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I was doing to searching on the GR86 and came across this article by Car Throttle where they laid a case out for and against it being turbocharged.
Here's what the argued:
Case for:
Ditching the atmospheric engine seems like a shame given the dominance of turbochargers in the performance car world, but the GR86 is set to gain much more than it loses. The enthusiast focus won’t be quite the same, but since the alternative might have been no next-gen car at all, I’m not sure we’re in a position to moan.
It’s a question of maintaining a balancing act between satisfying petrolheads and keeping more general car buyers interested. It’ll be a little while before we know how successfully Toyota has done that. You wouldn’t want to be against the company that surprised us all with the GR Yaris though, so our hopes are high.
Whatever we say doesn’t matter, of course. Even if the GR86 is a blinder, we’ve no doubt the debate over its powertrain will rage on for years after its launch. Just look at what happened with its predecessor.
www.carthrottle.com
Here's what the argued:
Case for:
- Higher performance
- The FA24 will be a more tuneable engine than the FA20 and will have more character
- Turbocharged cars are Subaru's specialty
- It loses its uniqueness for being naturally aspirated
- The turbocharged version will have a lower "peak power" rpm
- Turbo lag
- It'll get heavier and the engine won't be as compact
Ditching the atmospheric engine seems like a shame given the dominance of turbochargers in the performance car world, but the GR86 is set to gain much more than it loses. The enthusiast focus won’t be quite the same, but since the alternative might have been no next-gen car at all, I’m not sure we’re in a position to moan.
It’s a question of maintaining a balancing act between satisfying petrolheads and keeping more general car buyers interested. It’ll be a little while before we know how successfully Toyota has done that. You wouldn’t want to be against the company that surprised us all with the GR Yaris though, so our hopes are high.
Whatever we say doesn’t matter, of course. Even if the GR86 is a blinder, we’ve no doubt the debate over its powertrain will rage on for years after its launch. Just look at what happened with its predecessor.

The Case For And Against A 260bhp Turbo Toyota GT86
The word is that the 'GR86' will be more powerful and turbocharged. But is that a good or a bad thing?
