If you’re preparing to make some kind of Fast and Furious crack, shove it back into the “venom” folder from where it came. This Subaru BRZ might look the part of an extra on one of those films, but that’s where any kind of comparison to neon-kitted, “noss”-huffing used Hondas ends. Look, between us, the Subaru BRZ (and the Toyota 86, and the Scion FR-S that came before it) were supposed to be great. They were supposed to be the throwback to the Corolla AE86, a lightweight, rear-drive fun little machine that today is revered thanks to an anime movie that centers around drifting. “Initial D”, ever heard of it? What happened is that Toyota and Subaru came together and built a neat little coupe that really…well, it didn’t knock everybody’s socks off in one swift motion. It looked the part, but it didn’t really act the part. It’s kind of a weird in-betweener that many just throw pipes, wheels and tires on and daily drive. Nothing wrong with that.
So, this one. What’s so special about it? The bodykit? The wing? Nope. Note the front license plate: JUN. That’s JUN Auto, a Japanese tuning firm that isn’t playing around when it comes to speed. They’ve gone to Bonneville with Nissan 300ZX race cars and have sent them up to 262 MPH. They’ve comnpeted in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship and drifting. They don’t advertise outside of Japan, but if you want a fast machine, they are a great place to start. So what did they do to a BRZ to make it appeal to us?
Well, this is Morning Symphony, and this little Subi is gonna sing you a song. You like the noise of a high-revving V8, right? Okay then…how about 11,000 RPM redline, 356 horsepower at 10,300 RPM and 200 ft/lbs of torque at 8,000 RPM? That’s not the down-low grunt that you dream about in the musclecar haze, but when it comes to road course action, that’s exactly what you want: useable power and a manageable torque figure that doesn’t try to rip the tires away from you all the time. Don’t sweat that too much, however…the rear gears are a nice and deep 5.12:1. The engine is a 2.4L unit that’s based on two joined Kawasaki 1200cc four cylinders that you would find in a Ninja ZX12 that breathes through individual throttle bodies. To duplicate this build you’re looking north of $70,000 for the engine setup, but it’s designed to be a plug-and-play situation that will easily fit where the boxer-four did.
Expensive, yes. Intoxicating…oh, for sure.
That sounds like a normal dyno pull until it hits the point most engines would hit the rev limiter, and it keeps pulling. And then it keeps pulling again. Insane.