Subaru has unveiled a facelifted version of its BRZ rear-wheel drive sports car that also features a new suspension setup. The new version of the car is initially for its Japanese home market, but the rest of the global markets will get the refreshed BRZ soon.
Considering the BRZ has been around pretty much unchanged for a period of some six years now, this update is mild to say the least. The suspension tweaks see the dampers getting retuned for the 2019 model year, which is designed to make the car that's already renowned for its impressive driving characteristics even better to drive than it is already.
As for the exterior styling enhancements, the most obvious change is the addition of a pair of fins at the rear to improve the aerodynamics of the BRZ, reduce turbulence, and cut the amount of wind noise the car generates.
Although the Subaru's interior remains largely unchanged, the RA Racing version of the BRZ that's offered in select markets gets a new seatbelt design and a revised roll cage.
As most enthusiasts know, the BRZ is almost the twin of the Toyota 86. It's not been revealed if the Toyota will be getting the same changes as the Subaru for 2019. What we do know of the Toyota version of the car is there will be a TRD Special Edition, which adds a number of performance enhancing components to the already attractive recipe. These include Sachs dampers, four-pot Brembo calipers giving plenty of grip on 12.8-inch discs at the front, two-piston calipers over the 12.4-inch discs at the back, and a set of unique wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires. Of course, if those enhancements sound more than a little familiar it's because a similar set of goodies can already be found on higher-specification versions of the Subaru BRZ.
Even though driving enthusiasts are almost unanimous in their praise of the way the BRZ and 86 drive and handle, the two manufacturers appear willing to add all sorts of enhancements other than the much-requested more powerful engine. They keep saying the cars don't sell in enough numbers to justify the cost of such a major upgrade. A drop-top version of either would also be a welcome addition, but it looks as though that's not going to happen anytime soon either.
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