Tuesday 4th November 2014

More Cosworth upgrades for BRZ/GT86

SEMA launch for £600 'entry-level' upgrade plus supercharger kit

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Well this is good timing from Cosworth. Just as both the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 receive substantial price cuts, so it releases a pair of new performance upgrades. Canny.

Pay money, get parts, go faster

For £595, Cosworth will upgrade your GT86/BRZ (or Scion FR-S) by 15hp through a new air filter, remap and low temperature thermostat. There's also a Cosworth badge, worth at least 10hp on its own... It is described as the 'entry-level' version of its Stage 1 upgrade. And if 15hp doesn't sound like much, bear in mind your £595 also includes a launch control and flat shift function. Cosworth doesn't have too many details on this at present but we've certainly registered our interest. As mentioned in the original Cosworth FA20 tuning story, all the upgrades are modular so this entry level package could be easily built on without the parts already purchased having to be replaced.

But you want to know about the supercharger, don't you? It's described as Cosworth's 'ultimate [for now at least] staged power package' for the Toyobaru twins. For £3,995 the 2.0-litre boxer is boosted by 60hp through a Cosworth supercharger plus a new intake manifold, intercooler and the associated pipework and calibration. With exhaust upgrade (price TBA) added as well, the BRZ/GT86 goes to what Cosworth terms 'Stage 2.3') and will be at 280hp. PH has also asked to drive one of these very soon.

The upgrades are launched today at the SEMA show but also available to order. Cosworth Toyobaru road test coming as soon as we can get our hands on one!

 

[burwoodman]

All good making these modifications but you lose your warranty.

[StottyEvo]

Great news, I'm even impressed with the 15hp upgrade for £595, sounds decent especially with the LC and flat shift capabilities. Well worth the cost IMO.

The price for the supercharger kit isn't too bad neither, is their warranty offered on these upgrades? A charged 280hp GT86 could be a great daily when the residuals drop a bit.

[Joeguard1990]

burwoodman said:

All good making these modifications but you lose your warranty.

This applies to any new car though and mechanical modifications if not approved by the manufacturer... believe it or not not everyone buys a car just to leave it stock!

[Hellbound]

As installed in the Speedhunters 'Scion Tuner Challenge' car.





Also a glimpse of it in this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1expMUIsuGU

Would love to hear what this sounds like. This car in particular should sound amazing with unequal length headers giving that boxer rumble.

[Hellbound]

Joeguard1990 said:

This applies to any new car though and mechanical modifications if not approved by the manufacturer... believe it or not not everyone buys a car just to leave it stock!

Yes, but I think what people are hoping for is a Ford/Mountune type arrangement with the GT86/BRZ. Being the smaller of the two I think Subaru UK should step forward and offer a warranty backed upgrade of some sort.

[Steve vRS]

What is flat shift?

[Dion20vt]

£595 sounds a lot for 15hp gain, but then again, we have been spolied in recent years with "cheap" remaps offering 30-40% more power for a few hundred quid on turbo petrol engines and tdi cars. One must remember it's much more difficult to extract more power from a N/A engine cheaply.

£4k for the supercharger kit sounds about right, and brings it in line against much more expensive sports cars

[cvega]

Steve vRS said:

What is flat shift?

keep right foot planted, press clutch, change gear, release clutch, engine not exploding

[vz-r_dave]

Dion20vt said:

£595 sounds a lot for 15hp gain, but then again, we have been spolied in recent years with "cheap" remaps offering 30-40% more power for a few hundred quid on turbo petrol engines and tdi cars. One must remember it's much more difficult to extract more power from a N/A engine cheaply.

£4k for the supercharger kit sounds about right, and brings it in line against much more expensive sports cars

I think it is value for money, NA tuning is not an easy task and extracting 15HP for £600 is good value in my eyes.

[TheRoadWarrior]

I was expecting the Cosworth Supercharger to be mega-bucks, £4k seems like excellent value for a decent jump in power and torque backed by a reputable name like Cosworth.

[FWDRacer]

Steve vRS said:

What is flat shift?

It is modern electronic artificial talent enhancer

[unpc]

How much power would £4ks worth of N/A tuning yield on this?

[Hellbound]

Steve vRS said:

What is flat shift?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA8qrWMwYH8

[Malachimon]

It's taken this long to make a painfully underpowered car much faster?

[xRIEx]

Dion20vt said:

£595 sounds a lot for 15hp gain,

Thing is, (and it's a gripe I have about all quotes of 'XXX'bhp) is that that number only tells us about one tiny part of the engine - power at full throttle at one rpm point; it says nothing about the rest of the torque and power curves.

Say hypothetically it's an increase of 10-15hp across the entire rev range for £595, whereas a £200 'upgrade' gives 20hp over standard at peak, but drops it by 5-10hp between tickover and 5k rpm - I know which I'd rather have, but without dyno graphs we don't get the full info.

[chrispmartha]

Hang on, I thought this car was powerful enough? and if you thought any different you 'didn't get it' ;-)

[zeppelin101]

Malachimon said:

It's taken this long to make a painfully underpowered car much faster?

Crawford will sell you a kit that takes the engine to over 400hp, and have done for a long time.

Litchfield have had a ~280hp supercharger kit out for a long time also.

[Jimmm]

Malachimon said:

It's taken this long to make a painfully underpowered car much faster?

Fensport did this a year ago - http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/fensport-gt86-r...

[MadDog1962]

This may explain why there seems to be a surge in demand for good clean secondhand ones over here in the USA.

[Hellbound]

MadDog1962 said:

This may explain why there seems to be a surge in demand for good clean secondhand ones over here in the USA.

I think we're seeing the same here; Low initial sales figures equals low used stock. Couple that with a 'probable' rise in demand for used cars and we'll see prices staying firmly around mid teens.

Of course I could be wrong.