouz/Graves) 3:38.131s
29: EXP #0 Deltawing (Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama) 3:42.612s
34: GTE-Pro #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia (Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher) 3:55.393s
39: GTE-AM #79 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 RSR (Pumpelly/Neiman/Pilet) 3:57.594s



Jonathan Moore

 

[The Ü™]

Jesus, talk about yet another desperate attempt to make Korean cars look bad-ass:

It would no doubt take a zombie to fall for this marketing.

Courtesy of IGN.

 

[Nocapszy]

i'd drive the top one.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

 

[The Ü™]

In these rough economic times, the Chrysler 300 dethrones the Cadillac Escalade as the new ghetto car:

It sort of reminds me of this guy:

And look at those ridiculous rims.

And here is the car of the ghetto's ghetto:

 

[A window to the soul]

How to do a burnout, step by step...

ROUSH Performance

 

[Nocapszy]

my cousin has a 2006 STi - no modifications besides the two factory options of short ram intake and catback exhaust.
he's found a dealership who will give him $17.25k-$19.5k for it.
i told him "that's most of a BRZ"
he said "really? i think i'll trade up then!"

so there might be a BRZ in my family soon.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

my cousin has a 2006 STi - no modifications besides the two factory options of short ram intake and catback exhaust.
he's found a dealership who will give him $17.25k-$19.5k for it.
i told him "that's most of a BRZ"
he said "really? i think i'll trade up then!"

so there might be a BRZ in my family soon.

If so... please drive it and give your impression here.

I think I'm gonna wait until the used BRZ market starts to heat up and then find a deal on one.