Scion is dead, and the various models produced by the company are now going to wear a Toyota badge. This left a lot of us wondering what would become of the FR-S nameplate. The Scion FR-S was already a rebadged Toyota GT-86, so what would happen under Toyota? Would it keep the FR-S name that has become established here in the states, or would it move to the GT-86 moniker that its found with in the rest of the world.
Well Toyota has stopped the wondering and speculation with the announcement that the new car will officially be called the Toyota 86. It’s not quite the full GT-86 that JDM fans have been hoping for, but it feels like a nice compromise. Along with the new name the Toyota 86 gets some visual tweaks that include revised lights and bumpers, but sadly the new nose is not exactly what I would call attractive. Actually, I would just flat call it ugly. It looks like an old man with no teeth licked a particularly sour lemon.
At least after they hit it with the ugly stick, they decided to give it some go-faster bits. Power has been increased to 205 horsepower and 156 lb-ft, and the suspension has received a thorough upgrade with new shock tuning and increased spring rates. The manual transmission car also gets new gearing, but Toyota has declined to tell us what that new gearing actually is.
Still, it you want a slightly faster, much more ugly version of the Scion FR-S, you can buy a Toyota 86 this fall.
