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Scion FR-S: The Emperor’s New Badge

It took a decade, but Toyota's youth-oriented brand for the US market, Scion, finally has a real halo car. Hopes that the front-wheel-drive tC would evolve into a rear-wheel-drive funbox have been answered in the Scion FR-S.

Of course, what we&


It took a decade, but Toyota's youth-oriented brand for the US market, Scion, finally has a real halo car. Hopes that the front-wheel-drive tC would evolve into a rear-wheel-drive funbox have been answered in the Scion FR-S.

Of course, what we're really looking at here is the Toyota 86 coupe (and the Subaru BRZ), revealed in Tokyo this week.

Apart from its Scion badge, the absent daytime-running-lights and the use of the BRZ's smaller exhaust tips, you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. 

That doesn't matter, though: the Scion brand has been built on the idea of extensive customisation options (an idea Kia later ran with on the Soul). Those missing bits are bound to show up in a catalogue.

Fans hoping for the hulking Scion FR-S concept revealed earlier this year to get the magic green light for production may be disappointed, however.

Mechanically, the FR-S is a carbon copy of its Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ siblings, meaning there's a 2.0 litre four-cylinder boxer engine under the bonnet churning out a respectable 147kW and 205Nm of torque.

If you're wondering, that's 12kW more and 20Nm less than the 2.5 litre four-cylinder Toyota engine driving the 2010 front-wheel-drive Scion tC coupe.

The FR-S weighs a good 207kg less than the tC however, and with its performance-focused development programme and low centre of gravity, tuners and enthusiasts won't be need more than five minutes to pick their next car.

Fans dreamed a dream of the FR-S concept coming to life, untouched from its concept form. They didn't get that, but the reality should be just fine.

For more on what lies beneath the FR-S' shell, click through to our Toyota 86 tag page.

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