We should start a campaign. A campaign to make pedestrians look where they're going so we can have good looking sports cars again. OK, it could use a snappier strapline but when I saw the first pics of the
Toyota GT 86
earlier in the week it was, yet again, a case of the reality not quite living up to the concept hype.
Scion FR-S concept looked lovely...
One of the things that struck me about the GT 86 concept,
badged as a Scion
when I saw it in LA a few weeks back, was how low the bonnet was. Ah! That'll be because of the boxer engine I thought. The wings actually stood proud, tightly wrapped over the wheels and giving a really lithe, sleek profile.
And then I saw the press pics. Admittedly, they are awful. Toyota may have bagged the right to go first with the official pics - I guess that's a case of pulling rank over Subaru - but what an awful set of shots. And where was that nice, low bonnet line? Curse you pedestrian crash regs! Awkward angles and a weird airbrushed effect that a modern day games designer would reject for being too synthetic really didn't help either. And then there was the colour. Ew.
...production GT 86? Not so much.
Subaru may have had to defer to Toyota for first dibs at getting the car out in public but it's clearly learned fast and
the pictures released overnight
show the BRZ in a much more flattering light. No overly photoshopped nonsense for Subaru. Real car, test track, regular photos and, boom, the car all of a sudden looks much more cohesive. Hadn't spotted the slight Z4 coupe-ness to the rear arches before either. But it looks taut, compact and all of a sudden a hell of a lot more resolved.
There will be more information about the BRZ as the day progresses and we'll be updating our story accordingly. Suffice to say, both cars are likely to be more or less identical in terms of their performance and mechanical spec. Which you prefer will come down to badge loyalty, pricing and other factors but in terms of the PR battle I'm going to say David beats Goliath in round one and Subaru scores the first hit. And after that first sucker punch here comes another - the BRZ race car. Watch this space on the latter.