[Aika car shopping guide original]
Since 1886, when Carl Benz developed the first car, it perfectly solved people's needs for daily travel and became the darling of the life of people around the world for a time. But at the same time, with the popularity of the automobile around the world, we have given it too much deep meaning. The design of the soul, the speed of the blood vein and the control that are mastered have also become the goals pursued by many car companies and consumers.
Of course, hundreds of thousands and millions of high-end performance cars can naturally perfectly meet the above labels, but in my opinion, these labels are definitely not, nor should they be just the exclusive of the rich. For ordinary "hit workers", "civilian" sports cars like the 86 and BRZ are also very qualified goals. Although these cars are often limited by cost, these cars often have very obvious shortcomings, but this does not prevent them from becoming classics in history.
In this theme, we will divide into "five acts" to briefly review the history of 86 and BRZ, as well as their points and combinations with the Chinese market in the context of increasingly stringent emission regulations.
The development of Japan's car play culture is more or less due to their economic development in the 1980s and 1990s. To put it simply, people's wallets are richer, more money can be invested in cars, and even in that era, many cars that Chinese car fans are familiar with were born. Through cultural output, the so-called "JDM" has now become a car play culture that Chinese netizens are talking about.
Japan's domestic auto market has risen with the economy, but it has also fallen into undervaluation due to the bursting of the bubble, and the once indispensable models have gradually begun to sink at the beginning of the 21st century, and they have stopped production and are far from people's sight. When the rudder car became the new joy of Young Japanese people, the so-called "JDM Never Die" could only be reduced to a slogan for masturbating.
In 2012, the launch of toyota GT86 can be regarded as the official resurrection of the civilian sports car field, in the eyes of many people, this car gathers toyota in the past few decades of car manufacturing essence, and integrates the strengths of Toyota and Subaru, and the life of this car, it still has to start from 2005.
At that time, Toyota held a lot of subaru shares, and because Subaru had a deep knowledge in the field of horizontal opposing engines, toyota also had the idea of using this engine, and Subaru was the only car company in the world to use this engine.
But in the beginning, Subaru was only willing to provide engine technology, and there was not much interest in building such a rear-drive sports car, after all, for Subaru, who was good at producing four-wheel drive cars, this was not their business scope.
The 4U-GSE (known to Subaru as FA20) engines of the first generation of the 86 integrate the essence of Toyota and Subaru, which not only uses subaru's horizontal opposing structure, but Toyota also adds its own D-4S hybrid injection technology to this engine.
However, this system is not perfect, due to the consideration of environmental protection and carbon deposits and other issues, this engine about 3000rpm-4000rpm from the manifold injection to the cylinder direct injection stage, torque has a significant trough, which is why many owners choose to brush the computer immediately after getting the car, but in a sense, this feature has become another major feature of this engine.
Compared with more and more "turbo monsters" on the market, Toyota 86 is also a completely different route, although less G value feedback, but the high-rotation naturally aspirated engine can give you a completely different sense of pleasure and better throttle response, and the on-the-go power feedback can make it easier for you to achieve the realm of human-vehicle integration, which is also the goal that Toyota engineers have been pursuing.
The first prototype of the GT86 was successfully developed in 2008, perhaps due to its excellent dynamic performance, which also made Subaru, who had not been very active before, also interested in it. Soon, Subaru decided to work with Toyota on the development of a new car, and the two companies also agreed that the new car would be produced at Subaru's factory in Gunma Prefecture in the future.
The production version of the model was officially released at the Tokyo Motor Show at the end of 2011, and soon after, Subaru also released the 86's "sister car", the BRZ, which is also named after the initials of the boxer engine (horizontally opposed engine), Rear-wheel drive (rear-wheel drive) and Zenith (peak).
Although in absolute speed, this 2.0L natural engine can provide very limited explosive power, but thanks to excellent tuning, Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ also explained to everyone the fun ≠ fast truth, coupled with a very low price threshold, making it quickly popular around the world.
birth
In 2012, the official listing of 86 and BRZ overseas has also attracted the attention of many domestic fans, especially the code name of 86 has aroused the childhood memories of many people, and this time, Toyota and Subaru have not let domestic consumers wait for too long.
Prior to this, the impression of domestic car fans on Japanese sports cars was basically stuck in games and film and television works, and many familiar models were far from Chinese mainland, and even powerful consumers were afraid that it would be difficult to have. The introduction of the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ in 2013 is also another opportunity for domestic consumers to contact pure sports cars from Japan.
Some people call the 86 and BRZ "only half of the original car", so their launch has also opened up the domestic modification market to a certain extent, whether it is transformed into a sharp weapon on the track, or a "potted plant" on the exhibition, these two cars will not let you feel any sense of violation, and soon became a regular visitor to the major track days and modification exhibitions in China.
After several years of development, 86 and BRZ in the domestic user group also has a considerable scale, and more and more models launched in China, the price has also been further explored compared with 2013. However, just when these two cars are in the hottest stage in the world, the news that they are about to be delisted has been reported in China.
As for the reason for "forcing them away", it is ultimately due to the increasingly stringent emission regulations in China, and Toyota and Subaru have to make a decision to delist because they are subject to the dual constraints of the fuel consumption limit of a single model and the CAFC Act.
And for manufacturers, when launching this kind of niche sports car, profitability is not the primary consideration, more or hope to enhance the brand image and promote the purpose of brand culture, so when under policy pressure, manufacturers will naturally not because of the Chinese market policy to make a big adjustment to the product, direct sacrifice is also naturally reasonable. It's just that for many fans who pay attention to them, such news is still too sudden.
First sight and parting
With the delivery of the last batch of 86 and BRZ in September and November 2017, it is also officially announced that their relationship with the Chinese market has come to an end. And with the passage of time, the heat of both of them is gradually decreasing, slowly fading from the consumer's sight. However, at the end of 2018, a microblog in the media once again brought this model that had bid farewell to the Chinese market for 1 and a half years back to people's attention.
Perhaps because Toyota and Subaru hybrid models continue to roll out, perhaps because the impact of the CAFC act is lower than expected, or perhaps because of the voice of domestic fans. In the end, the Toyota 86 and subaru BRZ returned to China. However, this time, they have also adopted the form of limited sales.
In 2019, the implementation of the National VI emission standards has been postponed all over the country, so this has given 86 and BRZ "opportunities". However, because the 2020 models are still national five emissions, the time left for them to sell in China is not very long.
Also in July 2020, Subaru officially announced the discontinuation of this generation of BRZ, ending its 9-year service. It can be said that the 86 and BRZ have also accompanied the growth of many people, although there is no variety of scientific and technological configurations, no quiet carriages, and the rear row is basically equal to decoration, but this will not affect them to become classics in the hearts of many people.
In fact, the news about the replacement of 86 and BRZ has been related to rumors a long time ago, before some people said that Toyota will terminate the cooperation with Subaru and start a new stove, and there is also speculation that 86 and BRZ will not launch a replacement model. However, it is slightly unexpected that with the discontinuation of the old model, the new generation of models quickly entered everyone's sight, and the emergence of the new car also made the previous rumors self-defeating.
In terms of naming, the new generation of 86 has also changed from the previous GT86 to GR86, which also means that the new car will be under the umbrella of Toyota's sports division GAZOO RACING together with the new SUPRA, and in terms of tuning, the new 86 will have more personality differences than the BRZ.
Obviously, Toyota and Subaru are very aware of where the shortcomings of the previous generation of models are, so when the new generation of models is introduced, they are naturally replaced with larger displacement engines, and the replacement of the engine also directly improves the power performance of the new car.
However, due to the increase in displacement and the improvement of the configuration, the price of new cars has also increased to a certain extent, but throughout the Chinese car market, there are few competing models that can compete directly with it.
Under the wave of intelligence and new energy that swept the world, many people were not completely subjugated by the times, and in the rapid development of science and technology, Toyota and Subaru will still iterate on such a pure sports car. You may still be complaining about the various resistance these two cars have encountered in our country, but even so, they have come to us after all, at least giving you the opportunity to have them.
I believe that in the heart of every car lover, there is always such a car, carrying too many past and various memories. And the replacement of these cars does not only indicate the end of a car series, because at the same time, it also represents the passing of those times. In the final scene of the first text D, when the bgm of "Range your dream" sounds again, Takumi pilots Daddy's imprehending leopard and encounters the GT86 up the mountain. This not only announces the end of the manga, but also represents the rotation of the times. Under the rotation of the wheel of time, eternity may only be a beautiful wish, and the so-called classics and feelings may be our greatest respect for those "partners". Models like the 86 and BRZ will eventually leave a deep imprint on the hearts of some people and be passed down from generation to generation.
Regression and iteration