Spy shots make me giggle. Our friends from Autoblog got these amazing photos of the RWD Subaru coupe on the Nurbergring a few days ago. Far removed from the Mules that we’ve seen, this is starting to take shape as an awesome example of a performance coupe that many Subaru fans have been waiting for.
Source: Autoblog
Now that the 2011 year is upon us, we can take a simple look back on the top 5 things that happened to Subies according to Subie-life.com. I’m sure you all have your lists and we encourage you to post them up on our Facebook Fan Page!
5. The 2 Door Test Mules caught testing: It’s been some time since we have had a strong 2 door Subaru on the market and we are glad to see that Subaru thought so too! During this Summer, we saw MANY images of the “FT-86” that has been tested that is a combined effort between Fuji Heavy and Toyota. Many rumors circulated for a while about the Subaru Variant and when we saw these images of a chopped up GRB with a skin of a coupe, we all giggled like school girls.
4. Travis Pastrana’s Red Bull Pier Jump: Now, I know this happened AT Midnight on New Years Eve, but we’ll just let it slide for this list here. Subaru, Travis Pastrana, and the STi were now in MILLIONS of households this year as Travis jumped his STi at the Long Beach Harbor at this Nationally and Internationally televised event. Yukio, our head blogger was also there to witness history being broken with a Subaru. Now, most Americans KNOW about Subarus and the STi and the Subaru brand has yet again grabbed the title of being a “Cool Brand” to own by the youth market.
3. The New FB20 Flat Four Motor: It’s been some time that the EJ20 / EJ25 motor has been with us. In September, Subaru introduced the new FB20 Flat four motor. This is the first change in the Flat Four motor since 1989 (with updated / upgraded variants). Now, this isn’t about power or about performance rather, a change that Subaru has made a strong evolution to make a reliable, environmentally sound, long lasting, flat four motor. Rumor has it that this will usher in the Hybrid motors and the FT-86 couple will also have this motor in it which will make us giggle when we know about the “STi” Variant of the model!
2. Confidence in Motion: Impreza Concept: There were teasers. There were rumors. During the LA Auto Show, Subaru of America finally revealed what “Confidence in Motion” and our jaws dropped. No more what Subaru labeled as an “Ugly Duckling” (even though we all know that Subarus are great in the performance / reliability department) and was being cheered on by designers and critics. The new design also saw the first ever “cockpit” interior of the Impreza which we all were impressed with! We do hope that this concept doesn’t deviate from the final design but we all know how most concept cars are. However, Subaru has announced that this isn’t too far fetched from the actual design that will be released in 2013!
1. The new 2011 STi Sedan: When Subaru teased us (wow, they do this often huh?) about the sedan version coming out for the STi, we all got excited. When we heard that the WRX will share the similar “Wide Body” of the STi, we all got hyped up! When we saw the final version in the dealerships we almost lost it! It was amazing! We all said it in unison though… “Subaru should have done it like this from the beginning”.
So this is our list for 2010! I know many of you have your own lists, so feel free to post them up on our comments section! Thank you for an amazing 2010 everyone!
Seems like it’s Test Mule Friday today as we have new photos of the Toyabaru Test Mule!
As you can see in the pictures, seems like this Test Mule will retain the “Subaru Scoop” so we’re hoping that it retains the current 2.5 Turbo power plant for the Top Mount Intercooler.
The rest of the exterior is pretty much the same but it won’t tell us much about the final production vehicle due to the fact that it’s a test mule.
Here’s the part that got me giggling like a little girl, interior shots. Although the exterior look very familiar to the current Impreza, the interior looks nothing like a current Subaru. The chassis is based off the Legacy, the interior has odd cues like the top mounted air conditioner vents and the side panels. Also the gauge cluster is different from the Legacy or Impreza so this is pretty much a new interior.
So, are we excited for this? You’re darn right we are. We look forward to the progress of the Toyabaru as it becomes closer to production! A new coupe from Subaru and it’s taken them over 10 years!
I was doing some research this morning and came upon this; the new 2013 Impreza test mule pictures. Now, usually test mules consists of current bodies with parts of the next model inside it trying to get the electrical and mechanical parts to work and collect data. We saw the new Subaru Coupe test mule running around in Death Valley and you can see the current STi in the body.
According to Inside Line this test mule may be have a hybrid option:
Very little is given away by these spy shots of the 2013 Subaru Impreza (released late 2012) we caught in early testing. It’s still a five-door hatch and we don’t need to see under the car to know it’s still all-wheel drive. But this new Impreza looks to be a bit more upright than the current model, especially the rear. This should allow for a bit more usable space in the hatch. And while the front is flatter than the current car, we can’t tell if this is due to camo, or if Subie is following the trend ( and EU pedestrian crash regs) for very upright grills.
We have no confirmation on this particular mule, but we do know that Subaru is intending on having a hybrid option for the Impreza with the next generation. Perhaps as a seperate model based on the Hybrid Tourer we saw at the 2009 Tokyo Show.
We’ll be posting up renderings of the 2013 Impreza shortly! We’re excited to see the next generation Impreza!
Source: Inside Line
Subie Life: For the Love of Subaru 