Subaru’s variant of the ‘Toyobaru’ coupé (co-developed with Toyota) has been spied in testing at the Nürburgring.
Toyota has shown off several concept variants of its version of the coupe, the FT-86, but Subaru's has only ever been seen at a motor show in the guise of its Boxer Sports Car Architecture clear-body design display at this year's Geneva motor show.
At just 4200mm long and only 1270m high, the Boxer Sports Car Architecture display would make a very compact coupé, and Subaru is promising very short overhangs beyond the 2570mm wheelbase.
At the front that’s allowed by moving the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine backwards by 240mm over its position in 4WD Subarus, while it also sits 120mm lower, significantly dropping the centre of gravity.
The gearbox is mounted to the engine, so there’ll still likely be a slight forward weight bias, but nonetheless Subaru is promising that its version of the car will provide “a new level of driving excitement”. It has MacPherson strut front suspension, with double wishbones at the rear. It rides on 215/45 R17 tyres,
Subaru is remaining coy about the appearance of its coupé and the power output, but it's expected to have around 200bhp and potentially a limited-slip differential.
The car will go into production in early 2012.
Spy Pics of New Subaru RWD Coupe
