Months away from production, no journalists have driven the Mk2 BRZ — but we’ve spent some time with its specs. And a calculator.
The BRZ’s torque curve tells an important story: adjusted for weight and gearing, at almost all engine speeds, the 2022 BRZ will pull harder than a 181-hp Mazda MX-5 ND2 Miata — a car that is almost universally agreed does not need a turbo.
The problem with the old, 2.0-liter BRZ wasn’t its peak torque — it was the outrageously high engine rpm required to hit that peak; the torque dip in the everyday rpm range; and the uninspiring noise the engine made. The Mk2 BRZ and Toyota GT86 solve that with a new FA24 engine variant — and fake engine sounds coming through the stereo speakers.
Adding a turbocharger at the manufacturer level means a cascading avalanche of cost. Had Subaru put a turbo on the 2022 BRZ, it would likely follow in the footsteps of every other affordable, sporty coupe: it would become so expensive that it would die off.
Toyota already has a $50,000, turbocharged four-cylinder “sports car” — the base Supra. (Which is also not a Toyota.) The BRZ is meant to be inexpensive, and if Subaru reengineered the whole car to cope with the turbo’s weight and torque, it would likely cost (and weigh) as much as the Supra. And then, like the F80 BMW M3 and F82 M4, its limit handling would be compromised.
Watch as techy automotive journalist Jason Cammisa uses math to demonstrate that — before anyone’s even driven the new BRZ — we know it’ll be quicker than a Miata.
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