2007 Subaru Impreza Wrx Sti on 2040-cars

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Cosworth teases upgrades for Subaru BRZ

Subaru may or may not produce an STI version of the BRZ. Things seem to go back and forth on the subject. But Subaru Tecnica International isn't the only company with a history of tuning Subies. So does Cosworth, and now the British racing firm appears to be turning its attention to the BRZ and its Toyota- and Scion-badged siblings.
For those unacquainted, Cosworth is more than your average tuning company. It's a racing firm first and foremost, having made F1 engines under its own name as well as Ford's (chief among them the all-conquering DFV 3.0-liter V8 of 1960s and 70s fame), not to mention engines for Indy, rally and even high-performance, road-going versions of the Ford Sierra, Chevy Vega and Mercedes 190E. The list goes on and on, but you get the point.
Now withdrawing from Formula One, Cosworth is focusing its attention on tuning road cars again with the launch of the Cosworth Power Package line, the first of which will focus on the Toyota GT86 (aka Scion FR-S) and Subaru BRZ. We don't know just yet what will be included in the packaged dubbed FA-20, but from the video teaser below, it seems there'll be upgrades to the exhaust, suspension, aero and - if we're lucky - maybe a super- or turbocharger for the 2.0-liter flat-four engine. We'll have to wait and see, but we get the feeling that with Cosworth on the job, it'll be worth the wait. Check out the minute-long video below in the meantime.

2015 Subaru WRX teased ahead of LA debut

After bringing a seriously hot concept to the New York Auto Show earlier this year, Subaru will finally reveal the production 2015 WRX at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month. And while we've seen spy shots of the hotter Impreza (including the winged STI variant), Subaru has now released this teaser image, showing the bulging, scooped 'Rex that's nearly ready for its world debut.
What we can see is a car that's clearly been toned down from the conceptual version - we aren't surprised, really. But it appears that the added aggressiveness over the standard Impreza will make for a pretty hot-looking little sedan. Of course, WRX models have never exactly been pretty cars, and we don't expect this one to be, either. No matter - assuming this car follows in the footsteps of WRXes past, it should still be plenty good.
Subaru hasn't released any details about the WRX as of this writing, but again, we don't expect it to stray too much from the formula we know. Expect a turbocharged boxer engine underhood, all-wheel drive, and - hopefully - a manual transmission. Rumor has it the WRX and STI will lose their hatchback variants and go sedan-only for the 2015 model year, but we'll have to wait until the official LA debut to know that for certain. Stay tuned.

Toyota GT86 engineers explored shooting brake and sedan variants, are they still in the cards?

According to the Toyota UK blog, engineers for the automaker were so excited developing the GT86 coupe that they investigated producing a whole family of models based on the rear-wheel drive sports car. And at least one engineer - product chief Tetsuya Tada - still hopes it can happen, even if not everyone at Toyota is onboard. Tada: "Actually we tried to do this secretly but the executives found us out. They said: 'What are you doing? Will you please focus on the coupe.'"
Those mooted variants included both a four-door sedan and a shooting brake. Why? Aside from the pure excellence of a lightweight, brilliantly handling hatchback, Toyota was keenly aware of the fact that it may need to spread the cost of development out across several models. Tada says that's part of the reason why it was so easy to create the convertible. The company knew from the outset that a softtop version was in the cards, and built the machine's structure to accommodate having the roof sliced off.
Tada also made mention of the already-announced collaboration between Toyota and BMW. The engineer said that the GT86 was particularly helpful because it demonstrated just how successful a product conceived and designed by two different companies can be. While he didn't say exactly what Toyota and BMW are up to, it's clear the two are looking into a number of possibilities. It's an interesting read with a lot of